isis overall. there are some caveats to this. for example, trying to hit isis political and military facilities. so to degrade its power primarily in iraq. also, to hit some of the rudimentary oil refineries which have bine set up in the river valley and also in the euphrates river valley. and that's logical. isis sells refined products, crude oil to sustain part of its operation. and that's priced -- that's quite smart. but in terms of the overall strikes, the administration is in a bit of a bind particularly when isis is advancing like around cobabi. you saw an uptick in trikes. that's largely a reactive policy. but the overall problem in syria is you don't have a political process. there isn't one. and the reason why there isn't ne is because the war in syria has hardened up positions among the different parties on the regime side as well as on the opposition side and made a political outcome there really a remote possibility at best. i think that's part of the problem that the obama administrat

syria is what made isis isis. >> we don't know how many al qaeda in iraq guys move from iraq to syria in the 2011, 2012 timeframe. but once they move into syria, all of a sudden, they're able to operate once again. all of a sudden, they're able to recruit once again. their message gains traction with the sunnis of syria who are looking to wage a civil war against the shia government. (explosion) >> smith: al qaeda was joining the fight along with dozens of other syrian sunni rebel groups, but it quickly became a major force. >> baghdadi sends a bunch of guys into syria. it goes from being nothing to being the most powerful active group. they're running operations all over the country within, like, 12 months. it's extraordinary what happens. takes off like fire. >> smith: back in iraq, maliki's purges of sunnis continued. and maliki upped the ante in december 2012, when his police rounded up the bodyguards of another prominent sunni leader, finance minister rafi al-essawi. >> rafi al-essawi, everybody loves the guy. i mean, he's greatly respected. i've seen no evidence that suggested t

isis.n a press conference he denied rumors that nato is discussing a no-fly zone in syria. >> i have, of course, heard and seen there have been calls for a no-fly zone. it was also discussed in the meetings i had this morning with the foreign minister. i believe there is no simple and straightforward way of the problems we're seeing these days. it has not been on the table of any nato discussions yet. it is not an issue which is discussed in nato. >> if kobani were to fall to the islamic state, the group would be in control of more than half of syria's border with turkey. turkey is under intense pressure to do more to help the kurdish forces fighting the islamic state in kobani. on wednesday, pentagon spokesman rear admiral john kirby said air strikes alone are not likely to stop the militants' advance. >> i don't know that we're going to characterize the fall of kobani one way or the other. i think we all understand that's a possibility, that kobani could be taken. we recognize that. we ar

we call them isis. between isis and the kurds, this pre-dates isis and pre-dates the syrian revolution. and these guys there has been , tension over time. . think you know this, michael in mosul and kirkuk, the full flag between the kurds and the sunni arabs have been there even before saddam and the iraqi states. we have to take these things into consideration. so we have to entertain these tribes. we have to get some allies and we have to treat them the way iran treats its allies. if you are a member of hesbollah now you're sitting in bay lute -- beirut and getting hebs blah security paychecks. it's such a long-term thing that they do. everyone who has joined hezbollah is now fighting in syria. everyone who joins saut wave is on the run from some shia policeman or they don't have money or are trying to get support from isis or whoever. >> let me just ask quickly without getting the tribes on side, what are the odds of success against -- and again i guess there's two different ways to put it. what are

news in the war on isis. a series of huge explosions sent plums of smoke and dust soaring over the embattled syrian town of kobani. isis fighters perilously close to iraq's capital of baghdad. let's bring in jim sciutto with the very latest. jim? >> reporter: i've just been told by a military official that kobani has not fallen to isis. and that qualifies as good news in recent days there. but the fact is, isis has been advancing on that city near the turkish border, a very visible fight, if not particularly important, kobani not strategically important, but near anbar, a less visible fight. no reporters able to watch that one under way. but a very critical part of the country and isis advancing there, as well. in both places, showing the limits of the u.s.-led air campaign. this is american firepower. and this is the isis response. the terrorist group is still advancing. in syria, isis is closing in on capturing kobani say the kurdish fighters defending the city. in iraq, isis controls 80% of anbar province

isis -- >> they are working? >> isis strategy is to control land. the land grab. grab land, you need to have resources. you need not only grab land but hold land and you need resources and you need to have local support and it all depends on the coalition actions. i'm not talking about only air strikes but also about the coalition actions on the ground. the coalition actions in building grassroots sunni opposition or grassroots public opposition against isis. so far isis has been holding and grabbing land in areas that actually people really don't like isis. they don't like ideology of isis but mostly they are sunnis and they have been oppressed and there's no other alternative than isis. now what we need to do is after the air strikes, we need to deprive isis from their resources. for example, in iraq, isis controlled 1.1 million tons of wheat. most of the silos in five provinces that isis controlled in iraq are government silos full of wheat. they are using bread. they are using wheat as a weapon. they are using oil as a weapon. they are using fear as a weapon.

isis overall. there are some caveats to this. for example, trying to hit to isis political and military facilities to degrade the power primarily in iraq. also to have some of the rudimentary oil refineries, which have been set up in the river valleys. and that is logical. isis sells refined products, crude, oil to sustain part of its operation. and that is. >> smart. but in terms of the overall strikes, the administration is in a bit of a bind, particularly when isis is advancing. you saw and up taken strike, largely a reactive policy, but the overall problem in syria is you don't have hope of a political process. there is not one. and the reason why there is not one is because the war in syria has hardened up positions among the different parties on the regime side as well as on the opposition side and made a political outcome there really a remote possibility at best. and i think that is, you know, part of the problem. the obama administration in intervening in syria is trying to intervene so th

but as long as isis controls any ground where civilians can be taxed, extorted and robbed, isis will remain self-financing. drew griffin, cnn. >> now, we will have much more on the fight against isis later this hour, including our interview with a 17-year-old girl who has joined the fight against the islamic militants. listen to this. >> when you were a fighter, when you were fighting, do you believe you killed members of isis? >> translator: alone i killed maybe nine that i saw. >> and she is not alone. how other kurdish women are earning a reputation for bravery on the battlefield. >>> but first, it's not just chinese leaders who are fed up with hong kong's democracy protests. business owners are also quickly losing patience. >> away from the main street there's a warren of small alleyways just like this one just off the main protest site. and the people here don't want to be interviewed on camera, but they will tell you that business is hurting. >>> we show you what's happening now. the crowds have thinned considerably. we're showing you live pictures now coming to us from hong ko

>> whenever isis goes into an area, the eyes of isis -- everything has to follow isis' way.ven women who don't cover their faces. women would also get their heads chopped off. >> the final prisoner is a former schoolteacher and father of two who also confesses to a car bombing. >> what would've happened to me if when you were with isis, if you guys had found me, an american journalist? >> translator: with isis, your fate would be death. there are different kinds of death. they would torture you for sure. they might decapitate you or cut off your hands. they will not simply shoot a bullet in your head. >> it's impossible for cnn to confirm whether anything the prisoners tell us was true or whether these men were coached by their captors. the kurdish prison guards say if set free, every one of these men would likely go back and rejoin isis. now, brooke, the kurdish fighters clearly showed us these prisoners in an effort to de-mystify the isis militants to show them in a position of weakness. it's part of a propaganda war that they're fighting with isis that goes in parallel to

air strikes on isis terrorists.te house officials have acknowledged that the much publicized policy that president obama announced last year, barring u.s. drone strikes unless there's near certainty there will be no civilian casualties, that policy does not cover the current strikes in syria and iraq. >>> the wife of isis hostage alan henning making an emotional attelly vised plea for her husband's safety. we're live in london with what she said to the terrorists in about 15 minutes. >> the international effort to destroy isis is leading the agenda when prime minister benjamin netanyahu meets with president obama at the white house. the would men are expected to talk about gaza and nuclear talks in iraq. a spokesman said the prime minister's avisit is a demonstration of the enduring bonds between the u.s. and israel. >>> european stocks are mixed. u.s. stock futures barely moving to start a new trading month, the month of october has historically been a horrific month for stocks. >> stop it. stop it. >> just a walk

what is that isis is fighting for?ere fighting for islam and justice. they were lying to us. they took advantage of our minds and our poverty. >> reporter: one of the prisoners the guards bring out is barely a man. your name is kareem. how old are you? >> translator: i'm 19 years old. >> reporter: but kareem tells me he fought alongside isis all across syria for more than a year. where were you injured? and he has the battle scars to prove it. >> translator: they gave us drugs, hallucinogenic pills that would make you go to battle not caring if you live or die. >> reporter: before he's captured by the kurds, kareem says he saw isis behead many of its prisoners. why does isis cut people's heads off? >> translator: whenever isis goes into an area, the eyes of isis, the people there who don't adhere to their islamic law are apostates. everything has to follow isis's way. even women who don't cover their faces, women would also get their heads chopped off. >> reporter: the final prisoner is jabir, a former schoolteacher an

isis is quite the opposite. caliphates hold territory and that's what makes isis special.the third thing to my eyes that makes isis unique is that like many other extremist groups operating inside of iraq to a greater extent inside of syria it was born in the cauldron of the civil war with the bedlam that arose in a contest between the regime into baskets and the opposition. so it may have been born of this culture but what i think is especially unique and interesting is that it did so without per se participating actively in the consulate. this raises a final question regarding the nature of isis and where we are today. where did it come from and from where was the? here i draw on the comments and especially astute lebanese writer who writes about isis having six fathers, six progenitors that led to its creation. the first is the u.s. occupation in iraq self-explanatory. the second is a long tradition of cultural and political despotism in the middle east. the third is an increasingly assertive form of iranian political sectarianism that has alienated sunnis have the midd

these fighters another opportunity to exploit isis who actually comprises isis. these foreign fighters, a lot of them came in wanting to fight assad and they were moved to iraq to do these things. so remember what mosul is. if you do back of the envelope math there's 750,000 sunni military aged males in mosul waiting to see what the central government is going to do, waiting to see what we're going to do. any time isis has a public demonstration there's always isis guards with ak-47s watching the crowd. they're worried about what this sunni population in mosul is going to do. they don't subscribe to the ideology but they're not going to kill it without some sort of concession from the central government. so anything that we do as part of a u.s. strategy has to put pressure on abadi to fill the ranks of the two divisions that fell, mosul and talaf, the second and third iraqi army divisions, and put in 30,000 vetted sunnis that were part of the isf in the past and make them fill the ranks. that's where the effort needs to be, because we need to be the third-party g

isis is on the march.his is going to wind up being a question of what is it really meaning when people talk about the possibility of isis taking baghdad? can they take an entire city of millions of people, hold on to it and control it? do they even want to do that? baghdad is shia. these are not people who support isis. it will be very tough going, but isis may be having a different strategy emerge. lightning strikes, moving closer and closer, making forays against the airport, against the embassy wrar against the city. they can cause a lot of havoc without having to go to all the trouble of, you know, "taking the city." the question on the table is, well, what is the u.s. going to do about it? even as the president wanted to send ground troops at this point, isis is controlling such a large vast amount of territory in iraq, it's hard to see how ground troops could quickly roll them back. >> so, look, you are there in washington. when you look at what the administration says, what the pentagon says, it's n

heavy weapons to fight isis.ight isis but they're outgunned. >> and they're largely kurdish. >> yes. and they talk openly about their fears of a massacre there. >> you wrote about this, an article that was powerful. legitimate fear that these kurds, they're syrians but they're kurds, that they could be massacred if isis took control of the town? >> it's not just kurds. it's christians, airmen. what makes this so horrible for the people who are worried about kobani is that this is a town that sits right on the turkish border, which means it sits on the border of nato. the turkish military is watching this happen and that's something that admiral kirby did not allude to. there is another force right there that could stop an isis massacre. that's called the turkish army. they're not interested. >> they have the largest military force in the -- hundreds of thousands of troops. they have tanks along that border with syria. if they made a decision to send in forces to rescue these people in kobani, they could do it rel

isis is smart. and they're using social media to recruit as many americans or other allies to come to syria to be radicalized and trained to fight. this is an example of what isis is doing. it has happened over and over again. it is happening in the united states and we, it's been going on for a long time. not just isis but other al qaeda groups have been putting out a magazine called inspire. telling people how to make bombs. >> are there more americans like him? >> oh, yeah. there are other americans who are being recruited. it doesn't mean they're going to syria but some do. the fbi director said last night there are at least 12 americans that we know are in syria right now and we're doing whatever we can to watch them. they have american passports. if they come back to the united states, and they have not broken a law, all we can do is monitor them. they've been trained to fight and kill. and that's a serious situation in our country. >> what about, it was pretty sobering. you just saw a report

as isis makes advances and the u.s. responding with air strikes in the past 24 hours and a bone bomber and fighter aircraft and unmanned drones launched five strikes south of kaboni and that damaged a isis training camp and dedestroyed a support building and vehicles and killed isis fighters. they believe that the kurdish militia control most of the city and holding out against isis thus far. a day after the president visited the pentagon, there is no sign of his deviating from his strategy of no boots on the ground even while critics increase pressure to do just that. >> we are two months of a strikes. the president's strategy is clearly not working and isil continues to grow and gobble up territory from baghdad to kaboni. >> we have forgotten and we need to remind people it is a long difficult struggle and not solved by military power alone. as dramatic as air strikes can be and on the battlefield they can be, they are not the solution here. >> reporter: the u.s. is putting tremendous pressure on turkey to put boots o

is isis more emboldened?ore emboldened, and of course, the more victories, the more adherence that they gather they're pulling people in from all over the world. latest estimate is about 15,000 foreign fighters. so as they start to get close to baghdad, and they are encircling baghdad, the airport is just outside the main city limits, and they are at abu ghraib, the islamic state has already taken over abu ghraib which is about eight miles from the airport. so, the isis forces, the i.s. forces have shot down iraqi helicopters, with shoulder fired surface-to-air missiles called man pads. so they've already demonstrated that they know how to use them, that they have them, so the next thing that could happen is, you could get commercial and logistics flights that are flying out of baghdad international and you start stuffing surface-to-air missiles into those things and it's going to be havoc as well as artillery rounds being fired into the city of baghdad to demoralize and heighten the sense of siege that is pr

attacking isis and winning. the u.s.-led coalition launching new air strikes today near the syria town of kabani, radical islamic terrorists invading that sieged town. they are mounting another fierce offensive to try to seize that location that's right along the turki turkish-syrian border. welcome to america's news headquarters. >> those air strikes are in support of kurdish forces who are said to be holding their ground as the fighting ramps up. in fact, greg palkot is near the border with more. greg? >> reporter: the last 24 hours in the syrian border town of kobani has seen the biggest clash in a week between isis terrorists and kurdish mill sharks and one of the bigger waves of u.s. bombing runs of the entire campaign. just in the last 24 hours or so, i am told isis brought in reinforcements, and they tried to take the offensive again against the kurdish militia, attacking at three different fronts and pounding the kurds with mortars sending in three car bombs across the battle lines. the kurdish offenders say they

see that isis has the flag up. it seems that isis is expanding. are we doing enough with the air strikes? >> yeah, we are. but you have to look at this in the sense of what are we protecting ourselves from. if you want to protect americans from isis, you secure them from the southern border. they don't have a navy, air force, nuclear weapons. the only way that isis is going to harm americans is by coming in through the southern border, which they already have. >> are you talking about our -- the southern border of -- >> the u.s. southern border is the only way that americans get harmed by isis. that's it. that's the only way that they can touch us here. if you're talking about getting rid of evil and smashing them over there, what were doing would be enough if our nato ally of turkey would actually do something about this instead of helping isis. like she said, the turkish tanks are facing away from the enemy. turkey is helping isis get rid of their long-standing enemy kurdistan. when they give them weapons, ammuni

needs to help fight isis. but is the vice president right and accurate and just telling the hard truth? we'll discuss that. >>> a female isis fighter defects and talks to cnn about what she saw from the inside. don't miss that. sea captain: there's a narratorstorm cominhe storm narrator: that whipped through the turbine which poured... surplus energy into the plant which generously lowered its price and tipped off the house which used all that energy to stay warm through the storm. chipmunk: there's a bad storm comin! narrator: the internet of everything is changing how energy works. is your network ready?" you know.... there's a more enjoyable way to get your fiber. try phillips fiber good gummies. they're delicious and an excellent source of fiber to help support regularity. mmmm. these are good! the tasty side of fiber. from phillips i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i looked at my options. then i got a medicare supplement insurance

these foreign fighters another opportunity exploit isis who actually comprises isis. these foreign fighters, a lot of them came in wanting to fight beside and they were moved to iraq to do these things. you have to member what mosul is. into the back of envelope math their seven and 50,000 sunni military age males in mosul waiting to see what the central government is going to do, which is what we're going to do. anytime isis has a public demonstration there is always isis cards with ak-47s watching the crowd to the are worried about what this sunni male population in mosul is going to do. it don't subscribe to the etiology, but they're not going to kill it without some sort of concession from the central government. they will not do it without getting something for it. anything we do is part of the u.s. strategy has to put pressure on a body to the wrecks of the two divisions that they'll and put in 30,000 embedded sunnis that were part of the i.s. in the past and they can fill the ranks and that's what his advisor efforts need to be because we need to be the third p

they have not engaged isis directly across their border even though kobani sits on isis' doorstep. he says they don't have an integrated strategy about how to stop isis lurching from one to the other. christiane amanpour is joining us from london. turkey is a member of nato and a lot of people are asking why hasn't turkey played a more prominent role in this war against isis, which is really right on turkey's border. >> exactly. that's precisely what i asked the prime minister. i've just come back from istanbul. i sat down with him last night for an in-depth interview about this problem. i remember when we were discussing the air strikes on syria, everybody said, hey, where's turkey, nato's ally. the prime minister is well known and he said, one, turkey has been doing a huge amount, as we all know, 1.6 million refugees in the three years of the brutal civil war that assad has been waging. now, as you just mentioned, they are getting hundreds and thousands of them from kobani practically on a daily basis. but he says they fundamentally disagree with what's right now the u.s. strateg

isis already controls 80% of anbar. saturday isis forces surrounded the last remaining town fully under government control and make further inroads into ramadi. isis holds almost every major population center in anbar. on the outskirts of baghdad also in anbar. their hold on the province is slipping day by day. the army has been plagued by absenteeism, corruption and incompetence, hardly the ingredients for success. anbar's pro vinceal council says it's appealing to baghdad for forces to join the battle. although baghdad has made it clear it doesn't want u.s. ground troops and the obama administration has repeatedly insisted, no combat troops will be deployed here. >> as if all of this weren't grim enough, a series of car bombs in the capital as well as government controlled areas indicates that isis is following a two-pronged approach to take more territory and to sew terror into those areas it doesn't control. ben wedeman, cnn, baghdad. >>> so as isis forces continue to advance, u.s. secretary chuck hagel says iraqi s

we got a good taste in the last 24 hours of the dual threat that isis poses on the ground in syria, isishters continuing to surround the town of kobani despite u.s. air strikes and here back at home another american, it's believed about 12 of them, about a dozen have attempted or succeeded in going to syria to join isis to fight. this latest one caught just as he was about to board his plane. he told his parents he felt an obligation to migrate to isis-controlled land. chicago area teen mohammed hamzha khan is the latest of roughly a dozen americans to volunteer for isis. he was arrested at chicago's o'hare airport just as he was about to board what he allegedly said was a one-way journey to syria, teen war. on the ground there, isis is advancing even in the face of american air power. in kobani, northern syria, kurdish fighters are locked in bloody street wattles withis isis. the militants already raised their signature black flags on a building at a hilltop overlooking the town while raining down shell fire from tanks and heavy artillery. quoting one fighter a reporter for arabic al an

. >>> isis militants brutally murder a british hostage and threaten an american. we'll get reaction from london. >>> hazardous materials crews work to sanitize that apartment where the first diagnosed ebola patient in the u.s. stayed. prosecutors are looking at possible criminal charges against him. >>> plus, talks between hong kong protesters and officials fall apart before they could even begin. we'll have a live report on the violence that has rocked the peaceful protests. >>> and hello and welcome to our viewers in the u.s. and around the world i'm natalie allen at cnn center. while the first person diagnosed with ebola in the u.s. is being treated in a dallas hospital, prosecutors are looking into whether the man knowingly brought the virus into the country. texas prosecutors say if eric duncan traveled from liberia knowing he was infected he could face criminal charges. witnesses have accused the liberian native of flying on a preflight questionnaire about his contact with ebola patients. the family of four quarantined in the apartment here where duncan was

by isis and iraq.ke kobani, it goes almost from the turkish border, we're showing our viewers. they have the amount of area about the size of in. >> absolutely. this is a very, very dramatic development. additional attacks in that area. it may not be enough. these people are now in the city. that will be harder without observers on the ground to find the targets. and the turks, one thing they could do was open the border to additional fighters and women's. the turks have just begun doing that with medical supplies today. we need to see the turks do more too. they voted to allow some military actions. unclear what they're planning on doing if anything after the 49 turkish diplomats were being held hostage by isis. do you know how they got them out? >> we know that there were negotiations. we think that there were probably, from what i've heard, some kind of agreements on people that the turks are holding. they may be possibly some facilitation. the turks have 80 turkish soldiers deep inside syria at a t

before isis.hinking about fighting for the kurdish people. >> she shows me where the bullet ripped through her side during an isis attack on her checkpoint earlier this year. she's still recovering. >> do you wish you were still in syria fighting? >> we have to follow our leaders. if it were up to us, we would go 00 morning isis and blow ourselves up, we would do anything to kill these people. >> that's just what this kurdish woman did on sunday, she blew herself up killing isis members that were trying to take cobanny. kurdish women have earned the reputation for being brave, fierce and very capable. they know isis will show them no mercy. this photo which cnn can't confirm the authenticity of, appears to show an extremist fighter lifting the severed head of a kurdish female fighter. >> she was once free to kill and risk death for her family. she could only speak to us with her father's permission, and he insisted we hide her face. >> being a woman in the family is like being in jail. when a woma

one large and two small isis units. isis is continuing to advance in anbar province. our correspondent ben wedeman is live in baghdad. ben, i know you have been with the iraqi forces and trying to get a sense of how they are fairing against the isis fighters. >> reporter: i would say they get mixed grades out in the western perimeter of baghdad where we spent several hours yesterday. in that particular area, it doesn't seem that isis is focusing. the soldiers and officers out there told me they take occasional pot shots from isis snipers. sometimes mortar rounds incoming. isis current efforts are focused on the towns within anbar province like romadi. they took the town of hit days ago ago. where we were is very near the airport. the worry is at some point, isis will continue taking those anbar towns and cities and focus on the airport, which, of course, is the only way out by air from baghdad. if that airport were to be closed down for any reason, all it takes is just one or two incoming rounds of artillery or mortar fire, that would pose a serious crisis for this ci

the potential for lone involves, incited by isis and things they see that isis posts. strike on their own and create. killing a member of the military and there are plenty of military personnel walking around in uniform. everybody needs to be vigilant when we are dealing with isis and lone wolves associated with them. we are dealing with a didn't environment than we were a short time ago. martha: it's chilling to think about these situations. we saw that horrible killing on the streets of london. but as you point out, this is a two-way street. the more they do this the more we can potentially find out who and where they are. >> that's exactly right. i'm sure law enforcement and intelligence are all over this. law enforcement and intelligence ought to be creating their own postings out there to put them out on facebook to try and attract isis people put something false out there and make it look big and dramatic so you get isis try to respond to it and that's creates links to people affiliated with isis. smash this fellows website. martha: the details catherine herridge

they start shutting isis slogans. it is an issue that has nothing to do with isis.laces, and that is worrisome. i talked to a lot of people since i have been back in the country, particularly from the new generation where unemployment in jordan in many countries around the area, over 30 percent among the youth. you talk to them, and they clearly tell you, this is not our war. they do not see it as a cultural war, war for values they see it as an american against a region. if it is an american war against region they're not going to side. that is something that is also worrisome in my view. isis has certainly hurt their reform agenda. you talk reform el and many people will tell you that the government, this is not the time. we need to worry about the military threat. we are back to what i call a pre arab uprising where people are focused on one thing and one thing only, security. of course they tend to forget that the end of several was an arab uprising, but nobody seems to be thinking along these lines, and everybody is back to the security malls where what we need

he likes isis. but for all the details we know about a chicago area 19-year-old named mohammed hamzah khan, some pretty important questions are still left unanswered, such as who put up $4,000 to pay for khan's travel to turkey? who was supposed to meet mim wh him when he got there and lead him into the battle in iraq and syria if the allegations are true? the feds have some ideas but for now they're saying just enough to keep khan locked away in a country, a society he said that he'd come to hate. here's cnn's ted rowlands. >> reporter: according to the criminal complaint, khan did talk to investigators at the airport after he was arrested. but most of the evidence, according to that complaint, came from his home here in bolingbrook, a suburb of chicago. they found notes, drawings and they found a letter which sort of explains why an american teenager would want to travel overseas and fight for isis. according to investigators, 19-year-old mohammed hamzah khan was on his way to join isis when he wa

we see isis linked arrest and europe where we see isis activity. this is tough for law enforcement to follow. historically you can follow terror groups by looking at center of the group and determining how they're sending out operatives from the center. in this case you can't do that. there's potentially a kid in chicago, new york or washington simply looking at video online and saying as we saw in europe or australia, i'm going to do it here in the united states. it's tough to stop that. >> fbi says isis has shown success in the online campaign to recruit fighters. this is a call for westerners to go join in the fight. it doesn't require travel or really even conversations. someone could read it and want to act on it. how difficult does it make detection? >> detection is difficult. you're looking at kids sitting around two or three of them. the kid starts saying, hey, nobody is doing anything. we're going to organize our own cell. if they don't have connectivity with the group that is traveled, communications, you have to depend on them making a m

>>> the war against isis. u.s.ndreds of u.s. air strikes, the terror group is gaining ground. >> so you're outgunned? isis is better off? >> of course. >> in my interview with susan rice, the president's national

isis is not islamic. the president was asked if we are at war with isis. he says we're not at war with isis. why can't he get the basic things right? >> there are people on the left like myself who do not yea with this president and think he is lazy in his leadership and policy and does not listen to the intelligence that is coming to him. so to blame an entire group of people is irresponsible. >> but they are fighting back. isn't it interesting that all of a sudden the intelligence community and all these leaks he was warned about isis and the ramifications of pulling out of iraq. >> that's not a leftest ideology. >> it's the president's leftist ideology. >> it has nothing to do with him being a leftist but it is being a poor leader. that's what it is. >> and leon panetta describes that in his book. he wanted to stay true to that -- >> is that the bible? >> no but he said he wanted to abandon iraq. that is his ideology. that is the left-wing ideology. >> this is irresponsible. >> one month ago, obama said about the syrian opposition, he said it's a fantas

there have been 274 anti-isis air strikes in iraq since august 8. 133 anti-isis air strikes in syria since september 23. while there is little debate the strikes are degrading some isis capabilities, it's unclear now if air strikes alone will be enough to destroy isis and permanently eliminate the threat they pose. >> i think the level of effort on the part of the air strikes, i don't know the reasons behind it. i've been told the rules of engagement are too restrictive. i've been told we don't have enough isr that, is to help eye phi targets. but all i can say is looking at what you're looking at, come to the conclusion that our level of effort of air strikes is inadequate. >> reporter: just across the border, the turkish military has not been helping keep isis out of kobani, the key city apparently about to fall. so defense secretary chuck hagel is saying the pentagon will send a group to turkey next week that will tell turkey what kind of help we could excuse then see what kind of assistance they're ultimately comfortable providing, if anything. this comes as experts are looking b

isis is not islamic. the president was asked sunday if we are at war with isis. he said we are not at war with isis. why can't this president get simple basic things about radical islamists right? >> monica is incorrect saying it's leftist ideology. there are people like myself who don't agree with this president think he is lazy in his leadership and lays de in his policy and doesn't listen to the intelligence that is coming to him. to plame an entire group of people is irresponsible. >> but they are fighting back. isn't it interesting that all of a sudden the intelligence community all of these leaks, no he was warned about isis repeatedly. was warned about the ramifications pulling out repeatedly. >> that isn't a leftist ideology. >> it is the president's leftist ideology. i don't think anybody but you deny. >> it doesn't have anything to do with him being a leftist. it has to do with him being a poor leader. >> leon panetta described that in his book. that's his fill loss see. he wa -- philosophy. >> it is saying he wanted to abandon iraq because that is his

the fight against isis there? >> well, just by the shear size of the explosions we've been seeing, and i'd say four or five, raeblly, which probably were air strikes that we've witnessed so far today, the centcom press release quite vague as the precise timing of the strikes, they must have caused significant damage to what they said were isil buildings, vehicles, even a convoy at one point. we don't know what that's doing, though, to the battle on the ground. we do know for sure that the kurds are running low on ammunition, running low on individual, too, frankly, and if you also bear in mind, too, a scene we saw earlier on today, we don't know who they were but there was a clear corridor of about 50 men, didn't appear to be armed, mostly male what from what we could see from this vantage point who were moving what should be the kurdish side to the isis-held side of the city. as i say, we don't know what they were doing but it was bizarre to see that number of people on the move. frankly, quite so orderly during

but not moving closer to defeating isis.u can see isis still gaining ground inside iraq, especially inside syria along the turkish border as you noted. and that when the president went behind closed doors today with top military planners, he basically said, look, he is staying the course at least for now. and top administration officials are telling us they believe the strategy is working although jen psaki had a little time articulating how that strategy is working as she tried to lay out some of the successes so far in battling isis. listen to this. >> we've gone after refineries. we're going after strategic locations. and let me just tick through these and we can go to your next question. some of o successes we've seen on the ground by the iraqi security forces. one moment. sorry. >> today, jen psaki found that page as josh earnest did here at the white house and both said, look, there have been gains, specifically turning back and taking back the mosul dam for example inside iraq, preventing a genocide on sinjar mountain

needs in the fight against isis.state department. >>> and for more on those comments, christiane amanpour has more. >> what they expect are fairness and empathy. the united states has bordered with mexico. and there are two states on both sides. is it easy to control all the borders? 1.6 million people came. this is the combined population of washington, d.c., boston and atlanta. you can imagine which type of risks and challenges we are facing. >> turkish prime minister there speaking with crist yawn aumen poor. is the occupied movement losing momentum? we'll be live in hong kong in 90 seconds. >>> welcome back everyone. after a week of protests, hong kong protesters and the government have agreed to hold several rounds of talks. we are live from hong kong now. we are seeing smaller numbers of protesters on the streets of hong kong. and it appears talks may bring this to a stand still. so what are these likely solutions that the government and demonstrators are considering right now? >> reporter: well, the government

today, still ten cities under isis control. kobani, that crucial city we've been watching the fighting play out across the border from turkey, that one contested with isis fighters now inside the city, wolf. when you speak to u.s. military commanders, they say, we never said the air campaign alone was going to change this map immediately. but here you can tell it's going to take a lot more and certainly a much more forceful ground offensive, at least from iraqi and kurdish forces to change the number of cities and the amount of territory under isis control. >> certainly will. jim sciutto, thanks very much. let's dig deeper right now. the former commander of the u.s. military central command, also the former special middle east envoy, retired general anthony zin zinni. thanks very much for joining us. these air strikes that the u.s. and the allies are launching in iraq and syria, correct me if i'm wrong, so far doesn't seem to be a game changer by any means. >> no, they're not. i think it's been said so many times without a cred

that's how isis developed.egy is, you know, we have decided -- the president has decided that we're going to go in and train and try to arm those elements that hopefully will represent a more moderate opposition force that can then help us in defining the targets there and going after isis in searia. it's going to be a much tougher challenge. no question. >> jon: what are we to make of the difference between the rhetoric that we hear and the reality? because the rhetoric is, we're in the fight of our lives. this is an extential threat, but we're not going to involve the whole country. it seems like they're trying to get the go ahead to do what they want to do without making the commitment and getting the entire country involved in whatever this battle is. >> jon, i think when we confront this kind of threat, and because it's going to be long and sustained, this is not going to happen -- we're not going to be able to win this overnight. this is going to take years to be able to do this. i think the president has

and isis was moving toward kurdish positions. bad news for them day after day. supplies surely getting scarcer. >> what about these reports, these tweets that we're seeing from the kurdish army saying that chemical weapons are being used against its people. what have you seen? >> reporter: that's a very big accusation to make and frankly i think if isis had weapons of those nature they might save them for an occasion to attack more high profile target. we've seen some explosions that seemed to push white plumes of smoke into the air. isis have overrun a lot of iraqi army bases, a lot of syrian bases and there's a whole different arrange of substances that could be behind that and conventional explosives too and lots of things even white phosphorous and you hear claims of chemical weapons but it takes a lot to be sure that's the truth. >> thank you for the clarification. thank you, nick paton walsh. why kurds are fighting, house to house battles to safe kobani and syria and you have iraqi military abandoning one of its final milit

they helped create isis and now they're endangered by isis.till in their interest to fight isis no matter what joe biden says. it's not necessarily in turkey's interest to fight isis in the way the united states has wanted to. that's why turkey was to so late to the game, so late to vote on going to syria in iraq and why turkey is saying wait a minute, you're about to give diplomatic and military strength to anti-turkish forces, forces that the united states themselves deemed as terrorists just a few months ago in terms of the pkk, the turkish workers party. so this is a dangerous thing. i wouldn't be surprised if turkey uses this as an excuse to renege. >> oh, gosh, i hope not. >> i hope i'm wrong. i hope i'm wrong. >> if kobani falls, which is a stone's throw away from the turkish border turkey may have to react. >> well, this is the thing. as much as turkey has that -- has the set of interests mark describes, turkey also has an interest in not having the country next door to them run by an islamic caliphate and turkey also has the sort of e

>> i think as far as the isis situation he was a member of isis. on his facebook he talked about being a part of, supporting them, my opinion he's a terrorist. >> we lose our focus on what president bush said. and yes, sean. democrat saying president bush was right about short term and long term because we're so busy arguing is he a terrorist? it's our values >> is it embarrassing beb bebe netanyahu is on the stage and our president is weak? >> we are making -- >> none of this -- >> we make a grave and dangerous mistake when start the so called 20th hijacker went to trial his public defender tried to claim he was crazy. he slammed the desk and said i am not crazy, i am a jihadi. >> i was just saying that i think that this guy is a terrorist on his facebook page he has a picture of isis you guys are saying he's not a member of isis you don't have to be asked to join and have an initiation. you are or you aren't. >> members of isis are, were former leaders under saddam hussien. they're part of an organization. >> coming up, we're going to have more "

a sign that isis has arrived. and across the city today we heard pretty much continuous small arms fire. that is a sign to us that a street to street battle between isis and the brave kurdish defenders of the town continues and we have heard of high casualties among fighters on both sides. we also witnessed the biggest number of u.s. airstrikes that we have seen in the week that we have been here, five bombing runs, a coalition aircraft hitting isis tanks, armed vehicles and guns. the hitch is the main battle is now in the center of the city and you can't really hit isis there without hitting friendly forces and possibly any remaining civilians. and, as for the turkish army, we watched today, they're not making a move, at least against isis. turkey appears to be more concerned about its often rebellious ethnic kurdish population and getting raid of assad than isis, even though it's finding terror right next door. >>> finally, that kurdish population is getting more and more angry. we were there-standing nearby, al