of course. >> jean-charles, let me go back to nick paton walsh. you're learning more information about the strikes? >> reporter: according to the french defense ministry, a recruitment center and ammunition storage base were amongst the first target and the second target was a training camp. all were destroyed they say. 12 aircraft were used, 10 of which were involved in the bombing. i would imagine the other two were involved perhaps fuel resupply and total of 20 bombs were dropped. accurate information from the french side about what they expected to have been hit here. we'll have to work out what the reaction has been on the ground in raqqa, how they choose to exploit or report this attack. but it is interesting to see that level of munitions dropped by the french who have been a participant in coalition air strikes but not of course the main driving force. is this part of a broader french strategy? i doubt that, that's going to take a large amount of planning to implement. it's like a visceral understandable reaction. but are we also going to

we have our senior international correspondent nick paton walsh live by phone. u have been inside sinjar to see for yourself. >> reporter: remarkable devastation. let me explain how we got there. earlier today, large numbers of peshmerga arrived to make the move to the west as well. hundreds of them on foot moving in toward the city center. they moved in on isis positions and also at one point, this city has been riddled with explosive devices by isis. everywhere you look, there is some suggestion you could be near a mine of some sort. that has slowed the process of peshmerga. they do now appear to be closer toward the city center as there is minimal gun fire at this stage. i heard one loud sustained burst. i don't know if it is celebratory or if isis is fighting back. they are still inside the city. i heard from an official and fighting is all around. a volunteer i spoke to called jason talks about how they were treating the patients. the key question is how can you get people back who live there? you have to clear the mines and rebuild the city. this is a yazid

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our senior don't nick paton walsh is embedded with the forces outside of sinjar. nick, be careful. set the scene for us right now. >> reporter: john, you joined me an hour after we returned from inside the city. in a distance behind me, a key develop. me ment development. now you see the grain silo. some kurdish flags flying near bit. a vital change. we saw that happen and it started earlier today with kurdish peshmerga walking in large numbers converging to the center. we heard heavy clashes. remember the scenes in kobani where isis tried to hold a similar town. that went on for months. here, intense fighting for a short period. the peshmerga began to move eastward across into isis held territory. that town is now silent. when we were inside the scale of the challenge ahead was evident. there could be pockets of isis fighters inside, but the town is littered with booby traps. you get a warning of what could or could not be a device left behind by isis. the infrastructure of the town lay in waste to rubble. massive devastation to the buildings all around. the key now is the level o

our correspondent nick paton walsh is with the peshmerga forces outside sinjar. he joins us live. 7,500 militia troops moving. this is a major operation, nick. >> reporter: and they appear to be attacking sinjar from three areas. one from the north near sinjar mountain where you saw the terrifying pictures of people fleeing for their lives in brutality of isis. today, we understand the offensive started at 9:00 last night. intensification of coalition air strikes. we saw it throughout the sky in the dark. from where we are, toward the west of the city itself, we are seeing intense fighting around. you cannot see it in the distance behind me, but this is the chief objective. that is the many highway that runs through sinjar. it goes through mosul in iraq to raqqah in syria and the caliphate and self declared capital. the hope is from pentagon officials, you sever this road and you prevent isis from trading oil from outside world or resupplying people inside mosul. we heard intense explosions in the past 20 minutes or so. it is seemingly from further away from behin

our cnn correspondent nick paton walsh is live. nick, this is a major offensive of the thousands of forces. give us the latest. >> reporter: they say it began last night at 9:00 in the evening local time. we heard the intensity throughout the night. lighting up the sky of coalition air strikes. that has continued during the day. the skyline behind me and i cannot give you the exact location has been lit up with black smoke and gray smoke from the strikes. this column of peshmerga troops are moving further down toward in the distance to what you barely see is the main road at the heart of the offensive. there is a symbolic victory that they want to take sinjar from isis. the yizidis fled to the mountains. and sinjar is vitally important. it runs route 47. that as you said is the artery between mosul and iraq and syria. they can cut that off, but that could significantly damage, even the pentagon admits it could harm the oil trade. now here further away from me, there is heavy fighting. we heard small arms, mortars and clearly isis do

matthew chance and nick paton walsh and the opposing perspectives unfoemding this hour. in with nick in the turkish city of istanbul. hi, nick. >> reporter: their view of what happened was, as you said, a russian jet flew inside their air space. if you look at the map they delivered, it's a small enclave of air space that have cross ed potentially more than once and during the five-minute period they gave it ten warnings and then a turkish f-16 shot the plane out of the sky. that appears to be the turkish military position here. that's what's echoed by vladimir putin, who in fact insists that that jet was inside syrian territory. the turkish are furious because they have had a number of instances over the past years and have responded at times to syrian military aircraft in a similar vain. the key issue is the fate of the pilots. it doesn't sound good according to social immediamedia videos a reports from the ground that when they parachuted out, they may not have landed into safety. there's also activists suggesting potentially the fate of one of the russian helicopters

nick paton walsh is close to the action.ng his exact location. >> anderson, intense air strikes over raqqah a nightly occurrence. we're hearing from activists inside that city, caliphates, self-declared capitol they heard a number of blasts and two targets have been hit, fuel truck and brick factory. they say they have first time it seems since the uptick in air strikes against raqqah being seven civilian casualties in that one blast and eight injured, as well. we can't verify that independently but these have been reliable in the past. we don't know who is behind what blast when. the coalition, russians and syrian regime are in action over the skies there, too, but raqqah bearing the blunt of intense bombardment. the question how did these targets get chosen? the u.s. says sometimes it requires vetting, sometimes these targets pop unop one day t civilians not allowed to leave, many by isis are clearly at risk here as this bombardment intensifies and here inside syria the question continues to echo and amplify what about som

we just heard from nick paton walsh that the first civilian casualties came in last night. a lot of civilians were killed. does that hurt our cause there? >> you know, it does. i think the people in washington now, the administration are casualty adverse. but you can't operate in a sterile environment. you have to take adequate precautions and take the most precautions you can. i think we're going to see an increase in civilian casualties as the russians and french are involved. i think i heard indications today from the secretary of defense that we're going to be relooking at the rules of engagement. i think we will see increased sorties going in. that is a by-product of what we're doing. >> sadly civilian casualties are a part of it. the median unit says that they have suffered no casualties. do you believe them? >> not at all, don. clearly when you look at the volume of attacks that have taken place on the heels of the events in paris, there really has been a very strong effort and some real destruction that's taken place in terms of isis. and we've heard from intelligen

i want to get to our senior international correspondent nick paton walsh in erbil and major general james marx. viscerally, to use the word nick paton walsh has used on this program, what's next, is that all this will be when francois hollande said france is at war or is this first step? >> this is clearly the first step but political step that needs to be done. clearly it is a military activity but it sends a strong political message, all for internal -- this is very visceral, the types of targets they strike right now really are symbolic from the french perspective, something has to be done. as jim reported earlier, the united states is providing raw data so the french -- what that really means, they can do their own analysis, they have really good imagery and they can upload their precision missions and go after targets they want to hit because it's raw data. that's a key point. this is a significant first step but not sufficient. clearly not sufficient. >> nick paton walsh, what can you tell us about the targets? >> reporter: there is some degree of cohesion from what we're hearing fr

nick paton walsh is on the front lines for us on this battle. he joins me on the phone. nick, as we're talking about this area u of sinjar and hearing kurd you shaish forces retaken this stretch of highway, tell me what you're seeing. >> reporter: what we saw earlier on today and now moved away from sinjar was peshmerga moving into the west in huge numbers. they claim 7,500. you move to the west through the rocky mountain areas there down to the highway you're referring to, off to to the distance and a lot of coalition air power we saw to the west of sinjar. must have been targeted to try to push back towards the city and keep peshmerga away. they moved further toward the east as towards sinjar city itself. thousands of them, but they were met by substantial numbers of car bombs that were seized in their direction. but at the same time, those p h peshmerga were able to at times stop some of those car bombs from coming near them because they have a missile system which actually fired at those cars blowing them up in their tracks. a lot of resistance still in evidence in th

our senior international correspondent nick paton walsh is on the ground for us in iraq. he's very near to this whole sinjar area, closely following what's going upon nick, describe what you have seen because i understand it is very dramatic. >> from the early hours this morning, wolf, we saw an enormous column of peshmerga we followed around towards the west of the city. that's key because it seems that's where much of the advance today were made by them. their main objective, the peshmerga want to retake sinjar, want to reverse what happened to the yazidi population that happened last year when isis moved in. the main route goes from mosul in iraq where isis have a key city to raqqah in syria which is the company apital of their self-declared caliphate. it seems today they now have the road. we left them there, with a series of bull dotzers digging in huge trenches, putting in a number of ramp, the aim being, cut it off permanently, prevent isis from moving. an extraordinarily paerilous da because they faced a lot of resistance from isis. they sent a number of car bombs

we go nick paton walsh, and you were there, and the kurds were moving quickly and got the u.s. air strike assistance, and so where does it go from here? >> the question is, i think, is this a new momentum on behalf of the peshmerga working in coordination with other group, but the remarkable as e set of the coalition air power and so persistent and effective over the last two days, to ush her in the extraordinarily quick victory for the peshmerga. is this new momentum doing to point them into the west of sinjar, raqqah, the capital of the self-declared caliphate or off to the east, and mosul is the next target, and that the peshmerga leader announced the liberation of sinjar, he said that they would assist in the operation against mosul, and it is vital, because it is sitting from buy yee ji, baiji to baghdad. the picture we got today is not june ver s-- the picture we got today is not universal, and the building everywhere is damaged, and everywhere you look, roadside bombs and booby traps, and some bombs hiding in barrel, and there was a fear that some isis had been disguisin

and our nick paton walsh is right in the middle of it all. >> reporter: since 9:00 yesterday evening local time, they have been moving towards the town of sinjar. we ourselves from the top of mt. sinjar heard the constant coalition air strikes. evidence now still today around us as they claim substantial process. the kurds say to the west of sinjar, they have taken a village called ar carbara which many say is on the route here. vitally important because many want to see it back in the yazi there, pushed out into captivity. it sat, that town, sinjar, on a vital artery, a vital road between the self-declared caliphate capital ar raqqar, syria. many, including the coion, central command actually, pentagon officials, believe if they sever that artery, they can severely hamper isis' ability to make money out of the black market oil trade. now, that may be why we're hearing so much coalition air power in the skies. a succession of heavy blasts. that road itself is in the distance here. i can't tell you precisely where we are, as part of being with their peshmerga forces. but those peshmer

nick paton walsh from just outside of sin yar. >> -- sinjar there. and great job. and president obama today called isis detained, but not decapitated. >> from the start, our goal is to contain them. we have contained them. they have not gained ground in ir iraq, and in syria, they will come in and leave, but you don't see the systemic march by isil across the terrain. what we have not seen is to comple completely decapitate their command and control structures. >> let me get michael weiss in here, and also retired three-star general mark hertling and paul cruikshank our terrorist analyst, and michael, begin with you, and people around the world, jihadi john was the face of isis, and killing him is one man, but there has to be a lot of value to the psychological warfare that the coalition just inflicted. >> yeah. mohammed emwazi had been repurchased, because he had idiomatic english, and so it was terrifying to have someone speaking in our own language to say this is what would befall any infidel who waged war against the isis, and he is blamed for the beheading of

our senior international reporter nick paton walsh has just returned from the front lines of syria. nick is joining us live. tell us what you saw and the situation on the ground. >> well, from where we were about 20 miles a wai way from t main city oraqqah which isis is declaring the capital of the caliphate, it is clear that there are a small number of kurdish fighters. and we have heard a large number of explosions report, and still in raqqah, they were saying four missile missiles in total hitting the western part of raqqa, and claim they were russian but yet it is hard to tell how you would define that and go on to tell that isis fired four missiles of their own, and homemade missiles to what is referred to on the front lines as katyushas. and you will hear more of the front line report, wolf. >> and have you heard of any turkish or other air strikes in and around raqqah? >> without a doubt. certainly, there have been no question the last four days, there have been a significant uptick in the number of air strike, and that is visible from the front lines, and everybody that we s

so and what we can do with the borders to the west to take what isis has there. >> okay. >> nick paton walshh. more in a moment. i'm there for bessie. i'm there for ray. ted loved baseball. dr. phil likes to watch football. renne, who wants sloppy joe on the menu every day. rosie's my best friend. evelyn likes to dance. harriett wants her fried shrimp as well. alice anne likes vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup and rainbow sprinkles. they give me so much back. i can't even imagine how i could possibly give them what they give me. i was on the bus and i couldn't stop streaming. i don't even want to think about the overages. it's okay. t-mobile now has binge on, so you can stream all the movies, tv and sports you want without using your data. it's like...free. so it's okay that i binged an entire season during my kid's piano recital? i've done that. yeah. i'm binging right now. you know, i think we've made a real breakthrough here today. what? aw, he dies in this episode. introducing binge on. with t-mobile, stream video free without using data from netflix, hbonow, hulu and many more. i s

now our senior international correspondent nick paton walsh is with the peshmerga forces. he latest on the bombing from erbil. >> reporter: it is difficult to find out what was hit inside syria. one of our sources risked his life to tell us what he knows. the first report was known as the clinical hospital and other stadiums. those are names given to building s taken over by isis. and close to a source, these are headquarters and jails used by isis. you have to look at this targeting with a degree of skepticism because it has happened so fast and hot on the heels of what happened in paris. clearly these targets may have been known for the united states for some time. they had jets over the skies of raqqah for so long now. for french air force to bomb may be too much of an opportunity to be entirely credible. this provides the french public and francois hollande the viceral reaction. we have no idea what effect this has, but it gives a clear message that france's military is so much more in the game than it has been before. other key questions are, of course, is this the beg

and also with us is international correspondent nick paton walsh innist tan ball. let me begin with you. tell me more about the russians apparently being killed. do we know how and when? >> it's important to point out this isn't from turkish fire. the turkish say they used it to shoot it down when it went into air space and warned. we see video of the two pilots then ejecting from the aircraft. seemingly alive as far as we can tell at that point. then they are subjected to heavy fire from the ground. presumably from rebels in that area who may have been on the receiving end of the russian bombing as well before the plane was hit. now one of those two was killed by that fire before he hit the ground. then a rescue mission was launched by the russians. they have got the capability to do that in the area. two helicopters swooped in. and one of the helicopters was hit. it seemed also by fire from those same rebels and that fire caused one marine on the helicopter to die and one helicopter to have to make an emergency landing. a chain of events begun shooting the russian

i want to go to our senior international correspondent nick paton walsh. he's right near the front lines of this fight to retake sinjar. nick, tell us what you've been seeing where you are. >> reporter: concerted push from 9:00 yesterday, wolf, in the evening. beginning really in the early hours of the morning. we were with the peshmerga, large numbers of them backed by u.s. planes in the air as they moved around to the west of the city aiming themselves at that key supply route. here's what we saw. the sun broke bringing with it a vast trail of peshmerga pushing for a new dawn of their own against isis. crawling around the back of mt. sinjar. their advance long expected and aimed here at sinjar's western flank. isis beaten back by dozens of coalition air strikes, barely a local vehicle left standing. they've asked for new weapons, but used what they had facing traps all around. their mortars and continued air strikes had one key target, the highway that runs through sinjar. in just afternoon they took it, starving isis' east of supplies from syria. isis ar

i want to begin with nick paton walsh, who is joining us this morning from erbil, iraq. what's the latest on the new threat from isis? >> well, it is very much r relevant to the usual language, goading on the enemies but referencing the attacks in paris, saying they wish to make a similar assault in washington, the u.s. capital. >> translator: we say to the countries that participate in the crusader campaign, i swear to god, a similar day that france went through, you will go through. i swear to god as we struck france and its stronghold paris, we will strike america and its stronghold, washington. with god's will. >> now, they have consistently made similar threats. this carries all the logos, the hallmarks of the usual isis propaganda. it's the timing, anderson, this renewed threat that's important. in the hours since the attacks, they have worked hard to get these people on camera, to put this together, to make it clear that they are actually wanting this fight. that's always been the isis message. apocalyptic beckoning on the end of days, despite the coalition air po

cnn's nick paton walsh is in irbil and joins us with the deployment of the french aircraft carrier. nick, tell us about the impact of the french air strikes on isis targets have on the terrorist group. >> reporter: hala, it is the second night in a row the french war planes have been hitting the caliphate of raqqah. we don't know what they hit. we know at 10:00 local time, the first explosion hit. that is reliable information. they have been insisting of the seven air strikes of last night and 24 they counted the night before last, no civilians have been killed. the targets which appear to be about the night before last around the outskirts and city center and stadium and museum, headquarters and jail, last night, the seven that went in appear to be to the south of the city. we await to hear more information about precisely what they were trying to hit. other air strikes as well. there are the potential particularly given the events in moscow for three or four air forces to be involved. coalition, u.s., french, maybe the russians and syrian regime. that is a separate debate. the fren

our correspondent nick paton walsh is joining us from irbil in iraq, and also analyst bobby ghosh. ck, you wrote an article, and important article about this, and tell us why it is so come pla -- complicated in the region where you are? >> after the massacre in paris, there is a conversation of what can the west do? is send in ground troops, and that i have attacked us, and send in the military and finish them off as a organization. that is a problem, because it is a region that remembers the disaster of the iraq war, and the inability of the military invasion to administer that country, because colin powell says once you break it, you own it. they were looking for the obvious ally on the ground and no real one is emerging. you can't a ally with the syrian regime, because they have allies like hezbollah who the u.s. considers to be a terrorist organization. so do you look at the sunni rebellion against bashar al assad? well, the majority might, but it has al qaeda as one of the key groups. the whole group called the army of victory, and that is doing a lot of the amateur regime in t

cnn international correspondent nick paton walsh has been taking paul as close as you can get to isis' headquarters in raqqah, syria. these pictures are extremely difficult and very dangerous to obtain. he was able to join up with some kurdish fighters who have a defensive line in place just in case a ground invasion breaks out, and it is moment by moment. all of this as france and russia have been stepping up the air strikes after the paris attacks. and the russian bombings as well have been helping out. look at these pictures now. that is cyrillic, and they are messages on the missiles ready to be fired on the targets in raqqah. and if you can't read cyrillic, one says "for our people" and on a second, a russian pilots writes "for paris." wi we are working in a difficult place for this are report and others from nick paton walsh, and we will wait until he is a able to report safely. and until then, we will join in colonel hertling. and now, it is so difficult for nick and the crew to film, because it is right across from raqqah. and now, isn't this what the kurds are waiting for, a

nick paton walsh, appreciate it.et's bring in bob bear, former cia officer and national security analyst and retired air force analyst rick francona. these air strikes, are they enough, do you believe? >> anderson, i think they prove to be useless. we have been bombing groups for 14 years and the move thes are expanding. yes, we have them on the run in northern iraq and the rest of it but at the end of the day, these move thments don't care and you can't behead with bomb strikes and drone strikes. this is a ban dade on a gaping wound and at the end of the day, it's not going to get us anything. i don't see why it would work now and i don't think the french will have any butter luck than we've had. >> and yet, obviously, colonel franco francona, the concern about large forces or increase of u.s. forces on the ground which is to president obama's point that it makes the u.s. more the focus of isis attacks and perhaps alienates more people on the ground. >> well, that said and i'll go along with who bob said. these atta

nick paton walsh is joining us now. he is inside, and i dont n't kn if you heard what the prosecutor has said, but you have done a lot of work reporting on the ringleader abaaoud abdelhamid, and the suspicion was that he was in syria some place with the leader of isis apparently a abubakar baghdadi, and give us with what information you can. >> well, the information this you can pick up inside of syria about the whereabouts of abaaoud abdelhamid, and i can tell you what was known about his past here. he was stopped back in 2014 thought to have at that stage joined isis, and may have traveled to the region earlier, and a number of notable appearances of him in the jihadist media here, and one troubling one that involved him dragging corpses behind a pickup truck. he is expect ted to have lived according to some media reports at a lavish village in aleppo, and also developed an alternate identity here inside of syria of abu u mar al baliki, and then there were reports that he may have been killed in october, because his f

nick paton walsh, thank you so much. >>> coming up, should people on terror watch lists here in the u.sbe allowed to buy guns? that question is splitting the gop front-runners right now. >>> plus, see this man on the ground punched and kicked. trump says maybe he should have been roughed up. ♪ everything kids touch during cold and flu season sticks with them. make sure the germs they bring home don't stick around. use clorox disinfecting products. because no one kills germs better than clorox. if you're on medicare, remember, the open enrollment period is here. the time to choose your medicare coverage begins october 15th and ends december 7th. so call to enroll in a plan that could give you the benefits and stability you're looking for, an aarp medicarecomplete plan insured through unitedhealthcare. what makes it complete? it can combine medicare parts a and b, which is your hospital and doctor coverage with part d prescription drug coverage, and more, all in one simple plan for a low monthly premium or in some areas, no plan premium at all. an aarp medicarecomplete plan offers you ben

nick paton walsh is joining us now. he's inside syria. from your vantage point, you're on the scene there, what are you seeing? >> well, has clearly been a substantial uptick as you mentioned over raqqah and that persists until tonight. in the last hours, activists in raqqah again reporting air strikes in their city as there were during the day. we don't know the total numbers at this stage. we know last night was the first time they said an attack on a fuel truck, seven people were killed. different people are actually saying that was in fact six. that is the first civilian casualties we're hearing. at the same time, we don't know who's bombing what. we know the russianings have said they will go after fuel trucks in that area. also been targets of the coalition and the french. who is behind those civilian casualties unclear. eyewitnesses even tens of kilometers away from raqqah reporting the sound, the rumbling, incessant rumbling, 20 thuds, lengthy deep booms, heard about 3:00 this afternoon. eyewitnesses we spoke to said. definitely r

back to you. >> nick paton walsh near the front lines of this battle that's going on as we speak. our viewers, you will remember this heart-wrenching scene from sinjar last year. this is when thousands of people that were living in and around the town, they ran for their lives as isis moved in. our correspondent ivan watson was aboard when the helicopters that went in and ended up flying out as many people they could fit on board. you see babies being handed on there. u.n. estimates 5,000 men and boys have been slaughtered by isis there and young girls and women sold into slavery. >> joining us now retired brigadier who returned from iraq yesterday. general, thank you for being with us. obviously, returning those people's homes to them is of serious importance. let's talk about the strategic value of sinjar. hopefully we can put up a map to show where it is. tell us why sinjar is important in the battle against isis, both in iraq and syria. >> as nick brought out, it really is a choke point between raqqa in syria and mosul to the east. the real objective for the iraqi security for

. >> nick paton walsh, thank you so much for that. good evening, gentlemen. rick, to you first. the french are launching air strike from their aircraft carrier, charles de gaulle in the mediterranean. what impact do you think that is going to have on the fight against isis? >> i think the fact that the french are willing to commit nor aircraft to the fight does have an impact because the french are actually dropping their bombs on their targets. their rules of engagement are much different than ours, much more different than ours. so when they approach raqqua, they're going to drop those weapons. they don't go through the cumbersome validation process that we're going through. so the french are having an effect. with their aircraft in theater and that french aircraft carrier, they're bringing almost 50 aircraft to the fight. if they're willing to use them on a daily basis, yes, they can have an effect. >> general hurtling, france, russia and the coalition all bombing syria and iraq. is there any indication that the structure is being degraded? >> it's a combination of a couple o

nick paton walsh, thank you. stay safe. let's bring in chief correspondent christiane amanpour. we have seen actions of the military variety. we have seen new action here. the motivation is just as important. there is regret and frustration going on. what is the dynamic now? >> they had to take action. if you listen to french officials talking about the wave of bombings in syria, they had to show they were serious immediately after the attack on the homeland. about 12 flights, the biggest attack that the french have taken part in. they are moving huge aircraft carrier, "charles de gaulle" into the gulf and saying more will come. they are saying that while we do this, we also have to have as we have seen the highly specialized police and security force, raids, 150 around this country alone, plus they are saying this isis threat will not be eliminated without a ground force. they are saying the russians and united states now need to get together with the joint strategy for syria. two strategies at least. russian, u.s. and any number of other strategies on the ground. there needs t

cnn's nick paton walsh is joining us from irbil in northern iraq, not very far away. nick, what can you tell us, how much damage is it estimated these french air strikes did? >> reporter: what we don't know at this stage the scale of the damage and actually we also don't really know precisely why the targets, the activists say on the ground were hit were chosen. now, activists from the group, raqqa slaughtered silently, who do a very difficult job getting information out from the isis stronghold, frankly talking to outsiders can get you killed, they say amongst the targets was a building in there known as the stadium. that is a key building for isis in there. many of these buildings no longer used, of course, for the title from the past but in the case of the stadium used as partially a jail, a headquarters. another building known as the museum, that is also used as a secret jail for isis activists. isis, themselves, say what you hit, there was nobody in there at all, but raqqa still suggesting they have for some time been preparing for the likelihood of air strikes, f

senior cnn international correspondent nick paton walsh did this phenomenal reporting. me now from irbil in iraq. nick, how close were you able to get? >> reporter: well, the kurdish fighters, the ypg talked about by your guest earlier on are within 20 miles of the outskirts of raqqah now. between the trenches they've dug lengthy earth berms, lightly defended. not many of their people there with light weapons. there's a huge stretch of open terrain often with a lot of isis outposts in it. now, obviously isis have held back from moving towards them by air strikes. there were in fact four just on monday after we left when isis got into clashes with those kurdish fighters. but they say very categorically we want to avenge paris. we consider this our duty for humanity fighting isis, not just about avenging the deaths of their friends at the hands of isis. and actually one of the commanders there say we welcome foreign troops, french, russian, american, anyone here to help us finish the job. a lot of determination. a lot of optimism, i think. but not much in the way of number

nick paton walsh, great to see you. you. >>> coming up for us, a brother of one of the paris attackers, he is still on the run. now investigators warn that he is dangerous and should not be approached by any stretch of the imagination. new details in the international manhunt to find him and anyone else that helped unleash terror in europe. oh no... (under his breath) hey man! hey peter. (unenthusiastic) oh... ha ha ha! joanne? is that you? it's me... you don't look a day over 70. am i right? jingle jingle. if you're peter pan, you stay young forever. it's what you do. if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. ♪ you make me feel so young... it's what you do. ♪ you make me feel ♪ so spring has sprung. when i was sidelined with blood clots in my lung,h. it was serious. fortunately, my doctor had a game plan. treatment with xarelto®. hey guys! hey, finally, somebody i can look up to... ...besides arnie. xarelto® is proven to treat and help reduce the risk of dvt and pe blood clots.

our senior international correspondent nick paton walsh is on the ground for us in the middle east with latest. what do we know about these strikes, nick? >> reporter: wolf, it's very hard to get accurate information out of raqqa because this is a place hermetically sealed by isis. we're simply talking to outsiders. let alone, trying to leave can get you killed. we're dependent so much on information, raqqa slaughtered, they heard 30 air strike, where the main target seemed to be, what they referred to as the stadium area, the political building, the clinical hospital. the names of these places don't necessarily relate to the jobs they do right now. it's more buildings that have been taken over by isis, used for different purposes which now appear to other activists to actually be most headquarters and jails of isis. questions you have to ask yourself, the french defense ministry saying they had 12 jets in the skies, 10 of which were doing the bombing and dropped 20 separate bombs. this is a substantial list of targets suddenly were available to them despite the fact the united states h

>> nick paton walsh there for us. great to hear from you. thank you so much. >>> we were talking about isis and talking about sending messages. isis sent a powerful and deadly message in a different way, killing dozens in beirut. cnn's clarissa ward is there as one of the suicide bombers who survived this attack makes a very big admission. >>> plus any moment now, ben carson will respond live to donald trump's 95-minute speech and piece of performance art. you're seeing it right there. in an cnn interview he compared carson to a child molester. we'll hear from donald trump says, and what donald trump says about isis . >> i know more about isis than the generals do, believe me. i would bomb the [ bleep ] out of them. >>> this morning people across iowa are rubbing their jaws. the jaws that dropped during the 95-minute donald trump speech last night that was unusual even by trump standards. a direct attack at ben carson that even involved a kind of visual reenactment. >> that john will re-enact for me. >> not me. >> it seemed like the gloves d

nick paton walsh has a live report. keep it here on cnn. nothing artificial.t real roasted turkey. carved thick. that's the right way to make a good turkey sandwich. the right way to eat it? is however you eat it. panera. food as it should be. [so i use quickbooks and run mye entire business from the cloud. i keep an eye on sales and expenses from anywhere. even down here in the dark i can still see we're having a great month. and celebrate accordingly. i run on quickbooks.that's how i own it. if ynow's the time to get your ducks in a row. to learn about medicare, and the options you have. you see, medicare doesn't cover everything - only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so if 65 is around the corner, think about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, they help cover some of what medicare doesn't pay. and could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. so don't wait. call to request your free decision guide. and gather

cnn senior international correspondent nick paton walsh is embedded with kurdish forces on the front lines. he joins us now live. nick, what are you seeing on the ground there? >> reporter: well, it has been a remarkably swift move by the peshmerga to take their city. it started yesterday we saw moving to the eastern and western flanks to cut that road off congressman was just talking about there. but today they moved in from the north straight into the city center. hundreds of them on foot. in fact meeting initially heavy resistance, a lot of automatic gunfire as they moved in there, but that slowly turned into it seemed isis melting away and leaving in their wake a remarkable number of traps, roadside bombs and in fact tunnels dug under some of the roads linked up to explosive devices. a fear that maybe isis fighters disguised themselves as peshmerga and go literally underground. in fact, we were there in peshmerga they said an isis sniper fired over their heads. the peshmerga fired back. they have two injuries in their ranks. still deeply volatile inside that city, but it's definit

>> nick paton walsh. thank you very much. jim sciutto staying with me. i want to bring former cia operative back into the conversation. bob this involving the reporting on one of the suspects who is now at large international manhunt for him. he had been detained by french police and released on the night of the attacks. this goes to the big question, bob, which is that the web that they are pursuing now not only were they not aware it was there, that these people were communicating in what everyone is calling the quote/unquote dark but that they don't yet know how deep it is. how many people are involved. how many more cells there may be whether there's communications between cells whether there was even formal coordination or command and control from syria. so, bob, where do they start now? a country that was under the highest of all possible alerts, had been attacked ten months ago, this has now happened again to this country. where does intelligence in france even start? >> well, erin, i think we've talked about this. the french are very, very good.

nick paton walsh is imbedded with troops on the ground in iraq and jonathan gilliam is me-w me, too. , you're on the ground. sinjar fell falser than anyone expected. why? >> reporter: it's not entirely clear whether isis didn't want to fight for it or whether they decided to let the numerous booby traps and land mines we've seen plant around that city by person -- peshmerga do its part. they were on foot in the hundreds moving in, that that proved too much for isis to resist. that could be possible. most people we spoke to suggest it was down to the air strikes. enormous air power being used by the coalition there. we saw it on the roads heading into the city yesterday, flattening anything isis could try and throw at them. also, too, missiles given to the peshmerga which seem able to take out car bombs isis throw at them before they get near them. some tactical advantages but also fortune of application. large numbers of peshmerga, significant coalition air power for which the coalition leader thanked the coalition today. but it's still inside sin yar we were there literally four hour

cnn senior international correspondent nick paton walsh is embedded with kurdish forces along the sinjar border. what are troops doing to assist in this fight? is it limited to air strikes? >> reporter: we are told that they are not down on the ground in the front line. and that pretty much tallies what we saw ourselves. didn't see mysterious u.s. presence within the normal peshmerga troops we saw. they seem to be out in the hills actually directing the air strikes as far as we can tell. today at about 9:00 -- sorry, yesterday night at about 9:00 now local time we saw the first moves in that lit up the sky frankly coalition air strikes, one after another. and then a large trail of peshmerga. we followed their moving around to the west of that city. they were trying to move in in very large numbers strike their way into the city center. but above all as you mentioned, jake, take that vital route 47 that runs straight through the heart of sinjar. yes, it's symbolically important that it's reclaimed from isis to kind of set back the damage done to that ethnic group the yazidis who they capt

nick paton walsh in istanbul, matthew chance. this is a huge escalation in the most volatile region of the world right now. what do we know at this hour after seeing that remarkable video of those rebels screaming? >> it does appear likely that the two pilots who ejected from that russian aircraft hit the ground dead. that's what we think we know at this stage. those rebels you heard on the ground, well, they are part of a number of militant groups here that russia says are terrorists but other people suggest might be more moderate, whose area having been hit intensely by air strikes in the past days or so. to the point the turkish government has been deeply concerned about it. when you see that video, have you to remember that those russian airmen were flying above in combat jets, most likely bombing that area. vladimir putin hitting that area. they ee jeblgt when their aircraft is hit by the turkish f-16s. turkey saying they crossed into their air space and over a five-minute period, ignored ten separate warnings. that's the tu

nick paton walsh joins us on the line from outside sinjar, and nick, you're with peshmerga fight fighters. tell us what's happening. >> reporter: we're limited in terms of our exact location by joining the peshmerga. they've said through security council, they've taken to the west of the city, a village. it's significant because it's close to what many see is a strategic goal in the defensive, and that is the route known as 47 that runs through sinjar, brutalized by the isis. the minorities there in northern iraq, many of whom were kapt i. the taking of sinjar does occur in the days ahead will be a symbolic reversal. the other hope is that -- they are partially gone already. this morning, depriving isis of a vital route between the city of mosul and iraq, and raqqa and syria. raqqa being the capital of the caliphate. american central commands have released a statement in which they echo the support. we can hear it above us, drones and jet planes, the support in the air, and also describing how taking route 47 is important because it enables them to cut off the funding for isis by sending

joining me is nick paton walsh near this part of iraq. and nick, black isis flag gone.tively heavy, but the peshmerga came in and saw and joined ourselves in overwhelming numbers. hundreds of them on foot moving at about 11:00 this morning. they initially encountered a lot of heavy machine gunfire and isis appeared to melt away relatively quickly. they left in their wake a staggering number of booby traps, tunnels dug under the roads connected to barrels of explosives. they have gone underground and some disguised as peshmerga. at one point, a group we were traveling with, that caused thunderstorm to fire back and two of their number were injured. they think by annists i sniper. it's obvious the peshmerga have control of this. they haven't flushed all of isis out because it is rubble. barely a building not half destroyed or severely damaged by the airstrikes, the suicide bombing, the car bombs, and the fight with the coalition. little really to live in left there. a lot to rebuild or perhaps you start from scratch. but the fundamental point of all of this is that it app

before we came to you, i mentioned that our colleague nick paton walsh is on frontlines with fighters there. we will have a report from him later. but you can see why we wanted to get to your report there, arwar, right there on the coast there of lesbos, greece. showing us something that happens day after day after day. many people trying to leave a bloody, hellish war that's happening in syria. thank you so much for giving us the stories of people who are trying to kind a better situation for themselves. thank you for your reporting there. you're watching cnn newsroom. it's an historic day in myanmar as that country deals with a dramatic shift in power. coming up, the results in a lantd mark election. how much protein does your dog food have? 18%? 20? nutrient-dense purina one true instinct with real salmon and tuna has 30% protein. support your active dog's whole body health with purina one. amerivest selects the funds and manages your portfolio. is it run by robots? no no, you can talk to a person anytime. 'cause i don't trust robots. right...well, if the portfolio you're invested

nick paton walsh gave us this breaking news. he was in sinjar earlier today. been liberated from isis. how big of a deal is this? >> this say pretty big deal. it led to the siege of sinjar mountain which isis was using that as an opportunity to commit genocide against the yazidi ethnic minority. the crucial struggle is highway 47, this binds it together, this is the route 66 of isis. if that can be taken. as of yesterday, it seemed as though 35 miles had been i intercepted. >> is the u.s. stepping up the battle against isis? has something shifted? >> it is alisyn, very good news. the key is, it's already been identified, not only do you need to isolating. this is where the real heavy lifting starts. that's been the challenge all along, alisyn. we can be very successful in coordinati coordination. the coalition can be successful in coordination going against very specific targets but then you have to build upon that success and that takes a lot more what i would call foundational capabilities than what we've been willing to commit to this fight so far. if we're

in a cnn exclusive, correspondent nick paton walsh gets extremely close to the headquarters. >> reporterah, but it is here of the offensive and still a sense of stalemate. the goal of raqqah is visible on a good day. and at times, hit by isis mortars. >> well, follow his report from syria. on "new day" in the next hour. >>> since the terror attacks, one particular book has been flying off the shelves. a mobile feat by earnest hemingw hemingway. ivan watson has more on the book's resurgence. >> reporter: all of the sickness of the city came suddenly. first the cold rains of winter. that's a line from "a moveable feast" written by earnest hemingway. the book is his love letter to the city of light celebrating the cafes and cobblestone driveways. hemingway's book is pretty much required reading for most visitors for paris. it is unexpected that it is a source of comfort for the french in the wake of the deadly paris attacks. at book shops across paris, owners have seen a sudden spike of sales of the 51-year-old novel. what is your number one selling book? >> earnest hemingway. >> do you hav

thanks nick paton walsh. the kurds, these fighters nick was with them only about 20 miles outside of raqqah. could they actually libber rate raqqah? >> maybe they have a good chance but if that happens, what have we achieved? are they prepared to hold the territory and take over administratively where isis left off? that's the missing point here. i would ask what is the mission of our 50 special forces going in there? are they going to force a transition from assad's leadership or over throw him? these are fundamental questions to give our troops the guidance we need and make sure we have a real plan for defeating isis not just in the short term but long term, as well. >> you also need not only a strategy and plan, an exit strategy down the road as well and what i'm hearing from you congressman, correct me if i'm wrong, you're not hearing any of that. >> i'm not. i'm not hearing nearly enough. the fundamental thing that led to the rise of isis and al qaeda are political vacuums in the middle east. it's a poli

let's go to iraq and nick paton walsh, senior international correspondent.w, there's been waves of bombing going on in syria from the french and other coalition partners. what do we know about the impact? >> reporter: two key things stand out in the last 24 hours. it was about 24 hours from now. the first strike seemed to land around raqqa. 20 devices dropped by 12 aircraft. 10 of whom did the bombings. the targets target activists on the ground in the outskirts around the city center and the stadium and museum inside the city. not using those purposes. awnings over the streets to prevent drones to work out where fighters are. but no real notion of casualties isis had inflicted on them. activists in that town is a no civilians were hurt. the first impact and way out east, the coalition jets, 116 airstrikes against aoil trucks. they were taken out. a vast amount of fire power. part of the key strategy the pentagon has here. hit them hard in that revenue stream and perhaps begin to sap away at something isis badly needs, money. >> nick paton walsh, thank you f

cnn international correspondent nick paton walsh joins me from erbil, iraq.have some information on what exact targets they are hitting with these air strikes early this morning. >> reporter: the french minister of defense hasn't laid out what it was aiming at. it did say on the first night it was looking at a command center, a recruitment center, a again ishg terms. on that first night, the activists in the city, main isis headquarters and jail buildings. last night they're saying about seven strikes, mostly to the south of the city and one other key isis parliament structure there saying a place known as the parking garage, yet another isis headquarters here. the significance of the charles de gaulle moving into the eastern mediterranean, it speeds up the ability of the french to refuel, to resupply their jets, to keep them in the sky longer, to have more of them there at one time. before that they have been flying out of jordan and the united arab emirates, three, four hours flight time away. this comes, the french second night of bombardments. the russian