they are continuing to monitor khorasan electronic activity, communications.they're getting some of this information. also still alive, another man pmusan al fadli, the so-called leader of the khorasan group. after bombing several air strikes inside syria and even as the war against isis in syria goes on, the worry is that these two key leaders of the khorasan group are very tough al qaeda affiliate are, in fact, still alive. jake? >> barbara starr at the pentagon. thank you so much. more news on the terrorist front, defense secretary hagel expressed satisfaction at the pace and the success of the u.s.-led campaign against isis in iraq and siria, but the shocking brutality shows no signs of letting up as evidence, show casing the organization's strong hold throughout much of iraq and syria. >> despite having american weaponry and armor at their disposal. they were scared to meet death and did not have the nerve to continue the fight. >> the propaganda captured iraqi soldiers are rounded up in vehicles in these videos forced to dig their own mass graves and exe

also the leader of the khorasan group, musan al fadhli, also alive.people capable of making bombs that can get past security airport measures and there's a lot of concern. it appears after weeks of u.s. air strikes the leadership of this very dangerous group still very much alive. carol? >> barbara starr reporting live, thank you. i'll be right back. ♪ ♪ thanks. ♪ [ male announcer ] fedex® has solutions to enable global commerce that can help your company grow steadily and quickly. great job. (mandarin) ♪ cut it out. >>see you tomorrow. ♪ e financial noise financial noise financial noise financial noise >>> the ride sharing service uber is hitting major roadblocks. first it gets kicked out of countries like thailand and spain for violating local laws. now it's under legal pressure in its own back yard. two california cities are suing the company to block the service over its allegedly shoddy background techs. cnn money technology correspondent rory segal has more on the story. >> it's been a rough couple weeks. you had a passenger allegedly raped in n

we are talking about the khorasan group. you will recall this is a group of hard core al qaeda operatives that have emerged in syria over the last several years. the u.s. conducting several air strikes. they thought -- they thought they had possibly killed a french bomb maker that worked with them, a man named david drugeon, a highly skilled bombmaker for this group. they thought he was dead, but now two officials are telling me they are revising that assessment. they now believe drugeon, possibly wounded in a u.s. airstrike is now alive and that, of course, is a big concern. he has the expertise to know how to make bombs that can potentially bypass airport screening measure ps upon musan al fadhli has survived all of the coalition air strikes against the khorasan group inside syria. so the concern is after months of air strikes against this group even as the war against isis goes on inside syria these separate strikes against the khorasan group, basically, they have not taken out the leadership. wolf? >> barbara, stand by.

any of the months of strikes against the khorasan group. so even as the war against isis inside syria goes on, this unique, very dangerous group of al qaeda operatives in syria still being tarthed by the u. targeted by the u.s., but it looks like they haven't gotten any of the top leadership. >>> there's more headlines, over to michaela. >>> security is amped up higher in the west bank as a senior palestinian official who died during a clash with israeli troops is laid to rest. in response, president mahmoud abbas has halted any communication with israel. >> yes, michaela, the funeral for this minister in the palestinian authority has come to an end, but we've been hearing in the distance what sounds like stun grenades, there's an israeli settlement not far from here, so it a peers that clashes are under way. this autopsy has come out for his death, the autopsy was interestingly conducted by jordanian pathologists who the palestinian authority requested take part, as well as an israeli team and palestinians. but there seems to be disagreeme

air strikes against the khorasan group.ives that move from pakistan to syria in last several years. it is a group that causes the u.s. a great deal of concern because of their abilities and desire to potentially attack the united states. john, christine. >> thanks, barbara. the senate foreign relations committee meets today trying to reach agreement on using force against isis. white house wants all options on the table. senator rand paul is demanneding the u.s. declare war on isis. the measures that are being discussed right now inside congress do not allow for ground troops. >>> the united states no longer operating prisons or holding detainees in afghanistan. the final three inmates transferred or released as nato combat mission winds down to the december 31st withdraw date. the afghan military will be in charge of the facilities. >>> developing overnight. a $1.1 trillion spending plan to keep the federal government operating beyond midnight tonight hit a snag. nancy pelosi is demanding two provisions be removed from the

struck yet again al qaeda operatives known as the khorasan group.iran flying phantom jets in eastern iraq. the u.s. military watching closely and a u.s. official tells cnn so far the iranians are not flying near coalition jets. the next major move by iraq, u.s. officials tell cnn that iraqi units plan to start moving north to mosul hoping to push out isis which seized the city in june. >> we all know when we said that mosul and the iraqi security forces working in concert with kurdish forces are planning toward that end. >> reporter: the u.s. is now setting up unprecedented vetting standards for selecting modern syrian soldiers to train. they will be constantly reviewed throughout the u.s. training. all of this as the u.s. is also looking to arm sunni tribes in anbar province, west of baghdad, hoping they will revolt against isis. but look, all of this is going to be very tough, potentially very slow going. u.s. officials say they don't really know when the iraqi forces will be able to stand up on their own and when those syrian rebels will really b

. >> reporter: john and christine, two officials are telling me they believe a key leader in the khorasan group in syria is still alive. even after months of u.s. air strikes. a french bombmaker named david drugeon, they thought they killed him in an earlier air strike, now officials say they have every reason to believe he is alive. drugeon can make bombs to bypass security measures. the fact he is still alive causes concern to u.s. officials. they believe the leader of the group, a man named al fatti is still alive. this is a group of hard core al qaeda operatives that move from pakistan to syria over the last several years. it is a group that causes the u.s. a great deal of concern because of their abilities and desire to potentially attack the united states. john, christine. >> thanks, barbara. the senate foreign relations committee meets later today to reach agreement on authorizing the military use of force against isis. the white house wants all options on the table with no limits on how or where the u.s. can attack isis. senator rand paul is demanding the u.s. actually declare war

>> i am familiar with the khorasan group. some of the questions may involved classified answers but i'd be happy to try to answer your questions, sir. >> they are described as seasoned al qaeda operatives in syria. would you agree with that? >> yes, i would. >> so when al qaeda -- seasoned al qaeda operatives. so when the president told us a couple years ago that -- and i don't remember the exact verbiage but it was something similar to al qaeda is decimated and on the run. would that comport with the success of the khorasan group in syria or would that be con ter vening? >> what i would say is that my understanding of what the president meant was al qaeda as an organization had been severely damaged. that did not mean that al qaeda and all the individual elements of al qaeda had been defeated. we see al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, and this group of fighters who have gone to syria coming in some respects from pakistan and afghanistan from core al qaeda have tried to create space to operate in syrian territory. >> so could

would that comport with the success of the khorasan group in syria?ould that be counterconvenienting? >> what i would say, sir, is my understanding of what the president meant is al qaeda is an organization that's been severely damaged. that did not mean that al qaeda had been and all the individual elements of al qaeda had been defeated. we al qaeda in the al maghreb we see al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. and this group of fighters who have gone to syria, coming in some respects from pakistan, and afghanistan, from core al qaeda, have tried to create space to operate in syrian territory. >> so could i say that it was a little true and maybe a little deceptive? or untrue? whatever you want to call it? it wasn't completely factual. >> i don't share your views. >> i appreciate that. i yield back, mr. chairman. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois, mr. schneider. >> thank you, mr. chair. again, i want to thank the witnesses for joining us today to specifically talk about the threat of foreign fighters going into syria, vis-a-vis isis. l

they're distracted from lanning -- >> can you tell us anything about course on -- khorasan? in my reading of things, that sounded like an important passion -- action. this was slipped in under the rug of something we have been watching or thinking about. most of us who follow this had never heard of the group. what was going on? >> i think it is a good thing you have not heard of them because we were doing our job, trying to disrupt threats before they became public knowledge. the khorasan group is the name for a group of al qaeda veterans who have transported themselves from afghanistan, pakistan and sought the safe haven of syria. they did not go there to fight aside. -- they did not go there to fight a side. the fact that it is basically an ungoverned space. these are veterans plotting against the west and the homeland. that is what -- >> are other pockets like that in the world that we have not heard yet that you are worried about? >> we are worried about al qaeda affiliates like a q ap --aqap. they have been persistent and skillful when it comes to aviation plotting. th

lanningdistracted from -- >> can you tell us anything khorasan?se on -- , thatreading of things sounded like an important passion -- action. this was slipped in under the rug of something we have been watching or thinking about. most of us who follow this had never heard of the group. what was going on? >> i think it is a good thing you have not heard of them because we were doing our job, trying to disrupt threats before they became public knowledge. khorasan group is the name for a group of al qaeda veterans who have transported themselves from afghanistan, pakistan and sought the safe haven of syria. they did not go there to fight aside. -- they did not go there to fight a side. that it is basically an ungoverned space. these are veterans plotting against the west and the homeland. that is what -- >> are other pockets like that in the world that we have not heard yet that you are worried about? >> we are worried about al qaeda --aqap.es like a q ap they have been persistent and skillful when it comes to aviation plotting. that is something we h

officials are telling cnn that david rue john, a master bomb maker for khorasan was likely injured but still believed to be alive. he's considered an expert in making bombs that can be undetectable in airport screening. >>> ahead for us "@ this hour," a former cia officer weighs in on this new report. were these interrogation tactics worth it or worthless? his response may very well surprise you. here we go. woo who, woah, woah, woah. it's out there somewhere spreading the word about americas favorite potatoes: heart healthy idaho potatoes and the american heart association's go red for women campaign. if you see it i hope you'll let us know. always look for the grown in idaho seal. no question about that. but your erectile dysfunction - that could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditio

qaeda, their capacity to carry out attacks in the west was demonstrated on september 11 and the khorasan group which we headed in 2002 was headed into syria as a part of and alliance request the al nusra front, just as important as destroying isis is what would occupy it's deolo. we have to prevent foreign fighters from joining isis, but the turks seem much more focused on what they see as their enemies, assad and many of the kurdish fighters. they have not allowed us to use interlink to attack isis, unless we alter our policy and decide to use our air force against assad. whether we should do that depends in part as to who would take over syria if assad were destroyed, right now al nusra and isis seem to be first and second in line, perhaps not in that order. in addition to president does not have the legal authority to wage war for more than -- he claims that authority with some support, the authority that is to say to go after isis on the theory that it is a splinter group of al qaeda and in 2001, this congress authorized every effort against al qaeda. we must urge countries to seal b

khorasan group and boko haram. boko haram is not a threat to us.f we don't get serious about islamic fundamentalist fanaticism, we're still not serious despite airstrikes in iraq, if we don't get serious that will continue to metastasize. adam: very quickly mr. yates do you agree with that. >> i agree with much of it. the danger is conflation, and geographies and islam i'm, open border and this is disasterous for us. adam: i have to thank you you both. we're out of time. all the best in the new year. >> happy new year. adam: major health concerns as the flu near as frighting mile step in the united states. we'll show you which areas are being hardest and how you can keep your family safe. >>> plus while the rest of the world parties into the wee hours of the morning americans are at home committing the ultimate new year's party foul. "piles of money" coming up. out you know "hidden things..." ok, why's that? no hidden fees from the bank where no branches equals great rates. thanks. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] fedex® has solutions to able global commerce

he is part of the allocate-linked khorasan group. >> the fight for the syrian city of kobani from a new perspective isis would have the world believe that their fighters are making gains but analysts see things much differently. >> reporter: the camera flies in to the battle for kobani, the fighters are seen scrambling for a better position. heard panting. this isis propaganda video shows what the terror group claims are its fighters battling for control of the syrian border town against kurdish forces. isis recently used a british hostage to make a false claim about its control for kobani. >> it is coming to an end. they are mopping up now. >> reporter: in reality, they say isis is losing. and controls less than 50% of kobani. nick peyton walsh traveled there and captured these scenes. but a key question after three months of air strikes by the u.s. and its allies why hasn't isis been driven completely out of kobani? >> the problem is the air strikes came too late. this allowed the islamic state to get in the city. once you get fighters inside of a city it is hard for air power to dig

the khorasan group was your question. >>yes. >> okay. my focus is daesh, and where we find violent extremist organizations, we will -- we'll continue to work that effort in terms of precision strikes. i -- i hesitate to give you any type of affect achieved on those groups out there. whenever we do that, we always wind up with them re-creating themselves someplace and creating problems for us. and, again, my principal focus in syria is to, while we are working iraq first, is to make sure that we shape that deeper fight out of there in terms of sanctuary in some places, in places like raqqa, so that it has an enduring effect on what we're doing in iraq also. second question was? >>if you could just give us any additional details, and who's training, who they're training -- who the trainees are. >> the -- and, again, these -- this gets executed through the government of iraq. there is -- as we see the isf conducting operations, not -- not only in -- in anbar but in some of the places in salah al-din, as an example, and nineveh. a lot of the

-led bombing campaign against isis and the al qaeda led khorasan group in syria has not crippled their operations. >> we'll not go into detail about what that may look like from a classified perspective, we are concerned that there is active plotting going on. >> reporter: the intelligence community received new information that a french bombmaker thought to have been killed in syria may have survived u.s. strikes last month. >> there is concern that there are still individuals out there who have not only the ability to do that but the intent of using that on a flight to the u.s. >> reporter: that's why procedures implemented in july require passengers to turn on their phone and computers remain in place. as the holiday travel season begins, tsa officials say they aren't expecting any changes at the checkpoints, but if there are changes they will be driven by new and specific intelligence. the tsa administrator describes classified procedures to track foreign fighters based on their travel history before they check in for u.s.-bound flights. >> there are individuals that we are concern

al qaeda-link qaeda-linkedqaeda-link qaeda-linkedqaeda-link qaeda-linkedqaeda-link qaeda-linked khorasanits world believe its fighters are making gains. but as brian todd reports, analysts see things very differently. >> from a drone, the camera flies right into the battle for co-been any. the fighters are heard panting, seen scrambling for a better position. this new isis propaganda video shows what the terror group claims are its fighters battling for control of the syrian border town against kurdish fors. isis recently used a british hostage to make a false claim about its control of co-been anykobani is coming to an end. >> cnn's nick paten walsh recently travelled to kobani and captured these scenes. but a key question after three months of air strikes by the u.s. and its allies why hasn't isis been driven completely out of kobani? >> the problem is the air strikes came too late. this allowed the islamic state to get inside the city. once you get fighters inside a city then it's very hard for air power to dig them out. they can hide. even if the building doesn't provide any protecti

but there are growing sectors which are with the al quaida affiliate in syria, the khorasan group, again, al quaida-affiliated big names. and there are other islamist groups as well. the real challenge, as we try, we the united states try to play a bigger role in helping the syrian rebels, is the fact that they're being outnumbered by the -- by islamists, not even i.s.i.s. this is the most complex war in the middle east in a century. >> do they have enough people there who are considered moderate to build into a soldiers on the ground to combat i.s.i.s.? >> at their peak, the free syrian army had up to 100,000 fighters. they're probably down now to somewhere between 30,000 and -- and 50,000. the free syrian army doesn't have one commander or one set of strategies, they don't really coordinate with each other, they're broken down into whether it's towns or cities or neighborhoods, and it's -- in trying to find a force that can fight either i.s.i.s. or the government in damascus, the challenge is finding the number of fighters. three and a half, almost four years into this conflict, a lot

what that has allowed is for al qaeda -- remember we talked about this khorasan group.hat's a bunch of al qaeda operatives who moved into syria near aleppo to take advantage of the chaos. it's a safe haven for them. they have the ability to further train in comfort, almost, if you will, and to plot and plan something like this. we -- >> when you said like this, like 9/11, you say something where you commandeer the planes and crash them into buildings and that sort of thing? >> more of a coordinated effort where you're seizing planes, you're attacking multiple planes through the use of explosives right now is what they're talking about. look, the uk has even been considering banning all hand luggage. bad enough taking your shoes off at the airport. can you imagine saying you can't take your handbagage on to the plane or alternatively, you can't take your phone or ipad on to the plane because that's the extent, that's the seriousness of this current threat. >> carry-on luggage verboten. mike baker. >>> a poll that has got romney supporters gung ho and maybe hillary clinto

these reports that we bombed in syria, going after the khorasan group, the sprinter al-qaeda group and may have killed a french man, how important was this frenchman to their efforts to create these bomb that is might pass airport detection? >> he was important in the sense he was a good technician, he knew how to make bombs. they are trying to develop bombs that can pass through airline security. sometimes they put them inside the bodies of the bombers, that's the idea. they've been trying to do that for a while. this competition continues between al-qaeda and isis or isil, the islamic state, and al-qaeda wants to put itself back on the map. it's not the kind of power in syria, in iraq that islamic state is, so it needs to do something big and it's whole philosophy is to talk the united states, to go after americans, to go after europeans, the brits and the french. if they can pull off a major airline bombing campaign, they'd be back. >> as number one. >> scary to talk about it in those terms. talking about isil, big deal in iraq between the iraqi government and the kurds to share roy

warplane have taken aim once again at the al qaeda linked khorasan group. iran is flying fighter jets over eastern iraq with the u.s. military watching very closely. and u.s. officials tell cnn iraqi forces plan to head north to mosul hoping to push out isis militants that seized the city back in june. >>> now, that's all ofof the latest information. the syrian city of kobani has been under siege by isis militants for months now. even as the battle rages on nick paton walsh had a firsthand look. this is his report. >> reporter: we've been taken down this street towards the eastern front line behind those curtain there is put up to protect them from snipers by two of the female wpg fighters escorting us down there, and this is near the eastern front where there's been much more intense fighting in the past three or four days. and while we get differing figures from whoever you speak to about quite how much of the city is controlled and you see here quite remarkable devastation caused by the explosives used, what's quite clear is that isis are far from giving

on the air strikes in syria, can you update what's going on with the khorasan group? there was a series of air strikes against them and now there hasn't for a while. are they as an organization and you mentioned the bridging strategy with the 5,000 tribesmen and 250 trained, can you give us any additional detail on that. who is tooing the training and where are the people being drawn from? the 5,000 are those people identified but not yet trained? >> so syria first. okay. the khorasan group was request -- okay, my focus is daaesh and where we find violent extremist organizations we'll continue to work that effort in terms of precision strikes. i am -- i hesitate to give you any type of effect achieved on those groups out there. whenever we do that, we always wind up with them re-creating themself some place and creating problems for us. my principal focus in syria while we're working iraqi first, we want to make sure that we shape that deeper fight out there in terms of sanctuary, in places like raqaa, so it has an enduring effect on what we do in iraq also. second qu

qaeda, their capacity to carry out attacks in the west was demonstrated on september 11 and the khorasan group which we on september 22 was syria as a part of an alliance with the al nusra front. so just as important as destroying isis is what would occupy its ideological and physical space. we have to prevent foreign fighters from joining isis, but the turks seem much more focused on what they see as their enemies, assad and many of the kurdish fighters. they have not allowed us to use interlink to attack isis, unless we alter our policy and decide to use our air force against assad. whether we should do that depends in part as to who would take over syria if assad were destroyed. right now al nusra and isis seem to be first and second in line, perhaps not in that order. in addition, the president does not have the legal authority to than 60 days,ore under the war powers act, on the assad regime. he claims that authority with some support, the authority that is to say to go after isis on the theory that it is a splinter group of al qaeda and in 2001, this congress authorized every effor

also in aleppo, another air strike against the khorasan group, that al qaeda group the u.s.ing to attack the united states. over in iraq. there were 13 strikes in and around mosul, this is very interesting because what we have reported and we already know is that the u.s. is assisting the iraqi forces in their move to get ready to try and retake mosul from isis. this is a move we expect iraqi forces to make sometime next month. certainly the u.s. prepping the ground, if you will, looking at striking every isis target it can around mosul. jake? >> barbara, while i have you, the people who work in the building in which you are broadcasting right now, the pentagon, still don't know who their next boss is going to be. last week, chuck hagel said he was going to be stepping down, to be polite. and it's very weird because we keep seeing names floated and names taken down. it's almost like a game of musical chairs there. what are you hearing about who the next secretary of defense might be? >> reporter: we see a lot of people bowing out, people that don't want to be considered for

there's also in syria and iraq, particularly in syria, the khorasan group, an al qaeda a-team plotting attacks against u.s. aviation. one of their key bomb-makers, turns out he's still alive, a frenchman. >> bob, some u.s. law enforcement authorities have said to me they're really worried about what they call copycat attacks, someone inspired, if you will, by what just happened in sydney, getting all that publicity for 16, 17 hours, you can imagine what would happen if in the united states to happen near times square, something along those lines. how worried should u.s. law enforcement be about a copycat? >> terrified of it. i'm in touch with the fbi and police and they're worried about that very thing. it could be attacking a school under the banner of isis with an automatic weapon. think what it would do to this country in terms of where it would take our foreign policy. there's nothing they can do about it. these people are working around the clock, looking at social media and analytics. they're being tracked but unless they commit a crime, there's not much you can do. >> tom, it lo