the civil war in neighboring syria has ignited the conflicts between the shiite and the sunni communities. the group has its support from some in the sunni community. >> translator: the islamic state is good and better than maliki because they give people their right. yes, for sure, they do. >> translator: we support the idea of having an islamic state in this world, and i encourage this. we are all muslims fighting together. >> reporter: abu mustafa, muhammad, had a son who joined the group in syria. he died in the battle against forces of the assad regime. he was only 22 years old. mohammed is considered a martyr here. his picture is proudly displayed in public. abu feels his son's death would be worthwhile if the jihadist ideology expands across iraq. >> translator: all muslims all over the world are happy to achieve an islamic state, either through this organization or any other islamic organization. the main target is to build an islamic state. >> reporter: support for the group stretches beyond iraq's borders and is reaching many parts of the region. sho beppu, nhk world, lebanon. >

them official refugee status in the first place which they don't have in any of the countries neighboring syria. >> mahmoud abbas. three minister from gaza were banned from entering west bank by israel. >> being it is the first palestinian national government to be formed since the one president mahmoud abbas formed two years ago. starts whe when when be when har the area. >> selected ministers acceptable to both sides was a complicated process. but veej ensured a government of -- eventually ensured a government of technocrats existed. >> i'm standing down from my role but i'm not abandoning my responsibility, the responsibility to my home land. we'll remain serving the people wherever we are, within the government, outside the government. we'll continue to serve the great people of palestine. >> national reconciliation is demanded by all palestinians, especially those in the gaza strip. unemployment has never been higher. >> translator: everyone will benefit from the unity government. students can go and study in egypt and patients can go there for treatment. i've been doing nothing for almost

but at the same time it is eyeing a military aid package for rebels fighting the government in neighboring syria u.s. president barack obama has urged congress to approve a five hundred billion dollars to be spent on training and equipping syrian opposition fighters now if this funding is approved it would mark the first to direct u.s. involvement in the syrian conflict let's now take a closer look at how washington's a role has developed now just a year ago washington gave the green light to non-lethal support for the so-called moderate rebels but that later ended up in the hands of jihad ists and america was forced to suspend the aid however earlier this month america admitted it has been covertly sending weapons to the opposition fighters anti-war campaigner brian becker thinks that the u.s. is failing to learn from its past mistakes the united states appears they have a schizo front foreign policy there they're saying they demand unity in iraq behind the central government which is fighting what they call islamic extremists from i so where is this and at the same time they're funding these s

they have been fighting in a civil war in neighboring syria. they swept into iraq and inflamed the conflict. analysts say security is the worst its been since u.s. troops completed their withdraw from iraq three years ago. about 800 people were killed last month alone. >>> ukraine's new president has promised to give his people peace. in the meantime, he says he wants to keep them safe. poroshenko has ordered the creation of a corridor to allow them to escape fighting in the east. he's instructed them to provide food and medical services and accommodations for anyone who might want to flee. russian delegates submitted a draft resolution to the u.n. security down counsel. it called for the creation of a humanitarian corridor. separatists in a number of eastern cities have been fighting for more a ton my. government trouops have been trying to push them out. >> officials at the world bank say the crisis in ukraine has made them do a retake on where the global economy is heading. what can you tell us? >> they say what's happening in ukraine is hav

of the obama administration has also floated the possibility of attacking isis militants in neighboring syria >> all of this comes as isis has expanded its stronghold in the north and west, seizing three border crossings and four nearby towns over the weekend. according to monitors from the united nations, more than 1075 people have been killed so far this month in iraq. john kerry's visit followed steps or stops in egypt and jordan. he is also expected to touch down in brussels and paris in the coming days. some argue his travel calendar ignores the most important stop he could make rash tehran. the u.s. and iran are fighting a common him in any and iraq sunni militants. but despite much speculation and ongoing nuclear talks, there is little sign the two sides are approaching meaningful engagement on iraq and the threat of regional conflict it's inflaming. for more we get a washington, d.c. to speak with phyllis bennis, senior fellow at the institute for policy studies. she is the author of several books including, "ending the iraq war: a primer." welcome back to democracy now! what about th

urged politicians in lebanon to elect a new president to help respond to the ongoing crisis in neighboring syria. other countries in the region are struggling to cope with millions of syrian refugees. an investigation into the alleged bugging of chancellor angela merkel's mobile phone. allegations that it had been tapped by that u.s. national security agency came to light last year. militants have killed dozens of people in northeastern nigeria. the attacks happened in the main stronghold of the militant group. gunman's described as soldiers fired on a crowd in a church compound. boko haram is waging an increasingly bloody insurgency in an attempt to create an islamic state in nigeria. peter's from seven of the world's major economies met in brussels at a summit designed to increase cooperation between them. a major topic will be the crisis in ukraine. that's why one man who is not there is russian president vladimir putin. he was excluded from the meeting after annexing crimea. he four arriving in belgium, president obama had some strong words for russia -- before arriving in belgium. he warned

you do have the neighbor syria. you have the threats that iran could get involved. how dangerous is this really to u.s. interests? this is essentially the sort of repeat of sunni versus shia schism. how far could it theoretically spread? >> the military threat is, these guys are not capable, they're actually taking over all of the sunni western half of iraq and roughly 20% of the population. they have the capability, and i think they will attempt to encircle baghdad. i don't think they can take baghdad. there would be hundreds of thousands iraqi troops there, and the shia population is not going to surrender to these guys. they will fight. but they can cut the city off. that is going to create tremendous strains. the kurds are moving into disputed areas, for example kirkuk yesterday. they're ready if necessary to split off themselves if there's chaos to the south. iran will not allow the shia city in the south to be sieged, shia populations to be attacked. we could see iran coming in, too. absent effective american action to stop these guys in their tracks, at least

promise to finally bring the troops home, but once they were gone, the explosion violence in neighboring syria and baghdad created the perfect storm in iraq. >> the president may have learned a lesson just because he declares conflicts over, does not mean those conflicts are ended. >> terrorists moving in, taking control of western iraq, now they have taken control of mosul. 100 miles from baghdad. what is the president doing? taking a nap. >> reporter: allies need to be consulted. >> they need to come forward with a proposal and bring it to congress and let us debate what we should do. >> reporter: the terror threat from iraqi insurgent could reach to the homeland the fbi told senators today. >> to the american people, i know you're tired of dealing with the middle east but the people that are moving into iraq and holding ground in syria have as part of their agenda not only to drive us out of the mideast but hit our homeland. >> reporter: a group that's more brut brutal an than their al qaeda fore bearers. >> they are able to plan and plot attacks not just in the region but potentially again

syria contribute to what's going on in iraq today? >> no doubt our region is interrelated and we are affected in iraq by what happens in iran and turkey and other neighboringsaudi arabia and others. in syria, the irony of it, the syrian regime and the iranian cooperated together to make life difficult for the american in iraq and through them they smuggled and allowed al qaeda and other mill stand groups for fight the americans and they succeeded in making life difficult for the american to the extent that the american thought it's better to levi rack the way they left. now, again, the a sued regime changes and he is a mere dictator, he is a minority, and he is persecuting the majority. and the american watching him and not doing much to the extent instead of helping the mothers sunnies, they left them to their means and leaving the ground to the militant sunni and they created now safe havens in the areas. accordingly, similar thing happen in iraq. however, in iraq, isil is not only the one force playing a role in iraq. it has been cooperating with at least 10 armed groups, some of them are secular, some of them are national assists but more than this and

troop withdrawal of iraq, capitalizing on what's been happening in neighboring syria to not just become an entity that controls territory inside iraq but in syria as well. trying to resolve this crisis, though, john, will not come about by use of military force alone. there has to be some sort of political reconciliation between the various sunni and shia fighters. it's not just iran also that's being brought into the mix potentially at this stage. we're also hearing various reports that shia militias inside iraq are being called to arms as well. this country very much on the brink of yet another very bloody chapter. >> of course, there are reports as well of the kurdish militia the person merga has taken over the oil city of kirkuk. a lot going on right there, ramifications already. arwa damon reporting live from inside iraq. thank you very much. as for isis, the group arwa was talking about, the al qaeda-inspired group, continues to advance. iraqi politics on the front burner in washington. house speaker john boehner really slamming the president for what he calls "taking a nap" on ir

beginning of the year, the militants have held large parts of anbar province and large parts of neighboring syria. their aim is to establish strict islamist law in iraq and syria. and they're getting closer every day. on their advance toward baghdad, they have taken part of kirkuk province, the will producing center, and the city of tikrit. iraq's foreign minister spoke of a potential alliance with kurdish fighters to drive them out of mosul. >> there will be a closer cooperation between baghdad and the kurdistan government to work together to try to flush out these foreign fighters, or elements that have disturbed the safety, the well-being of the population. >> iraq's shia prime minister nouri al-maliki has appealed to the leaders of the divided groups to unite against the islamists. but two years after the withdrawal of u.s. troops, the successors of al qaeda in iraq are stronger than ever before. >> let's bring in live vladimir von totenberg, an analyst with the jamestown foundation. he joins us north of mosul. it looks like the iraqi government there has just fled. what is the situation ther

claims parts of anbar province including the main cities they've been fighting for months in neighboring syria and now control two cities. we know they want to join syria and iraq to control those countries to have an islamic state. is that what we're looking at now? >> that is their goal. in the past three years, this goal has a chance to be achieved. before the syrian crisis started, groups like isil linked to al-qaeda was on the run, financial support drying up. they had a problem struggling to recruit new people. with the arab spring, there was no much expectation that they saw another way of change other than al-qaeda, which is popular revolution, but with the arab spring failing to bring real change, groups like isil have flourished. in syria specifically, the power vacuum, the fact that they became the most vigorous effective group in fighting the regime of bashar al assad gave them a lot of publicity. most of the foreign fighters flocked to syria joined the isil. a lot of the financial support from regional especially arab country that is came to groups in syria's fighting went to thes

the al qaeda-linked militants have strengthened their base in the civil war in neighboring syria. the group joined syria's anti-government forces and became significantly stronger. they recruited foreign fighters and secured arms and money from other countries. the militants have also been gaining more influence because of growing antagonism between iraq's shia muslims and sunnis. the sunnis have been unhappy with prime minister nuri al maliki's preferential treatment of the shia majority. sectarian divisions deepened after a political bloc led by maliki won parliamentary elections in april. analysts say the militants have played on sunni dissatisfaction and managed to gain ground in sunni-populated areas. u.s. president barack obama has suggested he needs several days to figure out how to respond to the iraqi insurgency. he ruled out sending ground troops. >> we will not be sending u.s. troops back into combat in iraq, but i have asked my national security team to prepare a range of other options that could help support iraq security forces. >> reporter: the pentagon has ordered

they also control parts of neighboring syria. they have taken some big cities in iraq with them, including mosul, tikrit, ramadi, and fallujah so far. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel who lived in iraq and covered the war for years, has our report. >> reporter: the iraqi government is losing control of large parts of northern and central iraq. some iraqi security forces are fighting, but most appear to be stripping off their uniforms, leaving them in the streets, and abandoning their posts, weapons and vehicles. they are retreating from islamic extremists, who today, consolidated control of iraq's second largest city mosil and advanced much further. thousands of civilians are fleeing the area, living in tents. the u.s. fought a nearly decade-long war, costing thousands of american lives and a trillion dollars for this not to happen. the radicals are from an al qaeda offshoot. many are the same insurgents u.s. troops battled for years. now they've allied with militants from syria, creating a single front. why is this

countries had strained relations in the past few years due to difference thes in the conflict in neighboring syriand we report from ankeror. >> reporter: leaders visited turkey over the years but this is the first time in almost two decades head of state was received at the presidential palace in ankura and both countries attached importance to rohani's visit to turkey capitol and they may be unlikely partners but iran and turkey are putting aside political differences on syria and focuses on what brings them together, business and trade. >> translator: the iranian president came here with many ministers and a powerful business delegation and i believe it opens a new era in economic relations. >> reporter: there was no mention of a new era in political ties. this growing cooperation does not signal that both countries are any closer on syria. there are deep divisions over that conflict with both countries supporting rival sites. iran is a strategic ally of the syrian government and turkey has been one of the fiercest critics and supporter of the opposition. it was clear iran has not changed its po

. >> neighboring syria state media reporting that a powerful truck bomb has exploded in a government-held village, killing at least 34 people. >> state tv showed what it said was the aftermath of the blast. >> police sy the truck was passed with three tons of explosives. >> moving on to business news. >> the french government says it favors general electric. the u.s. firm be a vital -- rival offer from siemens. >> it's looking like a pretty complex deal with the french government taking its own stake in the business and imposing sweeping conditions on everything from jobs to nuclear security. >> the siemens boss was optimistic early on friday after a meeting at the elysÉes palace. siemens and mitsubishi up there but again, but it was not to be. u.s. rival general electric will likely get the nod, but under one condition -- the french government wants to take a 20% stake in the company, which would make it the largest shareholder in the engineering giant. >> these measures are tough but necessary. >> france has done this before. companies like alstom are seen as part of the french identity

they are also been fighting for months in neighboring syria, where they control. from baghdad, iran sent this report. >> god is great, he chantz. this is an eyesore for the islamic state and the fighter claiming victory. one of the leaders now has his eyes on baghdad. >> march to baghdad, i where we with have is to settle an old score, once with and for all. a march towards kabul la, to get ready for that moment for the big fight. i.s.i.l. fighters have made unprecedented gains but the story is one of politics. prime minister wanted a state of emergency law passed. he didn't get that after members of the house didn't turn up for the extraordinary emergency session that had been scheduled. that's left him furious, and many in his party wondering what to do next. meanwhile, thousands still three. in other parts there's no iraqdy army present, instead kurdish fighters remain on the border checking cars. to open shops and go back to work. iraqi army have now allegationsllegations that they fled their positions. we want to see these locations are sovereign, and they ar

occupation of iraq and battle hardened by the war in neighboring syria isis thrived in the power vacuum left by the withdrawal of american troops the group's goal just what the name implies an islamic sunni caliphate stretching across the middle east isis already controlled large swaths of land in syria and iraq and barre province last week they moved on iraq's north. seemingly overnight isis captured the second largest city of mosul robbing banks of hundreds of millions of dollars releasing prisoners and imposing their harsh version of islamic sharia law more than half a million residents were forced to flee. we were afraid of isis and its camp because they have no mercy there are people they killed they have no conscience that was just the start after mosul a lightning speed advance towards baghdad with cities and towns falling to isis along the way the iraqi army awash with fifteen billion dollars worth of u.s. military gear seemed powerless to stop the advance as iraqi soldiers fled their posts they left behind tanks humvees trucks and weapons paid for by the americans and now in th

and we go now to neighboring syria, where a new report on the growing death toll in that country's civil war. according to an activist group, 7,000 people have been killed in fighting among rival islamic groups, seeking to overthrow the government. most of the deaths are rebels, but the number also includes hundreds of civilians caught in the crossfire. the report is based on violence that erupted in northern syria in january. >>> benghazi suspect, ahmed abu khattala is now reportedly being held in a detention center near washington, d.c. he arrived in the u.s. yesterday and made his first appearance in federal court pleading not guilty to a charge of conspiracy. chief intelligence correspond ant, kathryn harris, was there at the hearing, joining us live now from washington. so kathryn, what are we learning now about his interrogation? >> i was less than 25 feet from the benghazi suspect in court. and while he appeared dazed as he first entered the courtroom, once he looked around and as soon as the judge spoke, he became laser-like on his focus, hanging on the judge's every word. he had

state spanning iraq syria lebanon palestine and jordan thriving during the ongoing civil war in neighboring syria getting access to money weapons and falling into the hands of the rebels there former pentagon analyst michael maloof says the fate of the region is at stake if terrorists gain a foothold in iraq. they can sweep through iraq they're going to go into jordan and you're going to have spinoffs. that would be created isis in iraq right now is just foreign fighters and what have you a lot of what are some old saddam hussein. groups certainly people who work for him who are all sudanese and and who joined on to isis there a lot of. a lot of elements a lot of islamic groups that are joining i says inside iraq of course. the prime minister who is shia is resisting any efforts to change his government to try to. make the bring in this bring in more sunni's into the into the government and make it more representative but it may be too little too late already more of the week's news to come including spain's cautious coronation as philippe the six those crowned protests across the country there a

in neighboring syria. has emerged on the horizon as. the city that used to be the major rebel stronghold . coming up here on r.g.p. we need to. residents of the city of homs were struggling to rebuild their lives in a city almost wiped off the map. and the u.p.a. government plans to start teaching british values in schools after several of them were said to help promote it and extreme islamist agenda will look into how much of that is. more than two hundred people have been killed since the start of ukraine's military operation in the east that's according to the country's health minister and while the newly elected president petro poroshenko has given orders for humanitarian corridors to be set up russia's foreign minister says the moscow has been denied the chance of providing humanitarian aid our residents are in eastern ukraine are claiming their city has been devastated by a tillery fire for the third night in a row. he drawled. a bit equality i would say. that in our. new money probably over the but. if in your program. the city h

islamic state spanning iraq syria lebanon palestine and jordan it thrives during in going war in neighboring syria gaining access to money and weapons falling into the hands of the rebels their form of panic on analyst michael maloof says the fate of the whole region is at stake if terrorists gain a foothold in iraq. they can sweep through iraq they're going to go into jordan and they're going to have spin offs. that would be created isis in iraq right now is just foreign fighters and what have you a lot of are some old saddam hussein. groups certainly people who work for him who are all sudanese and and who joined on to isis there a lot of a. lot of elements a lot of islamic groups that are joining i says inside iraq of course. the prime minister who is shia is resisting any efforts to change his government to try to. make the bring in this bring in more sunni's into the into the government and make it more representative but it may be too little too late already. more of the will be used to calm including spain's cautious carnation as philippe to say that it's crowning protests across spain show

this is not about the civil war in iraq or a neighboring syria. those are certainly involved in a really the foundation of this. the reality is you've got terrorists who are much greater in numbers going to the number of foreign fighters perhaps even at 10,000 between syria and iraq. this could be a real threat to the united states. the american public may not want to get involved again but the president has to outline the fact it's a core belief of his that he cannot allow a failed state to emerge while saying politics is at the root of it. he's not going to help unless the iraqis demonstrate they will help themselves. there will be a debate about that. >> david, i saw at least one news organization fond of branding isis as the group too extreme for al qaeda. what about al qaeda in all of this? >> well, this is really a fight for what al qaeda is going to be, post osama bin laden in the middle east. you're right, there is branded an organization that's too extreme for al qaeda. that tells you how awful it is. i spoke to one source who said this i

at the same time they are eyeing a military aid package for rebels fighting the government in neighboring syria. and us president barack obama has urged congress to approve five hundred billion dollars to be sent on training and equipping syrian opposition fighters if this funding is approved it would mark the first direct u.s. involvement in the syrian conflict let's now take a closer look at how washington's role has developed now just over a year ago washington gave the green light to non-lethal support for the so-called moderate rebels but later that ended up in the hands of jihad ists and america was forced to suspend the aid however earlier this month america admitted it has been covertly sending weapons to opposition fighters and time war campaigner brian becker thinks that the u.s. is failing to learn from its past mistakes the united states appears they have a schizo front foreign policy there they're saying they demand unity in iraq behind the central government which is fighting what they call islamic extremists from i so where is this and at the same time they're funding these same

stability and ongoing violence and sectarian division and resentment for years to come meanwhile in neighboring syria is forced to flee the city that used to be a major rebel stronghold strongly returning home and coming up here on our t.v. we are residents of the city of homs way we're struggling been struggling to rebuild their lives and the city almost wiped off the map. more than two hundred people have been killed since the start of the queen's military operation in the east that's according to the country's health minister and while the newly elected president petro poroshenko has given orders for humanitarian corridors to be set up russia's foreign minister says moscow has been denied the chance of providing humanitarian aid residents of slovyansk in eastern ukraine are claiming their cities minced devastated by the re fire for the third night in a row. he drawled. because of all the mcluhan media. need to call it to make sure. there are. many modern probably over the bank a good thing here for them good. the city has been besieged by pro-government forces for weeks and locals are suffering fr

defeat of baghdad's battle against isis which has tried to seize territory both in iraq and neighboring syria with some success earlier this year the group captured another iraqi city in the west of the country and government forces have been unable to take it back after months of fighting mosul is a lot larger city of course making it a significant to search egypt prize the city and its surrounding province are a major export route for iraqi oil and offer a gateway to syria for more i was joined earlier by retired u.s. marine brigadier general david reste he's vice president of the strat strategy and planning division of the potomac institute i first asked him what happened with the iraqi forces there. i think what we're seeing right now is a sniff and of the congress discovering one aspect of the iraqi forces i wouldn't the i wouldn't state that that's all iraqi forces. it's part of it and that small part is disconcerting to say that say the least we would like to see them up obviously operate in a higher fashion they don't have to be as good as our forces in the us but they have to be good

in neighboring syria though a rare glimpse of hope has emerged on the horizon as a force to flee the city that he used to be of the major rebel stronghold a us lonely returning home coming up our team is residents of the city of homs was struggling to rebuild their lives in a city almost wiped off the map. more than two hundred people have been killed since the start of the ukraine's military operation in the east that's according to the country's health minister and while the newly elected president petro poroshenko has given orders for humanitarian corridors to be set up russia's foreign minister says moscow has been denied the chance of providing humanitarian aid residents are in eastern ukraine are claiming their cities have been devastated by a tillery fire for the third night in a row he told. the mcclure media. decolletage which was sitting around. me anymore you probably hear from the current think you've been here but i'm going to. the city has been besieged by pro-government forces for weeks and locals are suffering from water and power outages and while the military operat

. >> what implications are for jordan as well as for neighboring syria and iran? >> this is a very complicated situation. jordan is in a tough spot. not only do you now have the jihadists threatening their border, but jordan has absorbed a lot of the refugees from syria. instability in jordan would threaten the home and the lease, including israel. iran is playing its cards pretty close. i will be curious to see what their game is. they are very close to the current iraqi government. more than anyone, they don't want iraq to fall. >> jim phillips, is there any indication that there is a response, a reaction from government around the region such as lebanon? they have rounded up some sunni militants recently. what can we expect in the future? >> isis and other islamist militants have spilled over the border, not only to launch attacks in lebanon, but back in 2006, they launched attacks in jordan. they have also had attacks in turkey. all of the neighbors of this emerging isis in syria and iraq are very nervous about what is going on. at this point, isis has a borde

of course, in neighboring syria, eric, the u.s. is supporting the sunni rebels against the assad-backed iranian and russian government there. it is a really strange bedfellows of people in the middle east right now. but the u.s. basically working alongside russia and iran trying to keep up this maliki government. the question is will maliki, the prime minister, eric, still be in power at the end of this week? we'll find out on tuesday when iraq's parliament meets to pick a new prime minister. >> all right, conor. and isis, of course, still pressing its advance. thanks so much. arthel? >>> benghazi suspect khattala is now being held at a detention center after making his first appearance in u.s. court yesterday. khattala pleaded not guilty to a charge of conspiracy to provide support to terrorists. this after u.s. agents interrogated him on the navy ship that brought him here from libya. but lawmakers are hoping his trial will provide further insight into the events of september 11th, 2012. >> he was not pushing back, but he was lik

give you just joined us money kevin zero in our top story than tonight iraq's getting help from neighboring syria now which is carrying out airstrikes against the sunni jihadists terrorizing the nation the insurgents have already seize several iraqi air bases all oil and gas fields conducting indiscriminate bombing attacks along the way that you had this bloody advance has already left more than a thousand people dead mainly civilians according to the u.n. the most recent casualties reported a fifteen killed in attacks on baghdad and six others in the contested city of kirkuk. catherine off reports from next the details so far murky but what we've heard. from officials is that one man a suicide bomber was seen on the street wearing an explosive device a vest he was actually aiming for the building down there it's a kurdish political party office apparently authorities had seen him they tried to intercept him and that is when he detonated his device now if you look around chaos this is rush hour a lot of people in the streets. the car here completely destroyed this building also you can see there'

spawning iraq syria lebanon palestine and jordan isis has thrived during the ongoing war in neighboring syria after getting access. money and arms flowing into the hands of the rebels there. after growing into a huge force the group is marching on the very heart of iraq let's take a look at earlier this month the militants captured mosul thought was a key victory but isis continued to press sites along the main highway towards baghdad earlier today at least forty four people were killed in clashes between the army and insurgents just sixty kilometers from the capital in baquba political analyst edmund ghareeb sees that the ploy meant of u.s. troops there means america is determined to prevent the government from falling i think part of this is also. to protect u.s. facilities that you see but also to send a clear signal the united states could play a role in helping the iraqi government but the kind of help that we have been hearing about there is a little bit different this would be for you us unilaterally uses or they are forced to attack the forces of islamic state in syria and iraq also u

that includes neighboring syria. at this point as one official put it, they're not restricting action to just inside iraq. erin? >> thank you very much, jim acosta. obviously that is an additional very significant headline, that you're now not just talking about iraq but you're talking about another country, syria. joining me now retired u.s. army general mcgregor. and cnn military analyst retired army general jim spidermarks. this has become one of these -- i'm going to say it every single time to make sure people hear me, we're not returning to combat in iraq. they keep talking about no combat, no boots on the ground. when you hear about 300 american military personnel, it sounds like boots on the ground. what's the difference? >> well, it's a distinction without a difference. what you have with the special -- these are probably special forces advisers that are appropriately manned to get to different levels, different eshleens within the isf, the iraqi security forces to provide additional and primary function of

spanning iraq syria lebanon palestine and jordan isis has thrived in june the ongoing war in neighboring syria after gaining access to money and arms foreign flowing into the hands of the rebels they're not awful growing into a huge force the group is a moderating on the very heart of iraq let's take a look and now earlier this month the militants captured mosul now that was a key victory for them but ice is continued to press south along the main highways towards baghdad earlier today at least forty four people were killed just sixty kilometers from the capital in baquba and a car blasts in baghdad killed twelve others international relations expert dr oz hassan says iraq could be heading for a much wider sectarian war. you need to recognize that it's not just ice it licenses it's the whole say coat. is the extremists in it in iraq you've also got eighty of the sunni arab troll i made up of the military council of tribes of iraq is a much wider variety of actors whose interests of all annoying together and they are now working with with ice to an extremist whereas because previously they actu

blamed on the current government not those who divided and conquered the country or the chaos in neighboring syria but here's what a us congress antiterrorism adviser told us. see that has been a critic by many here in washington to the obama administration and twenty eleven we have told make sure that there would be a coalition of moderates among shia sunni kurds christians others across the country with a national unity cabinet before you withdraw and when he wanted to withdraw because of political commitment to the withdrawal on time what happened is that an iranian influence came and their reaction to it and then a car influence came and at this point in time we have a sectarian fight in iraq and that's the most difficult thing to fold unfortunately look at syria for example but bush era officials are more extreme in their assumptions. i think. they. probably fall within the area of war current private american security contractor blackwater notorious for shooting dead more than a dozen iraqis seven years ago may actually be held accountable for their actions in the country four guards from th

before it would do its forces back in two thousand and eleven in large part thanks to the war in neighboring syria and the lack of control by the government the group has really been magically over the past few years they operate quite freely in syria and parts of iraq in fact they've seized the anbar province earlier this year where they still remain in control and this is such a radical one we've got going we mean al qaeda branch has tried to distance itself from it and cut ties with it for basically seeking an islamic state with its own version of very harsh no real law that dates back to the seventh century and it's a very very scary thing that these guys actually been able to take such strong control over parts of iraq today and speaking of strong control over what's happening there i mean iraq has had an election recently how stable is the country put it into right now and how much control does the government really have with all these militants sort of running around ruining the place where i think the events in what we saw was you know overnight essentially really speak for themselves i me

. >> also, what implications are therefore jordan as well as for neighboring syria and iran? well, this is a very competent at situation. jordan is in a tough spot. not only do now have the jihadist's threatening their border, but jordan has absorbed a lot of the refugees from syria from the war there. instability in jordan would threaten the whole middle east, including israel. cards prettyng its close. i would be curious what their game is. they are very close to the current iraqi government, and they more than anyone do not want iraq to fall. >> is there any indication that there is a response, a reaction from governments around the region such as lebanon? they recently rounded up some sunni militants. what can we expect in the future? >> isis and other islamist militants have spilled over the border, not only to launch inacks in lebanon, but back 2006, they launched attacks in amman, jordan. they have also had attacks in turkey. all of the neighbors of this -- at this point they have a border with saudi arabia. hopefully, part of secretary of state carries diplomacy, in a