i'm coming back to you for the moment, joshua landis. the campaign, the idea that air strikes alone, which is what president obama has been saying, no u.s. boots on the ground, that we can... that the u.s. can degrade isis, and one assumes that's the same view when it comes to the khorasan group? >> right. well, you know, andrew is right. the united states needs to partner with somebody because you can bomb isis, but you need an army on the ground that is pro american, that's going to bring better government to this region, that can move in and take these towns away from isis as they're bombed. that puts america in a very complicated position. the united states has not really wanted the rebels to win a military victory in syria. and today the rebels are saying, arm us, arm us, we'll take on isis, but assad is our real target. and america has to figure out how to get the rebels on board, to attack isis, without destroying damascus and many cities where syrians still live in their apartments and drive cars and get some benefits from the st

state as what is the mixtape hopes to achieve these gruesome videos and the effect that is pretty joshua landis is director of the center for middle east studies at the university of oklahoma joshua thanks for coming on such short notice this video only appeared just an hour or so ago doesn't it what is the the islamic state here trying to do i mean they warned they would do this is the god that they warned they would kill if obama did what he said he was going to do and he did it so they've done what they said they're going to do but what are they trying to achieve a do they really think america's going to back off by doing this sure it's going to make america want to pounce all the harder is that. it is it is going to want to make america hit even harder and i think america's is winding up to do that there are reports today that u.s. and german special forces were on the ground in iraq helping the front lines so i think you know the u.s. will get wound up about this americans will want to hit back and this is only going to this is only going to toughen the the spirit of obama and the american

middle east expert joshua landis told us that the fight against islamic state militants will turn into another afghanistan for the u.s. it's very difficult in this situation because isis dominates a region the size of great britain in both syria and iraq if you're going to destroy them and kill them. and hit their buildings you have to have somebody else to replace them otherwise they'll just spring up and you'll infuriate the sunnis that are trapped in between baghdad and damascus so the u.s. has to come up with a strategy somebody has to pay for it and there has to be an exit strategy and obama does not want to get stuck in some swamp the way the u.s. did in iraq originally or in afghanistan without an exit strategy. well artistic sunnah boyko discuss the rising jihadist threat and its effect on the west with british muslim and social and political activist anjem choudary you can watch that on thursday. to southern russia now and beslan where the third and final day of commemorations are underway marking ten years since chechen militants led a terrifying and deadly three day siege of

airstrikes against them in iraq middle east expert joshua landis told us that the fight against islamic state militants will turn into another afghanistan for the united states. it's very difficult in this situation because isis dominates a region the size of great britain in both syria and iraq if you're going to destroy them and kill them and and hit their buildings you have to have somebody else to replace them otherwise they'll just spring up and you'll infuriate the sunnis that are trapped in between baghdad and damascus so the u.s. has to come up with a strategy somebody has to pay for it and there has to be an exit strategy and obama does not want to get stuck in some swamp the way the u.s. did in iraq originally or in afghanistan without an exit strategy. now coming up a chance for you to follow all correspondents here adopting the latest episode of news team and if you're watching us in the u.k. it's getting on the ground. if you want people who watch these from. egypt to see that it has some goodies little school course we're going to be. forced to move. from the most will and

joshua landers, and lawrence core, a senior fellow at the center for american progress. >> what do you think, professor landis, can it help to assuage simmering tensions that exist between regional neighbours to work together on the project of routing i.s.i.l. from syria and iraq? >> well, the big problem is the sunni shi'ite divide that has really split the middle east down the middle. we are trying to bring the two sides together on syria. it will be very difficult to do. in many ways we are forgetting the syrian people here. in many ways, the sunnis, sunni arabs, are 70% of the syrian population. the government is dominated by shiate allo whites. these sooun -- allo wights. the sunnis are trapped teen sectarian governments, and caught in vice grips. unless we ultimately find a solution for the sunnis trapped in the middle that can bring them some justice, representation, we are never going to clear up the i.s.i.s. problem. which is extremism, fighting to gain a voice. many sunnis do not like i.s.i.s., but see - they don't like asaad more or the government in baghdad. this government is far from inclusive,