could do to degrade the syrian military force and nick paton walsh. fareed, let me start with you, just bigger picture, when you hear president trump's actions, they've been widely praised by both republicans and democrats and how do you see the strike? >> i think that's exactly right. trump was willing to do risk a small incremental military strike and not worry too much about the spillover and the consequences in a way that stayed in president obama's hand. but the larger issue actually is the one that you put very nicely on the screen there, which is that this is a complete reversal of trump's original poll tea toward the region, which was he kept saying, our goal is isis, our enemy is isis. we should be focused on defeating isis. that means collaborating with the russians. that means keeping our eye on the prize, which is isis. he's now moved to something which, in those terms, is kind of a distraction. it's not entirely clear how it helps or hurts and a lot of people have argued that by attacking the assad regime, you're helping isis. after all,

we're zbog lgoing to let you fi mic situation. >>> we'll turn to nick paton walsh. president trump's top security advisor was in afghanistan today. he met with the president to talk about security issues. there are plenty of them to be discussed. what are you learning about their conversations? >> doesn't at this point appear conversations are yielding any actual obvious change in policy. they are conducting what's referred to as a full strategy review of u.s. policy there. obviously that's something barack obama had to do when he inherited the war from george bush in 2008. the afghan president after meeting general mcmaster talked about the big threats they currently face with terrorism. it could last five more generations if not confronted now. a two-pronged problem really. political negotiations, hundreds of thousands of troops that haven't really managed to turn a security situation around. now things are more complicated by sort of an insurgency within the in trt insurgency who had t moab bombs dropped on them in the last week. an awesome display of american fi

barbara starr working her sources at the pentagon, nick paton walsh next door in iraq. and nick, we should remind people, this interview was done, "afp" did the interview, but syrian government cameras, the syrian government was able to edit and pick the sound that was released. still, a lot of what was said very revealing, nick. >> reporter: i think certainly bashar al assad's mind-set, remember, this is a man who's kind of been under siege for five years with the exception of one very short trip on a jet to moscow, so his perception of reality possibly warped, although also perhaps strategically cunning to some degree. the 100% fabrication he refers to, well, he's pretty much saying that the entire story was fabricated. let me read the full quote here -- "our impression is that the west, maybe the united states, is hand in glove with the terrorists. they fabricated the whole story in order to have a pretext for at tack." now, the key point here is that, of course, the u.s. have said in their own statements, they believe this to be sarin gas and there's a huge preponder

nick paton walsh has been monitoring these pictures and the latest developments live from erbil, iraqcity in the cross hairs, the final city for the coalition fighting isis, it's a place you have only seen through the lens of isis propaganda footage. these satellite pictures revealing he remarkable detail. two peck points in the streets outside a key govern nant building, a place thought to be used by isis as a head quarters that has been hit by a precision strike. you can also see an isis flag distinguished by the large shadow it casts over the city. also, too, those precision strikes which analysts viewing these images say appear to have just hit the places they're designed to destroy, also taken out a bridge. apparently that's done to make it easier to rebuild such structures as a later date. most intriguingly stretched across the street at a busy market area, that is done not to protect isis by the heat but to protect them from being spotted by coalition drones in the skies. perhaps trying to seek intelligence about where they gather or launch strikes against specific key leaders.

nick paton walsh, thanks very much for that report. that's it for me. today. a special, very special edition of "the situation room" 5:00 p.m. eastern. in the meantime, "cnn newsroom" with ana cabrera starts right after this quick break. ♪ whoa, this thing is crazy. i just had to push one button to join. it's like i'm in the office with you, even though i'm here. it's almost like the virtual reality of business communications. no, it's reality. intuitive one touch video conferencing is a reality. and now it's included at no additional cost with vonage business. see why 3,000 companies a month are switching to vonage. business grade. people friendly. listen up, heart disease.) you too, unnecessary er visits. and hey, unmanaged depression, don't get too comfortable. we're talking to you, cost inefficiencies and data without insights. and fragmented care- stop getting in the way of patient recovery and pay attention. every single one of you is on our list. for those who won't rest until the world is healthier, neither will we. optum. how well gets done. >>

that's nick paton walsh in irbil, iraq. >>> the perfect scenario for the markets, one what analyst is calling the fallout from the first round of the french elections. investors like macron's chances to win. he's a former banker and economics minister. dow futures set to pop at the open, more 170 points right now. s&p 500 futures more than 1%. you see the stock market in paris, surging almost 4%. shares in london are higher. stock markets in asia closing with gains overnight. the other big move is in currency markets. the euro jumping 1% against the dollar. now at the highest level since november. marine le pen campaigned on dumping the euro. go back to the french franc. she backs frexit. s macron is a free trade supporter. at 39 years old, some say he's not a battle-tested politician. but there he is. i mean, he's right there up against marine le pen, who is a household name protectionist wing of the french politics. >> if she wins and out of the e.u., you have two of the top three economies out of the european union. what's the nurture ch future of e.u.? >> it's an existential crisi

nick paton walsh, senior international correspondent there in iraq, when one thinks about isis, you think about iraq and syria. why afghanistan and why nangarhar province? >> reporter: that's right. there have been franchises in africa, liberia and nigeria but also in afghanistan. now, a lot of the time these are disgruntled taliban fighters, youth bored of the idea. the war has been going on longer for the taliban than it has been for the u.s. and the u.s. has been 16 years. so akin where this bomb was dropped is a very remote mountainous town, the epicenter of isis since we just filmed them emerging about two years ago now. the afghan army was kicked out. came back, kicked the civilians out. it's been a bloody mess trying to take out isis. in fact, they have metal ban fighters recruited by the afghan government to fight isis for them. that's how messy the fight against isis is. the fact that they had to use a bomb of this dimension it shows how remote this area is and how hard it would have been to insert special forces in there. it also gives you a snapshot, brooke, about where the war

back to you. >> nick paton walsh live for us in iraq. thank you. >>> we have breaking flus.rities in wisconsin say they have arrested the man suspected of stealing an arsenal of weapons after mailing a manifesto of grievances to president trump. >>> according to the county sheriff office, joseph jakubowski was taken into custody shortly there 6:00 a.m. at a campsite. returned to the county for further investigation and charges. we'll bring you more updates as they come in. >>> still to come, the battle for the president's ear. a wall street insider may have the inside track in the west wing. are we already seeing the results? (deep breath) ♪ (phone ringing) they'll call back. no one knows your ford better than ford and ford service. right now, during the big tire event, get a $140 rebate by mail, on four select tires. ♪ it delivers a whole mouth clean with a less intense taste. zero alcohol™. so it has the bad breath germ-killing power of this... [rock music] with the lighter feel... of this. [classical music] for a whole mouth clean with a less intense taste... ahhh. try li

nick paton walsh for us in istanbul.. >>> 15 people are still recovering after a truck attack in sweden but investigators say it's actually lucky that the number isn't a whole lot higher. we're going live to sweden for an update on the investigation and a look at the growing memorial there next. my day starts well before i'm in the kitchen. i need my blood sugar to stay in control. i need to shave my a1c i'm always on call. an insulin that fits my schedule is key. ♪ tresiba® ready ♪ (announcer) tresiba® is used to control high blood sugar in adults with diabetes. don't use tresiba® to treat diabetic ketoacidosis, during episodes of low blood sugar, or if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. don't share needles or insulin pens. don't reuse needles. the most common side effect is low blood sugar, which may cause dizziness, swtiting, confusion, and headache. check your blood sugar. low blood sugar can be serious and may be life-threatening. injection site reactions may occur. tell your prescriber about all medicines

nick paton walsh, cnn, the old city, mosul. >> amazing reporting. the second largest city in iraq.h for watching. i'll be back at 5:00 p.m. in "the situation room." up next, president trump will sign several executive orders. the target, the dodd/frank executive reform law. we'll have details right after this. have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. tylenol® >>> hello. i'm ana cabrera in for brooke baldwin on this friday. thanks for being with us. we begin with this artificial 100-day deadlie that's putting so much pressure on president trump that he tweeted this. "no matter how much i accomplish during the ridiculous standard of 100 days, it's been a lot, including supreme court, media will kill." 100 days in office is a presidential report card set by roosevelt 84 years ago. while president trump is seeming to just dismiss the deadline now, he embraced it d

cnn's nick paton walsh joins me from ir beal, iraq, what is the assad regime saying?that the attacks were a complete fabrication. obviously, the u.s., western nations, saying they have proof sarin was used and tracked the jet that dropped the weapon, but there's different ways of calculating assad's move here. was this potentially a test of the trump administration to see if they would enforce the red line that barack obama set, but refused to take military after, or were they simply hoping for a trump administration that would force moscow to be more on their side. we don't know the answer to that but know it lies inside the at times twisted but calculated mind of bashar al assad. this is the world of most syrians. rubble, bombs. slaughter and indiscriminate weapons. but welcome to the world of bashar al assad where it simply didn't happen. >> we don't know whether those dead children, were they dead at all? who committed the attack if there was an attack. >> reporter: denial is nothing new for a man who was an eye doctor trained in london but yet has found himself a

. >> our nick paton walsh has the latest. >> reporter: dozens of bodies recovered from this scene.age. pictures posted on social media. syrian state television very hard to see, frankly, people torn apart in their seats on these buses. they had hoped, perhaps, this was a journey on the way to a moment of respite. context as to why these evacuation buses were so important. the ones attacked were leaving two towns north of syria. these are full of regime sympathizers but were in a rebel-held province of idlib. also, in the south of the country, were towns full of rebel sympathizers. they were besieged by the regime. so the u.n. brokered a kind of swap, if you like, allowing a simultaneous evacuation of these two towns that were regime loyal in the north, while rebel sympathizing towns in the south were also being evacuated. it was those the regime loyal town that came under attack today. we don't know precisely whose territory they were in when this blast hit, but we think it was a car bomb, and it does appear to be that the evacuation still continued after this tragic, horrifying ep

we bring in cnn senior correspondent nick paton walsh. iraq right now, yet another hotspot for this administration. good morning, nick. >> reporter: john, a remarkable time for jim mattis to touch down in afghanistan. we understand, actually, he's just on his way out at the moment. but that attack you referred to seems to have led to the loss of life of 140 afghan soldiers. you heard me right there. apparently, taliban disguised themselves as military, sneaking into a base near the northern city of mazari sharif. it's led to the resignation of the defense minister and army chief of staff. that happened in the hours before jim mattis touched down. he met afghan president ashraf ghani but was very clear, had a message of no bending towards talks with the taliban. here's what he said. >> if the taliban wished to join the political process and work honestly for a positive future for the afghan people who have suffered long and hard, they need only to renounce violence and reject terrorism. it's a pretty low standard to join the political proc

nick paton walsh, reporting.nk you. >>> coming up, we're expecting a news conference from the cleveland police department as they are searching for a man who they say has killed multiple people in the cleveland area. we will bring you that news conference as it happens right here on cnn. i have spent years taking over-the-counter products for my belly pain and constipation. i've had it up to here! it's been month after month of fiber. weeks taking probiotics! days and nights of laxatives, only to have my symptoms return. (vo) if you've had enough, tell your doctor what you've tried and how long you've been at it. linzess works differently from laxatives. linzess treats adults with ibs with constipation or chronic constipation. it can help relieve your belly pain, and lets you have more frequent and complete bowel movements that are easier to pass. do not give linzess to children less than six, and it should not be given to children six to less than 18. it may harm them. don't take linzess if you have a bowel bloc

>> nick paton walsh, thank you very much. reporting from istanbul, turkey. >>> meanwhile, the president, president trump, is issuing his first comments since launching the u.s. missile strike in syria, tweeting, quote, congratulations to our great military men and women for representing the united states and the world so well in the syria attack. this just coming out today. let's go to cnn's athena jones who is nearby at palm beach. what more are you hearing from the president today as he hits the golf course, we understand, there? and what's the focus? >> hi. well, fred -- >> reporter: the president also tweeted about china, this two-day summit he had, first meeting with china's president xi jinping. he tweeted out it was a great honor to have president xi jinping and madam peng liyuan of china as our guests in the united states. goodwill and friendship was formed. but only time will tell on trade. candidate trump spoke a great deal about it on the campaign trail, saying it had taken advantage of the u.s., talking about the

our nick paton walsh has spent an extraordinary amount of time in afghanistan.om erbil, iraq. talk about how detrimental this is to the ability for isis to continue, because dave and i were talking, the number 36 is not huge, but what it has done to the area has hurt them, no? >> reporter: we just don't know at this early stage. and in fact, isis have released a statement through their affiliated news agency suggesting that nobody, in fact, from their militants was killed in this strike, which we can pretty much dismiss that immediately. but it is interesting that they don't necessarily dispute that this was one of their facilities in that very short message. now, as you say, the assessment by the afghan military is that three tunnels were taken out, 36 militants. now, a $16 million bomb, that's an awful lot of money, $400,000 per militant. maybe there is a larger body count, potentially, to be revealed. but action in this particular area has always been the epicenter for isis in eastern afghanistan, very remote, rugged terrain, very hard to get around. the u.s.

. >>> nick paton walsh live in iraq. thank you. >>> let's bring in cnn military analyst retired air force colonel former joint chiefs of staff, you have been listening to our analysis an reporting out of this moab bomb and some are trying to see how this fits into president trump's world view and foreign policy and there's a lot of question of did he sign off on this and something long in the works, what's your assessment of whether that even matters? >> good morning, it does matter in how you want to know how involved the president is in these decisions but there's also a way in which it's good for the president to delegate his authorities to the people in the theater as long as they provide the affects that are desired so in this particular case i think a big decision was made a while back that was we need to eliminate this particular area, isis encampment. the only way to do it was to use this bomb, the moab. and in order to use that a lat of planning had to go into that make sure they had the right targets set and av

our nick paton walsh asks how long the fight for raqqah will last and the concern about chemical weapons. he joins us live with the exclusive reporting. good morning, a fascinating look inside our effort there. >> reporter: commands in iraq and syria, change in the past week seeing strikes, knowing they have russian support, he's mildly concerned, a small risk, maybe seren might get used again, i'm paraphrasing but that they would be hard pressed to pick a fight with the u.s., around which from the north, west and east, syrian rebel forces are pressing, they are going to move to the southern bottom encircling entirely, how close? by summer at the latest, i asked the question do you have enough boots on the ground to pull this very difficult task off, here is what he said. >> right now i think we have the resources we need there to isolate to do the task we're going right now which is complete the isolation of raqqah. after the isolation of raqqah will come the assault. and we're still evaluating what resources i need. if i need more resources i'll go to my leadership, chain of command an

thank you for that, nick paton walsh for us. >>> a shift towards compromise in the white house.ing for a border wall can wait if it means keeping the government open. is the strategy an adjustment after health care went nowhere? empty my pocket change into this old jar. it's never much, just what's left after i break a dollar. and i never thought i could get quality life insurance with my spare change. neither did i. until i saw a commercial for the colonial penn program. imagine people our age getting life insurance at such an affordable rate. it's true. if you're 50 to 85, you can get guaranteed acceptance life insurance through the colonial penn program for less than 35 cents a day, just $9.95 a month. there's no medical exam and no health questions. you know, the average cost of a funeral is over $8,300. now that's a big burden to leave your loved ones. add to that credit card balances and final medical bills, and you've got plenty of reasons to call for free information about this valuable coverage. it's easy and affordable to help cover your final expenses through the colo

nick paton walsh has the latest from irbil, iraq. >> reporter: alisyn, as many as 400,000 people coulde held in the old city of mosul. the key strategic goal in those fighting isis in iraq and the old city, the densely packed difficult place, 400,000 people possibly held effectively as hostages and human shields by isis in some of the nasty conditions. ground down to the bones. mosul is quiet. where once it bustled. you ask where are the people? where have isis taken them? the answer is here. trapped in the war on the old city. the densely populated holdout of isis. years of stalemate and shooting waits. a few alleyways down, isis mass hostage standoff begins. tens of thousands held as human shields. you can see this drone pictures filmed in a counter attack and see how tight the streets are packed and how everyone. the mosque from where baghdadi gave his only speech. each street a window. the now truth here. isis leaves nothing in tact behind it. there in the distance is the reason why isis are fighting so hard in the dense winding streets to hold the iraqi police and military back. t

cnn's nick paton walsh joins us in iraq to takes us inside the combat zone. u spent a lot of time in bad places where the war is raging. what was your take from the ground? >> reporter: that the preparations for what is the next big fight ahead for the de facto capital of isis, raqqah, they are really taking up speed. chris, the north and western flanks of the city are surrounded and held by syrian rebels and backed by the u.s. coalition. the complexity of the pressure on the city mounts. russians and syria regime, of course, weeks ago were neutral. now an adversary after the trump administration strikes. they are not too distant away from the battle field heating up. that could mean tense times ahead. particularly more pressure on that city by surrounding it and moving coalition forces to the south. >> right now, i think we have the resources we need there to isolate. >> reporter: sorry. i thought i had a follow-up. >> nick, how fast is this operation moving? >> reporter: we are looking potentially weeks ahead now until we see the pressure mounting. they are

nick paton walsh, cnn. >> just creepy how he sits there and calmly denies that this even happened.mical attacks. >> the images are disturbing. >> yeah. he's disturbing, too. >>> coming up here, we have an environmental story for you. the great barrier reef isn't as colorful as it should be. >> in fact, it's being bleached white. the devastating transformation still ahead. the more... ound, powerful you'll think they are. it's time to see what power really looks like. new neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair with accelerated retinol sa. clinically proven to reduce wrinkles in just one week. wrinkles? your time is up! rapid wrinkle repair. and for dark spots. rapid tone repair. neutrogena® see what's possible. >>> scientists say the images of the great barrier reef are proof of the devastating effects of climate change. the latest evidence vast areas of the once colorful coral reefs off the coast of australia are all bleached white. >> look at that. scientists blame rising sea temperatures as donald trump proposes cutting billions of dollars from programs to fight the effects of climate

julia staffy is joining us and nick paton-walsh is also joining us. what is the latest, nick? this point, we are hearing of yet more civilian deaths. in a province which was the target of those chemical weapos attacks. bear in mind the last 48 hours a number of air strikes have gone from syrian regime jets and perhaps with russian support over the skies of that rebel-controlled area. a town hit by the chemical weapons hit the last 48 hours and causing four deaths but also in another place, we are learning of 16 civilian deaths according to the first responders there known as the white helmets. this is a message the chemical weapons attacks and the response from the trump administration has not changed business as normal. the kind of attacks, daily currency of this war. we are talking about them here because of the trump response, not frankly because it's anything new so bear that in mind when we discuss this. all size certainly on the broader geo political situation here. does rex tillerson's visit to moscow at some point in the days ahead herald a new bid in gho y diplomacy?

isis losing and it isn't clear how that's changed under the new white house. >> nick paton walsh, thankroom starts after a break. first dr. sanjay gupta has this week's living to 100. ♪ >> when you think about reading the idea of being able to focus on something in particular that's not a big screen, not a device, it can be a benefit. studies have shown that it can help reduce your stress levels, help improve your attention levels and possibly be overall good for your mental functions. you could reduce your rates of cognitive decline up to 32%. this is significant and fascinating to see how the brain responds even if the body is sitting still looking at the pages. for example, if there's a scene you're reading that's an active scene here, your brain called the motor cortex responsible for movement may start to light up. if it's a stimulating part of the book that you're reading your sensory cortex allows you to see may start to light up. some interesting studies showing you don't have to read a book, i recommend this one by the way, you can actually hear books. you can listen to an audi

nick paton walsh, thank you very much. >>> former president barack obama in his first public appearance the white house. you know the big question, what did he say about trump? did he say anything? the answer next. at bp's cooper river plant, employees take safety personally - down to each piece of equipment, so they can protect their teammates and the surrounding wetlands, too. because safety is never being satisfied. and always working to be better. ♪ we are not here to sit idly by. we are here...to leave a mark. experience a shift in the natural order. experience amazing. fothere's a seriousy boomers virus out there that's been almost forgotten. it's hepatitis c. one in 30 boomers has hep c, yet most don't even know it. because it can hide in your body for years without symptoms, and it's not tested for in routine blood work. the cdc recommends all baby boomers get tested. if you have hep c, it can be cured. for us it's time to get tested. ask your healthcare provider for the simple blood test. it's the only way to know for sure. with tempur-pedic.t our proprietary material automatic

first, let's get the very latest from cnn's nick paton walsh. he is in iraq on all of this. so, nick, you've been to this part of afghanistan where this bomb hit. what more are you learning about the target, the casualties, and the fallout now? >> reporter: the casualties so far, according to the initial count, kate, aren't that many, 36 dead isis militants for a $16 million device. i mean, that's nearly $500,000 per dead terrorist. we're also hearing that three tunnels were taken out as well. i think the key part of the message here, though, was that the united states is willing to use all force at its disposal to tackle isis in afghanistan. where this bomb hit, a remote mountainous region, very hard to insert troops there and effectively fight without getting a lot of casualties. and this is also the epicenter of isis, frankly in afghanistan, too. now, we heard from the u.s. commander there that this was the right weapon for the right target, those his words. he calls isis animals and reminds people, frankly, that they were recently involved in an attack in kabul, the capit

cnn's nick paton walsh has more.you this report contains graphic images. >> reporter: this had is the world of most syrians. rubble. bombs. indisthe crim gnat slaughter, even chemical weapons. but welcome to the world acarding to bashar al assad where things that make him look bad simply didn't happen. >> we don't know whether those dead children, were they killed at, were they dead at all? who committed the attack if there was an attack. >> reporter: the deny nothing new for a man trained as an eye doctor in london yet found himself a hated dictator. in a 17-year reign, the swing from reformist to murder us. despite u.s. missile strikes and talks from the trump administration like this -- >> our view is that the reign of the assad family is coming to the end. >> reporter: it is unclear if that's on the verge of happening. he denied bombings like this ever happened. he's denied being behind this sarin massacre in 2013 before later agreeing to give his chemical weapons up under russian pressure. denial pretty easy if

nick paton walsh has the story. >> reporter: ordinary syrians rose up against injustice over six yearsra's box of hell, of hospitals being bombed, starvation, the rise of isis and even mass use of chemical weapons by their president bashir al assad. but that's what the world let happen until this attack on a northwestern syrian village in idlib province prompted the white house to act. bombing the syrian air field used to carry out assad's gas attack. the scenes are horrific. children, gasping for air, twitching likely because of a nerve agent. why would assad do this? why here? it is a major rebel stronghold in his way. but it wasn't the rebel jihadists here he hit but women and children, too. people who may have fled violence but hooz lives in rebel areas he wanted gone to terrify those who defied him into submission. chemical weapons do that. >> explosives don't have the same dispersal and they are more discriminate. chemical weapons are indiscriminate and people die horrible deaths. >> the world has been here before with assad in august 2013. he used sarin near damascus, crossing b

nick paton walsh, erbil, northern iraq. >> nick, thanks for the report. >>> next, the white house isatching pyongyang. we'll talk with an expert on international politics on u.s. efforts to rein in north korea. >>> plus, violence breaks out between donald trump supporters and opponents. we'll tell you what led up to multiple injuries and arrests at a university campus. stay with us. finding time to get things done isn't easy. but we've got the digital tools to help. now with xfinity's my account, you can figure things out easily, so you won't even have to call us. change your wifi password to something you can actually remember, instantly. add that premium channel, and watch the show everyone's talking about, tonight. and the bill you need to pay? do it in seconds. because we should fit into your life, not the other way around. go to xfinity.com/myaccount >>> welcome back to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm ivan watson in hong kong. >> hello to you, ivan. at cnn world headquarters in atlanta, i'm natalie allen. >> and i'm george howell. >>> the vice presiden