joe votel, a longtime special operations expert himself.time he had one more mission and cnn was with him. [ gunfire ] >> reporter: these are the first images ever shown publicly from a u.s. special operations training camp in northern steyr. from here and other nearby secret locations, the u.s. military is racing time to train enough local syrian forces so they can push south towards raqqah, isis' declared capital. cnn was the only television network with general joseph votel on a secret day-long trip to syria. votel oversees the war against isis. >> my principle purpose, meet with some of the syrian democratic leadership and in multiple locations and also to meet with our adviser teams. >> reporter: general votel has come to northern syria under extraordinary security conditions. in fact, we've been asked not to reveal a number of details on how we all got here. but votel considers this part of the war a top priority. he is here to meet with the u.s. military advisers that are helping some of these local troops that you see work to defeat

. >>> and cnn was the only television network to travel overseas with general joe votel, the top u.s.n to syria. cnn's barbara starr joins us with this exclusive report. barbara, why did he take this trip? tell us more about it. >> reporter: well, general votel went to syria. he says he wanted to see it all firsthand. there's nothing to hide from the american people about what u.s. troops are doing there. he was the highest ranking officer to go into this war zone. these are the first images ever shown publicly from a u.s. special operations training camp in northern syria. from here and other secret nearby locations, the u.s. military is racing time to train enough local syrian forces so they can push south towards raqqah, isis' declared capital. cnn was the only tell advievisi network on the general with his secret day-long trip to syria. votel overseas the war against isis. >> my principal purpose was to meet with some of the syrian democratic force and leadership in multiple locations and also to meet with our adviser teams. >> general votel has come to northern syria under extrao

the american forces aren't fixed as you know we have some forces that joe votel visited. he was quite a distance away from raqqa and in other cases they are relatively close to the front lines. the dam when they were there was 25? away from us. they check on it from time to time so there is no single number but i would say in the 15 or 20 miles of closeness at any given moment but then other times they are significantly further away. they move. >> rus at that forces do innovation of rock are we talking about the next few weeks before ramadan before the end of the summer? >> we want to keep the enemy guessing. we recently declared a state of emergency in raqqa because of the pressure that's being put on them. the enemy believes an invasion of raqqa could come at any time and i refused the enemy to know when this last is it coming. >> does the u.s. military ice know where the frontline is? >> since world war i i'm not sure everyone knows where frontline is. if there's a trench with wire in the middle that's exactly where the line is but the line certainly isn't painted on t

general joe votel wanted to see this particular front line here in syria for himself.icly from a u.s. special operations training camp in northern syria. cnn was the only television network here with general joseph votel on his secret trip there to meet kurdish and arab commanders fighting isis, just as isis launched attacks against strongholds. >> my purpose is to meet with syrian democratic leadership in multiple locations. >> reporter: it comes as the u.s. tries for a second time to stand up a fighting force. the first attempt crumbled with just a handful of rebels who stayed in the fight. now a dangerous trip, votel felt he had to make. >> i have responsibility for the mission, i have responsibility for the people that we put here, so it is imperative for me to come and see what they're dealing with, to share the risks that they are absorbing on a day-to-day basis. >> reporter: from here and other secret nearby locations, the u.s. military is racing time to train enough local syrian forces so they can push south toward raqqah, isis' delayerclared cap. we have been

during a recent visit to iraq and syria, general joe votel he's looking at what more the u.s. conditions continue to change and we continue we'll continue to reevaluate that and where we identify the need for additional capabilities we'll ask for them. >> reporter: u.s. special forces on full display in tampa, florida over the weekend during an exercise drill that showed why the elite forces are now constantly called to action. military officials do point to some measures of success, loss of territory by isis, for example. they've lost an estimated 20% of what they once had inside syria, but after traveling with general votel, i can tell you there's a lot of caution and careful planning going on. no one at this point considers isis down and out. pamela? >> barbara starr, that you can for that reporting. >>> meantime, south korea is in alert mode ahead of what's seen as a likely north korea missile test. there's growing concern that kim jong-un's regime is closer to having a weapon that can reach the u.s. cnn's brian todd is looking into that. >> reporter: u.s. and south korean