its biggest victory was to drive the jihadists out of their de facto capital, raqqa, in the past fewit ‘s picked off one town, village, or hamlet after another in the corner north—eastern of syria to which is fighters have been driven. all that's left for the jihadists there are a few square miles next to the iraqi border. a far cry from the caliphate the group once declared across huge swathes of syria and iraq. the sdf delayed its final attack until thousands of civilians in the area could get out. now they say a decisive battle is under way. the united states military, our coalition partners, and the syrian democratic forces have liberated virtually all of the territory previously held by isis in syria and iraq. last week, president trump said the total defeat of is could be defeated within days. that certainly suits his agenda of withdrawing all us troops from syria. but he's been criticised before for declaring final victory over is prematurely. caution is still needed. is holds other sliver of territory in syria further west. while its sleeper cells remain active. and it's the

, and they very nearly took raqqa single—handed six months ago.f schoolchildren marching out to protest at the slow movement of action around climate change. headteachers are applauding the planned strike, which is for this coming friday. very surprisingly, robert and i were discussing this and saying we are com pletely discussing this and saying we are completely in favour of it. what a terrific thing for young people to do. i remember being on strikes myself in the 1970s, our school went on strike and i remember marching to cou nty on strike and i remember marching to county hall. what was your cause? somebody said it was about the bomb, but i think we were protesting in oui’ but i think we were protesting in our school about her work. but what it did was, it marshalled your political resources, because you needed to be thinking in order to do it. it wasn't just a needed to be thinking in order to do it. it wasn'tjust a beanfeast down on the embankment where we all headed off, it really made us think and made us feel part of a larger community,

,e have secured one battlefield and we have had victory after victory after victory and mosul and raqqa. isisve liberated over 60 leaders. if you look at the isis leaders of the 60 top, we have eliminated almost everyone of them. they have reformed, we know that, but they are having a hard time reforming and i wouldn't say it is a great job to have because of us. not exactly. hopefully, it will not be a sought-after occupation. more than 100 other top isis officials have been eliminated and tens of thousands of isis .ighters are gone they are gone. together, we have freed more than 5 million civilians from the grip of these bloodthirsty killers, and you know the killers they are. you see it. we used to see it to an extent we couldn't believe, where our people and our friends and our people in many cases, whose parents i had gotten to know, had to wear the orange uniform prior to you know what. we don't want to see those scenes anymore. thanks to the global coalition, including all of you here today, and to our other partners, the isis caliphate has been decimated. nobody thought it was

what we have seen is that many of them have been able to escape from raqqa, from elsewhere, mix in with the local population. some of them going to remote areas of syria. this is a vast country where there are many places to hide. we have seen, for instance, in the last six months more than 100 assassinations of people involved in the anti-isis coalition on the ground in local government as a result of attacks from isis. so, keep in mind that isis started as a terrorist insurgency in iraq. it enjoyed this brief period from around 2013 until now ruling over a territory as a quasi pseudostate but they can just as easily go back to being a terrorist insurgency wreaking havoc and the worry is, if that u.s. troops are pulled out too early, too precipitously, that there will be a power vacuum into which isis can yet move again. so speaking with commanders on the ground here in eastern syria, they warn time and time again, the battle against isis is not over when the last pocket they control is taken. the battle against isis could go on for a very long time and that battle could be prolonged i

it had taken control of raqqa and mosul.roup's so—called caliphate has continued to shrink since then, and is now less than one small square kilometre on the euphrates river. the last militants there are reportedly retreating and hiding among the local population. our north america correspondent peter bowes reports. in a series of tweets, president trump said the caliphate was ready to fall and that american forces were pulling back after a 100% victory. but he warned that the united states will be forced to release islamic state fighters and that he didn't want to watch as they permeated europe. he said britain, france, germany and other european allies should take back over 800 is fighters and put them on trial. it is time, the president said, for others to step up and do the job that they are so capable of doing. captured is fighters are currently being held by us—backed kurdish—led forces. responding to the case of shamima begum, the british teenager who went to join is but now wants to go home, the uk government had sai

she left the uk for syria in 2015, arriving in the is stronghold raqqa soon afterwards.he left raqqa for mayadin as kurdish forces advanced. she had a daughter. the next year she had a son who died in november, after which she moved again to baghuz. last month her daughter also died. grief—stricken and pregnant again she fled baghuz for a refugee camp. her husband surrendered. did you ever see executions? in the bins? what was that like, when you first saw that? these are the heads of captives? she told the times her school friend, amira abase, was also still alive two weeks ago. amira abase's father, who thought until today that she might be dead, now wants the british government to try to bring the girls home. he says they were young teenagers who shouldn't be punished for their mistakes, and he would go and get her himself if he could. never stay one—minute here if i can go and fly there to see her. and when you see her, what would you say to her? i don't know... today the home office said that anyone who's been involved in the conflict in syria can expect to be inves

she married an is fighter in raqqa and had remained with the group until fleeing the fighting two weeksg the government to show compassion and help them get her home. the government has said that it won't hesitate to prevent people who went to join a terrorist group returning to britain. but concedes that people like shamima begum, who have only one nationality, may ultimately be allowed to come back. if you are dealing with a british citizen who wants to return to this country, and not a dual citizen, so their only citizenship is british citizenship, then we are obliged at some stage at least to take them back. that doesn't mean we can't put in place the necessary security measures to monitor their activities and make sure they are not misbehaving. today, president trump called on britain and other european countries to take back people who'd gone to fight for is and put them on trial. he said 800 fighters had been captured, and if they were to be released, they might permeate europe, as he put it. raffaello pantucci, who has been studying violent islamists for years, says the governme

it had taken control of raqqa and mosul.lled caliphate has continued to shrink since then, and is now less than one small square kilometre on the euphrates river. the last militants there are reportedly retreating and hiding among the local population. the us vice—president made his comments about progress on the fight against is at the munich security conference, from where our chief international correspondent, lyse doucet, sent this report. the caliphate has crumbled. its last piece in this small syrian town of baghuz. and this, their last stand. these pictures are said to be filmed by islamic state fighters, but they are under fire on all sides, from kurdish forces, backed by american firepower. translation: the area that is is still in is around 700 metres and they are surrounded. the delay to us storming the neighbourhood is due to the presence of civilians, who the terrorists use as human shields. as local forces advanced, frightened families flee. amongst them are believed to be is fighters on the run. a far cry from

ground in syria against is, driving it inexorably to the east after it lost its de facto capital, raqqat months the kurdish—led alliance has captured one town and village after another. with hajin being the last urban stronghold. now is fighters are reduced to a sliver of land hard against the iraqi border, and to those still there it may well be their last stand, as iraqi forces with the help of coalition troops have sealed the border, the very line that is boasted of having wiped off the map. for the anti—is forces though, there are still unfinished business, especially over the fate of is leader abu bakr al—baghdadi, who once declared a caliphate. translation: until now we have no information on the presence of al—baghdadi in syria. we do not think he is in syria. wherever al—baghdadi is, the threat posed by is has not vanished with the territory it has lost. even though isis is degraded, it is not defeated yet. it has moved into a second phase, insurgency. few people realise that isis carries out frequent attacks in iraq, almost on a daily basis. they still have have between 10,000

ground in syria against is, driving it inexorably to the east after it lost its de facto capital, raqqash—led alliance has captured one town and village after another. with hajin being the last urban stronghold. now is fighters are reduced to a sliver of land hard against the iraqi border, and to those still there it may well be their last stand, as iraqi forces with the help of coalition troops have sealed the border, the very line that is boasted of having wiped off the map. for the anti—is forces though, there are still unfinished business, especially over the fate of is leader abu bakr al—baghdadi, who once declared a caliphate. translation: until now we have no information on the presence of al—baghdadi in syria. we do not think he is in syria. wherever al—baghdadi is, the threat posed by is has not vanished with the territory it's lost. even though isis is degraded, it is not defeated yet. it has moved into a second phase, insurgency. few people realise that isis carries out frequent attacks in iraq, almost on a daily basis. they still have have between 10,000 and 15,000 active co

it had taken control of raqqa and mosul. group's so—called caliphate has continued to shrink since then, and is now less than one small square kilometre on the euphrates river. the last militants there are reportedly retreating and hiding among the local population. a short time ago i spoke to our chief international correspondent lyse doucet, who's at the security conference in munich. it was president trump who said he would be making a major announcement about the caliphate very soon. the caliphate is the territory controlled by islamic state since 2014, large swathes of iraq and syria, and now they are down to one last mile in syria and once that is gone it matters. the caliphate was this magnet, this lodestone attracting islamists in the region, indeed the world over with foreign fighters streaming into iraq and syria, but the problem is that islamic state is notjust about territory, it is this powerful idea that fed on local grievances in iraq and syria and those have not gone away, and for that matter there are thousa

she married an is fighter in raqqa and had remained with the group until fleeing the fighting two weeksly are asking the government to show compassion and help them get her home. the government has said that it won't hesitate to prevent people who went to join a terrorist group returning to britain. but concedes that people like shamima begum, who have only one nationality, may ultimately be allowed to come back. if you are dealing with a british citizen who wants to return to this country, and not a dual citizen — so their only citizenship is british citizenship — then we are obliged, at some stage at least, to take them back. that doesn't mean we can't put in place the necessary security measures to monitor their activities and make sure they are not misbehaving. today, president trump called on britain and other european countries to take back people who'd gone to fight for is and put them on trial. he said 800 fighters had been captured, and if they were to be released, they might "permeate europe," as he put it. raffaello pa ntucci, who's been studying violent islamists for years,

attention after leaving her home in east london and travelling through turkey to the is stronghold of raqqah two school friends. she married a fighter there and had remained with the group until fleeing the fighting two weeks ago. her family, through their lawyer, are asking the government to show compassion and help them get her home. they'd like the government to recognise its responsibility to a now one—day—old child and to extend every help that can be given to have that child repatriated to the uk. but the government has said it wants to prevent people who went to join the terrorist group returning to britain, though ministers concede that people like shamima begum, who have only british nationality, may ultimately be allowed to come back. if you're dealing with a british citizen who wants to return to this country, and they're not a dual citizen, so their only citizenship is british citizenship, then we are obliged, at some stage at least, to take them back. that doesn't mean we can't put in place the necessary security measures to monitor their activities and make sure that they are

it had taken control of raqqa and mosul.roup's so—called caliphate has continued to shrink since then, and is now less than one small square kilometre on the euphrates river. militants are reportedly retreating and hiding among the local population as the battle for the village of baghuz enters its final stages. charlie dagata from america's cbs news has more on the fight against islamic state. the final battle is in its final days, with isis pinned down to an area of around a quarter of a square mile — that is the update we got from the commander of the us—backed syrian democratic forces, jia furat. he said the final isis village of baghuz fawqani had not yet fallen but his ground forces were holding fire and moving forward cautiously because so many civilians remain trapped as human shields. military officials here say they severly underestimated the number of civilians inside that village when they launched the offensive to crush the last remnants of the so—called caliphate one week ago. first estimated to be around 1,500

. >> we had victory after victory after victory, we have taken bozo and fort -- mosley and r q raqqa.ts of ice is left, the goal should be for many years to come. >> we will do what it takes to defeat every ounce and every last person within the isis madness. >> the president is moving forward with his promise to remove 2000 or so troops from syria. >> we look forward to giving our brave warriors in syria a warm welcome back home. >> despite critic of the plan saying it will risk all the gains the coalition has made so far. >> we will come back in full force if isis reorganizes and reemerges. >> reporter: members of his own party and military leaders the voice serious concerns with the president's plan. >> cannot be as effective as we are with boots on the ground. >> reporter: the secretary of state is the strategy against isis is evolving and will depend more on intelligence rather than the military. in washington, lauren blanchard, fox news. jillian: donald from slamming democrat holding up nominations, the latest victim of gridlock the president's pick for brett cavanagh's former p

made cheer clear, achievement of destroying caliphate in syria and iraq, and we targear to mosul and raqqa. this is a huge accomplishment from this administration. president has been clear this say threat from radical islamic terrorism is real, and continues, we have to continue to fight it announcement this week we're still having a residual footprint in syria makes sense in contact of our mission statement and tactics change as time goes on. we use different tactics in different parts of the world, president trump is committed. >> have britain and france agreed to keep troops there now. >> we're hopeful to have a colig there -- coalition there, i believe that european the understand the risk and threat. >> i want to ask, one final question. toto thetr young woman who left united states 4 years ago to join isis, said she wants to return here to face justice, have you said she is not an american citizen. she will not be allowed in. she was born in united states she had a u.s. passport. and in the past, other isis fighters then we captured have been brought back to face justice, no one has

it's a repetition of the same scenario that is played out for mosul to raqqa and now here isis's lastnd. to save towns and cities from the extremists, they must be destroyed. this family returned two days ago and sells snacks to make some money. only stones are left she tells me. her little daughter far too young to comprehend what is happened. some of the residents of this town which was liberated from isis in december have begun to return, but to return to what? most of the buildings are either severely damaged or utterly destroyed so the best they can do at this point is just retrieve their belongings and leave again. they returned last week to find his house in ruin and no way to support a family here. life was hard under isis he says, but it's still hard, harder still with this destruction. there's no sign that any government or other authority has begun to clear the rubble and restore a semblance of normal life. we want to make it like it was in the days of the regime. there was a hospital and the roundabout and those buildings, all destroyed because of isis. this war has been p

december, she has these incredible stories, talking about young people when they first came back in raqqaey would pray at the beheadings and pray at hangings because they had seen so much bloodshed. they would watch videos of beheadings on loops that they had been forced to watch, they had seen people hung on their streets, they had people so concerned about -- what is going to happen to our children after this?ave seen all of we try to give them love, we try to show them that now is a different time. even in december, she said they had 1500 students coming just to this one school every single day. but the teachers were also talking about not enough water, very little electricity. giving people an alternative i think is going to be very important, and we are not talking about nationbuilding, which is a 14 letter word that has become a four letter word. we are really talking about basic services to help these people that are fighting every single day, and the same fight that the united states has undertaken, which is to fight extremism, and to help them to do it. host: (202) 748-8001, that

says she moved to raqqa, and then married two other fighters. >> when i came and saw these things with my own eyes, i realized it was a big mistake. i'm deeply deeply regret it. >> of people like muthana pose a difficult question for the international community to answer. should those who helped isis be allowed to return home and how should they be prosecuted? officials urge to provide safe passage for civilians being used as human shields. >> obviously that's a mix of people. but the whole thrust of what we are saying today, particularly the women and children, not so much the fighters. >> this final enclave of ices militants will be destroyed by the end of the week according to the syrian democratic forces. with thousands trapped by fighters, this final battle is proving to be externally difficult. >> bret: the fight over isis puts a spot on america's leadership in the world. the evolution of that global leadership position is the subject of a new book. "the empire and the five kings: america's evocation and the fate of the world" describes the u.s. as retreating from its traditional

one battlefield and we've had victory after victory after victory and we have taken both mosul and raqqa. we have eliminated more than 60 mile high value isis leaders, so we have a -- if you look at the isis leaders of the 60 top, we've eliminated almost every one of them. now, they reform, we know that, but they are having a hard time reforming and i won't say it's a great job to have because of us. it's not exactly -- hopefully won't be a sought-after occupation. more than 100 other top isis officials have been eliminated and tens of thousands of isis fighters are gone. they're gone. together we have freed more than five million civilians from these blood thirsty killers. you see it. we used to see it to an extent where we couldn't believe where our people and our friends and allies in many cases, people whose parents i've gotten to know had to wear the orange uniform prior to you know what. we don't want to see those scenes anymore. thanks to the global coalition including all of you here today and to our other partners, isis caliphate has been decimated. nobody thought it would possi

she traveled to syria in 2015 and first lived in the capitol in raqqa where she married an australian>> when i came here, i realized i made a big mistake. and i know i ruined my future and my son's future. >> she says that she was brainwashed by the islamic state online back in 2015. during that year she was active on twitter using anti-american rhetoric and calling on others to kill americans. shep? >> shepard: tray yingst reporting live. one of baseball's biggest free agents is off the mark. according to multiple outlets, m manny machado has agreed to a ten-year deal with the padres and worth $300 million. if and when the deal is completed, it will be the second richest contract in the history of the game. the record holder right now nor the yankees, giancarlo stanton. but bryce harper is looking for a home. the fact that they're taking so long is creating tension. >> it's all about money. >> shepard: yes, sir. >> 100 guys plus that haven't been signed. some big names, too. we always knew the guys like machado and bryce harper, they'll get signed. >> shepard: sure. >> these other gu

not only that, they had the capital of raqqa in syria. with that no longer exists.caliphate, you are doing is hiding in caves. >> harris: they exist in several of the countries. there is information to show that there is still thousands of them in syria. there is a disconnect, if you will come on what their capabilities are perhaps. but their presence is something that we can see, according to reports that show that they are still massing. my question though is, this is not just about knocking down or knocking out those on the battlefield and numbers of them. this is an ideology. so that is my understanding of why it's so quick to take hold if you exit out of the place. >> yes. isis is based upon an eighth century ideology of islam, that is the shari lobbying implanted without the headquarters, they are basically all on the run. it's difficult for them to have the credibility of a once had. you are correct, they are in other countries. they have asked granted. this is similar to what we are doing with all the tourist type organization such as al qaeda, tell them, an

one, that we defeated isis, but the pentagon said yes, it's on the back foot and routed from raqqa and mosul, but it's still there. what do you know about the presence of isis still and i want to play something that the secretary said about that fight. >> you know, the areas of isis control diminished, but isis as a threat still exists. two or three years ago before the syrian war, what became isis, al qaeda and iraq were just jihadis in the western deserts of iraq. but they were able to survive and they were able to create isis later on. the threat of extremism and jihadi extremism is all over the middle east. we see it from yemen, somalia, iraq and syria. this battle is still at the beginning. i'm afraid that al qaeda after 9/11 was not as strong as al qaeda today in its ability to control areas and recruit and rebuild the network. i fear the same will happen with isis. many of the fighters who fought with isis are still alive. some of them went to different locations. some of them are still in the mountains and deserts of iraq and syria. so we should not rest our loral. we need to f

us backed forces in syria celebrate the defeat of isis in raqqa.r islamic state is over but the leader is still out there despite numerous reports of his death. the last recorded message was in august and he called on his followers to persevere, despite setbacks in iraq and syria. those followers are still listening under are probably still thousands of them. expect to see more of this in the region, bomb attacks, killing and maiming large numbers of civilians. notjust in iraq and syria... islamic state has active franchises in afghanistan, libya, egypt and beyond. and yes, there will be more attacks in the west as well. we cannot always say the attacks were planned or commissioned by the group but that is not the point. the point is the ideology alone is enough to inspire those attacks. and the ideology is very much alive. to understand why, just look at the places where it started. syria's civil war is not yet open over. iraq is still divided and anyone else with interest in the region, america, russia, iran, turkey, all with different agendas. s

its biggest victory was to drive the jihadists out of their de facto capital, raqqa.f one town, village, or hamlet after another in the corner north—eastern of syria to which is fighters have been driven. all that's left for the jihadists there are a few square miles next to the iraqi border. a far cry from the caliphate the group once declared across huge swathes of syria and iraq. the sdf delayed its final attack until thousands of civilians in the area had been able to get out. now they say a decisive battle is under way. the united states military, our coalition partners, and the syrian democratic forces have liberated virtually all of the territory previously held by isis in syria and iraq. last week, president trump said the total defeat of is could be defeated within days. —— announced within days. that certainly suits his agenda of withdrawing all us troops from syria. but he's been criticised before for declaring final victory over is prematurely. caution is still needed. is holds another sliver of territory in syria further west. while its sleeper cells rema

she told anthony loyd that she was taken to a house in raqqa when she got to syria, with other newly'd seen many atrocities including heads that had been severed from bodies, but it hadn't bothered her at all. have a listen to this. shamima begum says she is now nine months pregnant, after losing two children in the last year while living in syria. one to malnutrition, one to illness. now she says, she wants to come back to britian which she calls home. shamima begum was also asked whether she believed islamic state's days of ruling vast swathes of territory across syria and iraq were over. and whether she had any regrets about travelling to join the terrorist group. she seemed to show no remorse. speaking this morning, the security minister ben wallace gave this message to those who want to return home from syria. if you have been out there against the advice of the foreign office to go and engaged in support of activities of terrorism, you should be prepared to be — if you come back — questioned, investigated and potentially prosecuted for committing terrorist offences. joining me

as i mentioned this time last year, we had just taken raqqa at the capital of the caliphate but had substantial maneuver operations and challenges to push through to the destruction of the defeat of the physical, caliphate was much closer now. somebody played it out tom if you wanted to put a grasp on in physical terms it's twice the size of the base i'm stationed mcdeal air force base tiny. down to last dozens of square kilometers. >> the c.t. threat in between 2001 and 2010 wasn't measured in territory, measured in terrorist threat. that's still there isn't it. >> well and you're correct. i would offer that in our efforts to defeat isis, we have considerably diminished their ability to export the threat to the united states and to our western axis in the throes of in transformation right now they still have very dangerous. and i could highlight the specific groups that we consider to be external threats to the united states and are truly the kind of focus. >> and there is a growing c.t. threat in afghanistan. is that right? >> i wouldn't label it as growing. in fact, we made huge progress aga

not on the level that we saw in mosul and raqqa in the early days when they were able to overtake theseto regain territory in and of itself, especially if they can do it within a matter of month zpls. >> what are you hearing from plan beners about being able to rebuild in iraq? >> nothing specific. one thing that we've seen is i like to call them the movers, the additional u.s. troops have moved into syria to start taking out equipment that will ultimately lead to u.s. troops leaving as well. so the number of u.s. troops in syria is actually up to 3,000, which is the highest number we've seen or known about, they haven't always been transparent about the total force there but that's the highest we've seen since they went into syria several years ago. thing about question now is will the u.s. continue an air presence there after troops are gone on the ground. that's been a huge part of this campaign. the syrian democratic forces, which is a largely kurdish fighting force on the ground, they're the ones who are really pushing, slogging out the miles they're in syria, they are reliant on a

she will try to seek dutch citizenship through the family of her dutch husband who she married in raqqary bases of the kurdish armed movement in iraq and syria. thank you for being with us. she is suggesting she might want to go to the netherlands and might get dutch citizenship. is that possible?” the netherlands and might get dutch citizenship. is that possible? i do not think she has much chance. no, i do not think so. she calls this dutch man her husband. but it is probably an islamic state but it is void in your country as well as mine. it does not mean anything. also, her baby, may be the grandfather is also proof of that. if there is, it means nothing in the netherlands. i do not think she has any chance, no. this is a big issue, any chance, no. this is a big issue, a big story here in the uk. have people in the netherlands been talking about this? has this become a political case in any way? well, today there has mainly been news reports are not that much opinion pieces yet. i do not think anyone ta kes pieces yet. i do not think anyone takes it seriously here. there are several