. >> the siege on mt sinjar, since august, when i.s.i.l. attacked killing thousands forcing girls and women into slavery. they continued to battle. we are joined by rear admiral john kirby. good to see you. we heard general terry urging patients -- patience saying it could be a minimum of three years. saying the targeted strikes kill. is the bombing being more successful than we thought or heard. we know over time. more you do, the more you'll decrayed and damage the organizations ability to operate, communicate and lead itself. we know we are having an effect. so what you saw are two practical, tactical representations of that effect. >> well i think the other one you are talking about is the kurds saying that they opened a corridor in the area of mt sinjar, allowing them to reach the refugees besieged by i.s.i.l. the kurds say it's the single biggest military offensive. the most successful so far. how important is this victory. i'm not sure i'm in a position to quantify it. it's a big undertaking. we help them with air strikes. there was

. >> and there are thousands more yazidi still stuck on mt sinjar. >> yes. near - 1,200 families, about 6,000 or 7,000 people. >> how are they living there in the winter time? i don't know because it's the winter time, cold weather without food without tents, blankets. only 20 person of that. eight are received until now. it's not just the ones on mt sinjar, we have half a million yazidi living as refugees mostly in kurdistan, how are they doing? >> when we spoke about the situation of the refugee. the yazidi re refugee in the kurdistan region, is bad situation, we have the camps. but it's very bad camps, very bad camps. not waterproof, fireproof. it's - the tents - it's on the mud. and maybe can i show you some pictures today or tonight the situation of those refugee in the camp, in the sharia camp, it is very, very bad. this is one thing. another thing - the foods and waters and and other its - it is very little. and it's not enough for the people. another thing, it's very, very important thing, the health care. they don't know anything about health care f

mt. sinjar. this opened the way for standsed family to his leave. they have to navigate through land mines planted by isil fighters. this is the village about 50-kilometers from sinjar. burned outhouses and bullet-riddled walls are everywhere. evidence of the fierce fighting that took place here. during dish forces say they are now marching towards isil's main military base in the city there. but they say there is a limb toyota what they can achieve on their own. >> we do not want peshmerges to be the only one goes in to the areas to have some political ramifications. liberation of mosul will require our forces the iraqi government military. >> reporter: forces here in erbil say more than 8,000 peshmerga forces were involved in the operation to break the siege of the sinjar mountains. but knowing how fast isil could change its tactics in the battlefield their commanders say that the fight for sinjar could still be far from over. on the other frontline of romadi, the battle for the strategic city is getting more intense. parts of the city lie in ruin

, to liberate a vast area, and to be able to rescue those yazidi people that are trapped on mt sinjar. >> reporter: kurdish forces gained nearly 700 square kilometres of i.s.i.l.-held territory along the route. it opened the way for stranded families to leave, but they have to navigate through landmines planted by fighters. 50km from sinjar is the village of coban. burnt-out houses and bullet ridden walls are evidence of the fighting. >> kurdish forces are marching to the i.s.i.l. area. they have retaken ground from i.s.i.l. near the west of mosul. they can only do so much alone. >> we do not want the peshawar to be the only ones going into the areas to have political ramifications. elimination of mosul requires participation of forces, military. >> reporter: at least 8,000 fighters were involved in the operation to break the siege. sinjar mountain. the success boosted the moral of the forces. they know from past experience that i.s.i.l. can change tactics, switching from front line battles to emergency fighting. as they advance kurdish forces are preparing for a possible i.s.i.l. bac

mt. sinjar. the site had been under siege for months. >> what the peshmerga have achieved this historic. never expected to win all these battles. >> the sinjar offensive was launched last wednesday, coalition forces carried out assault on targets to allow fighters of kurdistan to move in. on the ground, the battle was fierce. as shown on footage filmed by the soldiers. this kurdish man was among the injured. at the foot of mount sinjar the town is where most of the fighting took place. >> we were fighting in the town, there were snipers everywhere. i had a machine gun and rpg r ockets were targeting us. i got shot by a bullet in the leg. >>the yazidi stronghold of sinjar was seized by is jihadists on august 3, leading members of the religious minardi to flee homes. those who stay behind or subjected to violence. the jihad, backed by local sunni muslims, the yazidis were forced to convert to islam. women wear rate. these grandmother spent 10 days in the hands of the group. our team met them. >> the

mt. sinjar in neighboring iraq. that's allowed for the rescue of thousands of eye zidys who have been trapped since august. as you see there, clearing a path, and now aid and food and water being brought in to all those people. a big help has also been the ongoing offensive in kobani. as you mentioned in the lead-in, the syrian town along the turkish border, where critical ground has been recap chured from isis. this has been a main battleground that's lasted for several months. it's been a bloody one, too. at this point, we're hearing kurdish forces have recaptured six key areas, six main neighborhoods from isis, with help of course from the ongoing u.s.-led coalition air strikes. >> all right, john. obviously, a very tough situation that they're dealing with right now. thank you for updating us on that. >>> there's much more ahead on "anhq." a man hit by an 18-wheeler. you won't believe what he happens next. >>> plus, it's the holiday season. you will hear from pastor joel olsteen who offers his insights on how to

iraq a kurdish offensive that opened a corridor for thousands of minority yazidi to escape from mt sinjars gaining momentum. i.s.i.l. captured large villages. the group appears to be pulling back. we have this exclusive report from a village retaken by kurdish forces. >> reporter: kurdish peshmerga fighters raise the flag in a village recaptured from i.s.i.l., they want to make clear who is leading here. this is the man leading them. the general says the offensive has been a success. >> we have strategic data back from i.s.i.l. we have seized roads along the border. whoever controlled the areas has the upper hand. >> towns and villages they have recovered from i.s.i.l. are deserted. most of the residents live in camps or have crossed the nesh syrian border. this newly retaken town has taken. here they have tyres creating a smoke clean to hide them from the jet fighters, and to the left are a network of tunnels used to navigate around town. they used doors of abandoned houses to cover the town. here one of the houses i.s.i.l. uses lies in ruins. it was hit by coalition supporting the peshm

in the mt sinjar region >>> hello, welcome to al jazeera, live from doha, i'm election puranam. also ahead - dozens killed in north-east indian state as separatist fighters target villagers. >>> a global treaty regulating the arms trade comes in effect. and the u.s. economy grows at a fastest pace in 11 years. >>> kurdish forces in northern iraq are fighting to recapture some of the territory seized by the islamic state of iraq and levant. they'll focus on trying to push i.s.i.l. fighters from the town of sinjar need the syrian border. the town, and other parts of northern iraq are affected. thousands from the yazidi kurd community fled no the mountains, where they were besieged for months. peshmerga forces opened a corridor for them to flee to safety, but only last week. members of the ethnic minorities say 35-00 women and girls were kidnapped. many families fear the girls shn sold as sex slaves. >> reporter: whenever the family comes together, it will be dominated by their missing daughters. the 7-year-old was kidnapped by i.s.i.l. fighters when they attacked the village, four

iraq's kurdish reason is promising to crush i.s.i.l., make the the comments as he met the troops on mt sinjar. kurdish forces are facing resistance from the town of sinjar, and it was for from clear >>> the united nations released new figures on the numbers killed. 7,000 people have died since the outbreak in march. the total number of people or the gearnd case in new york. >> he was-k addressing the life of, an african american teenager shot by a black police officer. >> i understand that and you sound very intelligent. and let me say this: truly you don't believe that every person or every black that's killed is because of a white policemen, do you believe that? every time. >> police released video from surveillance cameras outside the store. video shows martin and another person walk ugh away from the store to where the officers stopped them. in the left-hand corner of the video you can see the officer talking to the two young men then shots are fired. and one teen runs away. from a different angle we see the shooting then the officer falling back. the officer eventually moves away from th

iraq's kurdish reason is promising to crush i.s.i.l., make the the comments as he met the troops on mt sinjar. kurdish forces are facing resistance from the town of sinjar, and it was for from clear >>> the united nations released new figures on the numbers killed. 7,000 people have died since the outbreak in march. the total number of people infected reached 19,000. the vast majority of infections happened in three west african countries - liberia, sierra leone, and guinea. senegal closed its borders, but is allowing the united nations to use its country as a base for supply to the affected states. a specially made airport is being built for planes carrying relief. >> going to the front line of the ebola crisis much doctors, nurses and engineers getting ready to board a special u.n. flight. it will take it to where the virus kills the most. it works in logistics. it will spend the next month without contact, checking its health. >> we under how the situation has to be implemented to protect ourselves and others. >> more than 7,000 people died of ebola, and the virus continues to spread. trav

mt. sinjar whereas you say that thousands of yazidi, ethnic yazidi people are stranded and there has been on them by isil fighters. contemporary to reports that we have been getting late yesterday and overnight that the town of sinjar had been taken over by kurdish peshmerga fighters, we are now hearing with confirmations from peshmerga commanders that there is heavy fighting and isil is putting up a very stiff resistence, the commanders say that the coalition aircraft strikes on the towns where positions with e the ice it's fighters are has not softened the resistence, and they are saying the fight is going on for this town. the fighters are keen to take this town because it's where a big. [ inaudible ] happened more than 2,000 ethnic yazidi women were taken away by isil for enslavement as sources say. and it's also very important because this is where most of the people who are stranded up on the mountain have fled. and people really want to come back because the weather is getting really cold. >> all right, and i wonder, mo happening he had, what is happening to the people who have bee

mt. sinjar. can one have a strategy to protect christians abroad?ould hope that there is -- edward, you may have thoughts on this. but i hope there would already be a strategy, which is inclusive of christians, which is already incorporated. we have a set of human rights values we believe. we have a set of government values we believe in. and support to ethnic minorities and so forth. if we start being specific about any particular religion, you could ask the next group demand one as well. therefore thereteáñ needs to be something that is all enough encompassing that recognizes that. in the same way the kurds are actually the largest minority population in the world. without a country themselves. but, therefore, the same question could be posed for them. >> not sure it will be long. >> could i ask about the peshmerga, the kurdistan regional government was there was desperate need for further equipment, especially with training and advice. what's the uk's government response to that? >> can i throw that back to you and ask you, is it possible to elab

mt. sinjar, 500 civilians from the yazidi minority have been trapped on top of the mountain since septemberours days ago this road was inning possible. it's now an escape route for the hundreds strapped on the mountain. >> translator: most of our houses were destroyed in the fighting says this man, they have been everywhere around us and advised to leave. isil left behind improvised explosive devices like this in most villages and towns they have lost. just one more thing holding people from returning to their homes. mohamed adow al jazerra in northern iraq. >>> hope francis has used this christmas day address in st. peters square for condemn the persecution of ethnic and religious minorities. 10s of thousands of people gathered to hear the pontiffs message as he highlighted the flight of victims of the conflict in iraq and saer request. he also appealed for an end to an flick in africa and called for dialogue between israelis and palestinians. >> translator: i and him to look upon our brother brothers and st sisters in iraq and syria who have for too long suffered. and who are suffering a

of revenue under threat >>> in iraq, a kurdish offensive opened a corridor for thousands to scope mt sinjars gaping momentum. i.s.i.l. captured a number. now the group appears to be on the retreat. they have this ex-cheesive report to how the villages were taken by kurdish forces. kurdish peshmerga fighters want to make clear who is in charge here. the peshmerga taking swathes of land from i.s.i.l. this is the man leading them. their offense has been a success. >> we have gotten strategic territory back. they advance along the border. whoever controls the areas has the upper hand. up to s and villages are deserted. most are residents of towns we were told life in camps or crossed the border. this is a number of tactics i.s.i.l. fighters took themselves. they create tyres as a smoke screen to hide the fighters. for a network of tunnels to navigate around town. >> they use doors of abandoned houses to examine the tunnels. as the fighting reached the town, so did the air strikes. here one of the houses lies in ruins. if hit by coalition jets supporting the peshmerga offensive. >> the air strik

mt. sinjar, but nowhere near taking isil's main navel i base in that area. was there during some of the battle and joins us live now from erbil and how difficult is it going to be for the kurdish force to his maintain these gains? >> reporter: i think it is probably worth describing what sort of terrain we are talking about. the area from zuma, just south of the mosul damn across sinjar mountain on his the iraq-sear request border is made up of lots of pockets of villages and towns the majority of whom are sunni. and we are now seeing that everybody though the peshmerga forces have managed to move a line all the way along that stretch of northern iraq, north of the main isil military base that they hold just to the west of mosul, they have managed to push quite a lot of what i am told is military hardware, tanks, hu humvees and a number f many thousands of peshmerga fighters but these pockets of towns in these areas are very clear places where the isil fighters can just disappear in to. and indeed, to the south of there, in to toe suggest city, even though t

in the mt sinjar region >>> hello, welcome to al jazeera, live from doha, i'm election puranam. also ahead - dozens killed in north-east indian state as separatist fighters target villagers. >>> a global treaty regulating the arms trade comes in effect. and the u.s. economy grows at a fastest pace

mt. sinjar. torture including rape and other forms of sexual violence suffered by women and girls from iraqi's yazidi minority who were abducted -- a new annual poll by the military times shows president obama's approval rating among active duty service members at a mere 15%, down from 35% in 2009. the pentagon says the 82 and airborne troops preparing to deploy in january, will not be engaged in combat, little comfort for families who are preparing to send their loved ones back to iraq, making for a poignant holiday season. >>> still ahead, goldberg lane and krauthammer on sony's decision to let you see "the interview." and how a baggage handler helped smuggle drugs on to an aircraft. >>> hillary clinton is hiring. what are you hearing about hillary clinton tonight? >> there's a lot of buzz about who's actually going to be running thing. the chairman actually seems to be settled. john pedesta. he ran terri mcauliffe's winning campaign run for governor last year in virginia. the independents read

is an operation under the auspices of the president ashraf ghani himself, to move all the way to mt sinjar, to liberate a vast area of kurdistan, and rescue those yazidi people that are trapped on the mountain. >> kurdish forces say they gained nearly 700 square kilometres along the route. >> this opens a way for families to leave. they have to navigate through landmines planted by i.s.i.l. fighters. this is the village. about 50km from sinjar. houses and bullet-riddled walls are everywhere. evidence of the fierce fighting that took place here. kurdish forces say they are marching to i.s.i.l.'s main military base, through the city of tal afar. there's a limit, they say, to what they can achieve on their own. >> we do not want the peshmerga to be the only ones going into the area to have political ramifications. liberation of mosul requires participation of arab forces, particularly the iraqi government military. more tan than 8,000 peshmerga were involved. knowing how i.s.i.l. could change the tactics in the battlefield. the fight for sinjar could be far from over. >> on the other front li

. >> reporter: the fight for mt sinjar and the surrounding area has been intense. for almost a week kurdish fighters paced steep resistance from i.s.i.l. fighters stealing control of sinjar town, at the foot of the mountains. it's where they have been committing atrocities. the president of the kurdistan region of government visited troops on the sinjar front line and addressed the displaced families. >> translation: thanks to god we have opened and controlled all the roads and broken the siege imposed on sinjar mountain. we have liberated the whole area. liberation of sinjar town was not part of our perhaps, but we have managed to take control of a large area of it. we will not leave any member of the terrorist on any area where we can reach. brave peshmerga are ready to teach a lesson to anyone. >> reporter: peshmerga fighters are supported in their efforts to take sinjar. jets belonging to the u.s.-led coalition are carrying out air strikes against i.s.i.l. positions in and around the town. i.s.i.l. fighters captured the town of sinjar in early august, forcing t

. >> do you feel like after the rescue on mt sinjar, that the world has forgotten the yazidi? >> i think maybe not all the people hearing about the yazidi before this issue. i think a little people hearing about what the yazidi or where they are living. after this i.s.i.s. attack most of the people in the world. hear about the yazidi. i think when we go back to the home, it's a complex issue, because our problem is not only with i.s.i.s., that group of i.s.i.s. are coming from outside iraq. it is a small group. 200 or 300. the big problem or issue is that those villages, arab villages. arab sunni villages sounding the sin ya is helping i.s.i.s. to attack. the problem is with the neighbour and our friend. this is the big prop. how can we go back to live in sinjar with the neighbours. because you used to live in towns, and those sunnis helped i.s.i.l., that's a problem and you have that in the future as to where yazidi lie, and i wish you the best in your efforts. it's a horrible trend that has fawn upon your people, and i hope that something is done to help you. >> thank you. >

mt. sinjar. peshmerga forces say they have the mountains in northern iraq.say they have cleansed the area of isis fighters with the help of military airstrikes. that's the area where military aircraft dropped food to refugees who were being targeted by isis militants. >> now the pentagon confirms that u.s.-led air strikes have killed three senior isis militants in iraq in recent weeks. the u.s. official tells cnn that all were closely connected to the man, isis leader abu bakr al baghdadi. two were considered high-ranking, including this individual, al baghdadi's deputy in iraq, a lieutenant colonel in the saddam hussein era special forces. >>> well, most often you have heard the group referred to as isis. we say isis here, isil or the islamic state. now there is another name for the group. the u.s. general leading the fight against isis explains what it is and what it means. >> dush is a term that our partners in the use. in fact it speaks to a name that is very close to isil in arabic, and it also speaks to another name that means to crush underneath the f

mt. sinjar on sunday and they are facing the distance from sooil fighters in the town of sinjar and thats far from cleared. to egypt with five members of the armed group have been killed by police. the fighters had pledged allegiance to i.s.i.l. and hiding in the providence northeast of cairo and the agent interior ministry said they stormed a building on sunday and suicide bombs, weapons and ammunition were seized in the raid. al jazeera continues to demand the release of journalists now in prison in egypt for 359 days, greste, fahmy and mohamed were jailed for helping the out lawed muslim brotherhood and appealing their convictions. the u.n. has released new figures on number of people killed by the ebola virus, the world health organization says more than 7,000 people have now died since the outbreak began in march. the total number of people infected has reached 19,000, the vast majority of infections and deaths have happened in three west african countries, liberia sierra leone and this is in response to the out break and allowed the u.n. to use the country as a base for supplying a

mt. sinjar.sty international report describes the treatment of girls under isis, quote, torture including rape and other forms of sexual violence suffered by women and girls from iraq's yazidi minority who were abducted by the armed group calling itself the islamic state highlights the savagery of i.s. rule. the troops deployed in january will not be engaging in combat. families preparing to send their loved ones back to iraq making for a poignant holiday season. >> thank you. >>> fox news contributor and iraq and afghanistan war veteran. concerned veterans for america. pete, great to see you. >> thanks for having me, shannon. >> what does this mean for those families? as jennifer pointed out we heard months ago from the president and numerous members of the administration that there wouldn't be, quote, boots on the ground. we're told these aren't combat troops. they're not going to see combat. but where do we draw that line but saying we're not sending in boots on the ground but sending in troop

mt. sinjar earlier this year, you may remember, to protect members of the ha minority community th. >>> the against isis continues to take a heavy toll on civilians. the u.n. is now asking member states to donate more to help those displaced by the violence in syria and will launch new appeals for funding meetings thursday in berlin. u.n. officials say the need for aid grows more desperate the longer the conflict drags on. listen to this. >> i remember when i first went to syria. we were talking about a million people in need then. now it's over 12 million inside the country. people facing horrific violence and brutality. over 3 million people sheltering in neighboring countries that are burying the bankrupt -- bearing the brunt of millions of people coming into their countries. it is heartbreaking when you see that, you know, over half of those in need are children. we are fearful of syria's future and without a political solution, we are not going to have the stability and security that families so desperately need. >> now many of those fleeing the violence are from kobani. our senior int

mt. sinjar people had been trapped since september. just four days ago this road was impossible.was under the control of isil. it's now an escape route for the thousands of yazidis who have been trapped on the mountain. >> translator: most of our houses were destroyed in the fighting, says this man. they were everywhere around us. we were advise today leave he says. isil also left behind improvised explosive devices like this in most villages and towns they have lost. just one more thing holding people from returning to their homes. mohamed adow al jazerra, in northern iraq. >>> gunmen belonging to the shia rebel group the houthis have kidnapped yemen's seconds highest intelligence official. the major general was take friend his home in sanaa at dawn on thursday. he's in charged of internal secure any in yemen. >>> in somalia six kills in an attack on a u.n. military base. explosions and heavy gunfire were heard in the capital of mogadishu, al-shabab claim responsibility for the attack. >>> the taliban has been warned their days are numbers. so-called terrorism cases will now be