al-abadi: ladies and gentlemen, we are having a huge talents and a rock. we have succeeded in combating daesh on the ground. the area we have liberated so far is more than half of what was expected by daesh before. now, we have almost all -- liberated from daesh, apart from two locations. we intend, this year, to make it the final year, and the last year for the existing of daesh iraq. the task which is facing us is cripple his asian and the reconstruction of the areas which have been damaged by daesh. this is a huge task, at a time when oil income has dropped drastically. it is, at the moment, -- [indiscernible] of what it was two years ago. which is a huge drop in a country where the budget relies 90% on oil. we have managed, during the 2015, where oil prices were also very low, they dropped to something like a third to what it was before, but we managed the country. we manage the most successful -- 2015. and ramadi, tikrit as well. some people say, ramadi was lost in 2015, and regained in 2015, and in actual fact, we lost a small area of ramadi, but we

now, to get to maliki and abadi, again, maliki had a lot of traits that contributed to the the rise ofisis and the alienation of the sunni arabs and, to some degree, the kurds. but as a relatively strong leader, he would at times stand up to the iranians. and i always got the feeling -- and it was a good feeling, ironically -- that he was trying to play us americans and the iranians off and balance each other. prime minister abadi is a man who is sympathetic to the united states, sympathetic to the west but also an iraqi patriot, and he has to be aware of what's happening in his coalition, the shia coalition, and what's happening in his country. and he's in a different position than maliki was five years ago. >> could i just add something to that? >> yeah, of course. >> to be a little provocative here, jim touched on the iran/iraq war, something little remembered in this country never to be forgotten in either iran or iraq. you look at key figures in iran today like sulemani, he was commissioned just before the war started and went through the whole eight years of it, seven of them on

now, to get to maliki and abadi, again, maliki had a lot of traits that contributed to the rise of isis and the alienation of the sunni arabs, and to some degree, the kurds. but as a relatively strong leader, he would at times stand up to the iranians. and i always got the feeling -- and it was a good feeling, ironically -- that he was trying to play us americans and the iranians off and balance each other. prime minister abadi is a man who is sympathetic to the united states, sympathetic to the west, but also an iraqi patriot, and he has to be aware of what's happening in his coalition, the shia coalition, and what's happening in his country. and he's in a different position than maliki was five years ago. >> could i just add something? >> yeah, of course. >> to be a little provocative here, jim touched on the iran/iraq war, something little remembered in this country, never to be forgotten in either iran or iraq. you look at key figures in iran today, like seoul mannie. he was commissioned just before the war started and went through the whole eight years of it, seven of them on or ne

and it's a huge concern for prime minister abadi. prime minister abadi said publicly if iran is operating a militia on iranian soil, that would be a hostile act. he's clear about that. the government of iraq has acted. there were reports of shia militia province. prime minister abadi went to the site twice and just last week they've arrested nine individuals from some of these militias as part of that investigation. so this is a serious problem, something we're focused on all of the time. but we don't want to paint all of these volunteers, many of them who are shia, with the same brush. that simply wouldn't be true. >> what about in anbar province. advances in places like ramadi. my understanding is that is powered a lot by shia forces including the iranian-backed forces. what are you going to empower the sunni tribal forces and the sunni tribal elders because it seems to me that driving isis out of places like ramadi is obviously something that's desirable but the notion that those sunni arabs are going to be happy living under a go

a we have full support for new government in iraq and prime minister abadi. wilts full support from the governor of anbar province and are working closely with us. we have two platforms. we work everyday with iraqi security forces and these tribal fighters to get them in the fight. they are making real gains. they are moving on offense, doing operations. it's moving the right way. >> final question will be with respect to the kurds and i think a lot of my colleagues, i share the view that i think they are pro-american forces that we should be supporting. but turkey does not accept of the action of a lot of the kurds. there's problems there so you have one of our nato partners essentially opposes some of our battlefield allies. and so can you address of the conflict of their between turkey and some of the kurdish fighters? >> let me first say, turkey faces a real threat from the pkk. we have to recognize that, that this conflict between turkey and the pkk which put up again over the summer began, run the timeline when the pkk killed a number of turkish police

al-abadi: ladies and gentlemen, we are having a huge talents and a rock. we have succeeded in combating daesh on the ground. the area we have liberated so far is more than half of what was expected by daesh before. now, we have almost all -- liberated from daesh, apart from two locations. we intend, this year, to make it the final year, and the last year for the existing of daesh iraq.

intentions, cannot say same about prime minister abadi.s a weak central government to really go about beginning to confront armed actors, many of whom have quite clearly got political ambitions echoed reflecting on that time, 2008, march and april, thinking about an event in basra, much deploy iraqiort to forces into basra to bring order. prime minister had to withdraw. pretty stark contrast between 2008 and now. thing, what we tried to do, don't get trapped by experience. this and that happens, therefore it would apply everywhere else. really hard. lebanon. years in two tours. second as ambassador. i see parallels. lebanon andlace in what is going on in iraq. weak central governments. iran playing a very significant role. anyone who thought that iran nuclear deal was going to bring a new era of a gentle iran in the region is nuts. what you are saying in iraq or syria is indication of that. iraq, isare seeing in old iranian playbook. written in the early 80's and the wake of israeli invasion. working with syria, they created what became he

al-abadi: we submitted this law from the government to the parliament last year. we have waited two months for parliament to approve it, and they did not. there were some differences among political blocs. i cannot wait. i have started a new process of relying on local police. that is why we are training. that is what happened in ramadi. local police units work together with our other units. to get into the city, and most of the units have withdrawn from inside of the locations and handed the areas back over to local police. we have managed to change the view of these police units. and they're capable of holding the city. i think this is a solution. the solution is local. locals along to the local police. this is an imperative which we had to find out because the law has stalled, and in actual fact, cannot have that bypass. that is there, and we are working very hard on it. thank you. >> thank you much, mr. prime minister. [applause] announcer: news reports say u.s. supreme court justice antonin scalia was found dead early today and a west texas ranch. he was a gu

the prime minister there is hyder al abadi said that the operation will begin some time in the firstof the year. er they are supported by u.s. airstrikes, and they have already claimed ramadi back in december where isil was in charge. >> back here texas is getting ready for a severe winter storm this morning. we want to get to that with nicole mitchell. >> meteorologist: to qualify, we're still in winter, and these are severe storms in terms of hail and possible toned. this is a storm system moving across the southern tier of the country. we have a little snow and pulling through the rockies, mostly minor spots of that. but what we've had is this front that clears through the east coast as well, changing some of those temperatures back behind that there is definitely a boundary hanging through the south. that already to pull off these showers anywhere in portions of georgia all the way to texas. and some of that will be heavier rain through the course of the day. as all of this continues to develop on the backside of the stronger area of low pressure will develop and pull its way thr

so i believe the military sit down for the abadi government will add a lot of pressure to its co-existence to other sunni groups in the north of iraq. the other important things, this actual attack, suicidal astack coincide with the preparation to liberate mosul from the islamic state. it seems the iraqi government is not capable of mobilizing the sunni groups to take back from the islamic state. it is raising a lot of question marks about the real efforts i mean the efficiency of the iraqi army to first counter terrorism, second, to actually kick out the islamic state from mosul and other cities in iraq. >> be editor in chief of el rayun, thank you very much for joining us. >> welcome. >> warning people living downstream from the mosul dam to be ready to evacuate. there is a worry of collapse, with no warning, killing 1.5 iraqis living along the tigris river. mosul is under the control much i.s.i.l. but the dam was recaptured by iraqi informs in august 2014. >>> a u.n. aid convoy has reached one of several besieged towns in syria. dozens of trucks have arrived near the syrian capital, the

prime minister abadi is holding a meeting with security officials to discuss the assault.eanwhile, iraqi military forces have also been attacked by isil fighters across country. several policemen were kidnapped by the group in abu ghraib west of baghdad. a nearby village was raided by fighters. according to 34i89 forces. both areas are under isil control and 18 policemen were killed during an isil assault on a military barracks near fallujah. wa w wal /*. >> two explosions happened, in a very busy market. the first explosion was a motorcycle filled with explosion. it was followed by another explosion when a suicide -- wearing a suicide vest blew himself up inside the gathering of people. they were just trying to help. the people whom were killed and injured in the first explosion. this explosion happened in a majority shia area subjected to security measures. it is seen all of these security measures have not been enough to prevent this explosion from happening. isil called responsibility for this explosion. police expected that from the beginning. it was clear thattis ill

one reason is very good cooperation of prime minister abadi. the local sunni leaders in these areas to take charge through the coalition, we have the stabilization fund about $80 million now to find these products. so tikrit is a proof of cons that that worked pretty well. and we are going do the same thing and run my day. they finished a few weeks ago. there are still some ago. there is still something fun going ago. there is still something fun going, but now we're focused on the stabilization of peace, trying to get people back into their homes and most importantly ieds out of the and out of homes. the governor of kandahar province and the governor. every second or third home is wired with ieds. to get people back, we have to get the de-mining teams then. iraqi but also the period the prime minister of norway will be here later to say that the local role and will be talking about that. setting up the commission for money to get the stabilization of the party started. we have about 36 electricity generators come in with about 150 mark coming

the current prime minister abadi does govern in a multi-sectarian way. he says that, he tells us that, he take him at his word and, now, he halls challenges governing in baghdad because there are these three factions, but we work with him to work with all three of those factions. that's the way to go in iraq because the alternative which is sectarian division, we know where that leads. >> rose: while we're in that region, let's talk about the iranians. what is their goal in iraq and syria and how much of a participation are shia militia and iranian militia participating in the war in iraq and hezbollah supported by iran participating in syria? >> well, iran seeks to expand its regional influence in all kinds of ways -- iraq, syria you've seen them in yemen, you've seen them in lebanon -- and that's a serious concern to us. it's one of the other major commitments we have in the middle east in addition to the defeat of i.s.i.l is to check iranian maligne influence there. you ask about militias in iraq. this is why it's so important it be the iraqi army, no

abadi said we couldn't do it because of the summer because it was too hot to fight. have been a number of reasons why this operation has been so stalled in coming in. a lot of it has to do with tribal rivalries and pro-government fighters who said look it's up to us, we need to be able to go in and clear this iraqi army so it's up to us, we are the national army and need to clear it of i.s.i.l. fighters and there are a number of internal rivalries and the militias who say we are the ones who had the most success against fighting i.s.i.l. and we need it, all of that now has been sorted out. what is going on is the police are now in charge of ramadi but that is not the only one. anbar is the biggest providence in iraq and fallujah is under control of i.s.i.l. and humanitarian crisis in fallujah and under siege for two months and no food is getting in there, iraqi army have not moved into fallujah and suspecting the governor of anbar will speak to talk about the problem about ramadi and if he comments about fallujah we don't know but what we are hearing from inside that

prime minister abadi says the attacks are a response to isil's recent defeats. iraqi people, like those in saader city, there is no sign the isil threat is did he finishing. rob matheson, al jazeera. >> for more on these attacks in baghdad, we are joined by the director of the indiana university sent center for the constituted i was middle east, joining us live via describe from bloomington, very good to have you with us al jazeera. what does sunday's attack tell us about isil's capabilities? >> i think it tells us that they still have ability to do coordinated attacks that have these sort of spectacular results. but i think we have reached a point over the last year and a half since they took over mosul in 2014, where they are no longer able to sustain an attack and capture territory. so i am afraid for the short-term, perhaps for the foreseeable future, we can expect that they can lash out in the way that his we have seen today. but there is no question that they are a -- an injured animal and perhaps that makes them particularly dangerous now. >> an injured a

the sense that the iraqi security forces under the control of the government of will prime minister abadi, be in the lead, but we will be enabling them, and to get your specific question, we do more to enable them? that.e fully expect to do and when we have the opportunity, the time, the place, the strategic effect, yes, that only the united states can do come with indicated a willingness to do more and i expect we will have opportunities to do that. very quickly from where we are in the process, the iraqis of the ball the plan. there is the process where general mcfarlane is looking at the iraqi plan to make recommendations and the secretary has called on capability enhancements to accelerate the campaign. i, like the secretary, think we thand do more in mosul remind just because of the order of magnitude of the operation in mosul would indicate to me that we have more u.s. support in mosul than in ramadi. i will make us recommend asians to the secretary sometime in the near future. -- make those recommendations to the secretary sometime in the new future. the operation against mosul has

i think abadi would like a more inclusive government, but i'm not sure he has all the members of his ruling body behind such inclusivity. until that happens, the tribes will be on the fence or to choose the least option and not antagonize or maybe even support isil in the western part of iraq. >> but that would be the decisive action that needs to occur, that once again the decisive action would be if the sunnis would turn against isil as they turned against al qaeda. >> i think that would absolutely be decisive. but i think they'll be very cautious to ensure that we will not leave them hanging out there after they've turned against isil. this is pure pragmatism. if we're not successful, if we're not supportive of the sunni tribes, they will die. al qaeda and isil will be brutal and ruthless, if we're going to support them and convince them to fight against isil we have to have the true commitment of the government of iraq and all of the parties to encourage them to fight against isil because this is purely about survival for those tribes. >> and in our effort to push back against is

i thing abadi would like a more inclusive government.ut i'm not sure he has all of the members of his ruling body behind such inclusivity. until that occurs, then the sunni tribes are very likely to remain either on the fence or choose the least worse option, which is to not antagonize and maybe even support isil in the western part of iraq. >> but that would be the decisive action that needs to occur, that once again the decisive action would be if the sunnis would turn against isil, as they turned against al qaeda? >> i think that would absolutely be decisive, but i think they'll be very cautious to ensure that we will not leave them hanging out there after they turn against isil. this is pure pragmatism. if we're not successful, we're not supportive of the sunni tribes, they will die. al qaeda or isil will be brutal, they'll be ruthless. if we're going to support them, we're going to try to convince them to turn and fight against isil, then we have to have the true commitment of the government of iraq and all of the parties who encour

aren't actually legitimate, read part of the iraqi government in baghdad and under prime minister abadi's control and responsibility. >> we're interested and of course all of us are interested in the issue of force protection and just because at this point in time people that are shall we say cheeked with us are "leaving us alone," one has to assume that they are, that they themselves are doing what we're doing. >> chairman, i can tell you just to make sure it's clear, we are concerned about that. we are watching that very closely, and i wouldn't suggest to you for a minute that we're complacent about it. our commanders on the ground aren't complacent about it either. we have a significant amount of resources dedicated to make sure that we can recognize the changes and take appropriate action in anticipation of those changes. >> good to have that public reassurance. on the issues of rules of engagement, one of the benefits of congressional travel is that we often separate ourselves from general officers to talk with the men and women who do remarkable things, and i followed a little bit o

part of the iraqi government in bag dad and under prime minister abadie's control and responsibility. >> we're of course all of us are interested in the issue of force protection. just because at this point in time people are shall we say cheek by jowl with us quote leaving us alone, one has to assume that they themselves are doing what we're doing. >> mr. chairman, just to make sure it's clear. we are concerned about that. we are watching that very closely. and i wouldn't suggest to you for a minute that we're complacent about it. i know our commanders on the ground aren't scompl place ept either. we have sources to recognize the changes and sources. >> but to have that public reassurance. on the issues of rules of engagement, one of the benefits of congressional travel is that we often separate ourselves from general officers talk with the men and women who do remarkable things. and i followed a little bit of the lead of my predecessor to getting out to bead and walter reed. from time to time i run into situations where remarkable people who have done courageous things have been inj