arwa damon, cnn, adana, syria. >> thank you, arwa p. see more of arwa damon's exclusive reporting from inside syria all day tomorrow right here on cnn. before we go this hour, i have to give you an a cuteness alert. rachel nichols meets up with u.s. slope skier gus kenworthy who's not only coming home with a silver medal at the olympics, but trying to bring home stray dogs off the streets of sochi. hear this remarkable story coming up. look how cute they are. >>> i'm don lemon. top of the hour. you're in the cnn newsroom. today would have been jordan davis's 19th birthday. instead of a party his family and country reacts to a verdict returned by a jury in the case of the man who killed him. tonight the ripple effect. how the trial and the verdict will impact the community, the legal system and the country. but we can't begin to look at the week ahead without taking you back to the duval county courthouse in florida. the jury found dunn guilty on three counts of attempted murder and one count of firing into a vehicle but deadlocked on th

this was the main isis checkpoint leading into adana. as part of their terror tactics, eye-witnesses were telling us that they would leave some of the bodies of people they had executed lining the check points so that every single car coming through would be forced to slow down and could not ignore that brutal message. isis is a group so merciless that even al qaeda has reportedly distanced itself from it. they are telling us that isis had beheaded one of the key rebel commanders here, and they came in the early morning when the market was really busy and placed his head on top of the garbage heap that was in that very same spot. and they turned around and told everybody that that would be the fate of anyone who dared speak out against them. their harsh, intolerable rule, caused other islamist and moderate rebel groups to watch an offensive against them earlier this year. so we had to leave the fronts with the regime, he says. and fall back to fight isis, to liberate the already liberated areas another time. but isis still looms large in

this was the main isis check point leading into adana.tics, eyewitnesses were telling us that they would leave some of the bodies of people they'd executed lining the check point so that every single car coming through would be forced to slow down and could not ignore that brutal message. across from it, the courthouse. executions took place out front. freshly dug-up dirt marks the graves of some of the victims. >> there are two over there. here. and some corpse near the north end. >> reporter: anyone who dared defy them paid a price. even smoking was banned. this was another of the isis headquarters. and everything here, all of the walls were painted black. you could see they've been freshly painted over in white. and when isis was under control at a time like this and it is friday and prayer time, none of these people would have been able to be out on the street. they would have forced the markets to close. many here don't want their identities revealed or even be seen talking to us. isis may no longer be in control, but many fear they

they have managed to do so for the time being in adana, but isis still looms large in other parts ofcountry, christine. >> arwa damon in beirut for us this morning. thank you, arwa. >>> meanwhile, secretary of state john kerry is blaming the assad regime for this weekend's breakdown of talks aimed at ending this war in syria. the secretary writing that while the opposition put forward a roadmap for negotiations, the government continued to attack civilians. no word yet if both sides might meet again, for now, a third round of talks. >> so much tragedy there, so many lives lost. >>> this morning rescue operations are over at a gold mine in south africa because a group of miners once believed trapped we fused to come out. about 19 of them are staying under ground in the abandoned mine where they were looking for gold illegally. 11 others left after a rockslide, but the others are apparently worried they could get arrested if they come out for breaking the law. >>> followers and fans of his television show today remembering jamie coots, a pentecostal pastor and tv star famous for handli

. >> reporter: when isis fighters, the islamic state in iraq and syria first arrived in adana, they were, they didn't come as warrio warriors. they came as simply people who want to help people, educate people religiously. >> reporter: isis nishlly appealed to syria's deeply conservative rebel units who entrusted protecting the town to them. we were all on the front lines fighting, he tells us, and then we realized that with the situation in the town under isis, they were exerting their control through terrorism and punishment. a tactic isis repeated in an effort to en trench itself. this man is a syrian who wants his face and voice concealed. he defected from isis. their main stronghold in the east. they think he's dead. the syrian who were with isis thought they were the purist organization around, he says. their jihadi principles matched ours. but he says they were manipulated and deceived. initially, isis fighters and suicide bombers were a battlefield asset, but then suspicions began to grow. isis would organize missions by suicide bombers and thought they were attacking the regime,

as we drive towards the down of adana we're told isis came in and took over the area and called it theird as part of their tarror tactics eyewitnesses were telling us that they would leave some of the bodies of people they executed lining the checkpoint so that every single car coming through would be forced to slow down and could not ignore that brutal message. across from it the courthouse. executions took place out front. freshly dug up dirt marks the graves of some of the victims. >> there are two corpse over there, two corpse here and some corpse near the north end. >> reporter: anyone who dared defy them paid a price. even smoking was banned. this was another of the isis headquarters, and everything here, all of the walls were painted black. you can see that they have just been freshly painted over in white, and when isis was under control at a time like this, and it is friday and it is prayer time, none of these people would have been able to be out on the street. they would have forced the markets to close. many here don't want their identities revealed or even to be seen talking