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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> jimmy: it is out now. see a bonus song from jimmykimmel.com. i want to thank david spade, tim gunn. apologies to matt damon, we ran out of time. tomorrow night, jake gyllenhaal, dianna agron and music from the weekend. nightline is next. the album is called "that's it." playing us off the air with

"halfway right, halfway wrong," see the full performance at jimmykimmellive.com. once again -- preservation hall jazz band. good night. [ cheers and applause ] tonight on "nightline" -- the smallest casualties. [ crying ] >> reporter: a team of doctors race to stop the pain and heal the wound of innocent children fleeing civil war in syria. >> saving grace, so little to work with and so many in need. >> unfortunately we don't have painkillers. >> the battle to beat the odd and save young lives. the toughest calls, the wrenching decisions. >> he will do much better if we amputate his leg right now. >> right now? >> right now.

>> the heroic efforts to bring desperate families a sliver of hope. >> announcer: this special edit

>> announcer: this is a special edition of "nightline." good evening. after a week of tense debate between the president, congress, and our allies, and a last-ditch campaign to bring his case for action against syria to the american people, the president has said that at least for now there will be no american missile strikes against syria. instead, tonight he sent the secretary of state to switzerland to sort out whether russia can help secure syrian chemical weapons. meanwhile, for the syrians the war goes on. with 100,000 dead and so many of the casualties children, it is hard not to wonder if children

are being targeted deliberately. the head of human rights at the u.n. believes they are. so, for the past week, abc's lama hasan and a team of "nightline" producers have been with a group of doctors, volunteers, who have traveled off to the region to minister to the wound of the innocent children caught in the cross fire. as you will see, much of what they saw is upsetting and graphic. >> reporter: monday morning in amman, jordan, and 2-year-old rajad is putting on a brave face. but underneath his blanket, a shrapnel wound in her stomach so infected it will not heal. >> reporter: that is heartbreaking. far away in washington, d.c., president barack obama is spending the day locked in a room with his advisers preparing for an unprecedented series of interviews. >> that is in our national security interest. >> reporter: making the case for

targeted strikes against the government, rajad's parents and the doctors here blame for this. >> she was playing on the veranda of their home there was rocket fire, shrapnel struck her, in basically left side, blew out all her intestinal abdmabd abdominal content. >> reporter: the doctor practices in texas but over the next 72 hours as world leaders waver on whether intervening, the doctor will ftry to give th toddler back the gift of walking, playing, being a child. six days ago -- we traveled here to jordan with a group of 29 medical professionals from all over the world. >> we have 750 pound worth of medication. >> reporter: led by the doctor. >> can we make the list of

patients? >> reporter: who practices at mercy hospital in cincinnati, ohio. they are all volunteers and will spend a precious week among the youngest casualties of a brutal civil war in syria that is bleeding out across its borders. do you know typically what cases are on this floor? >> there is about 32 beds on this floor. they get various cases. most of it is gunshot wound, shrapnel, upper and lopwer extremities. >> reporter: the doctors see pash e patients a fierce debate, on whether america should intervene in the war that unleashed the river of 2 million refugees. [ indiscernible ] >> over here we, everybody is sick of the war, everybody wants to go home. and everybody is now looking that the strike is their way home.

>> reporter: with that american streak seeming all but imminent, the doctor whose well to do family still lives in the syrian capital understand why the refugees are counting on it. >> this is the line for their life. this is it. everything for them right now -- all, all hand on deck. this is it. this is it, this is their hope. i cannot, i cannot imagine what's, what their reaction is going to be if they heard that this, the u.s. pulled out or the strike is not going to happen. >> reporter: this has really got their hopes up? >> their only hope. this is it. they have no more hope. >> reporter: many refugees and wounded are children. their families left to nurse them without assistance through injuries, unimaginable to most parents. children like rajad, a toddler in constant agony and unable to sit, nor stand since she was wounded. she was born into this war. in a town, little more than an

hour drive from here in peacetime. but for ragad's entire life the town has been the scene of fierce warfare between the rebels and syrian government. now her mother, pregnant, sleeps beside her on the floor here in the clinic. she left her home, her husband, her whole extended familien desperate search for help the day ragad was hit. >> her mother rushed her to the local hospital where they could not do anything. >> reporter: so the mother and daughter kept moving and ended up here in jordan. >> a little baby. she should be out playing and running. should not have her sides blown out and intestines hanging out. >> reporter: while ragad waits for treatment, her roommate arrives outside a girl with a similar injury. she is 14-year-old hatab, fleeing with her family when their home came under fire. a sniper's bullet tore through the door of their moving car and passed straight through her body. two emergency surgeries kept her

alive. but she has lost 30 pounds. wasting away. the journey here left her family all most penniless. >> translator: all the money he has. >> reporter: all of their clothes tossed into two trash bags. she meets the doctor. her insides hatch been shredded. she need her intestines sewn back up, acan't -- she can't get in the refugee camp where she lives. >> left buttock, it traversed here with the exit wound here. >> reporter: they are lying side by side in the hospital, will not see or hear, as the syrian president, bashar al assad, tells charlie rose that obama is mistaken. >> we live here. we know what is happening. they have to listen to people who live here. they cannot listen to only to their media or to their resource

centers. they don't live here. no one live here but us. so this is -- >> reporter: warns americans that he is at war with islamic militants. >> if the american administration wanted to support al qaeda, go ahead. but we have to tell them go ahead and support al qaeda. >> reporter: over the next two days important decisions will be made in washington, moscow and syria. while the doctor will try to rebuild the girl's decimated stomach. [ indiscernible ] >> reporter: and find a way to relieve little rajab's terrible acne. -- terrible agony. >> announcer: "caught in the crossfire" continues after this. aw this is tragic man, investors just like you could lose tens of thousands of dollars on their 401(k) to hidden fees. thankfully e-trade has low cost investments and no hidden fees.

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the 14-year-old's doctors are hard at work trying to undo the damage wrought by a syrian sniper's bullet.

it passed through her. she sat in the back of her family car, fleeing an attack on their village in syria. outside the o.r., her parents wait anxiously, calling relatives in syria to ask them to pray for their daughter. they have given up everything they owned to get her to the hospital in amman, jordan. their entire focus is on their daughter. we are here on a medical mission, with doctor whose have come from around the world to do what they can for wounded refugees. while elsewhere the debate goes on about u.s. air strikes and chemical weapons. >> i have -- >> i'm going to put them outside. outside. there is no space for them. >> reporter: they set up field clinics and move into floors of jordanian hospitals while the war rages, just 16 miles away. >> right there, it is set up. >> we do not discriminate, do

not ask who you are, do not ask what religion. >> the man, a syrian american says some people languish for weeks and months with unspeakable injuries. >> we go to areas where nobody has been through before. we do cases nobody has done before. we go see patients, nobody wants to care for. how you got injured it is irrelevant. >> reporter: as he makes round in another hospital ward, the tv is almost always tune to a channel run by the free syrian army. >> translator: it is for the american -- he is for the american strike. he is worried about civilians in civilian areas. only thing. he is for it, he is pro, he wants obama to go in and strike. he is worried about civilian. he says he hopes heap hits government military installations. >> reporter: many of the patient are so young. >> these are things we would look to draw attention to. >> reporter: there is somebody

who sound like he need help. >> yeah, this is a guy who -- who -- open wound. and they're trying to change his dressing right now. unfortunately, we don't have painkillers. >> reporter: you don't have painkillers? >> it is very scarce. very few. >> reporter: this is quite a modern hospital. >> yeah, still they have very limited supplies because of the. >> a college student in his early 20s. he asked us not to show his face for fear of retaliation on his family still in syria. >> reporter: we spoke to him. his father took him to one side. my son thinks his mother is still alive. we want to keep his spirits up the we want him to get better. it turns out his mother isn't. she is dead. >> reporter: after we leave the room. >> he will do much better if we

amputate his leg right now. >> reporter: right now. >> right now. they're trying to figure out how they will break the news to the father. how they're going to break the news to him. how we are able to do it. >> reporter: the doctors hesitate. >> i am not a psychiatrist, psychologist. how i am going to break this to a 20-year-old guy. how i will tell him, more mother died, sister is paralyzed, i will cut your leg. how are we going to do all this it? is just overwhelming. i don't know where to start. what are you going to tell him, tell him the leg will be amputated. >> you will wait. >> he will wait. >> a nation of crippled young men and women, ptsd, the trauma. i saw the look on your face. i saw the look on your colleagues' friend, when, you can't imagine. multiply this by hundred of thousand of stories. rancher

>> reporter: down the hall, the 14-year-old's parents will learn the result of the surge yey. >> do one last scrub and then talk to the parents. >> translator: looks good. we are very hopeful and optimistic. >> reporter: the tears are bittersweet. grateful his daughter will soon be healthy again. but heartsick about everything else he lost along the way. on to the next case. there is little team to rest for the doctor. now on her way to help 2-year-old ragad whose open wound still its not healing. she and the other american doctors improvised a vacuum from spare parts. they hope will seal and drain ragad's wound. hours later, there is good news for little ragad. the doctor's make shift device actually works. and in the next bed, she is also waking up. we see a smile for the first time since we have met her.

>> translator: i'm any so happy, she says, now that my surgery is done. the girls and their families will be allowed to stay at the hospital for a few more days. but it went be long before their bed are need foed nor new patie. a lost country. the catastrophe is beyond. urgency comes and this thing has to end now. >> reporter: this morning with the head lean that president obama spoke to the world announcing a strike against syria was put on hold, the exhausted medical team wraps of and gets ready to leave. the doctor, while proud of his work is stunned. >> the emotions right now is overwhelming. basically what we understand from what obama said as long as you are killing people with, traditional arm, but you are not using chemical weapons it is okay. we really don't understand if there is going to be any end to this bloodshed. everybody it talking about light at the end of the tunnel.

unfortunately it is a dark tunnel. i've deon't see any light there. >> reporter: for two families displaced by war their children are safe for now. the fate of their country is uncertain, and neither knows where they will go next or if they've will ever go home. lama hasan for "nightline" in amman, jordan. >> our thanks to lama for that report. next, 12 years after the september 11th attacks, new york's one world trade stands tall. my turn daddy, my turn! hold it steady now. i know daddy. [ dad ] oh boy, fasten your seatbelts everybody. [ mixer whirring ] good thing we've got bounty. bounty select-a-size. it's the smaller powerful sheet,

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or if you have uncontrollable muscle movements, as these could become permanent. high blood sugar has been reported with abilify and medicines like it and in extreme cases can lead to coma or death. other risks include increased cholesterol, weight gain, decreases in white blood cells, which can be serious, dizziness on standing, seizures, trouble swallowing, and impaired judgment or motor skills. [ sally ] since adding abilify, i feel better. abilify and my antidepressant make a pretty good team. [ female announcer ] ask your doctor about a free trial of abilify and go to addabilify.com. step up. dress up. suit up. fall is strictly business. and now that we have sleeves, we can finally roll them up. [ female announcer ] this weekend get an extra 15% off apparel, home, and more. jcpenney.

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a final note tonight, 12 years after tragedy struck -- september 11th attacks were remembered today across the country from shanksville, pennsylvania. [ bells tolling ] to the pentagon.

private ceremonies and a message from president obama. >> we recommit to the partnerships and progress that build mutual respect and deepens trust and allows more people to live indignity, prosperity and freedom. [ bell tolls ] the names of thoz wse who lost their lives were read allowed. >> and my father -- for frz a >> a virtually finished one world trade stand poised to open 2014, at the symbolic height of 1,776 and becomes the tallest building in the country. tonight we leave you with this image of strength, resolve and peace. good night, america. >> announcer: every day, more americans choose abc news,