than isil which is more concerned about what's happening in syria and iraq. [ all speak at once ] >> okay. great to have both of you gentlemen with us tonight. we'll continue this coverage tomorrow. "politicsnation" with reverend al sharpton starts right now. good evening, rev. >> good evening, and thanks to you for tuning in. we start tonight with breaking news. nbc is reporting the u.s. military struck two more targets inside syria today. continuing last night's dramatic bombing campaign against isis and other terrorist groups. tomorrow, president obama will address the world at the united nations with a call to arms against isis and other terrorists in syria. the strikes overnight mark the beginning of a long campaign against key terrorist targets, with support from five arab

allies. late today at the u.n., the president dropped by a meeting with leaders from those countries. >> we also recognize that right now we have a very severe and significant threat. what we've seen from the world community is the recognition of that threat. and we are very appreciative of our partnership with all the countries here. >> earlier in the day, this president said the coalition will do whatever is necessary. >> the strength of this coalition makes it clear to the world that this is not america's fight alone. above all, the people and governments in the middle east are rejecting isil and standing up for the peace and security that the people of the region and the world deserve. the overall effort will take time. there will be challenges ahead. but we're going to do what's necessary to take the fight to

this terrorist group. for the security of the country and the region and for the entire world. >> the pentagon says the strikes damaged or destroyed targets in and around at least four cities, including raqqa, the headquarters of isis. almost 50 tomahawk missiles were launched as part of the attacks. targets including an isis finance center and an isis communications center. the pentagon saying today this is only the beginning. >> last night's strikes are the beginning of a credible and sustainable persistent campaign to degrade and ultimately destroy isil. >> i can tell you that last night's strikes were only the beginning. >> the air strikes also targeted a terror group that many americans are only just hearing about -- khorasan.

it's a network of al qaeda veterans led by a former associate of osama bin laden. american officials say the group may have been planning an attack here in the u.s. >> the intelligence reports indicated that the khorasan group was in the final stages of plans to execute major attacks against western targets, and potentially the u.s. homeland. >> right now, it's just after 1:00 in the morning in syria, and the terrorists there have good reason to fear what may be coming down again from the skies above. we start with christian welker, live at the white house. christian, tell us what they're saying about the strikes. are they satisfied with it? >> well, rev, the administration thinks these first round of air strikes were significant, they did significant damage. but the administration is being quite clear. this is just the beginning. i think the most important part

about these first round of air strikes from the perspective of officials is that the u.s. was joined by those five arab nations. you have heard president obama talk for weeks now about the importance of going into this with a coalition. the fact that he had five arab nations on board, of course, countries in the region, is significant. it allows him to harness momentum to build a broader coalition as he prepares to do that this week at the u.n. general assembly. of course he's in new york right now. tomorrow he will be speaking before the u.n. he'll also chair a meeting to discuss the threat of terrorists with a number of other countries at the u.n. general assembly. so this is going to allow him to more firmly make his case that going after isis is something that requires a broader coalition. you also heard the president say today, rev, that more than 40 countries had made assurances that they were going to help in the fight against isis. the question becomes, what

specifically are they going to do to help in the fight? and a key part of it is going to be ground forces. president obama saying that those troops should come from countries in the region, in the middle east. and at this point, it doesn't seem as though they've gotten firm commitment. so that is going to be one of the key goals of this president this week when he's at the u.n. in new york. you talked about the fact that the u.s. also launched air strikes against khorasan last night. the u.s. saying there was an imminent threat from that group. that's going to be a big topic of conversation as well, rev, how to deal with these terrorist groups and also the foreign fighters who are going overseas to fight with them. back to you. >> a lot to watch for in his speech tomorrow at the u.n. >> kristen welker, thanks for your reporting tonight. let's bring in nicholas burns, former u.s. ambassador to nato, now a professor at harvard

university and colonel jack jacobs. thank you both for being here. >> ambassador, what's your reaction to how these air strikes have gone so far? >> i think the president has made the decision he had to make. if we're going to fight isis and as the president said, destroy isis. we have to strike at isis at its base of support, where it originated. that's syria. so it made sense to me that the president would want to conduct air strikes both in iraq and syria. but i think your correspondent is right to say that there has to be a ground element. it won't be the united states. and so it has to come from the iraqi army, from the peshmerga forces in kurdistan and from some of the moderate syrian rebel groups. that's a very tall order to organize that in an effective way and that's the challenge ahead for the united states. >> colonel, what is your reaction to the air strikes so far? >> well, they hit the bad guys where they are. if you take a look at the map, you'll see the preponderance of

the strikes have been around raqqa, which is the actual headquarters of isis and they predominate in the north and east of syria. this shows a few other strikes, but there have been lots and lots of them all around the northeastern part of syria. if you take a look at how we did it, you'll be able to see that we've got the uss philippine sea here, the uss articley burk, both of these firing tomahawk missiles. and here is the george h.w. bush which launches f 18s. we have air bases in the region, one big one in italy from which we can launch ground-based aircraft. more importantly, take a look at

this. we have an air base in turkey, very close to the target area. the turks won't let us use it. when we started going to iraq, they wouldn't let us come through turkey into iraq -- >> so the turks will not let us use that air base? >> they will not. which is one of the reasons why we have to rely on the sea-borne cruise missiles. >> what's the range on those tomahawks? it seems pretty far. >> they can go more than a thousand miles, and they have about a thousand pounds of explosive in them. they're terminally guided. they hit their target within one meter every time. >> let me go back to the previous map with raqqa. show me how the tomahawks would travel, show me what the trajectory would be. >> they launch them, i think

everybody's seen them in the videos. they launch them from the deck of the ship. they have lots and lots of slots in there. they can carry as many as -- well, more than a hundred of them, and they would follow a terrain-guided path. it's very interesting. they go very fast, 550 knots right on the deck. you can't pick them up by radar. they're below radar. there's no way to knock them out. and they wind up exactly where you punch them in. >> ambassador, let me go back to you. this morning the president emphasized the importance of the coalition. listen to this. >> i also made clear that america would act as part of a broad coalition and that's exactly what we've done. we are joined in this action by our friends and partners. saudi arabia, united arab emirates, jordan, bahrain, and

qatar. america is proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with these nations on behalf of our common security. over 40 nations have offered to help in this comprehensive effort to confront this terrorist threat. >> what is your sense, ambassador, of the coalition at this point? and what are the challenges the president faces in building it? >> well, reverend sharpton, it was impressive that the president was able to mobilize those arab countries because at the heart of struggle it's really a struggle for the future of the sunni arab world. isis represents one option, which is an evil, brutal option. those sunni arab states need to stand up to isis. they need to engage in further combat with us. they need to act on the ground to try to contain isis and they need to dry up isis's financial support. so it's very important the sunni arab countries were involved. i would say, it would be very

helpful if some of the nato allies could do more. very disappointing that the united kingdom, our strongest ally, has not been with us. disappointed that france has such a limited role, couple of air strikes a few days ago. very disappointing that turkey will not allow the use of their air base. turkey had the excuse that they had hostages, but they were released three days ago. no more excuses. it's ironic that we see some of the arab countries provide greater support than some of our allies. it's not the president's fault, it's just that those nato countries have to step up. >> colonel, today, some military leaders have suggested that isis will adapt in response to air strikes. listen to this. >> they are a learning organization.

and they will adapt to what we have done and seek to address their short falls and gaps against our air campaign in the coming weeks. >> how will isis adapt? i mean, and what would it make the air strikes less effective because they're able to adapt so well? >> the short answer to that question is, yes. they've already started adapting. it's interesting to note that isis is very much different than al qaeda, which was fragmented even from the very beginning. you had organizations operating by themselves and so on. isis is a hierarchical organization like any military organization. they've already headed for the hills outside of raqqa, gone into the caves, moved their ammunition to places where they're less likely to be struck, moved their trucks around.

over time it's going to be more and more difficult to find isis targets. but unless we want to just do it once and go away, we're going to have to adapt as well and i think we'll be able to. >> ambassador, let me ask you this quickly. what remains your concerns? in the bigger picture, what are the questions that you still have and want answered as we go forward? >> i think the president is doing the right thing. i think it's impressive how he's been able to mobilize the arabs. the key question will be, is there an effective ground component because air strikes may slow down isis, contain them for a time, but won't defeat them. so can we mobilize syrian moderate rebel groups, the peshmer peshmerga, the iraqis, that's a very tough order. it will take a long time to do. i think that's the key factor right now for the administration. >> all right, ambassador nicholas burns and colonel jack jacobs, thank you both for your time tonight. >> you're welcome. >> thank you. coming up, more on the breaking news, more air strikes

in syria and iraq today. how long will this bombing campaign last? we'll go live to the pentagon. and inside that other terrorist group bombed in syria, the khorasan group. news tonight that may have been actively plotting attacks inside the u.s. plus, a test of leadership for president obama. he's taken action to secure america. but today a gop senator accused him of crying wolf on terror right before the mid term election.

a source tells nbc news, an al qaeda terror group is testing explosive devices to bring down planes. the u.s. had information on specific, concrete plots that were learning about home-grown terror plans. who is khorasan, and who is

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strikes to disrupt plotting against the united states and our allies by seasoned al qaeda operatives in syria who are known as the khorasan group. once again, it must be clear to anyone who would plot against america and try to do americans harm, that we will not tolerate safe havens for terrorists who threaten our people. >> the khorasan group, it was the first time the president mentioned this group that was targeted last night. who are they? it's a unit of al qaeda, made up of about 50 jihadist fighters, mainly from afghanistan and

pakistan. today the pentagon said strikes were prompted after learning khorasan was planning an imminent terror attack here in the united states. >> these strikes were undertaken to disrupt imminent attack plotting against the united states and wearn targets. >> the intelligence indicated that the khorasan group was in the final stages of plans to execute major attacks against western targets and potentially the u.s. homeland. >> this afternoon, nbc news learned the syria-based terror group has tested explosive devices they planned to bring aboard planes. and a source tells nbc, the u.s. had information on specific, concrete plotting against aviation targets. this is the leader of the terror operation. long-time al qaeda operative, mousseuhsin al fadhli.

the 33-year-old was a top level commander and close associate of osama bin laden. he reportedly was one of the few who knew about the plans for the 9/11 attacks before they happened. a senior facilitator and financer for al qaeda, he's been wanted by u.s. officials for years. so why are we just hearing about this group now? and how much of a threat are they to the homeland? joining me now is nbc terrorism analyst, evan coleman. thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> we're just learning about them. how dangerous is this group? >> i think what's dangerous is the idea these folks are trying to emanate what we saw in yemen. al qaeda wasn't dangerous because there were so many people involved in it, because it was a large force. it was dangerous because they had a bomb-maker who learned how to build weapons that they could sneak on board airplanes.

so even a small number of these guys, armed with western recruits and this kind of technology, could carry out attacks of significance here in the west. that's why you see so much focus on the activities of these folks, especially given the fact that they have such close ties in to al qaeda's senior leadership. these are folks that have been involved in terror plots before, in kuwait, saudi arabia, off the coast of the uae. they know what they're doing and they're reason for concern there. >> now, we're learning the details about how this group planned to smuggle bombs on to airplanes. one official said that khorasan was, quote, in the final stages of fabricating cutting edge explosive devices in tooth paste tubes, or clothing dipped in liquid explosive. now, this is very disturbing. it seems it's almost like the next level from the shoe bombs and underwear bombs we saw al qaeda try to use on airlines before. >> yeah, they're trying to

innovate and this has been encouraged by the people who came up with the shoe bombs and the underwear bombs. they put a statement saying we're going to distribute this technology to as many people as we can and eventually we'll punch a hole new u.s. security. that's the concern. that they manage to get to a mijor airport, how much confidence do we have that we can detect an explosive device that they built? we didn't pick up on the underwear bomb until it was way too late. that's the concern. >> this group also had another scary mission in syria. quoting from them, the group was sent to syria to recruit europeans and americans whose passports allowed them to board a u.s.-bound airliner with less scrutiny from security officials. could these recruits have come back to the u.s. to orchestrate attacks on the homeland? >> they could and they did. at least one individual, fighting with al qaeda in syria,

a young man from south florida managed to come back here to the u.s. in between trips to syria. what he did here, we don't really know. but before he died in a suicide bombing that he carried out on behalf of al qaeda, not only did he threaten u.s. nationals and u.s. civilians, but on top of that, he talked about how he evaded the fbi, he knew they were surveilling him and he still managed to -- >> how many people -- how many could there be of this group? >> we're talking about at least a hundred americans that have gone to syria. i think when people hear that, i think isis. no, no, no, some of them went to isis. some of them went to quoal qaed. we have to remember there are multiple organizations in syria that are jihadists, that are against the u.s., and that would like to carry out attacks -- >> and khorasan is al qaeda. >> khorasan is basically al qaeda fighters who were trained

in afghanistan and pakistan. the leader of this unit, he's been with al qaeda before 9/11. he was one of the few people who had knowledge of the 9/11 attacks. he's not an outsider. by all accounts, by all the information we have, he's an insider, someone who knows al qaeda senior leadership. >> i want to talk more about muhsin al fadhli, the head of the group. in 2012, the u.s. department of state authorized a reward of up to $7 million for information leading to the location of al fadhli. how long has he been on the u.s. radar? and why has it been so difficult to track him down? >> he's been on the u.s. radar at least since 2005. president bush mentioned him in a speech in 2005. why it was that in 2012 all of a sudden he became important again? well, guess what. it was because he was running a cell of individuals in iran and facilitating the movement of

people from afghanistan to syria and turkey, exactly the area that we're focused on right now. why is it that it took so long for us to try to get this guy or find this guy, it's because he was running a network inside of iran. iran has not always been pro-al qaeda. a number of al qaeda operatives have been handed over by iran, but not everybody. and this one was somebody who managed to stay there despite authorities being aware we were looking for him and obviously now he's in syria. >> well, this is some very disturbing stuff. obviously we'll be watching it. nbc terrorism analyst evan coleman, thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you very much. coming up, what's next? what's the next step in the bombing campaign inside syria? how long it will last? and how has isis reacted? we're live on the syria border with richard engel. and president obama leading on the world stage why th.

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more news on the breaking news out of syria. we're just getting new details about additional u.s. air strikes today. minutes ago nbc news reporting the military struck two more targets in syria. and another in iraq. the strikes in syria, hitting vehicles considered targets of opportunity. the strike north of baghdad, targeting an isis vehicle. we'll have more on this and the political reaction here at home. that's next. who's going to make it happen? discover a new energy source. turn ocean waves into power. design cars that capture their emissions. build bridges that fix themselves. get more clean water to everyone. who's going to take the leap? who's going to write the code? who's going to do it? engineers. that's who. that's what i want to do. be an engineer. ♪

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than tums smoothies assorted fruit. mmm. amazing. yeah, i get that a lot. alka seltzer heartburn reliefchews. enjoy the relief. i made clear that as part of this campaign the united states would take action against targets in iraq and syria, so the terrorists can't find safe haven anywhere. i also made clear that america

would act as part of a broad coalition and that's exactly what we've done. president obama praising the air strikes launched last night against terror groups in syria. the shift in syria marks a turning point in the campaign against isis and other terrorists. with the u.s.-led coalition significantly ramping up its strikes, marks a defining moment of this presidency. so far, president obama has support from both sides of of the aisle. this morning, speaker boehner released a statement. quote, i support the air strikes launched by the president. senator mitch mcconnell agrees, saying, i support these ongoing efforts. the president is right to keep the country and the congress updated. these show of support comes as the president makes the case for the nation and for the world to see us in action on the world stage. he's in new york today, planning

to speak tomorrow before the u.n. general assembly, pushing for an even broader coalition to take on isis. today the president met with coalition partners who took part in the syrian strike, and he's not just leading the fight on isis. he's also calling on the world to take action on climate change. >> we will do our part. and we will help developing nations do theirs. but we can only succeed in combatting climate change if we are joined in this effort by every nation, developed and developing alike. nobody gets a pass. >> the president vowing we'll do our part in that fight and others. but he's also ensuring that we're not in these fights alone. joining me now is new york congressman gregory meeks, who serves on the house foreign

affairs committee and michelle coddle of the national journal. thank you both for being here. congressman, what's your reaction to the strikes in syria? >> i think the president is doing what he said. the president said he was going to bring a coalition together and protect the homeland. what you see he's doing, he's going against isil, and those that plot against us also. i think that the president is doing exactly what he said he was going to do, as he has been for all this time, you know, did it in libya, did it when we talk about russia, and ukraine, and he's doing it now. he's bringing people together, fighting against isil, making sure that those who threaten the homeland, it's exactly what he said he would do and he's doing just that. >> michelle, the strikes in syria mark a new phase in the fight against isis. because i remember when he made his speech, a lot of people were saying, he says we're going to

syria eventually. i was waiting to see what he does, and he went in syria a lot sooner. how significant is this moment for the obama presidency? >> well, look, this was a lot of deliberation went into this. we were talking about a president who wound up being elected in part because of his promises to get out of foreign entanglements. . but there was broad public concern about, did we have a plan? what are we doing? are we losing credibility? and i think on both sides of the aisle you'll see support for this because he really did need to convey a sense of, kind of, draw that line in the sand. >> congressman, last night's air strikes also targeted the khorasan group. and today republican senator david vitter questioned if that group posed a threat to the u.s. listen to this.

well, let me go on. we're getting that tape. but the senator questioned whether they even posed a threat. the senator, in effect, is accusing the white house of crying wolf on khorasan. but gop congressman told buzz feed, quote, the intelligence community has known about it, khorasan are extremely lethal and dangerous. was the senator misinformed or looking to score political points? >> must be political points and misinformed. i don't think what committees he sat o but if he was on the intelligence committee, or on foreign affairs or defense, then he would know that this is a very dangerous group, and this is a group that is hell-bent on coming to threaten the homeland. and the president has indicated that anybody that threatens the homeland, no matter where they are, he's going after them. so i know this is campaign season, but clearly he's

misinformed, or he's just playing politics, which we sloont do at this time. >> scott brown also released a new campaign ad today using the isis threat. take a look at this. >> anyone who turns on the tv these days knows we face challenges to our face of life. radical islamic terrorists are threatening to cause the collapse of our country, president obama and senator sha heen seem confused about the nature of the threat. not me. >> michelle, it seems that this is in the political season being used. >> this is an advantage of not being in office. you don't actually have to say what you would do. instead if you notice, this ad is extremely vague in terms of how this former senator sees the nature of the threat. so this is not the first time that this sort of thing -- bill clinton was accused of bombing places because he wanted to draw attention away from his problems at home. this is what we do during

political seasons. >> -- generally on board with the president's strategy. one poll found 71% support air strikes against isis. the targets in iraq of isis. 69% support air strikes in syria. but only 39% want to use ground troops. if the president stays on his current course will the american people support his plan? >> i think the american people will. but more importantly, congress needs to go back to washington and we need to vote and have this debate in front of the american people so we can give him the further authorization that he needs to do whatly h lh to do. we left washington without doing what our mandate in the constitution says. i said secretary of state kerry, would the administration work with us to come up with a new resolution to give the president the authority he needs? and he said he's ready to do it. >> so let me get this right.

you think there should be a vote in the congress authorizing the president to use force. because not everyone agrees in congress. >> i think there should be. we need to be on the record. that's a part of our jobs. the administration would love to have us come and vote to give him this authority, so individuals can't play politics and wait and see what's going on and then try to jump on one side or the other. it's within congress's purview to say where we are. i think we should be in washington d.c. and we should have a vote on giving the president that authority. >> now, you're very strong, but michelle, congressman meeks from south jamaica, there are some lawmakers that don't want to go on the record, wouldn't you think? >> it's always a skittish situation when you actually have to come out and say what you're for, as opposed to what you're against. this way if you're on the record you can't come back later and say, oh, this was a terrible decision. so it's always risky, but i do think that on the poll it would

be a good thing if they had to put down a marker on where they stoon stood. >> as the campaigns get closer to election day, won't this be an unavoidable issue, where you vote in washington or not, won't people have to take stand, especially those who are c campaigni campaigni campaigning? >> i would agree with you. their constituents need to know how they would vote. are they supporting the president or are they not? do they want troops on the ground, or do they not? do twhey want to follow the president's plan or not? the american people need to know and that's a direct campaign issue that will take place before the november elections. >> thank you both for your time tonight. coming up, new strikes in syria today. we go live to the pentagon. and president obama meets with leaders from the arab coalition,

fighting isis. what is the reaction in the region? nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel is on the border. he joins me next. i will light up every room i walk into. olay presents the regenerist luminous collection. renews surface cells to even skin tone. in just two weeks, see pearlescent, luminous skin. regenerist luminous. olay. your best beautiful. i will always be brilliant, never dull. new olay regenerist luminous facial oil. with 9 lightweight oils that seal in moisture for luminous skin day or night. the perfect accessory to your luminous collection. olay. your best beautiful. wouldn't it be great if hiring plumbers, carpenters shopping online is as easy as it gets. and even piano tuners were just as simple? thanks to angie's list, now it is. we've made hiring anyone from a handyman to a dog walker as simple as a few clicks. buy their services directly at angieslist.com no more calling around. no more hassles.

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embolden home-grown terrorists. officials say they don't have anything specific, but they say air strikes in syria may have disrupted planned attacks. joining us now from the syria-turkey border is nbc's chief foreign correspondent, richard engel. thanks for joining me, richard. >> it's a pleasure. i think some of this terror alert is worried about any kind of reciprocity. will there be reprisals? these attacks, these air strikes were telegraphed. the administration not only said that they were coming. it went all around the world talking to arab leaders, trying to determine when they would happen, which countries were participating. so if you're a terrorist group, you've had plenty of time to plan a response. the specific thing, the specific plot that the u.s. is talking about potentially having disrupted goes to this group,

the khorasan group, and u.s. intelligence officials actually for several weeks now have been talking about this group. it's an al qaeda group, located in syria. it is not part of isis. it's an independent group that operates along with many other extremist groups inside syria. and this al qaeda franchise has a particular interest like al qaeda groups generally do in targeting aviation. and according to u.s. intelligence, this group was actively looking at a plot to attack american aircraft, and that is a reason that is being given by u.s. officials as to why it was attacked, along with isis. >> now, what's the reaction to these air strikes in the arab nations today? >> i would say it's mixed. the arab governments that are taking part, the arab states

like qatar, like saudi arabia, like jordan in particular, that worry that isis and other extremist groups are going to break out of syria, like they broke into iraq earlier this summer, and spread across the middle east, they welcome this operation. they're taking part in it. but the arab world, the arab street is far more skeptical. what they see yet again is an american-led coalition attacking a muslim country. and whatever the reasons may be, there are many people in this part of the world who are deeply skeptical when you hear that framework, no matter what the target is. so there are a lot of people who don't think it's going to work, think that the u.s. is getting sucked into a quagmire and that once again the united states is dropping bombs in the muslim world. >> you mentioned how isis always had global ambitions. what does this strike do for that?

>> well, in two senses, it gives them an international platform. if the strikes are effective, yes, it does harm isis. but now, this group which, even a couple of years ago didn't exist, is now on the world stage, the u.s. has declared war against it, and it builds their franchise. it builds their credibility. you're going to see people who don't want to see the u.s. engaged in any kind of military action in the islamic world now rallying behind isis even though they think this group's actions might be reprehensible. so, having the u.s. as your enemy in this neighborhood, can do a lot to boast your reputation. >> now, what happens after the bombings? what about the syrian rebels the u.s. wants to arm? >> reporter: i'm very skeptical

about what happens after the bombings. this is an ungoverned space, about the size of maryland. spans the border between iraq and syria. this idea that the rebels are going to just move in and fight isis. by the way, the rebels think they're fighting against assad and hezbollah and iran, who are the main power players. the u.s. ignores those three players entirely, which is a major gap. but the idea that this moderate rebel movement is going to go in and establish authority and clean up the mess, i think is somewhere between slim to none. and i think what is revealing, just today you asked about the reaction and you were questioning the different alliances here and the complicated motivations that people have in the middle east, especially when it comes to u.s. air strikes. one of the founding members of the moderate rebel movement,

riyadh al assad today on his twitter account denounced the air strikes. he was one of the biggest u.s. allies and said this was just like the american invasion in iraq against saddam hussein and said this would lead to catastrophe. this is a leader of the moderate rebels who we are supposed to be helping. >> wow. richard engel, thanks so much for your time. >> this is a quagmire, a real mess. >> thank you, though. coming up, where is this bombing campaign going and what happens next? we're live at the pentagon, next. ♪ mmm mmm mmm mm mmm mm mmmmmm here we go, here we go, here we go. ♪ fifty omaha set hut ♪ losing feeling in my toes ♪ ♪ nothing beats that new car smell ♪ ♪ chicken parm you taste so good ♪

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we'll give you $150. comcast business built for business. as we have been reporting new u.s. air strikes today, nbc news reporting the military struck two more targets in syria, and another in iraq. the strikes in syria hitting vehicles considered targets of opportunity. joining me now is nbc news chief pentagon correspondent, jim mickula chef ski. thanks for being here tonight. >> you bet, reverend al. >> how long does the pentagon expect the strikes to last? >> i heard you ask richard engel just a few moments ago, what happens when the bombing ends? the bombing is not going to end. what we'll see, there will be an occasional spurt of air strikes like we saw last night, when there are huge targets of

opportunity. or they see some kind of attempt or effort, ability, to take out some isis leadership. but what we're going to get is a daily, steady, drip drip drip of the targets of opportunity that we saw here. couple of vehicles here, a tank there, a weapons depot there. this will go on for some time. officials predict that this campaign to degrade and destroy isis is going to take years. >> now, are sources in the pentagon satisfied with the operation so far? >> with the operation last night, they are. they set out to accomplish what they needed to do, and that is to send a message to isis, to iraq, to the rest of the world, particularly the arab allies in the region, that the u.s. is serious about putting isis in a box, and eventually destroying

isis. that's going to take years, but they felt like they had to make a good impression from the very upstart, which is why they launched this series of strikes overnight. more than 200 weapons were dropped during one strike alone that involved five of the arab allies in the region. the first time the arab allies have even stepped up to support u.s. efforts like this, much less participate in them. so that alone may have been worth the effort. >> now, you reported the air strikes last night did not target isis leadership, because we don't have intelligence resources on the ground in syria. does the pentagon have a plan for getting this intelligence? >> well, as the president said, he pledged to the americans that the u.s. boots were not going to be put on the ground in either iraq or syria. so you're going to have to rely on allies, the peshmerga, iraqi forces, i guess, the free syrian army, which will take years, not

just a year, but years of training and providing weapons before they'll be in any kind of position to really contribute. but the best sources would be some kind of turn coat spies within isis itself to help them identify not only where but when certain isis targets, leadership targets are going to be someplace. and this was brought home when the u.s. special forces landed in syria last july, absolutely convinced that the intelligence said two american hostages were there to be rescued. when they landed, the hostages were gone. >> jim mickula chef ski, we will be right back, thank you very much for your time tonight. >> you bet, reverend al.

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we are joined in this action by our friends and partners. saudi arabia, the united arab emirates, jordan, bahrain, and

qatar. america's proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with these nations on behalf of our common security. the strength of this coalition makes it clear to the world that this is not america's fight alone. >> president obama today making the point that america is not alone, acting in the fight against isis and other terrorists in syria. five arab nations participated in the bombings last night. and the president said over 40 countries have offered to help in the fight against isis. this kind of coalition is important, because it takes time. we don't need the kind of go it alone strategy we've seen in the past, bomb first, ask questions later. that way leads to tragedy. we need a president who is deliberate, who builds alliances, and who takes military action when, and only when the time is right, and the cause is just. those that leap before they look

really don't value the lives of americans. great presidents, real patriots, put priority on the lives and security of americans, over the image of themselves. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. allies. let's play "hardball." ♪ ♪ good evening, i'm chris matthews in war time washington. we're at war right now. the united states is hitting syria with bombers, fighter planes and tomahawk missiles with two air strikes today. five arab countries are joining in the war against isis. the al qaeda faction threatens to put bombs on u.s. or