our senior international correspondent ivan watson has just returned, he's just there, in fact, ivan is joining us now from zako, that's near iraq's kurdish region. ivan, a kurdish official warning of po ten tial genocide. what have you learned? >> well, i'm standing on the tarmac of a helicopter landing pad, and we accompanied a helicopter from the iraqi air force and several peshmerga fighters on board on a dangerous chaotic and, dare i said, heroic mission, to deliver aid to some of those people, those acyazidi who have been trapped on mt. sinjar for the better part of a week and to evacuate some from that mountain. we took off from here on this aging helicopter that was loaded down with baby diapers, with condensed milk, with food and water and, in some cases, even boxes of shoes to give people. and as we flew over the plain in the direction of mt. sinjar and went over the isis positions, the two machine gunners on the side of the aircraft began opening fire on suspected targets below. they told me every time they fly in and out on these missions, they take fire from down below.

new fiber one streusel. >>> as prommed, ivan watson now joins us from the iraqi-syrian border. ve been seeing some incredible pictures behind you while we were on break, ivan. where are these people coming from? >> reporter: carol, these are iraqis who fled from the isis advance in predominantly the sinjar region and they fled to syria which is across the river right here, to a kurdish controlled part of syria. they are using this bridge here to come back into iraq, into iraqi kurdistan, the kurdish controlled region of the north of iraq and for the most part, these people are coming on foot with nothing more than the clothes on their back, and it's not -- it's difficult to watch because we just saw a very emotional reunion here of a young man who clearly was seeing his family being reunited and they were weeping right in front of us just minutes ago. so this is -- this is a displacement of hundreds of thousands of people on the move, instantly made homeless, fleeing for their lives. earlier, you may have seen a report where we flew by helicopter to a place called sinjar mountai

ivan watson, cnn irbil in kurdistan. >>> loud explosions rocking gaza this morning. israel resuming air strikes after claiming hamas and the three-day cease-fire. they remain in what they call defensive positions surrounding the region. let's go to john vause. the latest at the moment? are the air strikes continuing right now? >> reporter: yeah, they seem to be, poppy. it took almost three hours before the response began. in the last few moments, we have seen two air strikes in the area of gaza city. at least two people have been hurt. in one of those strikes, also there seems to be two rounds of artillery, five into gaza, in the northern part of the strip, not far from the crossing into israel. rocket fire coming out of gaza almost immediately after the cease-fire expired. what is interesting is hamas is not claiming responsibility for any of the rocket fire, at least not yet. another militant group, islamic jihad is saying at least eight of the rockets fired over the last couple hours are theirs. they say it is because israel violated the cease-fire by refusing to

their team has been doing terrific work, ivan watson as well. yesterday, as we were reporting an iraqi helicopter bringing aid to the refugees on the mountain, carrying as many as they could put on board, that helicopter crashed. today, incredible pictures from a "time" magazine photographer who was on board and who with several others ended up being hurt in this crash. the helicopter's pilot was killed. but everyone else, including the iraqi civilians who clamored up on board, escaping that horrible existence on the mountain, as well as a member of iraq's parliament on board. a "new york times" correspondent whose wrists were broken and the mother of these terrified kids, they all survived that crash, thank god. another helicopter flew them all to safety. you can see the images of those on board. given what they've been through. thinking they'd finally clamored on to a rescue helicopter only to have it crash. just remarkable what these people have suffered through. we've also got an update on a little girl named aziz a. this grief-stricken litt

you are seeing the pictures right now of ivan watson's trip to bring the aid there. the people in such bad need. >> if you want to see the desperation on the mountain top, there's ten minutes of video on cnn.com, ivan watson's trip. it shows you what we are talking about on the humanitarian side. i encourage you to take ten minutes to watch it. >> 11 minutes after the hour. breaking news overnight. an angry crowd filling the streets of a quiet missouri town, furious over the police shooting of a black teenager. new words from the teen's mother. >>> plus, severe storms flooding parts of the country. there's more expected today. indra petersons is going to tell you what you need to know, next. let me get this straight... [ female voice ] yes? lactaid® is 100% real milk? right. real milk. but it won't cause me discomfort. exactly, because it's milk without the lactose. and it tastes? it's real milk! come on, would i lie about this? [ female announcer ] lactaid. 100% real milk. no discomfort. >>> sh minutes past the hour. reaction to robin williams pouring in this mornin

i want to go to ivan watson on the ground in northern iraq. ivan, tell us what the latest is and tell us about this mission that you went through, which was just incredible. >> reporter: well, jake, what we found is that the iraqi air force is flying helicopter flights daily to mount sinjar. this is in addition to the aid drops that the u.s. has done. and what we see is basically iraqi air force from peshmerga loading up kind of aging russian-made helicopters with everything from water and food to baby diapers and baby's milk and even shoes to give you a sense of what people need right now. then they make a dangerous trip from where i'm standing right here, a four to five-minute flight. on their flight over the isis front lines that is surrounded mount sinjar are machine gunners. they went to town. they were strafing the ground beneath us is, strafing targets. they say they are fired at every time they fly to and from mount sinjar though we didn't see evidence of that. they certainly burned through a lot of ammunition. when they get to the moun

december rat race toes scape isis fighters in northern iraq was documented earlier this week by cnn's ivan watsonnd his team on the ground there. ivan joipd an iraqi helicopter flight to drop food and water to y yazidis stranded on the mountain. >> reporter: the crew hurls packages out the door. people swarm the chopper. this has been one chaotic aid distribution. i mean, i really hope we didn't hurt anybody with the bottles of water we were throwing down, the height of 20, 30 feet. it's chaotic. people were waving, they were giving thumbs up. and there are a couple -- a couple people very relieved to be off the mountain and clearly very, very frightened. then the helicopter lands one last time to pick up more passengers. >> here they come. more desperate people throw themselves at the aircraft. heaving their children on board. it's first come, first served. >> we're going to take you inside that dramatic rescue mission. ivan watson and his team take you on that helicopter through the chaos and into the lives of those desperate refugees as they flee genocide in iraq. do not miss the cnn special r

ivan watson, thanks so much for that report. ivan is doing an amazing job for all of us.re word of more u.s. air strikes in iraq. tell our viewers what you're learning over there because there's a series of about four more air strikes just in the past few hours. >> that's right. four air strikes over a three-hour period and very crucial. they were in the mount sinjar region. u.s. war planes went against isis check point vehicles, a number of areas where the isis fighters have been hanging out. very interesting they're going after check points. it makes you wonder if the u.s. is preparing with the international community for some type of over land evacuation out of there. that may be a possibility. we've seen president obama twice now refer to the effort to try to get the international community to find a way to get the people off the mountain. >> barbara, stand by pi i want to get more on the intense power struggle happening right in the middle of baghdad pitting the country's president against now supposed to be the former prime minister. our global affairs correspondent

we will catch up with cnn's ivan watson, who is at the syrian/iraqi border. we'll also ride along on a daring helicopter rescue of more refugees under siege on iraq's mt. sinjar. and also ahead, a second night of violence in ferguson, missouri, where a policeman shot and killed an unarmed teenager. witness and police versions of the story, as different as night and day. so what was it that really happened? we'll hear from the friend who was with michael brown when he was shot and we'll find out more about this young man who was supposed to be heading off to college this week, before his life was cut short. >>> hello, everyone, i'm ashleigh banfield. it's tuesday, august 12th. welcome to "legal view." the plight of iraqi yazidis highlights the cruelty unleashed by isis or islamic state as they prefer to be called and of course the danger facing all who resist. just within the last hour, those dangers were horribly realized as an iraqi air force helicopter crashed on a desolate mountain while trying to bring food and water to desperate and terrified yazidi peop

ivan watson joined iraqi and kurdish soldiers on a mission to deliver humanitarian aid to the refugees. the photo journalist, mark phillips there. this is what happened when they arrived at the mountain. >>> and now cnn's ivan watson joins me on the phone from iraq. ivan, can you hear me? >> reporter: i hear you, brooke. >> wonderful. you and mark, your cameraman, inside of this helicopter here. i understand you all took isis fire as you were leaving and returning. tell me about this trip. >> reporter: it's pretty scary. and i think these iraqi air force crews and the peshmerga who go with them are heroes. they go in, guns blazing, flying across the isis front lines to get to this mountain where these stricken people are desperate. they are simply desperate. and they deliver -- i mean, they have to shoot machine guns to go deliver baby diapers and food and water. and babies' milk to the people trapped on this mountain, brooke. and then they take as many as they can get. it's chaotic. it's not organized. there is nobody who is in charge on the ground. and they bring these people back wh

let me go back to ivan watson inner bill, iraq. the reaction among the kurds to this second round of air strikes? >> reporter: i lost you for a second there. but beak, there's been a lot of relief here among the kurds who were -- their top officials were openly basically begging for the u.s. to intervene. saying that this city,er bill was very close to a catastrophe that the isis militants were only about 30 miles away from the city of more than a million people, a city that's been inundated by hundreds of thousands of refugees in just the last 48 hours. a lot of kurds now are starting to talk about how the u.s. basically protected this region for more than ten years with a no-fly zone up till the u.s. invasion of iraq in 2003 and perhaps we're starting to see a fresh version of that, version 2.0 today with the threat of the isis militants in 2014. >> relief among the kurds. we'll be talking to you in a mat of minutes. jake tapper takes over live from jerusalem, "the lead" starts now. >>> the u.s. military has launched a second rou

. >> as cnn correspondent ivan watson and his crew got their first glimpse of the yazidi people stranded on mt. sinjar in northern iraq, they suddenly found themselves witness to a scramble for survival. >> we made a second pass where we came down. >> here they come. >> they're just hurling themselves into the helicopter. at that point it was just insanity, just people piling in, screaming, running for their lives to get on this helicopter. and they were -- they were frightened. they were horrified. and that was like a punch to the gut. >> i can't describe to you how relieved people are right now. they're just shocked in the chaos of that moment. but we've got little aziza here. she is not happy because she says her father got left behind. >> i couldn't get my eyes off of aziza, because she just looked so innocent and just this kind of picture of innocence. and shouldn't be in this position. it's just not right. >> she had this face of panic and sheer horror. those things will never leave you. >> reporter: aziza, frightened and confused. the little girl's tears begged for answer. how did

ivan watson, cnn, in iraqi kurdistan. >> you know, early on, there were some, not everyone, but thereere some who saw isis as this haphazard, ragtag group that really doesn't seem to be organized but that obviously has changed at least to get the u.s. involved. >> oh, sure. so who are they? where are they going to get their money? what is it going to take to beat them? >> speaking for the first time since her husband's bond was denied, lianna harris is talking about her attorneys and the plans and when she still stands behind her husband after their son in that sweltering suv. well muddlers, muddle no more. try zyrtec®. it gives you powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin. because zyrtec® starts working at hour 1 on the first day you take it. claritin doesn't start working until hour 3. zyrtec®. muddle no more™ >>> 14 minutes past the hour right now. the u.s. has launched two rounds of air strikes against isis fighters in iraq and has the green light to conduct more. >> yeah, the pentagon says it used f/a-18 fighters to drop 500-pound bombs on the targets. let'

cnn's senior international correspondent ivan watson and mark phillips rode along with the iraqi military as they pulled off some of those desperate people on that mountainside. >> reporter: machine gunners release bursts of hot metal. this is the crew aboard an iraqi air force helicopters. cartridges and belts of ammunition. rushing an aircraft full of food, diapers, water, and baby's milk over isis front lines to civilians trapped on sinjar mountain. fighters are opening fire at targets down below. they say they regularly undertake fire. they're clearly trying to defend the aircraft. we can see the people below trapped on sinjar mountain. they're clustered under olive trees right now waving to us. they seem to have gathered in these shelters down here. a lot of women and children waving. the crew hurls packages out the door. people swarm the chopper. this has been one chaotic aid distribution. i really hope we didn't hurt anybody with the bottles of water we were throwing down from the height of 20, 30 feet. it's chaotic. people were waving, giving thumbs up. there are a couple of peopl

. >> ivan watson now on the refugees' fears for their families and the concern that they can't turn home. >> reporter: hundreds of iraqi christians taking shelter in a place of worship. sleeping under the pews of st. joseph's church. these frightened people have come here because there's simply no place else to go. they're part of a wave of hundreds of thousands of iraqis who fled their homes to escape islamic militants. people are running for their lives. and according to the patriarch of the caldion christian community of iraq among the exodus are among the thousands of christians who tell us that they've been given a choice by the militants from the islamic states of iraq and syria, either convert to their brand of violence harsh islam or face the sword. the kurdish leadership is struggling to deal with this wave of humanity. the governor of erbil, ace muslim, working with christian priests to provided aid to the homeless families. they say the community is basically being cleansed from its homeland. >> it's making any kind of connection with the land now. they've killed their history

ivan watson, cnn, erbil, iraqi kyrgyzstan. >> incredible images there. how did we get to this point in iraq and where do we go from here? there are definite opinions on that and he is a former senior adviser to several u.s. generals and ambassadors in iraq. he is joining us live from dubai. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> as we saw in ivan watson's report, it highlights how quickly isis has been able to advance through the country 'the fact that iraq seems to be falling apart. let's talk about the root causes of the crisis, who or what caused this mess? >> in short it was nuri al maliki's disastrous reign that contributed to the crisis. the problem is that through his policies of sectarianism and trying to cement his rule he disenfranchised and disillusions iraq's sunni arabs thereby -- in the wake of our invasion in iraq in 2003. so combined with the syrian civil war in and again side along with ail ma maliki's effort that is why iraq is falling apart. as part of a broader regional holy war. >> u.s. stood by his side for many ye

just the relief was palpable. >> so that was ivan watson on cnn. we'll check in with ivan and hear what it was like when we talk to him in a matter of moments on this show. >>> also, just to name him, since i now have a name for the cnn photo journalist who took all of those pictures with ivan on board, he is mark phillips. it thank you both so much. >>> i want to turn to a community just ripped apart. today was supposed to be the first day of college for this st. louis area man. but it has become a second day of protests over his death. >> what do we want? >> justice! >> when do we want it? >> now! >> so far today, no looting. no gunfire. no violence, unlike the overnight hours. but the anger has not subsided. michael brown was just 18 years of age. not carrying a weapon. when a ferguson missouri police officer shot and killed him on saturday. there are all kinds of conflicting reports now under investigation. exactly what happened, how, why. brown and a friend were reportedly jaywalking when this police officer approached them. witnesses say brow

our senior international correspondent ivan watson has more for you. >> reporter: the scene is almost biblical, a modern day exodus. thousands of people escaping a violent enemy. most of them move in silence. on occasion, loved ones separated by war tearfully reunite. everyone is freeing isis militants who many here refer to as dash. >> when the terrorists, you know, daish, they attack us and our neighbors, they are -- since terrorists came, they joined them and actually they kill us. yes, people. our neighbors. >> reporter: many refugees are members of a kurdish religious minority known as yazidis. >> we lost each other. we lost each other. >> reporter: like many of the other refugees, jamir and his family fled to sinjar mountain more than a week ago after isis captured their town. they spent days camping on the mountain desperately waiting for food and airdrops until they escaped on the 15-hour journey to syria, a journey that claimed lives. >> on the way, two of our brothers, what they do, actually, i feel that i will die. they died. >> your brothers? >> yeah. >> your brothers died

we will catch up with cnn's ivan watson, who is at the syrian/iraqi border.e along on a daring helicopter rescue of more refugees under siege on iraq's mt. sinjar. and also ahead, a second night of violence in ferguson, missouri, where a policeman

ivan watson, jim sciutto on the possibility of mission creep and jim acosta. we begin with barbara starr, what have you learned? >> good evening anderson. three strikes, one against an isis artillery position followed by another strike by a drone and a third round of strikes by a number of f-18s off the carrier in the persian gulf. they are striking at convoys, artillery, mortar positions. this is aimed at stopping the isis advance on irbil. they are going after mobile targets of isis and trying to push them back from the outer perimeter around irbil. very precise targeting by the united states, they are using precision weapons, 500-pound precision-guided bombs. they are being as precise as they can. isis fights like an army. an army with heavy weapons, heavier weapons than they've had and taking ground and oholding ground. nobody is talking about defeating but simply pushing them back a bit, if they can. this is an army, this is a group that is fighting something that al qaeda only could have as

ivan watson, cnn, anqawa in iraqi kurdistan. >> there are fears of genocide. and as ivan just reported, religious minorities in iraq are being persecuted because they are not fundamentalist muslims. paula hancocks takes a closer look. >> reporter: labeled devil worshippers by their enemies, the yazidis have been targeted for centuries. 2007 hundreds were killed in massive truck bombs in northwest iraq. al qaeda was blamed. today tens of thousands fear starvation as they hide in the mountains near their base of mosul, this time running from isis. the yazidis are ethnic kurds. they are considered a sect that draws from christianity, islam, and an ancient persian faith. >> we are not a muslim religion. we are yazidi. we believe in one god as everybody believe and in seven angels and the head of the angels we call dasumelek. >> translated as the peacock angel. yazidis believe they were derived from adam but not eve. this is their most sacred site in lalish, north of mosul. they're expected to make at least one pilgrimage here during their lifetime. iraq has an ove

ivan watson, cnn over sinjar mountain in northern iraq. >> ivan watson has been doing incredible reporting we're joined now by lieutenant colonel rick francona and former military attache in syria. and the national security analyst and a former senior official in the department of homeland security. great to have you both. what do you think of that video that we just showed and only select people could get on the helicopter. some are still trapped on the mountain top. >> amazing. they can only help so many. they can probably only pull off 20 to 30 at a time. that's not the answer. there are thousands on that mountain. it will require a full humanitarian effort and it goes beyond a few helicopters. >> the mission has been described in terms of getting isis as limited in scope. the president has said that over and over. they're destroying convoys. it doesn't sound as though they're going after the leadership or if they even know where they are. what do you think of the mission? >> i think it is absolutely justified at this stage and ought to be limited. for one, we want to disrupt isis. the

. >> cnn senior international correspondent ivan watson and photojournalist mark phillips rose along with the iraqi military as they plucked some of those desperate people off of that mountainside. [ machine guns firing ] >> reporter: machine gunners unleash bursts of hot metal. this is the crew aboard an iraqi air force helicopter. they burned through cartridges and belts of ammunition while rushing an aircraft full of food, diapers, water, and baby's milk over isis front lines to civilians trapped on sinjar mountain. >> gunners opening fire at targets down below. they say they regularly take fire from isis positions. and they're clearly trying to defend the aircraft. you can see the people below, trapped on sinjar mountain. they're clustered. they're clustered under olive trees right now, waving to us. they seem to have gathered in these shelters down here. a lot of women and children waving. >> reporter: the crew hurls packages out the door. people swarm the chopper. this has been one chaotic aid distribution. i mean, i really hope we didn't hurt anybody with the bottles of water

our senior international correspondent ivan watson joins me now from irbil the capital of the kurdish region where thousands of iraqis are on the run from isis. ivan, it's amazing when i was in irbil, it was the crown jewel of iraq where they were saying they would have new business and entrepreneurs and face of the new iraq. now you're in the snaefrt humanitarian crisis and people fleeing. what your seeing there? >> reporter: you're right. and erin, as you would have seen notorious construction boom here, this region enjoying an immense period of stability and prosperity. now some of these unfinished office buildings and hotels and apartment blocks that have been going up are providing temporary shelter for some of the close to 200,000 iraqis who have fled this latest isis offensive within the last 36, 48 hours. tens of thousands of them coming here to irbil, they are quite literally, i saw them laying down on blankets, on bare concrete, being distribute ad little bit of water, some cookie, some yogurt, very ad hoc, and just the beginning of a new humanitarian crisis that this place

ivan watson, iraqi kurdistan. >> just incredible ivan was able to reconnect with the same people on that helicopter. we are getting some startling reports now of what happened when isis forces rolled into the town of sinjar more than a week ago. en isis commander tells cnn that fighters abducted more than 100 children and women and took them to mosul. they have taken the opportunity to "call them to islam. "the commander also says isis fighters killed a large number of men in sinjar. >>> iraqi prime minister nouri al malaki is losing support for his bid to stay in office. we'll have more on the political situation in iraq and how it could affect the isis militant's march to baghdad. that's coming up in less than 30 minutes from now. >>> now we move our focus to big story developing right now in the united states. there's been another night of protests in the streets of ferguson, missouri over the killing of an unarmed teen by police officers. take a look at this. [ gunfire ] >> and this was the scene just a short time ago. it's just past 11:00 in the evening there now. the cnn crew is th

our ivan watson was on the chopper and got a firsthand look at this very dangerous mission. ivan, i saw the footage of you today. it stopped me in my tracks. i watched the entire thing for almost an hour, just sat on the edge of the bed. take us through what you saw up on that mountain today. >> well, it is the first time that i have gotten a chance to see the trapped yazidis that the world is talking about. and it is in fact a mountain, maybe three, two, three miles long that rises up off of the plains here of northern iraq. and as you approach it, you kind of get closer and you start to realize that there are people hiding under the trees there. looking for shade. or clustered around these ruins of a couple of buildings. at one point in the mountain. and once they see the helicopters, which is how we traveled in on an iraqi air force helicopters, everybody started running towards it. waving their hands towards the helicopter. now, this flight we were on, was dropping supplies for these people. and the supplies range from just bottles of water and bags of food, to babies dia

ivan watson is on the ground in iraq now. he's been to the top of the mountain where the refugees are trapped. ivan, you have been there. how difficult from your experience would it be to rescue the 10,000 to 20,000 reported people who are there? >> reporter: well, there's nobody really organizing these desperate people on the ground. so that's why you saw scenes of people rushing helicopters when they would touch down briefly because there's not somebody lining up and saying, okay, you go first, you go second, you go third. it's first come, first serve. so that would be a primary, i think, objective is trying to organize these desperate people who would certainly have no ill will towards any possible american troops. they would just want to get out of there. the mountain itself is a protective feature. it's an unusual mountain rising up out of the plains. people have gone there because it's difficult for the isis militants, if they wanted to, to get up there. that would provide some protection to the u.s. troops, but you woul

and you just -- you just really, really feel powerless, brian. >> ivan watson and mark phillips, thankr joining me. >> thank you. >> thank you, brian. >>> let me close with the words of al tompkins. who wrote exactly what i feel about ivan and alyssa ruben. he wrote this, the photo journalists, the translators, the fixers who make their reporting possible. you be a sound sleeper, or... a mouth breather? well, put on a breathe right strip and instantly open your nose up to 38% more than allergy medicines alone. so you can breathe and sleep. shut your mouth and sleep right. breathe right. that's why i always choose the fastest intern.r slow. the fastest printer. the fastest lunch. turkey club. the fastest pencil sharpener. the fastest elevator. the fastest speed dial. the fastest office plant. so why wouldn't i choose the fastest wifi? i would. switch to comcast business internet and get the fastest wifi included. comcast business. built for business. >>> and before i go this morning, did you see this magazine cover earlier this week? this is "wired" magazine with edward snowden on the c

ivan watson, cnn, reporting from the peshabor river between the iraqi kurdistan and syria. >> the u.s. military continues to strike isis positions from the air. kurdish peshmerga fighters are making a dent in a huge swath in northern iraq. they took control of this city on sunday. that doesn't necessarily mean it's safe by any means. our correspondent is joining us now from erbil. you and our photo journalist were there earlier today. tell us viewer was you saw. >> yes, that's right, wolf, we traveled to this border town, if you like, it's really the front line of the peshmerga's fight against the isis militants. and as you say, they managed to retake this town several days ago, after isis came in, seized the territory, claiming that it was part of its new islamic state. well, thanks to the u.s. air strikes that took place over the weekend, the peshmerga were able to move back into this area, fight the isis militants and reclaim this town. but i must say, wolf, it is an absolute ghost town. nobody is there. and those who were there were packing up their belongings after returning beca

cnn's ivan watson reports. >> reporter: this is how the people are fleeing. the latest offensive by the islamic state. they're piling into the back of trucks, piling their families in. in some cases, walking. we've heard from families walking five hours on foot overnight and coming here to the gates of the kurdish city of irbil. [ speaking in foreign language ] so these people are for the most part from the turkmen ethnic group, all basically fled the fighting. they arrived here this morning, and they say nobody has come to help them, and they don't know where else to go. so most of these people, all of these children you see over here, are probably going to be sleeping here tonight. this is an example for you of the crisis that has now struck this part of northern iraq. you quite literally have -- and this is just one unfinished building that we have found. there is a string of just kind of abandoned warehouses and partially built buildings, high-rises along the entry route into irbil that are full of families like that. rolling up in whatever vehicleses the

ivan watson tells us how a helicopter ride to report on a story turned into a life-saving mission. >>r: some woman gave me this baby with this incredible red hair and i wanted -- i wanted to carry the baby was so tiny i wanted to carry the baby to the back of the helicopter. the mother was incredible. she -- i don't know how she vaulted in the helicopter but then she snatched the baby out of my hands before i could take the child to safety which just shows you how incredible these maternal instincts are. >> it is an incredible story. can you witness the desperation of the refugees trapped on that mountain and you can watch an aid drop become a rescue mission with emotional iraqis swarming the helicopter coming up on our special report flight from terror. it airs at 2:30 p.m. in london and for our viewers in the u.s., 8:30 p.m. eastern time. >>> another developing story ahead here, a tale of two convoys in ukraine. one supposedly bringing russian aid, the other allegedly bringing russian arms. my social circle includes captains of industry, former secretaries of state, oil tycoons, and

>> ivan watson in erbil, iraq. thank you. coming up next, the u.s.r a cease-fire in the coming hours as the death toll creeps up in gaza. missiles and rockets flying in both directions. what will it take for israel and palestinian to come to any sort of agreement. my next two guests one from each side, will tell me. rheumatoid , and you're talking to your rheumatologist about a biologic... this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain. this is humira helping me lay the groundwork. this is humira helping to protect my joints from further damage. doctors have been prescribing humira for ten years. humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to r.a. symptoms. humira is proven to help relieve pain and stop further joint damage in many adults. [ male announcer ] humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic react

i want to take our viewers to northern iraq to ivan watson. we're about to lose his shot. ivan is at a refugee camp. tell us what it's like on the ground. >> reporter: carol, i'm actually in a church, st. joseph's church. it's packed with refugees, iraqi christians. amid this discussion, let's just show you what's at stake right now. this is a 40-day-old jeshua. he is one of an estimated 100,000 iraqi christians displaced people, refugees, with his mother itlas, and 2-year-old sister here. they have fled their home in the last 48 hours, and have spent their second night in this church. this is just one family. we're going to try to spin around and show you a little bit of the scene here. there are hundreds of people who have been sleeping in the pews of this church, carol. this is of course a highly symbolic scene. we are in a place of worship. in this part of iraqi kurdistan i have been in a youth center full of thousands of iraqi christians. in the yard of this church, there are more thousands of iraqi christians. everybody tells the same story, that the kurdish peshmerga

go to ivan watson who is still with us. an, the president spoke for just a moment about the difficulty in now that these thousands of religious minorities, this religious minority group are on this mountain. they now have to get down and back to their homes. air strikes from what you understand, also combined with the humanitarian corridor that the u.n. is, would go on, what's the progress there building this corridor and will that, too, take months instead of weeks? >> well, we know that the kurds say they've successfully established some kind of evacuations, at the very least, thousands of these trapped yazidi kurds from the mountain, and that one of the directions they've gone to evacuate these people is believe it or not, across the border to neighboring syria. to a kurdish enclave there that's coal ecrommed by a group known loosely at the kurdistan workers party or pkk. coordination between pkk, kurds of northern iraq. it's a confusing area. it's confusing. to help thousands of those yazidis escape by foot in some cases

our correspondent in northern iraq, ivan watson, caught up with a number of refugees who were rescuedares a new chapter in their journeys. next. angie's list is revolutionizing local service again. by making it easy to buy and schedule service by top-rated providers, conveniently stay up-to-date on progress, and effortlessly turn your photos into finished projects with the angie's list mobile app. visit angieslist.com today. >>> let's talk about iraq. the pentagon is saying a possible evacuation of thousands of iraqis strapped in the sinjar mountain is less likely. there are fewer yazidis there now after many managed to escape and the ones who remain have access to food and water dropped by humanitarian aid missions. for the iraqis who have fled these extremist isis fighters and then escaped the heat and stark condition in the mountains, life goes on. but it's very different from what it used to be. the image of this one family really stuck with all of us. including our cnn correspondent, ivan watson. >> reporter: in the case chaos of an evacuation of sinjar mountain, several faces st

ivan watson is there.ome of them in irbil. >> hundreds of thousands of iraqis are on the run right now. and hundreds of them have taken shelter here in a place of worship. >> this is st. joseph's church in the northern iraqi region of kurdistan. and this is where hundreds of people have been sleeping for the past two nights after quite literally running for their lives with little more than the clothes on their backs. the scenes we're seeing here, it is a drop in the bucket. across this city, across this ku kurdish safe haven, we've seen similar scenes in youth centers, other churches in gas station parking lots. people running for their lives. and according to the patriarch of the christian community of iraq, among the exodus are more than 100,000 christians who tell us that they've been given a choice by the militants from the islamic states of iraq and syria. either convert to their brand of violent, harsh islam or face the sword. you going to stay here? >> yes. >> for how long? >> i don't know. >> how

i want to go to ivan watson right now, he's our correspondent in erbil. he's got an eyewitness account of what the white house and the state department are now calling potential genocide unfolding in iraq against iraqi christians, the yazidis, other minority groups. they're basically, ivan, correct me if i'm wrong, being told to convert to their brand of islam or die. wa what's the latest? what are you seeing there? >> well, i think the kurds have been breathing a collect ivg sigh of relief with the announcement of u.s. air strikes against isis targets not very far from erbil. just as recently as last night, senior kurdish officials were telling me they were worried about what more assaults from isis forces that are only about 30 miles, 50 kilometers, away from erbil. they were quite worried about that. and they saw a night and a day that has proven to be much quieter than expected. perhaps because of the deterrent of value of president obama's warning. and then the subsequent air strikes that hit, as the u.s. says, suspected isis targets not far from erb

let's go to ivan watson, in the northern iraqi city of irbil. let's begin with these 40,000 -- latest number i heard, men, women, children, stuck on the top of the mountain, and isis is right there, at the base. >> reporter: yeah. i've gotten all of this information from kurdish officials. the numbers of people stranded there vary. but it seems to be in the thousands. kurdish authorities here telling us that people have been dying as a result of exposure to the elements, the temperatures here in iraq in august soaring above 100 degrees. they're dying as a result of exposure, no water. no food. as of this morning, there had been some air drops of the humanitarian supplies. there was also an effort to get some kurdish militia fighters to push through the isis front lines to reach these people, to help them. there are some, i'm told, kurdish fighters with the stranded uzidis trying to protect them. but their ammunition levels are running low, and the kurdish authorities here say they are outgunned, their fighters, due to the fact the isis militants

here is ivan watson. an in. >> reporter: look at these people trying to escape isis militants on this bridge which leads from a kurdish-controlled part of syria here into iraqi kurdistan. we've been watching a stream of desperate families carrying little more than the clothes on their backs, walking. some of these people have been on the move for days. some of them have been camping and now they are arriving here in iraqi, kurdistan, after fleeing their homes. in many cases, in just a matter of minutes. this stream of people, thousands every hour, has been continuing, i'm told, for days across this bridge. and it's a part of a much larger wave of desperate people all across the north of iraq who are fleeing isis militants, which appears to be carrying out a campaign of ethnic and sectarian cleansing because many of these people -- i mean, just look at the faces. look at the children here and what they are able to bring with them after they've been made instantly homeless. and these people, and we've seen i

cnn's ivan watson has that. >> reporter: they flee any way they can, packed in trucks and cars. some of them moving on foot carrying their babies cradles offer their shoulders. >> thousands of iraqi families seeking sanctuary in the north fleeing the islamic militants. we're afraid of the islamic state. they say they're muslims but they don't act like muslims. they attack everyone. her family has been hurt by the isis militants. my brother was a simple man who had a grocery store selling vegetables, she says. two months ago they came to his shop and killed him with three bullets. >> the exodus sponsored by -- >> located 35 miles from irbil. 200,000 civilians are on the run. where will all the people go? >> reporter: this is where the first wave of fleeing civilians is coming to, unfinished buildings part of the construction boom that i didn't know about that for hundreds of thousands of families staying in a shelter. >> 6-month-old kazim was lured here. iraqi airstrikes damaged houses near her home on wednesday night. these families showed up with little more than the clothes on

ivan watson is there. >> reporter: they plea any way they can, packed in trucks and cars, some of them moving on foot carrying their cradles over their shoulders. thousands of iraqi families seeking sanctuary in iraq's kurdish north fleeing islamist militants. we're afraid of the islamic state. they say they're muslims but they don't act like muslims. they attack everyone, muse limbs, christians, shiites. even our prophet's grave isn't safe. her family has been hurt by the ice sis militants. my brother was a simple man who had a grocery store selling vegetables, she says. two months ago they came to his shop and killed him with three bullets. the exodus to irbile sparked by an offensive who captured towns from the curds located 35 miles from irbil 2678900 thousand civilians are on the run. where will all the people go? >> this is where the first wave of fleeing civilians are coming to, unfinished buildings, part of a construction boom that they have been enjoying serving as a shelter for thousands of families. 6-month-old kathim is far too young to know what's going on. her family fled

ivan watson, we have to begin with you in erbil. tell me, president obama said the air strikes near where you are were part of this long term struggle that will need iraqis to fight isis. what's the response where you are? >> well, i mean, he's put a lot of pressure, he said that the air strikes would be designed to try to give some breathing room for the iraqis, to unify. it's been political deadlock for quite a long time. there are signs of some of that unification coming together. the new president of iraq, the new speaker of the iraqi parliament travelled up here to erbil where they met with the president of the kurdistan government. the big question, what's going to happen with the iraqi prime minister, nuri al maliki, who was criticized by many for helping create this crisis by pursuing a policy that favored shiite arab iraqis and the isis uprising has been backed by many sunni arabs who felt disenfranchised as president obama put it, the kurdish officials have said that they are also facing not only the hardcore, many foreign

refugee exodus came from the towns anvils that had been captured by isis on wednesday night. >> ivan watson reporting from erbil in northern iraq. ivan, thank you. up next, isis militants reportedly using american-made weapons to capture iraq's largest dam, potentially putting millions of people at risk of catastrophic flooding. and they have a powerful militia but they're taking heavy casualties. can the kurds of northern iraq hold off the isis onslaught? i'll speak with a top kurdish official. when folks think about what they get from alaska, they think salmon and energy. but the energy bp produces up here creates something else as well: jobs all over america. engineering and innovation jobs. advanced safety systems & technology. shipping and manufacturing. across the united states, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. when we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. that's not a coincidence. it's one more part of our commitment to america. for over 19 million people. [ susan ] my promotion allowed me to start investing for my retirement. tra

cnn's ivan watson is there.: hundreds of iraqi are on the run right now. hundreds of them have taken shelter here in a place of worship. this is st. joseph's church. it's in the christian town of an kawa which is in the northern iraqi regionch kurdistan. this is where hundreds have been sleeping for nights after running for their lives with merely the clothes on their backs. the scenes that we're seeing here, it is just a drop in the bucket. across the city, across the kurdish safe haven, we have seen similar scenes in youth centers. in other churches. in gas station parking lots. people are running for their lives. and according to the patriarch of the chaldean christian community of iraq, among the exodus are more than 100,000 christians who tell us, that they've been given a choice by the militants from the islamic states of iraqi and syria, either convert to their brand of violent, harsh islam. or face the sword. you're going to stay here? >> yes. >> for how long? >> i don't know. i don't know. >> this is a

our senior international correspondent ivan watson in the northern iraqi city of irbil. of christians and other minorities are in danger right now and 24, 48 hours, 72 hours it could be late. what are you hearing? >> reporter: that's right. basically we're hearing about christians, shi'ites, basically anybody who is not a sunni arab is on the run after isis successfully captured a couple of towns and villages, extending its area of control. united nations now says that there are up to 200,000 people on the run since this offensive began within the last three days. tens of thousands of the vast majority of them fleeing to the kurdish controlled north and we watched as this stream of thousands of families came through the gate here into the kurdish city of irbil. they are traveling in the back of tractors, packed into cars, trucks. some on foot carrying babies, cradles over their shoulders. these are people who are clearly afraid that they could become targets of the isis militants, running from what they described as reports of fighting, of air strikes, apparently by the

ivan watson is in iraq. i want to bring in our senior correspondent nic robertson from london. country right now. ivan, are you there? >> hi, carol. i'm coming to you from an unfinished high rise where i estimate there are probably more than 100 refugees, displaced people here, women, children, sleeping on the pavement here, they are but a fraction of the estimated more than 10,000 people who have streamed into this city, in towns around mosul, in the last 24 hours. some of these people moving by foot all fleeing an offensive by the isis militants. they've shown up and they've basically moved into any place they can find a little bit of shade from temperatures more than 100 degrees fahrenheit. it's hot, it's august in iraq and they don't have a plan in mind at all. they've fled their homes. they've fled this offensive. and there's no plan really for meeting these people and the ones that i'm looking at in this unfinished building, they're just a drop in the bucket, about 100 people in this unfinished construction site. you can imagine in the cement from the dirt, with the child

ivan watson, cnn on the iraqi kurdistan border with syria. >>> we want to go to the iraqi-syrian borderight now. what's the situation like this morning? >> reporter: we are at a refugee camp, about five kilometers from where ivan's report was filed. the stream of refugees we've seen in the pictures have dried up at this refugee camp. they have erected makeshift shelter in this blazing sun. now beyond that is where the u.n. is setting up camps and this is something that is curiously happening because of the amount of people that have descend here on this refugee camp. this refugee camp was set up months ago for christians who fled mosul after the militants seized it back in june. the governor that i spoke topography this region said they weren't expecting the yazidis to arrive en masse. they are trying to set up these tents. you can see the bulldozers leveling out the land as workers try and put these big tents up so people can get out of the blazing sun. now, i must tell you, carol, that the governor is extremely upset with the national community. he said it's not just a catastrophe, a

ivan watson doing amazing reporting, i want to thank our photojournalist for heroically going on thathopper and filming that unbelievable report. thanks, guys, very, very much. >>> coming up, the fbi is investigating the shooting death of a teenager by police in a suburb of st. louis, missouri. take a closer look at the case. we'll hear from the police chief and the victim's parents ahead. today her doctor has her on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. ♪ hey pal? you ready? can you pick me up at 6:30? ah... life can be hard, buddy. ok... oh i'm so glad i got the car washed. (boy) i'm here! i'm here! (cop) too late. i was gone for five minutes. gotta feed the meter. what's a meter? where am i supposed to go? ugh, people! ugh! i'm five! move it. you're killing me. you know what, dad? i'm good. (dad) it may be quite a while before he's ready, but our subaru legacy will be waiting for him. (vo) the longest-lasting midsize sedan in its class. introducing the all-new