they have clear the government center, al jazeera's jamie mcintyre live in the pentagon. how significant is retaking of ramadi. >> well, very significant. they're congratulating the iraqi security force on what is an apparent victory with the help of the united states with a lot of u.s. equipment and u.s. training. you may carl back when are a plaid di fell in may ash carter blamed part of it on the lack of will from. well, today when i spoke to u.s. military spokesman corner steve warren in baghdad, he credited that will to fight and the ability to fight for today's victory. >> well, tenacity, the iraqis stuck with it. the majority of forces participated in this battle were craned by american and coalition trainers. they've been equipped with american and u.s. provided equipment, and the devastating this coalition has been able to bring to bear recently has really helped crush this enemy. >> now, with regard to that air power colonel warren said to the u.s. and coalition partners conducted more than 2,000 airstrikes in and around ramadi over the past six months and kille

al jazeera's jamie mcintyre has more from the pentagon. >> reporter: in afghanistan's southern helmand fighting is intense as taliban claims success in capturing the police headquarters, government buildings. the government says it left afghan soldiers and citizens begging for food. like the attack killing half-a-dozen troops outside bagram air base, it's more evidence that the taliban is back. >> kabul has been the focus of what the pentagon calls high profile attacks. and it counts the deadly motorcycle suicide bombing as the 29th such attack by the taliban in or around the afghan capital since the beginning of the year, a 27% increase over the same period last year. at the same time the taliban has shown that it can take key terrain outside of its traditional stronghold, as it did in late september or early october when it held the northern city of kunduz. >> the taliban's advances in some parts of the country, even if temporary underscores that it's a tough fight and far from over. it's a dynamic fight. >> defense secretary ash carter was in afghanistan to meet with general john ca

al jazeera jamie mcintyre is live at the pentagon, and jamie. ten isil leaders are killed but all eyes are on the one. who was he? >> he was identified as a syrian-based isil leader who the pentagon says has a direct link to the paris attack cell leader. the pentagon claims that they killed him in december in an air strike christmas eve in syria, and they say at the time that they killed him, they believe he was actively planning additional attacks against the west. a pretty startling list released today i'm looking at the list of people killed. all in december, all by air strikes. one on december 7th, two on december 8th, two on december 9th. two on december 10th. ten leaders all together. which indicates by the way, del, that the u.s. has pretty good intelligence of where these people are, because they were not killed by forces on the ground. all were killed by u.s. air strikes. some by drones and some by manned aircraft. >> how big of a blow is this to isil? >> every time we get these reports that an isil leader has been killed, it seems that

military, as al jazeera security correspondent jamie mcintyre reports, women will be able to serve in all combat roll, including elite special forces and combat operations. >> reporter: back in the summer it was beginning to be clear that momentum was lifting the ban on women in combat. >> two women made it through the army school, and the formula was set - keep the standards high. let everyone compete without regards to gender. only the marine corp want an extension. when defense secretary ash carter ruled. he ruled against the marines and for equal opportunity for women. >> today i'm announcing my decision not to make continued exceptions, to proceed with opening all the remaining occupations and positions to women. there'll be no exceptions. >> currently 90% of military jobs are open to women. the other 10%, about 220,000 jobs will be, including front line combat jobs, including infantry, armour, recon and special ops. the elite commando units. now, carter emphasised that equal opportunity does not mean equal representation. many demanding specialities. there may be few if any, but

well, al jazeera's security correspondent jamie mcintyre is live for us at the pentagon.ie, do we have any idea what tak came out of those talks? >> there are two u.s. secretary tears abroad trying to make progress with syria. secretary of state john kerry in moscow meeting with president vladimir putin and his return counterpart sergei lavrov. he's talking about a civil war and the forces of bashar al-assad and the opposition forces on the ground. the thinking is if you can negotiate a cease-fire there, then you can negotiate more on the fight against isil. but first there is that political transition. that's his mission. you heard him praising russia's efforts saying that russia has been a cooperative and constructive partner in that effort. that's diplomatic speak, of course. and the other secretary abroad is secretary ash carter who is on the military track. and of course u.s. and russia are at odds in the bombing campaigns in syria, both having very different agenda there is. carter is trying to get countries in the region to do more. his first stop was turkey. the u

. >> jamie mcintyre, al jazeera, new york. >>> we're learning new details about the couple that carried the mass shooting in san bernardino, california. the fbi saying that they were radicalized at least two years ago, before they started dating. investigators are also looking into an online loan that may have helped cover their funds. they say they received $28,000 in the weeks before the attack. it is unclear what that loan was used for. >>> and authorities focusing on farook's next door neighbor. investigators haven't named him as a suspect, but are keeping a close watch on him. friends think he may have known about a plan in advance. >> he said something along the lines of there are a lot of muslims in our own backyard just ready to go haywire and attack. and we didn't think nothing of it. >>> there is also new information about the attacker's family. his mother is now on the fbi's watch list. investigators say they found shooting round cameras, and empty gopro boxes in her backyard. >>> ash carter -- senators want to know more on the results in the fight against isil. >> as current

al jazeera's national security supports "o" correspondent jamie mcintyre is in washington. jamie, what do you think that the president's message will be? >> you have to wonder if there is any work done in these meetings. the president has assembled his entire national security team, also law enforcement from the state department, everyone, a total of three dozen officials in that room at the pentagon. but the point, of course, is that the pentagon is that the president came to the pentagon supposedly to get a briefing on the latest of isil, something that he gets every day, pretty much. and if you're looking for what he might say afterwards, i think if you look back to what he said five months ago the last time he visited the pentagon and held a similar event, he made some of the kind of talking points that you would expect to hear today. that the fight against isil is not going to be a quick one. it's going to take time and patience. he's going to make the point that isil has lost ground since the last time he got a briefing. he'll again make the argument that in the end i

al jazeera's national secure if i correspondent jamie mcintyre has the story. >> reporter: bisi afterore than two-hour meeting here, president obama's message was essentially this, read my lips, no new strategy. trust me the old one is working. president obama's motorcade left the white house mid-morning, for the short trip across the potomac. the rare pentagon meeting of his entire military and homeland security team was intended to show that defeating isil remains among the president's top priority. afterwards in the pentagon briefing room, obama talked tough but took no questions. >> as we squeeze its heart, we'll make it harder. >> reporter: he offered no new plans just a promise to pursue his current strategy. >> i ordered more actions to intensify our war against isil. >> reporter: that's very similar to what the president said the last time he visited the pentagon. >> indeed we're intensifying our efforts against isil's base in syria. we'll continue to target the oil and gas facilities that fund so much of their operations. >> reporter: that was then. this is now. >> in recent

fragile security in some spots where in other areas there is a risk of further deterioration, jamie mcintyre, al jazeera pentagon. >>> the man charged with helping the couple behind the san bernardino attack is still behind bars this morning. he was denied bail in a california courtroom on monday and judge found him still poses a threat to the public and prosecutors say he bought two guns used to kill 14 people on december second. >>> the schools in new hampshire back open again and closed monday because of that threat, the town's police chief saying the ongoing investigation there did not find credible evidence of an attack and didn't say it was a hoax either and over the weekend the superintendent said they received an e-mail that named two schools and threatened to harm students and staff and the bail hearing is being held today for the woman accused of mowing down thousands on the las vegas strip and 24-year-old charged with one count of murder, 35 others were hurt, her three-year-old daughter was in the car at the time telling investigators she recently became homeless and living out of her car wit

veteran pentagon reporter jamie mcintyre, now national security correspondent for al jazeera america,story earlier this year while he was on special assignment for the newshour. it was produced in partnership with the pulitzer center on crisis reporting. >> man battle stations, missile. spin up all missiles. >> sound the general alarm. >> reporter: if america's strategy of nuclear deterrence ever fails, the beginning of the end might look something like this. the u.s. navy's ballistic missile submarines are all part of the ohio class, named for the first submarine of the design, the u.s.s. ohio. they have only one mission: to lurk silently, deep beneath the ocean, ready to rain nuclear devastation on virtually any target, anywhere, any time on orders of the president. submerged just off the coast of hawaii, the 180-man crew of the u.s.s. pennsylvania demonstrated for the pbs newshour an abridged version of what it practices every week the sub is at sea. the submarine's video screens display only unclassified data. >> we have a verified and correct launch order directing the launch of