ction or confirmation about that, keir? >> reporter: well we want to be incredibly cautious and careful about this for obvious reasons because it is so sensitive and because we are only just hearing about this. as you rightly outlined what we are hearing are reports that isis is saying that an american female hostage has been killed in jordanian air strikes as you rightly say, we have absolutely no confirmation of this. no verification but that is what is being claimed. those air strikes as we understand it or air strikes have continued today by the jordanians. f-16s flying over target that will have been we think, chosen by the u.s. military including we know yesterday around the area of raqqa, which is an isis stronghold in syria.

those airstrikes have in part been because of a real change in mood in jordan after their pilot was killed by isis in that horrific execution where he was burned to death. that is broad public opinion, more in favor of confronting isis and the jordanians are taking advantage of that if you like and continuing to launch these air strikes. as i say, what we are hearing now, andrea are these reports that isis is claiming -- claiming that u.s. american hostage who was held by isis has been killed. again, absolutely no confirmation -- >> and i have evan kohlmann on the phone. i want to advise everyone we are not at this time naming the american woman publicly it has been disclosed she is 26 years old. the white house and the state

department have indicated that. there's no other information about her, her background. we're aware of it but not confirming anything publicly at this point about the 26-year-old aid worker who had been captured in august of 2013. evan, can you tell us anything about the isis report and what they are claiming and your efforts to try to verify the credibility of their claim? >> sure the claim itself appears and it's hard to tell because the main isis chat forum is offline, it appears to come from a legitimate isis media unit. it's a fairly short message. essentially says that continuous raids by the jordanian air force outside the city of raqqa killed this female american hostage. the hostage was identified, her phone numbers were provided and e-mail address and home address provided here in the united

states. the only other form of verification or means of authentication of this message that was provided by the media unit were photos or alleged photos of the location in raqqa in which the supposedly the american hostage was killed during these raids. and the pictures don't really show much other than a building that's been heavily damaged, again in apparent raids. but there isn't any way of really authentic ating whether or not what they are saying is true or not. there's no photo of the hostage. at this point, it's -- they had her phone number e-mail address and her home address but that's not definitive. that information can be culled from the internet. it's a disturbing report. i would have to say we're concerned it may be accurate but it's not 100% yet. >> and it may be accurate that

she was killed but the way she died if she did, cannot be confirmed at all either. >> no no absolutely not. and again, the only thing we see here is that someone apparently had access to her personal information and photographs of what appears to be a partially demolished apartment complex, again, purportedly outside the city of raqqa that was hit during what were described as continuous air strikes by jordanian aircraft. and the photos are marked with the hostage's name but that's not clear -- it's not an indication of anything. >> richard engel joins us now from erbil where he was embedded with peshmerga forces battling isis. what can you tell us? >> reporter: sure, but first a

little bit more on the american woman. it is extremely difficult to get any information out of raqqa, there are no independent reporters there. it's been obvious to everyone what isis has been doing to journalists in raqqa and aid workers as well. it is the stronghold of isis which has been bombed repeatedly by the united states and then bombed most recently by jordanian aircraft. i spoke just a short while ago, just moments ago to a syrian activist and he's hearing from his contacts in raqqa that this american woman was killed. he didn't provide any further evidence. his information is normally reliable but it's very hard to get accurate data of any kind out of raqqa. it is certainly something that is concerning. here in northern iraq we have been traveling with kurdish forces to see how the ground war

is going because air strikes are part of this campaign but every military analyst and military official will tell you that air strikes alone will not turn the tide of the battle and not eliminate isis. we went out with kurdish forces and went to their newest most front line position not far from the mosul dam. while we were there, we saw a very meager base with light weapons, just some berms put up made of sand. and the kurdish fighters were complaining that they are not getting the amount of support they need from the united states. they say they are close american friends. they are in this fight unlike some other ground allies i'm thinking syrian rebels and others. the kurds really are in this fight, yet they are complaining they are not nearly getting the weapons, the training manpower and number of air strikes drone support, almost everything you

could imagine to take the battle forward. >> and richard, i wanted to show our viewers some of your exclusive reporting from that em bed. let's watch it. >> reporter: we joined kurdish fighters in northern iraq, america's closest allies in the war and traveled to their newest front line position just outside moes ulg. the captain explained why he and his men fought so hard to take and hold this ground. this position is from strategic, we control the road from syria, he said. now, we've cut it off. cutting the road means the kurds have severed isis' main supply line between iraq and syria. and isis wants it back. >> there was just an incoming round in this area. luckily it overshot this position and you can see where the soldiers there shall the kurdish fighters are looking at the smoke and there comes in another round. so let's try and find a more

secure area. the kurds fire back to keep back isis. sometimes mortar attacks followed by ambushes. the kurds took this base and have already lost three men holding it. they'll lose many more they say, unless they get a lot more help from washington and soon. >> richard, it's very -- >> there are as you know american military -- go ahead. >> they are really challenging. if you look at the base the vehicles that are put together with slapped on armor, they are running low on ammunition. and there are american advisers military advisers here in erbil and here in kurd. >> stan: the kurdish fighters meet regularly with them and i

can tell you because i've spoken with some american advisers they are very frustrated. they feel they were sent here on a mission to help the kurds and help fight against isis but the weapons aren't coming and there's not a full commitment for a variety of geopolitical reasons that means the weapons and support aren't coming here. >> and just briefly, in terms of the other iraqi forces and whether or not they are even positioned to try to retake mosul, what about the nonpeshmerga forces? >> reporter: that's really what this is all about. we talk about a larger war against isis with a ground international coalition with jordan and the arab world now up in arms after the burning of the pilot. it doesn't really work that way. you have so many different pieces of the puzzle here. the kurds, where we are, they want an independent country.

they want kurdistan, baghdad, which is also fighting against isis sort of not doing a lot of fighting they don't want kurdistan to be an independent country. and the weapons that are supposed to come here are still going through the central baghdad government, even though kurdistan feels it has nothing to do with the government. the u.s. is trying to burn both ends of the candle support the kurds and give them some weapons but not give them enough so that they upset baghdad and give baghdad the impression that the u.s. wants the kurds to break away. so the kurds are getting some of the weapons but not enough so they could arm themselves and break away which leaves the fight against isis hanging in the battle. the iraqi army is still incredibly weak and corrupt. viewed as a shiite militia, they

are backed by iran running the iraqi army, not this unifyied independent army ready to take on isis that is a myth. >> richard engel, with your incredible reporting and unique perspective, thank you very much. now back to jarordan. the queen was in the streets with these large protests and they are showing all of this solidarity and the propaganda efforts frankly by the government on social media to try to show force and unite the country. there we see the woman on the left the very glamorous queen of jordan palestinian by birth, leading the group in the streets on the second day of rallying against isis. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, andrea, the truth is that all

sides in this are in a battle for the support of people on the street in this region. so it's very important to see queen ran ya out there leading those protests and at the same time, i think that throws some light on the news we were reporting at the top of the hour there. i should just tell you, andrea we have since i spoke to you spoken to a jordanian government source who is telling us simply that that source says that they cannot confirm that a u.s. hostage has been killed because they say too, it is simply a claim that is being made by isis. and andrea of course everybody watching will know that isis would be prepared to bend the truth about whether or not that hostage had been killed or about how she had been killed if indeed that was the case. so we are still being very cautious about that really really important piece of news that we are hearing, which is

that isis is claiming. we have no confirmation of it. that a u.s. female hostage has been killed in these jordanian air strikes. >> keir in terms of jordan they are leading air strikes and jordan has a good military and very strong air force. the king himself, 35 year veteran of combat pilot. the case is they are choosing targets that have been selected by central command by the coalition command, i should say in qatar. this is u.s.-led. there were more than 20 u.s. planes flying escort yesterday, surveillance refueling for the jordanian pilots. and the gun camera video was displayed on social media and on jordan television. so they are trying to show their people that they are responding to the horror of the pilot's death. and from interviews that you and others were doing there, it's the way he was killed.

opinion in jordan had been divided about this coalition air strikes against isis. the king did not have the support this unified support until the horror of the burning alive of the jordanian pilot and that is what united this country. >> that's right. the extraordinary thing is that the father of the jordanian pilot who is executed in that horrific way before that video emerged was saying why is jordan getting involved in this fight. this is not our fight. now he is saying yes, we need revenge. we need to take on isis. so there does appear at least for now to have been a significant change in jordanian public opinion, which is helping the king to feel empowered, if you like to get more involved and to have -- to launch more air strikes and be more a part of this coalition. and you make a very important

point that the targets will have been chosen not just by jordan but by the command that sends control and also we're hearing reports that there has been a significant effort to ensure that if a plane should go down if a pilot should go missing again, that that pilot could be rescued to try to prevent any pilot falling into the hands of isis again. so you're right, the jordanians and you could say -- at least for the last few days taking the lead in the air strike. but at the same time it is part of that coalition effort. >> before i let you go we did confirm last night that jordan was investigating whether in fact the pilot had ejected after initially being shot by his wing man. there may have been friendly fire involved. that doesn't have something -- that doesn't say anything about what happened once he was captured, the horror of all of

that. and the other piece is this is that the uae and other key members of the coalition had canceled their flights once he was captured back in december once the jordanian was captured because of their anger at not forward deploying search and rescue units. now the pentagon says that is being rectified and they have moved search and rescue into northern iraq. so there have been a lot of complaints within the coalition about the u.s. not doing enough in case one of the pilots went down. >> right. >> that's right, and why that all is so important, andrea is because clearly every single -- if you like not as much but certainly is a huge part of it. this kind of information where every piece of evidence and piece of reporting and piece of news has an influence over public opinion in this region which is so crucial, public opinion back in the states. it is something that the coalition appears to have been trying to do and u.s. has been

trying to do to try to ensure if a plane went down the pilot would not again fall into the hands of isis and it is also reflects again on the worrying news, unconfirmed that we are hearing because isis as much as any part of this battle knows that everything that it says can have an effect on public opinion. we know that anything that isis claims they will be -- that organization, that group will be thinking about in terms of what effect it can have and trying to win that information more if you like. >> keir simmons, thanks very much. just to recap the breaking news this hour isis has claimed that an american female hostage was killed in an air strike in syria. according to our partners flashpoint intelligence. there is no comment so far from u.s. officials and nbc news has not been able to confirm this claim by isis. in a report distributed on twitter, the group stated that the hostage was buried in the

rubble of a building hit by jordanian aircraft. recently president obama said that the u.s. is deploying all assets to save the hostage in an interview exclusively with nbc's savannah guthrie. nbc news is not naming the hostage at the request of the woman's family. we'll be right back. jack's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today, his doctor has him on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack be sure to talk to your doctor before your begin an aspirin regimen. [ female announcer ] we help make secure financial tomorrows a reality for over 19 million people. [ alex ] transamerica helped provide a lifetime of retirement income. so i can focus on what matters most. [ female announcer ] everyone has a moment when tomorrow becomes real. transamerica.

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and as we continue to follow the disturbing breaking news of isis claims unconfirmed by us susan rice is outlining today what the white house is calling a new national security strategy. critics are asking what's new? even worse, what strategy? nbc news political director moderator of "meet the press," chuck todd joins me. a lot happening today. a new national security strategy from susan rice coming up at

1:00 supposed to be delivering that. we've got merkel and hollande in moscow trying to persuade vladimir putin to take the off ramp and not continue escalating what he has as of yesterday denied are russian-backed separatists, which the ukrainians say are russian regulars taking more and more territory. u.s. secretary kerry in munich at this security conference vice president biden in brussels demanding that russia step back. and the threat that the u.s. was going to start giving defensive arms to ukraine which merkel and hollande say was a mistake because it would only escalate. >> and of course the reports about this american 26-year-old american woman at the request of the family and the white house in the state department we have not named her and gone into her background. she's an aid worker captive a year and a half almost. the claims by isis that she was

killed and they claim killed by coalition forces yesterday. >> andrea do you feel you're getting deja vu for almost a year solid this has been a two-front challenge for this administration that they've yet to get their arms around. before it was syria and now it's isis overtaking the syria problem. it's then containing russia and they've tried different tactics. the frustrating thing is that tactically they thought -- the sanctions against russia have worked. but they haven't worked right? they didn't change his behavior. you can't say the policy worked but they had the intended impact and it's not changing his behalf yor. >> partly because they did not and the drop in oil prices and because they misunderstand vladimir putin. >> that's the thing. they had believed up until about three or four months ago --

>> let's go the state department briefly. >> we cannot confirm them. >> do you know if the woman in question is alive still? >> we're not going to get into specifics about americans being held overseas for privacy of them, their families and obviously as can imagine these are sensitive situations. >> is it your belief they were holding an american woman -- >> there are a number of americans being held overseas including so by the islamic state. i'm not going to get into further details than that. i will say broadly that secretary kerry, our team in this building across the u.s. government are putting every effort behind finding any americans being held overseas, every intelligence tool. the secretary has reached out to four dozen countries about americans being held overseas to trial to bring the people home. >> lastly, have you asked the

jordanians for any more information about this specific strike? >> i can check for that. i'm not sure. we don't have any way to corroborate this information. the secretary throughout his time here has been heavily involved diplomatically with our partners around the region. anyone who can help us locate and bring home any american being held. >> can you comment on reports that allege that the jordanian pilot kaseasbeh was shot down by his wing man, causing them to pull out right away? >> well, jordanian authorities continue to work through their response to the savage murder of their pilot. it would be inappropriate to discuss certain details of that investigation. >> i'm not talking about the murder of the pilot -- >> investigate the incident. >> talking about the state department clearly not going to respond to these early reports, which we hope are not confirmed xbl that's right, they have to

confirm and if they do they are not going to go public until they talked to the family. >> and the family has been very involved with them. this family has been reassured by the work of the white house but other hostage families whom i have interviewed here have been very unhappy about the way the fbi, the way the state department and white house have handled this because they feel we should be negotiating for our hostages the way european hostages have survived. >> there are private entities in the country that are doing that and private citizens that are serving and trying to step in and be negotiators in this. but this is something the obama administration has been very firm on in getting negotiations but you wonder if this policy is really that effective, the other european governments do negotiate and as long as they are negotiated how does that impact the american politics? >> savannah guthrie asked the president about this and he talked about this in the interview last week on sunday

where he said we're doing everything we can. but there's very little we can do in terms of not even knowing where this many would was being held. >> especially if we're talking if they are holding them in parts of syria. we have much less -- if this were happening in iraq we would have much better idea on the ground. we have very limited, you know limited resources in dealing with iraq. this is the challenge and why the susan rice speech -- this is an annual speech that the national security adviser gives but laying out -- but this is a much different -- >> is there something new in the policy i'm missing here? >> we're going to find out. i thought david ignatius when he said it's time that america act like a super power again, in some form or another, and he didn't say it this way, i say it another way, you do get the sense that there is a form of iraq war syndrome that has impacted the administration here where are they doing everything they want to do or are they only

doing what they think they can do under the circumstances just because of the way the iraq war was impacted so much of the political psyche and their own psyche. >> and the way barack obama came to the white house. >> that's right. >> importantly wanting to get out of two wars some would argue -- >> how much does that drive decision-making even sub consciously you can't help but wonder and say to yourself how would they be handling this if iraq war weren't in our background? would there be a more aggressive push, would there be more comfort in doing different things different ways but that's certainly part of the challenge. >> what david ignatius wrote in part fortune blesses strong nations but only when they act with resolve. squandering america's real advantage to gain short term diplomatic success would be a big mistake. david ignatius in the "washington post" today. let's talk about israel. we have reports from dan williams of reuters that someone in the foreign ministry maybe the deputy more than minister --

>> on the israeli side. >> out of jerusalem today suggested that john boehner, the speaker of the house, had somehow misled prime minister netanyahu into thinking that democrats in congress as well as the republicans were supporting this speech controversial speech to the joint meeting. and what happened when the israeli ambassador met with democrats this week including jewish democrats who have been very supportive of israel and others, he found the democrats were in fact furious about this -- >> putting them in this position. >> feeling they were getting dragged into israeli politics. two weeks before the election he shouldn't be coming here. they didn't tell the white house or state department something israel denies. but this is becoming a big mess. still say that the prime minister is not going to change his mind. >> but you do get the since when you hear something like that are they looking for a way out? are they looking for an excuse to sort of back off of this?

a reminder some of these things when it comes to diplomatic spats like this i feel i learned all politics is local to that country. if netanyahu feels as if he needs to be in america to help his re-election, he'll be here. if suddenly he feels he doesn't, he won't be here. that's what will happen. >> and the controversy over it is more of an american controversy because back in israel they are talking about another alleged scandal involving spending by the prime minister's wife. it's a completely different -- >> and by the way, this is -- there's a little -- >> upset about another group that they say that have connections to obama too. there is some -- >> the state department funding. >> there is some of this has been inserted. it's kind of a mess for sure. >> speaking of a mess there's a lot to talk about on sunday on "meet the press." >> we'll have john kerry and we're going fresh off of their announcement what the national security strategy is going to look like with susan rice we'll

have america's cheap diplomat as you note traveling all week. ukraine, munich and there's a lot on the plate. if i hope -- i hope to get to at least ukraine and isis and iran. i could argue there's a lot more to get to than that. >> as we speak, he's been meeting with iran's foreign minister right now in munich. so you have a lot more. >> we'll try for a second hour. >> just to recap on a very serious note we do not know whether the claims of isis are any any way true that a 26-year-old american woman, an aid worker who is held hostage since 2013 somewhere in isis territory has been killed. isis in addition on twitter claiming that she died as the result of a coalition led by jordanian pilots an air strike yesterday. but we don't know whether she is still alive or second of all, how she did die if he is dead. we're not disclosing her name at the request of her family and

white house and state department. we'll have more coming up. we'll be back after these messages.

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and to recap our breaking news this hour there are reports from isis claims that have not been verified by anybody in the official -- anybody at the white house, state department or any other agencies that the american woman, a 26-year-old aid worker has been killed. they claim she was killed by a coalition air strike yesterday. we don't know whether or not she is alive and we don't know if she has been killed how she's been killed. nbc chief pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski joins me now. mik, i'm sure they are working overtime trying to figure this out. >> senior defense official tells us that the entire intel community in dod, military and entire u.s. government lit up at the first word from isis that the female hostage had somehow

been killed. now, nobody is buying into the idea yet that they were killed by a u.s. air strike and in fact, they pointed out in the past the only way we really had any confirmation of these killings has been through isis videos of the brutal deaths of so many of these hostages now. and so that most likely would be the first confirmation that the u.s. government could get. then they warn too that it would be almost impossible to tell if a victim whether it's this american female hostage or not, if a victim had been killed in an air strike because as you pointed out earlier, andrea isis is so expert now at video stage craft. they could easily stage a scene to make it appear that somebody had been killed in an air strike. but that is inconsequential. the information they are seeking now was this american woman in

fact killed at either the hands of isis or by some our means? so far, andrea everybody is coming up blank. >> let me just recap part of the story is that isis up until today had never even mentioned they were holding her. she had never been paraded with any of the other hostages and that was giving some hope to u.s. officials that perhaps she was alive, that she was somewhere else and traded. there was hope also that there was some religious prohibition or cultural prohibition against killing a woman. >> i can tell you, right, exactly, we've talked to many experts in the field, not only of terrorism, but in islam, and so far it has not been isis' m.o. to actually execute women. now, in many cases they have abused women. they've taken them hostage,

married them off to some of their friends and many other ways. but so far, there's no indication that isis has actually carried out the execution of a woman. but nobody here is under the illusion that they wouldn't do it if it thought it fit their propaganda purpose. and of course as you point out, there's no way in isis territory that anyone would be able to do any kind of bomb damage assessment on the ground. >> that's exactly right. >> of one of these strikes. >> this one is going to be difficult. >> thank you so much, jim miklaszewski at the pentagon. kristen welker joins me from the white house. kristen, the president has a busy schedule today as well as of course the national security adviser susan rice. >> absolutely andrea, president obama heading to indianapolis as we speak. white house officials, national security officials working to confirm those reports. white house press secretary josh earnest will hold a gaggle a briefing with reporters aboard

air force one. we expect that to get under way any minute now. we'll be listening closely to see if he has any type of reaction to this. but at this point u.s. officials as mik just said unable to confirm those reports that the female american hostage was killed. now, this comes as national security adviser susan rice in less than an hour from now is going to unveil president obama's national security strategy moving forward over these next two years and of course that will include a large focus on defeating isis. andrea just yesterday, the united states signed a new memorandum, new security agreement with jordan to essentially join together in terms of air strikes and strategy to combat isis. now, president obama we anticipate in the coming days will seek authorization from congress to move forward with his campaign against isis a lot

of sticking points there, andrea andrea, in terms of the length of time and scope of this conflict and whether or not the language of that aumf should include a prohibition of putting u.s. ground troops into on the ground there in the middle east and president obama has been insistent he's not going to do that. so a lot of moving parts here as the addsministration works to confirm those reports. >> kristen, as you know the white house claimed all along they had the authority from the past post 9/11 wars in iraq and afghanistan, to do what they are doing against isis. then they conceded that they needed another authorization for force, but now the issue is for how long and what should be in it. democrats do not want it to include boots on the ground. john mccain and other republican leaders want it to be more explicit and more long term. nancy pelosi said yesterday they were thinking on the hill that it would be for about three years.

>> that's right, and we're told that final language is still being worked out. but that is the key point here andrea, you have a lot of republicans calling for a more expansive aumf and democrats calling for it to be more limited in scope. again, they want that provision that would prohibit the president from putting u.s. combat forces on the ground. secretary of state john kerry by the way several months ago said the administration didn't necessarily support that because that would essentially tie the president's hands if this conflict were to change scope or if u.s. combat forces were needed elsewhere. that is one of the key sticking points and i think you use the term the scope of this aumf that is really where the debate is centering as the white house lawmakers are trying to hammer out the final language the final details of that authorization of use of force. >> andrea? >> thank you so much kristen welker. we're all closely following this. isis claim, not confirmed by nbc news or msnbc, that the

26-year-old american woman we know has been held captive by isis since august of 2013 has been killed. isis also claiming that she was killed in a coalition air strike yesterday. none of this has been verified and this is first mention of isis of this american woman. never mentioned in any other claims about the hostages they've been holding. we'll be back with more in a moment. well, did you know words really can hurt you? what...? jesse don't go! jesse...no! i'm sorry daisy, but i'm a loner. and a loner gotta be alone. heee yawww! geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. jesse?

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and joining me now is nbc foreign correspondent ayman mohyeldin in new york and senior analyst flashpoint global partners joining us by phone. first to you, let's talk about what we know from this isis claim, the claim on twitter, we are not naming the american woman at the request of the family and the u.s. at the white house and state department but we know isis is claiming that she has died. this is the first time to my

knowledge that they have even mentioned to her. they gave name rank and serial number. all of her personal data but in all of these hostage videos over the past year and a half since she was held since august of 2013, they had never claimed her and never beparaded her and this was a cause of some encouragement to u.s. officials. >> indeed the hostage was never acknowledged by the islamic state and never named throughout the last year and a half. u.s. officials and others have mentioned that she might be held captive in syria, when she was allegedly kidnapped alongside -- but the group has never acknowledged it has been holding an american female hostage in its stronghold in syria. this is the first time they acknowledge that they did. >> ayman, what can you tell us

about the possibility of this american woman and what we hoped would be a coalition against executing a woman and certainly you know what could have happened to her, plus the claim which could be a complete fictitious claim that if she did die, died in a coalition strike and no way that the u.s. could prove that. >> well i tend to believe that isis hasn't shown any kind of humanity or any kind of compassion in anything they have done. certainly the fact that she wasn't paraded or the fact she wasn't used in any propaganda material that isis puts out may have led u.s. officials to be treated well but we shouldn't forget what type of group this is and what they've done in the past and what they continue to do and how they treat other women, other women that they have taken in their captivity.

we know that president obama addressed this at the national prayer breakfast saying isis has raped women and they used them in the past as prisoners of war. the track record of this organization should not be in any way shape or form somewhat muted by the fact that they have not paraded her and not used her in the propaganda material. in terms of the claims at this stage it's impossible to know. as we were hearing from jim at the pentagon certainly the u.s. intelligence and i'm sure other intelligence assets on the ground including jordanians who have a robust gathering system are trying to determine exactly who was and if this claim -- who was behind this claim and if this claim was in fact true or can be substantiated with any kind of intelligence or evidence. >> the fact they put her personal information on the internet, all of that was available. we are not naming her because the family felt very strongly if -- keeping a low profile and

not discussing her case was the best way to try to preserve her life. that was their only hope frankly. but at this stage, there's no way to prove or disprove any kind of isis claim. how much of this is isis trying to respond to the very unified aggressive military response we've seen out of amman. >> there's no doubt that one of the things that isis has demonstrated time and time again and more recently with the video of the killing of that jordanian pilot, is there trying to exploit fractures between the alliance. they are constantly trying to make every member of the coalition second guess their participation, they are sending messages very clear to jordanians and addressing statements in arabic sometimes and play up the fact that the united states and jordan have a very close military working relationship as well as very close political alliance. so from that perspective,

there's no doubt that isis' claim right now and we have to emphasize it hasn't been substantiated. if proven true or if by all measures believed to be true at that point yes, you can make the argument that isis is trying to exploit between jordan and united states for the propaganda purposes. we've seen this time and time again, not just with jordan but united arab emirates and others involved in the coalition. >> steve, i know you were involved in a lot of conversations in washington not just this week but in the past about this american hostage. we are not naming her. we've been keeping a very low profile at the family request but in terms of the new isis claim and keir simmons is also with us from amman. what do we know about isis and

its first of all its approach to this hostage and others? >> well i think what was interesting about this particular hostage is that this person's identity was kept unrevealed, was kept in the background for a long period of time. both they and we have known who she was and her situation and she was not paraded in the way that others were. and i think it's very important as you have been saying that these are unsubstantiated claims by isis, this could be a propaganda ploy we have heard other rumors about her potential situation that do not correlate with what we're hearing from isis right now. so there is room for doubt in this and i hope there is doubt and i hope that what they've released is not true. i also think the other element here you just said andrea it is unprecedented that there would be an execution of a killing of

a woman hostage. i think we need to begin to think that those things that we think are unprecedented are becoming precedented and we need to begin thinking about isis as a -- i think the term death cult is appropriate, that they are ratchetting up the form of spectacular crimes they are committing in an attention-getting way. it's very disturbing. but i think that with regards to this particular hostage, it is -- it would be a great tragedy. i should just leave it there for a moment. and just simply say that i think as ayman mohyeldin just said isis is now becoming a tactically significant and trying to push pressure points between allies and governments in the street that they represent, the way people feel about their exposure on these things. i think that what happened with the jordanian pilot may have back fired on isis the other day but each one of these hostages

all of them taken, paraded and killed in whichever way they are, are creating fractures in society and isis thinks it's creating a higher and higher price for societies that are engaged in the war against it. that's what this is designed to do, make us doubt our own resolve and the resolve of other countries in this alliance trying to challenge it. >> and in fact keir simmons in amman, this is directed right against jordan because jordan and the rest of the arab world rallied against isis after this burning alive of the jordanian pilot. one of the responses was to killed a woman, kill a woman prisoner the would be suicide bomber held on death row since 2005. there any sense of weakening from jordan? i don't see it but you're there. >> reporter: there hasn't been all day today clearly it's now

evening now, andrea so we are not able to take measure of public opinion. but there have been protests here thousands of people in the streets in support of the attacks on isis. jordanians coming out on the streets saying we back our governments. >> to a greater extent. we have managed to speak to one source in the jordanian government who tells us as you would expect that they have no confirmation of this isis claim that a u.s. female hostage has been killed. i should share with you, andrea cautiously, one other contact that we have had this evening. we did reach out to activists in the raqqa area and i should say that of course claims like this that aren't true can still spread and be claimed to be true by others. but these activists we reached out to say that they believe that it is the case that this

hostage has been killed. they may just be repeating the claims that isis is making and we want to be absolutely clear that these are just claims that isis is making and they have not been corroborated by nbc news or confirmed. of course, we want to be very careful and cautious because the family that are waiting for news, the angst they must be going through is unimaginable. >> thanks to you keir and kristen welker is he at the white house speaking to the national security council. >> they still can't confirm the reports but we're getting first reaction bernadette meehan telling me we're obviously deeply concerned by these reports, we have not yet at this time seen any evidence that corroborates isil's claim and that is what the administration calls isis. president obama currently heading to indianapolis. he has an event there where

he'll be talking about the economy. but deputy press secretary eric shultz will brief reporters aboard air force one and undoubtedly there will be a lot of questions about this but no confirmation from the administration yet. >> we can only hope. kristen welker thank you. steve and evan kohl mann, the whole team. that does it for us continuing coverage, of course after this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." keep watching msnbc for updates on the reports, unconfirmed of the death of an american woman hostage. ronan farrow daily is next on breaking news that isis claims the american hostage is killed and claim in a coalition air strike in syria. we'll be back in a moment. it's a fact. kind of like shopping hungry equals overshopping.

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isis' claims that an american hostage has been killed in an air strike. isis is claiming the female hostage died in a jordanian air strike near raqqa. we're not identifying the woman in all of our reporting today, that's at the family's request. here's marie harf at the state department. >> i cannot confirm those reports in any way. people are looking into them but can not confirm them. >> today jordan launched a second round of strikes on isis in retaliation for the murder of their pilot. a military offense named in honor of that man. thousands were on the streets and led by queen ran ya holding pictures of their fallen pilot. joining me on the phone, evan kohlmann, i want to start with you and what we know about this claim