will go after al-nusra. >> both al qaeda groups. we do not like them a lot. >> i am going to put all my focus on the moderate opposition. in recent days he has picked up the pace of his military operations against the moderate opposition. he is calculating -- if this isis thing and this al-nusra thing gets serious enough, maybe the u.s. will come around and see me as a solution of the problem rather than a cause to the problem. >> you cannot imagine the u.s. doing that, can you? people sitting at this table have said, we have to do that. we have to hold our nose and let assad be, and go after isis and al-nusra. >> you know why do not like that? you have a guy who has killed thousands and thousands of his own people and displaced millions, one third of his population, a brutal dictator, and most importantly, he is in the pocket of the iranians. assad wins, the iranians win. i do not want the iranians to be the hegemonic power in the middle east. if we shifted horses, we would lose our friends in the gulf. >> we cannot change our poli

you've got the first al qaeda group that was established there jabhat al-nusra and they are tied, they are aline-- aligned closely with al qaeda in pakistan. and they pose --. >> rose: which is zawahiri. >> zawahiri, they pose a threat to the homeland. and you have isis. which has garnered everybody's attention because it has grabbed so much territory. it too poses a threat. but we, i think we have to look at these together. and we have to make sure that we're focused on all of them, and not just let isis grab all of our attention and grab all of our focus and grab all of our resources. because these others will bite fuss we do that. >> rose: is the administration focusing on all three of them? or four? >> i don't know. i think that-- i think that the strategy-- the president's strategy with regard to iraq and syria will also help us deal with al-nusra if successful. but as you and i have talked before, the weakness of that strategy is on the syria side. the strength of the strategy on the iraq side. i know we can come back to that. i hope we're still focused on al qaeda in pakistan an

they are not just targetting i.s.i.l., but al nusra and others. >> reporter: al nusra is al qaeda's branch, and the bases were targeted by the air strikes. the group, along with the powerful movement alharish am hoarded fighters to leave the bases in anticipation of attacks. the u.s. said it targeted the al qaeda affiliated group, believed to operate under al nusra. >> taking the fight from illinois to syria was a controversial part of strategy. many asked whether the military campaign would help the syrian militarily. many syrians, including the rebel commanders say it's what they'll do. >> the hassam movement was the first free syrian army-linked brigade to react, which a few months ago received antitank missiles from the u.s., saying that the coalition strikes didn't just undermine the syria sovereignty, but will make the coalition stronger. they want weapons to strike positions. it is not clear who they will be. >> the free syrian army is not enough. if we talk about other organizations - i don't know exactly if they are united, but there are many questions about their future. some of

let's be honest some of these allies were critical in the growth of isis and al nusra. important role in being a passage. i was not able to enter turkey but i know thousands who went to join isil and al nusra used turkey as a panels to go. and the trucks they're using are purchased from government. these regional powers, jordan, they must come to terms that they have to change their policy. that really, that responsibility must be be a key goal, that they must be honest about their fight against isis. let's not have a pakistan where the u.s. forced pakistan while they supported taliban at the same time. really this issue should not be--this scenario should not be repeated here. they must truly and honestly have support for these groups. >> their own misgivings and fears of what an unstable syria could mean to them contributing to this in some ways hands off attitude towards the syrian civil war. >> turkey has not been hands off. if you mean intervention unilaterally, yes, but turkey has tried to secure its border, deported many foreign fighters. >> and you're say about

-led airstrikes continue. al-qaeda linked al nusra has been fighting those strikes for months now. opposition groups in syria say that the u.s. coalition should be targeting the regime of bashar al-assad instead. >> reporter: god promised us victory. obama promised us defeat. this is what syrians of the northwest province of idlib want to tell the world. they took to the streets to protest the u.n. coalition military campaign against islamic state in iraq and the levant. it is not because they support isil. it is because they don't trust the u.s. and they want an islamic state is what they chanted. >> we condemn the airstrikes against the syrian islam people. they're not just targeting isil but al nusra as well. >> reporter: al nusra is syria's al-qaeda branch. the group along with the powerful movement ordered their fighters to leave their bases in anticipation of more attacks. the u.s. did say it targeted the al-qaeda affiliated group which is believed to operate under al nusra. taking the fight to syria was the most crucial part of obama's strategy to defeat the group. there were

air strikes hitting al nusra and affiliated but distinct from al nusra of course the khorasan group, planning attacks both here and europe. the administration says it has seen threats from al nusra to join forces with i.s.i.l, but threats made against the united states over the weekend they are still assessing they have no comment, michael. >> the president spoke to 60 minutes and said that the u.s. underestimated i.s.i.l.'s rise. the white house tried clarify the president's statement. can you share some details about what this statement is right now? >> not going over well among the president's political opponents, the president referred to i.s.i.l. as the jv team, that wasn't what he really meant. the judgment of capabilities of i.s.i.l, first it was the director of national intelligence uranium clapper who said there was -- james clapper who said there was underestimating. the interpretation in washington is that the president is passing the buck and responsibility onto the intelligence community and not taking it for himself. his spokesman josh earnest was forced to clarify toda

. >>> fighters belonging to al nusra front are threatening to retaliate against western and allied countries taking part in air strikes in syria. the al qaeda-linked group says the strikes amount to a war against islam and can last for decades. it's the first time the al nusra front reacted to the claims, aimed at destroying islamic state of iraq and levant. some of the coalition air strikes targeted capitol hill fighters surrounding a kurdish town on the northern border with turkey. an i.s.i.l. building and gangs were destroyed in kobani. kurdish tanks attacked i.s.i.l., 150,000 escaped from the area in the last week. kurds in syria are spread across large parts of the north. in recent weeks i.s.i.l. fighters overran dozens of villages around the town. eskimo fighters tried to take the town until kurdish fighters intervened. kobani is the third-largest population center. from the turkish side of the border stefanie dekker reports. >> the sound of fighter jets in the sky above kobani. triple air strikes on positions above the towns. this is an ongoing battle and it is not over. as we drive e

i heard an analyst argue al nusra is al qaeda central. >> that's actually a shrewd observation. i think they were pretty much crippled in afghanistan, and in northern pakistan, owing tost military operations there over the past - nearly a decade. the central group has developed numerous affiliate groups over the years in north africa, in yemen, and, of course, in syria, where its affiliate was called al nusra. >> reports are that al qaeda is now and through this group focussed on attacking the u.s., specifically attacking aeroplanes. as we go after i.s.i.l., should we pay as much attention to this group. could it conceivably pose a greater danger to the u.s.? >> you know, arguably it is a greater danger to the u.s., and u.s. counterterrorism officials have said as much. there's a great deal of skepticism in the counterterrorism community about the precise threat that i.s.i.s. poses for americans at this point. i.s.i.s. is essentially a militia, it's a grab-bag of, you know, religious fanatics, free booters, thrill-seekers, extortionists and criminals that have taken a lot of ter

international airstrikes however reportedly creating pressure on al nusra. this al qaeda affiliate in syria. they are reportedly contemplating joining up with isis. the two groups basically share the same rigid ideology and fundamentalist view of, of islam but the two groups have been reportedly at odds over leadership. the isis campaign has really sort of taken control of all of the syrian and iraqi territory and isis has been fighting with jabhat al-nusra. there are reports that two groups may link up. that is not confirmed but reuters, a news organization with people on the ground there, saying there are talks or contemplation about on the part of jabhat al-nusra. we're seeing continued us air strikes targeting isis and jabhat al nusra and other extremist groups. the fight is far from over. u.s. officials say this will be a long fight and that is exactly what we're seeing there. shannon. heather: conor, thank you very much. eric: top u.s. brass will update the us air strikes today. doug mckelway live from the pentagon with a what will be expected. >> repor

priority should be given to the concerted efforts of the international community to combat isis and al nusra front and other al-qaeda affiliates and drain its resources in order for security and stability will prevail in our region and. entire world. thank you, mr. president. >> so there you have the syrian foreign minister there. making his country's statements to the general assembly. listening to all of that is our diplomatic editor james bays, who is outside of the building. james, and a lot of "i told you so" in that speech, wasn't there? >> absolutely. the whole focus of the speech and most of the words. most of the duration of the speech was the fight against what he said was terrorism and he said that syria had been fighting terrorism for the last three years, of course, a huge death toll in syria with the ongoing violence there, 3 million refugees in neighboring countries. but all of the focus, although there was mention of the humanitarian situation there. there was more on the fight of terrorism and his view on the international coalition against isil, which obviously involved in

they tried in the past and last january they declared war on isil and groups on the ground is al-nusrasyrian brent ch of al-qaeda and we have a conservative group which kind of has remained quiet about the air strikes and it's not clear whether or not they would join ssa because they joined the fight against isil and complicated on the ground but right now the united states doesn't have any partners on the ground to help them defeat isil. >> complicated as it is and thank you and reporting from beirut. meanwhile we are getting reports that at least 30 isil fighters have been killed by air strikes on syrian border. it's understood they were trying to cross the border when they were attached. let's get the very latest from baghdad and monica what more are you hearing from this? >> nick, we are hearing that we basically don't, are not sure that these men were all fighters. we know there is 30 casualties and don't know if there are civilians among them and don't know for a fact they are isil fighters and this is fresh information we are getting and suggests there is a change of strategy he

al nusra poses that same kind of threat today but because they are more aligned with zawahiri and al qaeda in pakistan they are more of a concern in terms of attacking the homeland than isis is because they have that attack america first strategy of zawahiri. >> what is the president's strategy? >> the president's strategy is to take their territory away, we aken them, and i believe although this is not been said -- i believe based on the very good interview of john brennan, the c.i.a. director, that the strategy is also to get rid of the leadership. take away their territory, get rid of their leadership and weaken them to the point where they cannot hold territory and cannot pose a threat. >> this is by drones or any other method. >> any other method you can possibly -- >> find and kill. >> find, kill, capture. would they rather kill or capture? >> i would rather capture. why? because they can tell me things then. >> when you look at the strategy the president brings us to date, where we are now, among the people you know, what has been the change in the president's mindset? >> chan

. >> reporter: al nusra is al-qaeda's branch.the group ordered their fighters to leave their bases in anticipation of more attacks. the u.s. did say they did attack khorasan which is a part of al nusra. there were many who asked if the military campaign would help the syrian regime militarily. now many rebel commanders say that's exactly what it will do. >> reporter: the movement was the first free syrian army brigade to react which received anti-tank missiles from the u.s. it said that the coalition strikes did not undermine syria's sovereignty but will make the government stronger. what opposition fighters want are weapons and airstrikes to target positions. they plan to train and army rebels but it's not clear who they will be. >> the free syrian army is not enough mature. if we talk about the organization like isla islamic front, they are united. but there are many questions if some of them may join isis. >> there is that possibility. already anti-american protests are spreading. these people don't necessarily support isil, b

. >> reporter: khorasan works in tandem with al-nusra, al qaeda's affiliate in syria. this new web video shows extensive damage from the airstrikes, and now the u.s. is trying to determine if a major khorasan leader was killed pop twitter, jihadis are claiming mushin al-fadhli died in the bombings. al-fadhli, once a close adviser to osama bin laden, is on the u.s. list of most wanted terrorists. tonight the u.s. government is warning about the potential for retaliatory attacks from home-grown lone wolves who may be inspired to act in the name of al qaeda or isis. they tell us there's no credible specific threat, scott, at the moment. >> pelley: bob, thanks. syria is in the fourth year of a ruinous civil war and a number of terrorist groups have set up there simply to take advantage of the lawless chaos. to help us understand all of this, we have micahel morell, who until last year was number two at the c.i.a. clarissa ward, who has worked for us extensively inside syria, and our chief white house correspondent major garrett. michael, the civil war started as a revolt a

out, you bring in the al nusra, the al qaeda offshoot, or bring in bashar al-assad. i think the hope in syria is that we could do a decapitation strike like we did about osama bin laden or something, and at some point have the russians interseed to come up with a netted solution down the road. it's hard to see us going in and taking it over. >> does that willingness to send planes signal a squeamishness or a recognition of how complicated this is once you put soldiers standing on terra firma? >> absolutely. turkey has been clear. they are very reductant to get into this. we need turkey. 500 miles of common border between syria and furky. most of the rebels go back and forth between turkey, and they refused to join in the military side of this. they don't want us to use the bases to fly military sortees. they will - they will join us in resupply effort, but not on the military side. partly because they don't think we should prescribe al nusra, the al qaeda win and other islamists, forces they want to see brought in to the rebels. we disagree with the neighbourhood ove

we are getting reports from this monitoring group, that these air strikes targeted the al nusra. syria's al qaeda branch. again, this information from the observatory for human rights. no confirmation yet. the observatory group told us. a number of i.s.i.l. fighters have been killed. this is the beginning, this is not an easy fight. they target headquarters, as far as we know, i.s.i.l. fighters have now moved and are within the local population. they control cities and towns. this will be a difficult fight, you'll need ground forces. who does the united states have as an ally on the ground. the other force is al nusra, and they are considered al qaeda's branch in syria. >> this is a difficult fight. >> stay with me, i want to give a little more information to the viewers, the pentagon saying u.s. fighter jets hitting on monday. raqqa is where they hit. a strong hold. it was the have of their operations. i should mention the yellow areas are the areas that i.s.i.l. has taken control of in syria and iraq. border areas were hit. buildings, checkpoints and weapons stores. the aaron pe

over 13,000 foreign fighters from 18 member states have joined isil and the al-nusra front. this growing number of foreign terrorist fighters as a consequence, not, of course, of the conflict in syria. a long period of upheaval and outrageous human rights abuses in syria have created a house of horrors. there can be no genuine protection of civilians if the extremist groups are permitted to act with impunity and the syrian government continues its assault on its own people. for more than a year, i have sounded the alarm about the vicious and unjustifiable actions of these groups, and the dangers they pose to iraq, syria, the wider region, international peace and security. we need a creative and comprehensive political strategy in syria and beyond to stem the flow of foreign terrorist fighters. terrorists must be defeated, but we must do so in a way that avoids the deliberate acts of provocation that they said for us -- victimization, radicalization, and more civilian death. eliminating terrorism requires international solidarity and i'm multifaceted approach -- and a multifa

the al qaedalinged al nusra front -- al qaeda linked al nusra front took control of the areas. >> a ceasefire between ukraine and pro-russian separatists has been breached. a checkpoint came under fire, and rockets fired in donetsk. it's the first serious violation of the truce declared on friday. >>> now to afghanistan - a court in kabul sentenced seven men to death in connection with a gang rape of three women. arm men dresses as police raped three women as they came back from a wedding. the trial was broadcast on television. jennifer glasse has more. >> afghans called for swift justice, and that is what an afghan court gave them. the seven men were convicted to death after a few hours. the judge said there was a string of crimes, murder, robbery and rape that went over a number of incidents, but the incidents that caught afghanistan's attention was a gang rape. it happened on the outskirts of kabul last month. when the details of that came to light. the fact that it was a number of families travelling back from a wedding. the men pulled the cars i side. robbed the men and raped the women.

session a year ago we raise concerns about the potential for the free syrian army to coordinate with al nusra, al-qaeda, and there was confidence that that would not end up being the case. but we have a variety of reports that that has, indeed, been the practice most recently in a joint effort from the free syrian army and al nusra front to take border posts from syria. the ways we can keen arms from flowing to free islamic groups. how can you give us confidence that we're not going to train a fighting force that is going to enter a battle with a known affiliate of al-qaeda, and how confident are we that ultimately when we get on the field of battle that they're not going to look to isis, who is going to fight the same enemy against assad in common cause? >> well, senator, there is no fail safe, obviously. as i said earlier to an earlier question our guys have gotten much, much better at the vetting, now that we're doing the training to some degree, and hopefully do it openly we're going to be in a much better position to do command and control, and to do much better in-depth accountability,

. >> they work in tandem with al nusra, al qaeda's affiliate in syria. this video seems to show extensive damage from the air strikes and now the u.s. is trying to determine if a major khorasan leader was killed. on twitter they're claiming al fadhli died in the bombings. he's on the list of the most wanted terrorists. now the u.s. is government is warning about the potential for retaliatory attacks in the name of home grown lone wolves. they're telling police to be aware but they say there's no credible specific threat at the moment. bob orr, cbs news, washington. >>> mike morell, former deputy director of the cia says isis and the khorasan group pose dangerous but different types of threats to the american homeland. >> so i think today there are two threats. one comes from al nusra, the khorasan group, which has the ability to reach out with foreign fighters and with the help of al qaeda and yemen, match them up with sophisticated explosives that could bring down an airliner. that's the threat we're dealing with today and that's the threat we hopefully

>> the free syrian army are by themselves standing alone under one command and control while al-nusraces are separate from these command and control. >> are you denying that you all are cooperating, coordinating in some fashion with al-nusra at this moment? >> it is a fact on the ground, if al-nusra has one area, and we have advances within other areas, there is no-- but fight from the ground, either they don't hit these forces or this force doesn't hit them. you make decision on the battle according to the urgency of the matter. >> warner: how likely the u.s. air strikes against the islamic front will also benefit assad forces. >> assad forces tries to fill the gap, isil forces, they try to go and fight these areas. but i don't think they will have a chance because we have prepared our own forces to defend these gaps. this we will make sure by our own forces while dow the air attacks that our ground forces will be advancing on the ground and doing the groundwork. but this would be social and economical program to govern the areas which isil will withdraw from. >> warner: after pleadi

was it. >> he and 44 other peacekeepers were kidnapped from their base in syria by members of the al nusra front. they were held for two weeks before she got another call. all 45 peacekeepers had been released. her husband had lost weight, but he was free. >> i shouted and cried and then the tears came out. neighbours came into my house. he thought something bad happened. when i told him the good news, my shout was lower than theirs. >> a thanksgiving service in suva included many soldiers that returned from many missions. at any one time fiji has between 10-20% of its soldiers working as peace keepers. for fiji, a tiny country. the quantity of peacekeepers is part of the foreign policy. >> in two areas, iraq and syria, we went because no one else wanted to go. others were pulling out. it was a gap na needed to be filled. for us to have a voice, we continued to participate on peacekeeping operations. >> reporter: for individual soldiers there are incentives too. these in fiji are helping to build a school. all have taken part in u.n. missions in the past, and will again. the main motivatio

fighters killed, along with 50 members of the al qaeda-affiliated group al nusra.n which the leader was reported to be killed. president obama emphasised the united states is not acting alone, five strikes joining in, saudi arabia, qatar, bahrain, jordan, and the united arab emirates. the u.s. toma hawks struck agens a target the president said was close to launching an attack op u.s. or question targets. a network of seasoned veterans, almost unknown to the american public until recently. the group has been tracked for some time. sheila macvicar on who is behind the group and the threat it poses to americans. >> reporter: as the u.s. and the collision allies upleash waves of air strikes at targets across syria, the first missiles launched from the u.s.s. ship in the sea were aimed not at i.s.i.l., but a core al qaeda group called koresan hiding in the areas. >> kora san is led by a cue weighty, a long-time senior al qaeda operative and financier with a $7 million price on his head, close enough to osama bin laden to be one of a few with advanced knowledge of plans

the troops were captured on the syrian side of the golan heights by the al qaeda side of the al nusra front. we spoke to suva about why it provide more soldiers per capita than any other country. >> this woman was talked on skype with her husband when he stood up. >> he said, "something happened, i need you to be strong." >> he and 44 other peacekeepers had been kidnapped by members of the al nusra front. they were held for two weeks before she got another call. all 45 were released. her husband lost weight. he was free. >> i shouted, and i cried and the tears came out. the neighbours were coming to my house. they thought something bad had happened. when i told them the good news, that he was released, my shout was lower than theirs. >> reporter: a thanksgiving service in suva included many soldiers who returned from similar missions. at any one time fiji has between 10-20% of soldiers working as piece keepers. for fiji, the quantity of piece keepers is part of it. >> in two areas we went, because no one else wanted to go. there was a gap that needed to be filled. for us to have a voi

just yesterday, the leader of al nusra, the al qaeda group in syria, issued a statement attacking isishe ground, some of his local commanders, local fighters, they've decided that, well, for this moment, for this fight, in this street, we're going to side with isis. >> it's complicated, i get it. but, colonel, ultimately, it can't be that complicated when back in july of 2013, october of 2013 and february of 2014, we had people like the director of the defense intelligence agency warning that these guys are a problem. this didn't just come out of nowhere. they weren't just a j.v. team back then. why is it that we're now sort of seeing president obama saying, we underestimated things? >> again, they did underestimate. and they could be a j.v. team but they're playing the boy scouts. so there is a little difference here. but the problem is, people were telling the president, i think the president made a mistake yesterday. if they would have just said, i made a mistake, this would be no story. but because he pushed it back, everyone wants to talk about it. and we have to look at things li

it's running around there, al nusra, and the smaller groups. it's important not to forget that. >> the u.s. did not act alone against the khorasan group, and we'll talk more about them coming up. douglas oliphant, good to have you with us. >> my pleasure. >> now for more stories from around the world. we gee bip in the west bank where tuesday morning israeli troops cornered and killed two palestinian me suspected of kidnapping and killing three israeli teens, leading to a 7-week war between israel and hamas. they denied involved in the kidnapping and killings and then admitted responsibility last month. special forces surrounded a village where the two men were holed up. it was condemned as an assassination. despite the let'soric -- rhett yoric peace talks continued. >> a syria plane flue half a mile no israel ci air space and was shot down. the pilot ejected coming down in syrian territory. >> next we head to downtown new york where a judge suspended osama bin laden's son-in-law to a life-time in prison. he was found guilty of trying to kill a

they have basically held assad, then al nusra, all these groups that have been popping up, they've held them at bay but they've never hat enough support from the west or anywhere else to defeat them and push them back so they're holding their own, holding the line, but they don't have enough to convert and they haven't been given up until now the kind of heavy weaponry, the kind of real training, the kind of equipping and arming and standing up. this is not just giving a few ak-47s. it's not even giving a few anti-tank missiles. it's a long, thorough training and equipping process that you then field this army into the field. >> okay, so that sounds like it will take a really long time. so the air strikes have started over syria and they're taking out command-and-control centers and supply facilities. >> well, we don't know what they've taken out. >> supposedly. we'll know at 11:00 when the pentagon delivers its briefing. >> these are fixed targets, that's what i've been told by military. >> so after air strikes take care of the fixed targets, when will the fighting begin on the ground

so it's different and then iraq. >> do you think that al-nusra and isil will meant fences?ourse because they both have been the target of the air strike. and i don't think they have right now any reason to fight, you know, for -- for military objective or take some objective. for time being, i think and in the near future, both they will be automatic united or they will stop fighting each other. this is for sure. >> thank you, thank you very much, general. >> yes. >> so as you can se see air strs there are really lot of limitations with air partner and without partners on the ground it will be very difficult for the united states and its low kicks ally to his defeat isil. >> zeina, thank you for that. live in beirut for us today. >>> syria's ambassador to the united nations has told al jazerra he was given advance warning of the air strikes and the iran was also told about the operation. however questions are still being raised over the will he we gal at this of the strike. >> reporter: the diplomatic spotlight is now here to the united nations, world leaders here, presiden

the al nusra front is threatening to retaliate against countries. they say it amounts to a war on islam, one that could last for decades. >> it's the first time al nusra front reacted to the operation. coalition forces launched a fresh round of air strikes today. saudi arabia's sworn minister issued the following statement saying the war against extremists in the middle east needs years, and must not stop before eliminating all terrorist matters. more countries joined the coalition, joining the u.s. in five arab countries, and especially for the arab nations. it's a complex geography of allies and their agendas. >> more from courtney kealy. >> saudi arabia, united arab emirates, jordan, bahrain and qatar. america is proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with these nations. >> five governments, all monarchies, all sunni led, united with the u.s. in a common economy. i.s.i.l. is who they are uniting again. the list is growing. >> it's not an arab or muslim fight any more. it affects every delegate here and beyond. it's a fight of our times. success is a

however, al nusra front rebels continue to healed 45 of those u.n. peacekeepers. so the situation is very fluid at this point, arthel. heather: that is for sure. john huddy, thanks so much in jerusalem. >> the terror alert level in the united kingdom still at the second highest level. it has been there since friday. prime minister david cameron in the last hour announcing new measures to combat terror suspects in his country. kitly logan is live from london. what did we hear from the prime minister, kitty? >> well the prime minister's talking about closing gaps in the armory to deal with what he describes as poisonous ideology. he is not just talking about isis as a whole. he is specifically dealing with the 500 british jihadis thought to travel to syria and some have traveled back as well. atop of his list of priorities is to allow police better powers to prevent the terror suspects traveling and to ban those who might be coming back to the u.k. he wants to give authorities more powers. >> we will introduce specific and targeted legislation to fill this gap by pr

and also in the very first strikes, we hit al nusra in syria. and that created a huge stink among the other members of the opposition rebels because neal nusra may be al qaeda, but they have been used -- they're a mobile force, they go where they're needed by the other opposition is groups. and to hit them kind of degrades their ability to fight assad. and so the grounds that the united states would be -- has been supporting wants to support have been really angry that we're hitting perhaps the best fighting force on their side. >> and it also brings to mind are we also at war with al nusra. striking khorasan is in effect declaring a proxy war against al nusra. sam, in terms of intelligence, part of the problem here in terms of truly determining the toll on the ground and accuracy of the strikes is there are no reporters left in syria. we are increasingly reliant on the syrian observatory for human rights or d.o.d. to tell us these strikes have hit with precision and there has been very little civilian casualty. >> or apparently mcclatchy. thank

. >> and the al qaeda affiliate in syria, the al nusra front, has reportedly posted on its website ort saying that one of its leaders, its training leader was killed. can you confirm that? >> i can't confirm that. obviously we are trying to track that down. >> five arab nations flew along fighter jets or assisted in some way last night. what commitment does the administration have going forward that this will continue and where is the one muslim country in nato, turkey, in all of this? >> well, jake, first of all, the coalition is much broader. more than 40 countries have signed up. remember, this is a comprehensive effort. it's not just the military strikes, it's training and equipping local forces on the ground. it's doing something about the financing of isil. it's taking on the foreign fighters and, indeed, the president will be hosting a session at the united nations on the subject. countries are playing different roles doing different things. this is something that's going to be sustained. it has to be sustained over time and we're quite confident it will be. >> the white house

>> al nusra is a much milder version of extremism, i guess is the best way to put it, and i think al nusra wanted to separate themselves from isis by releasing the hostage, peter curtis, a couple weeks ago. from isis' perspective, they want to do the horrific killings. they don't want to negotiate. they don't want to have this be resolved. they don't want to look weak. the more horrific the killings are, the better it helps their recruiting, what they're trying to accomplish on a worldwide basis. they have no desire to resolve these issues and, you know, you have the example of the mothers sending impassioned pleas to them on humanitarian grounds. on muslim grounds. citing, you know, citing the faith as to why isi s shouldn't kill their sons. they executed them almost immediately after receiving the me messages. >> let me ask you about air strikes. there have been 150 american air strikes in iraq. we don't know when they're going to start inside syria. how do you think the campaigns will be different in those two countries? >> i think the problem, from my perspective, is that air stri

the terrorist group al nusra said their leader was killed in the strikes in syria.ay, the justification of the strikes was written to the u.n. secretary general. the strikes were launched in defense of iraq and were therefore legal. she pointed out that iraq had asked for help in fighting isis. now earlier today, iraq's prime minister sat down for an interview with christiane amanpour. they talked about the airstrikes in syria. christiane amanpour joins me now, i'm fascinated to hear. because this is the first interview i've heard with this guy. >> it is the first one, particularly it is massively important because it is the person it all rests with. if there is not a political solution in iraq all of this is for nothing. interesting they used the word, defense in the united states. that is what everybody is starting to say, this is about defending ourselves or people against isis. so i asked him was he pleased with the strikes going on into syria and also the countries that joined the coalition. >> i am happy that they see the dangers which we have been seeing for

and isil bringing on this or and other people to them because of the level of their success -- al-nusra front. clearly many people told us in the region, access breeds success. and many of the people who come to isil have come because it seemed as if they weren't being opposed. we believe that transition works to the benefit of the moderate opposition, works ultimately to all of our benefit by removing isil from the field. >> you cannot ask people to go and fight and die unless you promise them that you will defeat their enemy and defeated them right away. you can't say, wait into we defeat isil. people will not volunteer for such things. >> i don't believe it's going to be ultimate a wait-and-see because i don't believe, number one, that the people supporting the opposition in various parts of the region are ever going to stop until the assad problem is resolved. number two, i do with isil, i don't believe that the moderate opposition will obviously stop in that effort. so, therefore, they will be these two prongs. there's no way to avoid that. >> i hope there are two prongs and not is

the al-qaeda-backed al-nusra front has fought the syrian government and been at odds with islamic statece it broke with al-qaeda last year. but now that both factions are being hit by air strikes, al- nusra's leader warned on sunday of retaliation against western targets. >> muslims will not stand idly by and watch muslims be bombed and killed in their countries, while you are safe in your countries. the price of war will not be paid by your leaders alone. you will pay the biggest price. >> woodruff: despite such warnings, the white house gave no sign today of easing off the air campaign. >> woodruff: we'll delve deeper into what u.s. intelligence knew, and what it should have known, about the islamic state challenge, later in the program. afghanistan inaugurated a new president today, for the first time in a decade. ashraf ghani will head the new power-sharing government, succeeding hamid karzai. ghani was sworn in at a ceremony in kabul. he, in turn, swore in presidential rival abdullah abdullah as his chief executive. ghani also made a new appeal for peace. >> ( translated ): fightin

members. >> it will, if al nusra finally submits to isis that will be a huge propaganda deal. ially is acknowledging that isis is now the biggest game in town and that al baghdadi, the leader, self-appointed caliph. >> there's a new video out of a british hostage, a third one talking about the situation in iraq and syria, a propaganda video. the man is obviously under a great deal of duress, i don't want to put too much weight on anything he says. what is interesting to me is he's referring almost in real-time to the operations that are going on right now. criticizing the president for the strategy that has been developing over the last several weeks. this is very different than we've seen over the last decade. we're used to seeing osama bin laden in an unmarked cave, ranting, not knowing when the video was taken. this is you know, isis sending out these videos almost in real-time, criticizing the administration. >> a much more sophisticated propaganda operation than al qaeda ever was. it talks to the impunity with which isis is able to operate across this territory it tells us