we will also be joined by patrick cockburn, just back from iraq. this is democracy now!ack in a moment. ♪ [music break] >> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. , whouests are hannah allam is in baghdad, and patrick cockburn joins us from london, middle east correspondent for the independent and just returned from 10 days of reporting in iraq and has a new book just coming out called, "the jihadis return: isis and the new sunni uprising." patrick, you and your latest piece say that as much as the world attention is focused on the bombardment of gaza, that isis has captured much of eastern syria. can you explain? caliphate declared to recently has just gotten a lot bigger. and rather amazingly, the world hasn't paid much attention because of gaza. toward a bigacked province with a lot of oil wells in eastern syria. they probably hold about 98% of it now. whichof the capital city is run by the al-assad government. otherwise, they have routed the opposition -- syrian opposition, aside from themselves. they'v

earlier, i spoke with patrick cockburn, the iraq correspondent for the independent in london.said there is little reason for the kurds to believe any threat from baghdad. >> threats from baghdad weigh less and less because if you are in the oil ministry in baghdad, would you drive to kirkuk? you couldn't because isis is in between you and the kurds. so they are not really in a position to make effective threats. they can make it difficult to sell this oil. it's complicated for the kurds. but possession is 90% of the law in this case. s so, it's impossible to see what baghdad can really do to stop the kurds taking over the kirkuk oil fields. >> his book, the i didn't haddist return will be released on july 28th. >>> still ahead, the ticking clock, a warning shot fired at a home in gaza. we will show you how long it takes before live bombs hit the building. road to recovery, comedian tracy morgan makes it to a milestone after his violent crash. >>> welcome back. now to the crisis in u ukrain u where t where the series of blasts sent hundreds of civilians looking for safety. many

. >> remains to be seen patrick cockburn, we certainly appreciate your time. >>> on al jazeera americaar of the ongoing violence is sending some ukrainian civilians to find security in russia. in the yemeni government, they vow to crack down on rebel fighters. . >> two candidates have agreed to abide. john kerry is in afghanistan to mediate the agreement. bothmen accuse the other of electoral fraud during last month's run-off vote. the u.n. will begin the audit within 24 hours and will review 8 million ballots. it's expected to take several weeks before a result is announced. in yemen, there is a governmental crackdown advancing toward the capital after capturing the town tuesday. the united nations has called on the rebels to leave. for two decades, the group has been fight for more rights. there is a hunt underway for pro-russian separatists who killed more than 20 ukrainian soldiers on friday. ukraine's president prompting to find and destroy them. meanwhile in the east, civilians are fleeing the violence from moss co. soed hideler reports. >> reporter: it's the escalation everyone