isis watchers go to. there is also "the beat," which is of course its magazine where it will put announcements out. i imagine that isis, too, will be very hesitant about actually coming out and confirming the death of al baghdadi, if he has, indeed, been killed. it will be a major blow, both in reputational terms, if you will, for isis, and it will be interesting to see whether they do, in fact, come out on one of those platforms and confirm his death, if the russians do end up confirming it. >> diana magnay for us this morning. again, state-run media in russia saying al baghdadi -- abu bakr al baghdadi, the leader of isis, may have been killed in an air strike on may 28th. we will continue to watch all of this and get new developments as they happen. thanks, diana. >> we'll also have much more on the new russia investigation. the special counsel goes on a hiring spree as the president goes off, calling these bad people. the vice president also lawyering up when it comes to the russia investigation. all t

it will be unusual for the leader of isis to be attending a meeting with 300 isis soldiers.not meet in large groups because of drone strikes. the russians are saying they are still investigating here and trying to get more information. we have not heard anything from isis. i would just say if he has been killed, of course, it would deal a big blow to the group. let's look at the past few weeks. major terror attacks in london and baghdad and tehran and can pull and kabul. a lot of questions. we are trying to get more answers. alisyn. >> thank you, clarissa. we have more from the pentagon and barbara starr with the reaction. >> alisyn, the u.s. military and

in essence the groups that claim , now to be fighting isis, albeit isis, non-muslims, isis presents thems the mortal enemy of all muslims. if you are a kid who's angry at western foreign-policy, it is very easy to get access from this kind of information of propaganda. it's true twitter accounts get taken off-line, youtube videos get taken off-line, but these guys have gone to ground more than just physically. they are using whatsapp, they used telegrams encrypted , messaging. jeff: it is interesting when they try to confirm whether the something like this is true or not, they look to social media. michael: of course. funnily enough, the russian ministry of defense, in the first few months of their intervention in syria, they produced videos that we hit isis in such and such location at such and such time. and then you had open source friends in groups debunk these videos, saying you provided evidence to produce what you just said. we located this video and this terrain and 100 miles away from this happened -- it didn't happen yesterday, it happened two tuesdays ago. again, this is why i

." >>> overseas, isis is losing badly on two fronts.q's army may be days from retaking all of mosul. and in syria, u.s.-backed forces have moved into raqqa which isis considers its capital. holly williams is the first network kept to report from inside raqqa city. >> we walked into raqqa. for three years an isis stronghold. now pummeled by u.s. air strikes and nearly surrounded by america's allies on the ground. a rag tag army known as the syrian democratic forces. the extremists are losing territory quickly, some times leaving their weapons behind. under isis control, raqqa became infamous for depraved acts of violence. american journalists were beheaded nearby. this child was captured holding a severed head. and even now that raqqa is under siege, isis is still deadly. when part of our team moved forward, they were spotted by an isis sniper. our producer, omarabdul kadir had no choice but make a run for cover. they were safe, pinned down behind a concrete wall. >> darkness before we move. >> we can't move from street to street. becaus

isis leader abu bakr al bagdadi. russia's defense ministry says it is investigating if one of their air strikes in syria took him out. they are using qualified language. so are we. >> we should tell you, we had many reports in the past about al bagdadi's death that have not turned out to be true. we are approaching this with caution. his whereabouts have not been known for some time. if this is true, it is a major blow to the terror group. let's start with clarissa ward. she is live for us in london. she has reported extensively from the war zone in syria. what are your thoughts with this news, clarissa? >> reporter: gewe are getting me information from the russian defense ministry as to what they think happened. they say on may 28th they carried out an air strike targeting in raqqah. they say during the course of the air strike, some 330 isis personnel were killed. among them 30 mid level or what they describe as mid level field commanders. already, alisyn, that raises a red flag. isis is savvy now. they have been d

is it the daesh, isis, isil? >> having spent a little bit of time affiliated with law enforcement andwarfare, unless you wish to bolster your enemy, unless you wish to strengthen your enemy, in the world, you minimize, you might refer to them say for example as the jv team, right if that would be, but normally traditionally you don't want to build your enemy up, right? i guess whati'm driving at is the levant is larger than iraq and syria, and why someone would call them isil to give them greater credibility. it is beyond me, and yet it has been done. fisa, to talk about recent reports indicate up to 5% of fisa court applications, upstream information-gathering during the last previous administration was actually usedagainst american citizens. in section 702 of the code allows us to use fisa, it orders that american citizens be masked, wherein those citizens' identity might have been accidentally associated with a foreign intelligence target. because why? we don't know who's called whom, a wrong number or for ent

or isis activity. so i don't think that's definitive. in terms of was there anything beforehand? not really, no. there's been nothing the last few days that would have given any immediate inclination this was going to happen. there was obviously concern about attacks taking place in ramadan. but it wasn't clear if that was really going to happen, whether that was going to happen in the uk or other western country or somewhere else. we have had hints that isis was trying to push its operatives and supporters in western countries to carry out attacks like this in the last six to 12 months. particularly in the last basically six months. isis has put out a number of english language guides clearly aimed at individuals living in the u.s. and united kingdom urging them to carry out vehicle-borne attacks, suggesting using cars would be a more effective and more guaranteed success than trying to obtain explosives or firearms. and specifically obviously the guides focused on the use of trucks. again, looking at

minutes after it happened isis claimed responsibility. i would giving them too much credit for these attacks quest mark. >> we could in some cases. the reason i believe it may be them is because this falls into their pattern with regard to radicalized people and encouraging them to commit these acts. we should be careful as to who we believe is responsible before the police get the facts. >> they did the numbers game now and they said we don't have enough, were outnumbered. to have these people covered unit 700,000 agents. well, there has to be a better sister. theresa may will meet with her people tomorrow morning and will want answers. >> they're going to have to look at their immigration policies and revamp then. we are at war. the western nations have to understand this is a war. this is not criminal acts. i'm very concerned about the concert is going on and being planned too soon . with the police manpower being stretched, with overwhelming work that have come it's all right to have a concert, but not right now. it's too soon. the pr

he's seen filming isis fighters. some talking in russian about how they've lost radios and they're worried about air strikes. others searching for people. another man trying on different types of trousers in a market. it's part, i think, it's fair to say, of the crumbling group isis has on the street. they've lined the streets with sandbags, covered them with canopies to try and keep coalitions away. they have drones waiting for the american-backed forces. here's what one resistance activist said amongst the population, attacking or leaving threats for those who inform for isis. >> translator: we can only get to them by leaving messages on their door like, "we know who you are." this soon stops them. and some of our friends started writing the word "free" on the walls of isis buildings. then locals started. the elderly writing it on walls, and children on chalkboards, making isis wonder who are these people. >> reporter: now that internal desce dissent will grow. that's what we hear from the local population about wh

look at the only reason there is an isis is that i have president obama and hillary clinton sent isis there to overthrow assad you have to remember when it president obama was leading up to an invasion of syria with a trumped up charge that assad had used chemical weapons against his own people and had crossed the red line on to member the law that obama drawled he kept saying if assad uses chemical weapons we were really bad and then. the british parliament said the we're not going to split. and the russians said no we won't either and so what they do it since obama couldn't send american troops and they sent isis and to do the job so of general slept actually testified who actually said this on television he said it was a willful decision of the obama. presidency over my objection as director of the defense intelligence agency or to send in isis to syria he says he had recommended against that so we know that the americans have a hide it all is surely the russians the syrians the radiance that nowness from the begat but the american excuse for being and is syria is that expired in t

isis,ls a huge blow to but was also delayed by three years.unnis in mosul would ask the government why would it take you 2.5 years to do something about this. now we have the last holdout, basically a square-mile where you have an upwards of 80,000 civilians with about 3000 isis fighters. this part of the battle is one we shouldn't be using artillery or airstrikes, the city has been troubled -- destroyed and a lot of places. population left behind is the only group that can keep isis out in the future. if they don't believe they have trust of their government and the united states, then isis will simply return back to the city just like it did in july of 2014. >> it's one thing to talk about the islamic state group in iraq, but it's nearing the end in terms of control of various territories here it there is also syria, give us an update on your point of view. >> in iraq and syria -- we are using a sunni force, in syria we are using a kurdish force. the ground forth in this strategy hasn't been the right one to begin with. sunnisge of 2007 we u

that's what isis propaganda has been saying. if this is indeed isis. we have not confirm that. it is low-tech and that's a propaganda that is called for. the fact that it was just outside notre dame. this operation certainly seems to be over. they have searched the people who went back inside notre dame. they cleared the square. as we've seen before, they will try to get this going is back to normal as possible. they do not want panic to spread. a >> jon: very quick response from paris police who have their headquarters just steps away from notre dame cathedral. benjamin hall reporting, thanks very much. we will continue to keep our eye on the situation outside notre dame. what an attacker -- one attacker has been injured, one plays officer as well. the police officer fired two shots hitting the attacker. the police officer was hit in the head by this guy carrying a hammer. more details on that and other big news to bring you just ahead on "happening now" ." tomorrow is not a given. but entresto is a medicine that helps make more tomorrows possible. ♪ tomorrow, tomorrow... ♪ i

also, isis is fighting for its survival.s is isis basically staking a claim in the leadership of this sunni radical jihadi form of sunni islam, even after they are defeated in mosul and after they are defeated in raqqa. >>ica karim, we saw iran immediately blamed saudi arabia for this attack. what do you make of that accusation? >> iran and saudi arabia have long been accusing one another of fueling isis. for the iranians, isis is a by-product of saudi... ideology and saudi financing. sot saudis, isis is a by-product of iranian support for-- shi'a militias in iraq which are killing sunnis en mass. the reality is that isis poses a grave threat to iran, but an even griever threat to saudi arabia. so in theory these two countries have a mutual adversary in isis. but what iran has been doing which i think is quite dangerous is conflating saudi arabia and isis, and they put their finger on something which has a powerful resonance amongst iranians and whether you're a shiite cleric, or a secular iranian opponent of the regime livi

in raqqa were the areas under isis control.t's most of the city, anthony. an estimated 2500 isis fighters and tens of thousand of civilians. >>> before the july 4th recess. monday they released a version of the bill, trying to woo some gop senators off the fence. then the congressional budget office released its review and all bets were off. nancy cordes reports. >> obviously, it's not good news. >> arizona's john mccain says he is staying on the fence. after congressional number crunchers determined his party's senate health care bill would result in 22 million more americans going without coverage by 2026. a slight improvement over the house version. which president trump described as mean. >> that was my term. because, i want to see -- i want to see, i speak from the heart. that's what i want to see. i want to see a bill with heart. >> the congressional budget office says the biggest drop in coverage would come next year. would be uninsured, primarily because obama care's penalty for not having insurance would be eliminated.

we probably will finish isis the caliphate but isis will mutate and the threat will take a differente seen that with al qaeda. we kicked them out of afghanistan. they lost their territory in afghanistan. we destroyed the taliban and al qaeda shifted to being an dangerous organization to a message. we battle isis in the physical spaces. it's important to defeat them in the physical spaces. that's only half of the battle. we have to defeat them in the spaces they occupy in the hearts and minds of the alienated and the true believers. only when we win that battle, we will start to win the war. >> for westerners that's where the battle has moved. isis claims that they were behind it every time and yet there's very little evidence now of material connection between anybody operatally and a terrorist. >> isis doesn't need raqqah or mosul to inspire attacks in mosul or san bernardino. it's becoming a message. isis losing the caliphate and their that's extremely important. unlike al qaeda when bin laden was killed many of the top leaders were still alive. >> they could just fill that spot? >

we're here to fight isis. but we will defend our forces against anyone who threatens them. >> reporter: general townsend told us that the u.s. has now agreed a demarcation line with the regime and its ally russia. he downplayed fears that the u.s. and russia could be drawn into a direct conflict here. >>> a cardinal and top adviser to pope francis is taking a leave of absence to fight sex abuse allegations. cardinal george pell faces multiple sex assault charges in australia that allegedly happened decades ago. seth doane is in rome with more on the scandal rocking the vatican. >> reporter: in this elite group of cardinals considered the so-called princes of the church, cardinal pell is at the very top, considered one of the closest advisers to pope francis. so these charges this morning are sending shock waves through the catholic church. e reflective but forceful this morning, railing against what he said was nearly two years of relentless character assassination. >> i'm innocent of these charges. they are f

isis has 25 provinces in 11 countries. the apparent focus by isa's on control over the territory cause many to conclude at the time that isis was less interested in attacking the west that al qaeda . this has proven to be false. the first successful attack by foreign fighter returnee took place in may 2014 at the jewish museum in brussels. the perpetrator was product -- part of the cell overseen by cap -- the overall pattern of attacks by isis reinforces this conclusion. between june 2014 in may 2017, isis conducted nearly to a 25 attacks outside syria and iraq. were external operations or attacks outside those provinces. isis has been more aggressive in external operations that al qaeda. only 10% of a kind is attacks between 2008 in to them 10 -- in countriesplace in outside of affiliates. to truly understand this thread, we need to examine successful and failed attempts. the numbers become more grim. 58% of all isis external operations, including attacks in plots, have taken place in the las west. operatives,ine core sev

for three years an isis stronghold, now pummeled by u.s. air strikes and nearly surrounded by america's allies on the ground. a ragtag army known as the syrian democratic forces. the extremists are losing territory quickly, sometimes leaving their weapons behind. under isis control, raqqa became infamous for depraved acts of violence, american journalists were beheaded nearby. this child was captured holding a severed head. and even now that raqqa is under siege, isis is still deadly. >> quick, quick, quick. >> reporter: when part of our team moved forward, they were spotted by an isis sniper. our producer, omar abdul kadir, had no choice but to make a run for cover. >> keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going. >> well done. >> reporter: they were safe but pinned down behind a concrete wall. >> the armored car. >> is that them? >> reporter: "we can't move from street to street because of their snipers," said this man, who told us he has been fighting isis for four years. and then came word there was a suspected isis suicide car bomber

would want to happen, because it aides them in her cause. >> absolutely, as isis is seeing brunt of military attacks in syria and iraq, the reason they attack in nice london san bernardino is they want to break the revolve of america and the west to defeat them in the middle east but he also want to grow the jihadist recruitment if you will, the primary way to fuel geohad i have the recruitment is to further separate them even more than the imam's rather islamic in west they try to roil chaos in society what triple is by doing that create this vigilante response that can happen that feeds exactly into the playbook of isis and why they do these attacks to start with. >> as the president said, when he was in saudi arabia, muslims the at an the brunt of anger from isis they have had much more losses by isis more killings than any other group of people in the world talk about that for a second. >> they really have, and you know, is! is in that time in history right now, that many of the western religion went through the religion is going through a battle against theyocracy inside baghda

of isis, we call that isis 2.0. insurgency, rural. i think we still still be here dealing with that problem set for a while. >> isis and its cult of barbarity may be difficult to eradicate entirely.ns base to launch attacks on the west and the u.s. hopes retaking the city it will prevent future attacks. >> a viral video on facebook shows a jacksonville florida, police officer, threatening to haul a young black man to jail after stopping him for jaywalking. did the low-level infraction warrant a high intensity encounter? >> take your camera point it across there at the red hand. that is a cross walk. >> reporter: moments after being stopped for allegedly jaywalking, 21-year-old davonte shipman started to record the incidence. >> i am about to put you in jail. >> disobeying a direct order. >> that's not resisting, officer. >> reporter: the interaction happened a week ago. shipman believes this is about more than just a jaywalking citation. >> i was just stopped for being black and walking how i feel. >> racial profile

these are the things that isis pointed out.ed for ramadan, we'll see calls related for the suspense as well. >> shepard: what is happening? the united states is supposed to be in a supporting role. what is your understanding what is really going on there? >> according to the pentagon, they've been working and surrounding the city since the fall, since november. they've been working to get civilians out, as many as possible and working to block down bridges and escape routing for fighters. they have to move in slowly given that it's a civilian area. it's hard to estimate. some have probably left and gone to other areas. it's going to be a long and probably intensive fight. isis not going to go down without a fight and it's going to be understandably tough for the civilians there because there's going to be a ramping up of coalition air strikes. >> shepard: and the refugee crisis. it just seems to be spiralling out of control. doesn't make the headlines. it's among the biggest stories of our generation. >> you're right. that gets

>> deep concern about isis pushing into baghdad. >> isis has been seizing territory in iraq. >> they were able to swiftly take over huge areas of iraq. it was shocking how the army didn't even fight, didn't even put a fight. >> and taking over mosul, the second largest city... >> i think washington was stunned when the second largest city in iraq, a city of two million people, fell in a day. to a terrorist organization that we had not imagined was in the first order of terrorist organizations. >> narrator: but these fighters were not new. they had been at war for more than a decade, ever since the american invasion of iraq. they have used beheadings, suicide bombings, and mass killings to implement a violent plan. a plan designed and carried out by this man: abu musab al-zarqawi, the founder of isis. >> narrator: the secret history of isis began at the cia in the aftermath of 9/11. there was an urgent question about abu musab al-zarqawi. >> i was an analyst working on the team that was charged with evaluating whether or not al-qaeda and iraq had conspired together to conduct 9/11 att

meeting with 300 isis soldiers. even senior isis personnel do not meet in large groups because of drone strikes. the russians are saying they are still investigating here and trying to get more information. we have not heard anything from isis. i would just say if he has been killed, of course, it would deal a big blow to the group. let's look at the past few weeks. major terror attacks in london and baghdad and tehran and can pull and kabul. a lot of questions. we are trying to get more answers. alisyn. >> thank you, clarissa. we have more from the pentagon and barbara starr with the reaction. >> alisyn, the u.s. military and intelligence community looking at reports. what we know is every time they get one of the reports, they proceed by looking at social media and communications intercepts and telephone intercepts to see if there is communication that al bagdadi has in fact been killed. they will look for that. they don't have that right now. will the russians have a boedy o show the world? that would be the actu

with russia with the americans to buy isis what isis is a total of ten americans and so by you know this war could have been over except every time they're on the verge of that isn't it up to stop trying to get an agreement with them arms so it's this sort of miscalculation in moscow at that has made the situation possible they were every bit as interested and get into an agreement with russia as they were and winning the war in syria and that has made it possible for the americans to inject themselves directly in to the war. ok paul craig roberts will try and get the view of the russian government on this program in due course thank you so watch after the break u.k. foreign policy catalyze domestic extremism on the streets of london we speak to jeremy corbyn shadow foreign minister walid mahmood who happens to be england's first muslim m.p. about monday's london terror attack on muslims. from the headlines hawg told about infiltration of action groups in britain on soft atoll about british breck sets in germany. coming up in part two of going underground. turn. themselves into. their ow

as isis loses ground, it's also losing fighters. holly williams has more on that from inside syria. >> reporter: 81 men and boys, all accused of fighting for isis in syria, now reformed after serving time in prison, according to america's syrian allies, and reunited with their families. abu bakr al baghdadi and his army of terrorists enforced a version of item swrm unrecognizable to most muslims, marked by vicious acts of violence. but ezadeen khalaf, a former sheppard, told us he joined isis not because he wanted to kill in the name his religion, but out of desperation. why did you join them? "we were poor and hungry," he said. "either you join isis and earn a salary, or you have nothing." he and most of the others have now signed up to fight against isis. thousands of other young muslims joined isis for more complicated reasons. they came from europe, rejecting the west and its values for extremism. some apparently so alienated from their own communities, that they went home to carry out terror attacks. and in a refugee camp in no

he was inspired by isis.t's the way isis operates like they found no isis connection. >> he was inspired by their call to violence. this is how isis is operating now. it's carrying out acts of terror by recruiting followers in other countries that may not have any direct connections to. is it possible to believe that this man would not have committed these acts of terror if isis was not encouraging this activity? gregg: there are plenty of other terrorist groups like al qaeda. >> the point was that you don't have to be necessarily recruited that you can simply, on your own, decide this is a radical ideology that i want to adhere to and i'm going to do what a great many others have done and commit acts of violence. >> it could have been al qaeda that radicalized him but the ideology that's being pushed in very violent videos and very violent sermons is coming from isis. isis is the primary driver of this radical islamic terrorism at this time. greg, thanks for being with us. >> good to be here. patti ann: our

we know al-baghdadi is a leader of isis. does it affect the rattle in rocca and the fight we are going to defeat isis in mosul? largely not. the moral of the fighters that are there. but we don't think al-baghdadi is one of these guys making battlefield calls and making decisions on a day-to-day basis. >> part of the russian disclosure is that the u.s. knew about the attacks. is that true? >> we maintain an open deconfliction line with the russians. we don't talk specifics about the strikes that happen. we just confirm whether or not our forces are in the area or their forces are in the area so that we can maintain a level of safety so that we are not inadvertently targeting one another as we continue our fight against isis. >> the grounds for skepticism here, do you share them that there was a feeling the leadership moved out of that area as early as march, that they don't usually meet in those kinds of numbers, that al-baghdadi is not usually in these kind of big groups and that the numbers targeted and hit sound artificia

backed forces have been launched an offensive to draw isis from raqqa, the so-called capital of the isiste. the only way to destroy isis was to take back raqqa and mosul, iraq. to prove the state with no state at all. then you prove everything isis has said to its groupies is a big, fat lie. exposing their deadbeats makes it hard for them to recruit dead bodies. isis was able to recruit because they perpetrate themselves as teeming hordes raising across the desert, making those in their path bending in their demand. for some reason, we took forever to counter this message. we thought they were jay-z. we let it slide. now, we must kill them all. it seems that that's the plan. for example, you don't hear much about taking prisoners anymore. maybe i missed it but i haven't seen a signal prisoner. ever since that first gulf war, we've gotten use to seeing the toppling of statues but we see so little of that now. maybe there's a reason for that? what we're doing now is so unbending and relentless. the way it should have been all along. dana, i don't know if my reasoning is correct. i know the

former isis fighters are complaining about >> greg: as isis crumbles, some surviving members are returningrope and finding it hard to get a job. i can see that it's gotta be a shock for employers when she asks about that gap in your resume and you say i was in syria chopping off heads. anyway, tell me about your 401(k). does it strike you as odd that they are allowed to return at all? why aren't they dead? do we ever worry about the career plans of nazi war criminals after the war? up to 150 are back in sweden. according to "newsweek," they talk to some of them. one guy applied to a lot of jobs but the online images he had posted of himself and isis tarnished his otherwise great reputation. complaining about not being hired because you are and isis is complaining about not getting into a day care because you are a. sweden thinks he can reintegrate. after posing with corpses? how much do they bet they don't like his future coworkers know about that? anything for tolerance. roughly 400 have returned in england. this is why europe is screwed. you can return to a death toll and they are worrie

in raqqah, which is isis -- the isis declared capital of the caliphate, children are forced to watch videos of mass executions in order to desensitize them to this level of violence. isis remains an ongoing threat and its campaign of violence and persecution is an ongoing tragedy for the people across the region. this bill will respond to that part of the challenge. it states that america's assistance for humanitarian, stabilization and recovery should go to those individuals and communities with the greatest need. that includes communities of religious and ethnic minorities. the bill also will help ensure that those responsible for these violence and persecution are brought to justice. it pushes usaid to assist in the efforts to conduct criminal investigations and help develop skills on the ground to collect evidence and press these cases. this is supported by the knights of columbus, the u.s. conference of catholic bishops, the yazidi human rights organization, international and several other organizations. i urge my colleagues to support this, and i reserve the balance of my time.

or isis.that is one thing that i would be, that's a little bit too tight. i know you want to keep this tight. and to do think associations can't be just a group that shares the ideology that is writing white paper somewhere. it's got to be a group that is, in fact, fighting along with al qaeda in some way. so i think that idea of co-belligerency is important. >> thank you both. i appreciate the opportunity. >> thank you. first, i want to thank our chairman for his leadership and convening this panel about this important issue. i also want to thank my fellow members, kaine and flake for the long-standing leadership on this matter. mr. bellinger, dr. hicks, you reach a spoken to the importance of and the appropriateness of an aumf not just debating it but ultimately congress passing an aumf focus on isis. allow me to put this issue on its head for a moment and ask the question of you this way. if in one year, two years, god forbid five years, u.s. forces remain engaged in hostilities against isi

we didn't see anybody, no isis, only the military.red isis vanquished, yet their three years have likely consumed all of hers and the ruins from which she fled and in which isis lie will take more than declarations of victory to rebuild. >> and nick is joining us now live from nearby. amazing report. thanks so much for doing it. so, what is the wait a moment line, based on your eye-witness account? has mosul finally fallen? >> reporter: no, not all of mosul. they are still clearing the remaining hundred or so meters between the isis-held territory and the river that marks the end of, really, what they control in the cities of iraq and since we filed that report, reality has caught up with the political statements we were hearing and they have taken the mosque entirely, but we are into some bloody final days here. you saw civilians escaping from the rubble. we were near. well, there's still yet more and the isis fighters there die hard. we've heard of suicide bombers being involved with attacking the troops there. this could be a blood

isis was carrying out attacks during ramadan. saying, you know -- showing a suicide bomber preparing for an attack. he is confronted by the ghost of people who have been killed. it says that god is greater than you. what you're doing is, you know, betraying, you know, the faith itself. that breaks the link between their cult version of what they call islam and true islam. >> right. >> and that has always been the nexus. that's the one thing that has not really been attacked. and the muslim world is only just starting to do that. the west has been leaning on weapons attacks and bombings, which creates more terrorists, rather than going hard after the religious -- fake religious basis of these islamic cults. >> it is an apocalyptic death cult, not just a cult. >> absolutely. >> that's why it is hard for westerners to empathize and get their head -- >> what do you mean by that? >> in isis and al qaeda theology, they believe that there is going to be a war and it is end times. >> right. >> it is going to be this battle between the fo

last week isis blew it up. today iraqi forces raised their flag on the spot. >> this is the final days of the caliphate in mosul. >> reporter: what does that mean for the war against isis? >> this is a catastrophca catastrophic setback for isis. >> reporter: just a few more blocks to go, but they could prove to be the hardest yet. richard engel, nbc news, mosul. >>> still ahead, the new battle off the court for superstar venus williams. why one man's family says she's to blame for his death. >>> also "titanic" treasures. an exclusive look at never before seen i never miss an early morning market. but with my back pain i couldn't sleep or get up in time. then i found aleve pm. the only one to combine a sleep aid plus the 12 hour pain relieving strength of aleve. and now. i'm back! aleve pm for a better am. when you're close to the people you love, does psoriasis ever get in the way of a touching moment? if you have moderate to severe psoriasis, you can embrace the chance of completely clear skin with taltz. talt

isis hit one of their biggest enemies. >> reporter: iran's supreme leader is vowing to hit back at isis in syria and iraq for isis losing ground there, this attack was a morale boost. for iran, an embarrassment, for the region, bad news, revenge in the air. bill neely, nbc news. >>> back home for the second day, a woman accusing comedian bill cosby of sexual assault was on the stand in his trial in pennsylvania. today, cosby's defense continued cross-examining her focussing on what it believes are inconsistencies in her story. nbc's stephanie gosk has more on the dramatic testimony. >> reporter: at times today bill cosby seemed relaxed even joking with security while his accuser andrea constand faced tough questions from the defense attorney angru, who try today pick apart her story. constand alleges the comedian drugged and sexual assaulted her in 2004. pointed out constand's statements to police changed, specifically the date of the assault. she focused on two private dinners at cosby's home before the assault at one point saying you hadn't told the officers that you had wine and bran

this with the isis blueprint. smaller scale this is in a 911 magnitude but still lethal and horrific. low-tech, inexpensive, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to get in a van and mow people down on a bridge and jump out with knives. this is absolutely, traits, the blueprint of isis and jihadist today. they're quite accurate here that the smaller scale attacks are effective. trace, what they want to do basically is turned western cities into many guerrilla war zones where you're having these kinds of attacks on a regular basis and they're having great success with it. look at the track record manchester, london, paris, brussels, nice. list goes on. trace: you go back to the manchester arena you have the ariana got a concert and a bunch of children there, you have this where you have tourist and you go back to-three months to the westminster bridge attacks and you have tourist so you clearly they're going after a psychological advantage here. >> they are. this is the definition of terror. psychological terror hitting

it's been three years since isis stormed into mosul.t was seen as a final realization of their impending loss. isis are very close to losing the city of mosul itself, they are still able to launch these attacks elsewhere. they continue to spread fear. >> heather: thank you. >> jon: another dangerous development in syria's civil war as the fighting spills across the israeli border with america's closest middle east ally firing back. we are live in jerusalem, next. also trying to make amends in the wake of a tragedy as one city reaches settlement with the family of philando castile for their horrible loss. ancestry dna. it turns out i'm scottish. so, i traded in my lederhosen for a kilt. pain's kind of self-defining. not when it hurts, it hurts. when i can't do something, it makes me feel isolated. with aleve, you can stay strong longer because only aleve has the strength to stop tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. tylenol can't do that. i get to be present and enjoy what i love. this is my pain. but i am stronger. aleve. al

at isis targets in and you can hear isis small arms fire there targeting the helicopter and for. precision i haven't yet seen a single house in mosul untouched by fighting isis make sure not to give up. without a fight the iraqi army and the u.s. led coalition seem to make sure to not leave a square metre scorched square meter scorched it's bad what's happened to the city but what's happened to the. people of mosul two million inhabitants before all of this. is chilling the things they went through the air strikes for example countless citizens nucleons and how many people of families children entire neighborhoods were killed in. plenty of bodies still buried under the rubble on the little little. surface what would your garbage government you know of now mark. there you have come to me to add much of. that we can only the. mother. or woman is our focus other i could i said i did but there are american after i did your mark on my own my sorry i did not let you off but out of my out of a militia. but out of. civilians were i says human shield they were the defense they hoped that

leader of isis reportedly killed.porting russia is claiming that it killed abu al baghdadi in syria. at this point