charlie: assaad is the main recruiting tool. retake most you will that will have a significant impact of what happens in syria and assaad. guest: what is important, there are two bases and the heart of the self-declared caliphate is that. the reason that daesh has succeeded is creating the perception the home base that it is marching forward that it is 10 feet tall. if you take away that foundation, it will begin to crumble. affiliates that are preexisting targets, money will slow down. and getting at their core is so important. charlie: so what are we prepared to do? before you answer that, who is it that we are supporting there? and who are the rebel groups? and same rebel groups or new groups? and how many are there? and how many are there? we used to talk about the free syrian army? how strong are they? guest: we have worked over the last four years in trying to identify, engage and support and also help coordinate. so-called moderate opposition, people who were op owesed to the regime but did not sign on. but the numbers ar