so we'll focus on eliminating raqqah every single day. we're doing air strikes there constantly but most importantly, not just the military part, we're fusing information from across the government and most importantly from across the coal bigs what we know about this enemy, about how it finances itself, how it communicates, how it funds itself. we know more now that we ever did before and we're beginning to constrict its hold on raqqah. the west, the dam, that was the main roadway from mombage to raqqah. it's blocked off. isil cannot use that. and then if i move to number three, number three right now s the town of al-shadaddi. in operation started about three, four days ago and it's a very complex operation and it includes thousands of fighters. i won't get into the specific numbers but about 40% of them are non-kurds. 60% are kurd. when i was in could he banny a couple weeks -- cobani a couple weeks ago, the main focus was to get these groups together and put them together to consolidate with some mass to move on isil, particularly the

i don't like to call myself an activist, a citizen of raqqah, i'm serious.ian journalists come with their own personal nar difficults. reporters find themselves confronting militants who use the media to achieve their goals, they are having a different story, if there is a common thread, there's a hope they'll return and report the story from syria. >> so many syrians. the journalists are away from home. you've been watching a special edition of our programme. we'll see you then at the "listening post". >> they're firing canisters of gas at us. >> emmy award-winning investigative series. >> this is one of the most important sites in the century. >> this linked the mafia and the church. >> why do you think you didn't get the medal of honor? >> i can't allow you not to go into that because that is your job. >> we gonna bring this city back one note at a time. >> proudest moment in my life. >>> tonight candidates continue to drop out of the presidential race but i will is a former democratic governor if he plans to jump in. in our panel, should americans be pub

i don't like to call myself an activist, a citizen of raqqah, i'm serious.yrian journalists come with their own personal nar difficults. reporters find themselves confronting militants who use the media to achieve their goals, they are having a different story, if there is a common thread, there's a hope they'll return and report the story from syria. >> so many syrians. the journalists are away from home. you've been watching a special edition of our programme. we'll see you then at the "listening post". >> the violence and the threat of violence is ever present. >> i deal with this every day of my life! >> i don't like to see people get killed. >> al jazeera america's hard-hitting. >> today, they will be arrested. >> they're firing canisters of gas at us. >> emmy award-winning investigative series. >> every monday night. >> i lived that character. >> go one on one with america's movers and shakers. >> we will be able to see change. >> gripping... inspiring... entertaining. no topic off limits. >> 'cause i'm like, "dad, there are hookers in this house". >>

i don't like to call myself an activist, a citizen of raqqah, i'm serious.ian journalists come with their own personal nar difficults. reporters find themselves confronting militants who use the media to achieve their goals, they are having a different story, if there is a common thread, there's a hope they'll return and report the story from syria. >> so many syrians. the journalists are away from home. you've been watching a special edition of our programme. we'll see you then at the "listening post". al jazeera america gives you the total news experience anytime, anywhere. more on every screen. digital, mobile, social. visit aljazeera.com. follow @ajam on twitter. and like aljazeera america on facebook for more stories, more access, more conversations. so you don't just stay on top of the news, go deeper and get more perspectives on every issue. al jazeera america. >>> syria appeals to the u.n. as turkey continues to shell kurdish positions inside its territory. hello. welcome to al jazeera. live from doha. also to come on the program. a sharp fall in chi

>> well, it was on the fringe of raqqah province so right on the edge of isis' self-declared capital.manding generals. he said the war up there is a lot different than in cities like aleppo. it's less urban combat, it looks like a conventional war. a lot of artillery working constantly, a lot of tanks, armored personnel carriers. desert landscape. you see assad's forces there. they have the high ground in these places and are firing there into the desert. the commander there said it is russian air power that at this point is allowing the syrian military to hold up against isis and make advances as well. one of the things he said is he believes the russians continue to do what they're doing right now, the syrian military might be able to breach the town of raqqah, so the capital of isis territory, why the end of the year, but of course we know in a civil war there always are a lot of ifs, wolf. >> fred pleitgen has been doing excellent reporting for us on the front lines in syria. not every day that a news organization has this kind of access. fred, be careful over there. we're gratefu

accomplish our objective in iraq and syria, we have two big arrows pointing in the direction of mosul and raqqah. where we intend to collapse isil's control over these two cities. >> carter said the ministers agreed to increase air strikes and provide more training for local forces. defense chiefs from saudi arabia and other nations have offered to send troops into syria, but carter said the coalition has no plans to put boots on the ground. >>> north korea says it will put an end to a joint industrial complex with south korea, one of the few signs of cooperation between the neighbors. the south had declared it was suspending operations following the north's rocket launch on sunday. pyongyang expelled south korea nationals from the complex and seoul confirms their workers crossed the border by thursday night. >> translator: i couldn't bring my products with me. what will i do for a living from now on? i'm trouble the by this. >> officials from the north announced they would designate the kesong complex as a military zone and freeze the south's assets there. south korea has since cut off the powe

so as we go north to mosul, we have to take raqqah. that will prove there's no islamic state. we need to take those two cities. you will see us doing more. we have asked for more. every time the chairman and i have asked the president for more capability to do that, he has said yes. i expect that will continue. one other thing, david, which is it won't just be americans. this is crucial. it's got to be the other members of our so-called coalition. a lot of them are doing -- making considerable contributions to this. but some of them are not. and you really have to look -- this is a fight of civilization for its own survival. we need everybody -- and that's all the europeans, the gulf states, which are do -- turkey which is right there on the border. there are a lot that need to make more contributions. are we going to do more? yes. we have to win. >> in your coalition, you have 65 countries. i think in davos and other places you said the other members aren't doing very much. what are you doing to encourage them to do more? >> well, not all of them are in that category. but man

reports of russian air strikes hitting targets in the cities of aleppo and raqqah. syrian families caught in the middle, hoping the truce holding long enough for much needed humanitarian supplies to arrive. abc's alex marquardt in the region for us tonight. >> reporter: air strikes today in northern syria. just one of a growing number of incidents threatening this fragile truce. both sides accusing the other of violating the cease-fire. but tonight, it has largely held for a second day. the fight continues against isis and al qaeda, but in much of syria, there's a calm that hasn't been felt for years. still at risk, the almost half a million people living under brutal sieges. in one town, local doctors say dozens have died from starvation. we tried to visit today, with government permission, but were turned away, told that mortar and sniper fire made it too dangerous. but the united nations is now trying to capitalize on the aid across the country. if the truce holds, they say, they can do more, better and faster. that will be tested tomorrow morning with the first

them in raqqah and that will be ongoing in the coming months. i'll move quickly in interest or time over to iraq.will rem i'll skip to number five and mosul. mosul remains a tremendous challenge. there's a million people in iti wosul. politically diverse city.mi to get it right we have to worke politically and militarily hand in glove .th when i was in iraq last week wen meti with leaders including ther prime minister and we now establish adad joint operationa headquarters and that's where r we'll pool sunni fighters, kurdish peshmerga with our ion commanders and iraqi command towers plan deliberation of mosul. this will be unanimous at thefot grated campaign along multiple lines of effort.use of not a d-day like campaign. not start on a date certain i because it's already starting. we're caught off road access to mosul. we're learning more about what . daesh is doing in mosul.on cam so the mosul liberation campaigl has begun. however, it will be an extremely difficult endeavor and we won'ti put a timeline when mosul will be liberated. moving so

they're targeting raqqah clearly, an isis stronghold.ports of gunfire by government forces around the town of homs, as well. so the picture is one of a much calmer syria than we've seen in recent weeks. this is what the high negotiating committee, the opposition here, are telling me in riyadh, this is where they're based at the moment. they do say that they're seeing this calm. they say the people are grateful for the calm at the moment, and they need the international community to continue to put pressure on russia, on the syrian government, to help maintain this. they say that -- too soon really for them to call it when the cease-fire is working, when it will break down, it's under scrutiny, and they're expecting reports back from field commanders. they represent about 97 groups in the opposition here. so when they get the reports from field commanders, they hope to make a better assessment in the coming days. for the moment, they're cautious but grateful. the cease-fire violations are something they will monitor carefully. and the u.s

. >> we're in raqqah and somebody tweets obama is closing guantanamo. oh, well, no need for us to sign up. those guys are still going to join. >> a lot of communities are going to be pretty nervous. >> and they have a right to be. that said, that's not my core concern. we now how to keep people in prison here, but i'm more concerned about legal ramifications here. so one legal ramification is, what additional rights and privileges will these people accrue because of the very fact of geography, that they're not longer in cuba but over here in the united states? how much more difficult would that make circumstances for the u.s. government? and then beyond that, neil, here's something i want the president to say as part of this deal. the president says we're at war with al qaeda. he believes we're at war with al qaeda, otherwise he wouldn't be out there killing people, which i strongly support. one of the elements of making war is to capture people and hold them, not through the criminal justice system, but hold them under the laws of armed conflict. we ha

forward, and one of their predictions is that if nothing else goes wrong, they think they can be in raqqah by the end of the year. but they still are far away from achieving that goal. and in the past, isis has shown it can rebound after being pushed back. fred plight again, cnn, eastern syria. >>> back now in the united states and the race for the white house, the rhetoric is getting more heated among politicians after the death of supreme court justice antonin scalia. president obama has every intention, he says, of naming a replacement to the court. that is despite republican vows to dough lay or even to block outright that nominee. but it won't happen this coming week. the u.s. senate, which must approve the nominee, is in recess. the white house says the president will announce his selection when senators return from recess. fair to say, mr. obama faces an uphill battle with this. brian nobles explains what's at stake. >> reporter: a moment of silence for justice antonin scalia. it did not take long for the death of supreme court justice antonin scalia to get political in the debate.

saudi arabia is expected to help in the fight to retake raqqah.sh carter expects both saudi arabia and united emirates to provide fighting aid. >>> the time is 5:51. and we want to get a check on the forecast. i know over the next seven days we'll get a little bit of everything. but this next 24 hours going to be pretty challenging. >> very dicey and then a big rapid improvement after that. first thing this morning, winter weather advisories and winter storm warnings for everybody. the brighter shades here, that's the winter storm warning that includes the blue ridge and shenandoah valley and st. mary's. the rest of the area under the winter weather advisory. the reason they upgraded st. mary's county, they already have 3 to 5 inches of snow on the ground and it's still coming down. all snow through the 3 to 6 inches for most. you can send me your snow rep t report @chuckbell4. risk of freezing rain for this evening and tonight, most dangerous time frame likely to be 8:00 tonight to 8:00 a.m. road conditions snow covered this morning, snow covered

. >>> refugees fleeing from raqqah, syria, say terrorist leaders are cutting salaries, releasing hostages at down market prices and taking other measures to deal with the cash flow shortage. isis once bragged about minting its own currency. but strikes against cash stockpiles and oil infrastructure have eroded millions from finances since last fall. there is an apparent difference of opinion about how dangerous the threat is becoming from isis terrorists. here's our report and a warning, some of the image you say may be disturbing. >> reporter: the deputy secretary of state said significant progress has been made along the turkish/syrian border against isis. >> we were working with the turks to get control of the last 10%. >> reporter: speaking to the brookings institution, they said the group known as dash are in iraq where u.s. forces are working with local fighters. >> they have not been able to engage in any offensive operations since last spring. what we're seeing is that not only are we taking back territory. but we're doing it in a strategic way. >> reporter: but his upbeat assessm

the biggest names in news with fun from 9:00 to 10:00, willy geist tamra hall and our culture -- al-raqqah focus on culture. kathy lee gifford and hold a -- host the fourth hour as a talkshow format with interviews and -- features and lighter subjects. one interesting connection -- she and monica liberty are longtime friends. she calls hoda one of her favorite people in the world. "nbc nightly news" goes beyond the headlines and brings you context and analysis. anchor lester holt goes where the big stories are. polled also an -- acres dateline nbc, the prime time program packed with investigative features and real- life mysteries. and dive deep into unparalleled political coverage. watch nbc's meet the press sunday mornings. did you know, meet the press is television history. and soon it will find a home on wral tv. reni chu, wral news. >> here i am, hello ladies and gentlemen. it will be right here on wral. on monday be sure to watch the morning news at 6:30 am. bill and reni talk live with a torn -- with "the today show" team and bill goodman will press the button to turn on nbc programm

picture a recruiting line for raqqah and sometimes tweets they're going to close guantanamo. i don't see anybody leaving the line. >> why did george w. bush want to close it? >> we did. that's a point of i want to emphasize. this is not the first administration that wanted to reduce the size. it's not so much it was a recruitment tool for jihadists. more or less it's an issue our allies, not our enemies. it makes our allies uncomfortable. now, keep in mind, fareed, let's say the president is successful. and i hope to god he's successful without creating a constitutional crisis, that we actually get a political agreement here, but let's say the president is successful and he moves these people to the united states. you realize he is still going to keep people indefinitely. there are some forever prisoners in that bunch that are never going to see a court of law, who are too dangerous to release but against whom we cannot martial a judicial process because of the rules of evidence, not because we lack confidence of what they have done. and so this is only going to be a partial

and one of their predictions is, that if nothing else goes wrong, they think they can be in raqqah by the end of the year. but they still are far away from achieving that goal, and this the past, isis has shown it can rebound after being pushed back. fred pleitgen, cnn, eastern syria. >>> moving to israel where the former prime minister is headed to prison this day to serve a 18-month prisonson tense. he was convicted on bribery charges in 2015. he led israel from 2006 to 2009, and he will be the first israeli prime minister to go to jail. we go live to jerusalem. orren leieberman covering developments for us. this is the man who has held high office and knows government secrets. so will he be mixed in with the prison population, or are there special plans for him? >> reporter: well, because of him holding the highest office, he will be kept separate in ward ten, a recently renovated section of the prison close to the ben gurion airport. it's about a 45 minute drive to that prison. he has to report by 10:00 this morning according to prison authorities, so he should be there a few minu

ash carter told journalists today the strategy center on capturing the cities of mosul in iraq and raqqah in syria, his comments came after a nato meeting in brussels where allies turkey, germany and greece asked for help to end the migration crisis in europe which is the worst since world war ii. >>> we've all probably been upset about a haircut at one time or another in our lives, but police say one california woman was so upset about her new do she tried basher -- barber. the barber says the woman left happy, left a $20 tip even. the woman returned an hour later armed with a gun to complain. witnesses say she tried to shoot the barber three times but the gun didn't fire. that's when the barber and others tackled her to the ground. the victim says it was a very scary moment. >> all life run in front of your eyes. she came in, you know, bald spot on the side. i'm like i didn't do that. >> when she came back in she did not have the same haircut that she had actually left with. >> the woman is expected to face an attempted murder charge. >>> a homeowner in miami is speaking out after a sur

the syrian army is also getting ready to move on raqqah provi e province, a stronghold against isis. has been moving against isis positions for months now since it took over back in 2014. russia has promised to keep bombing isis positions throughout the beginning of the cease-fire. >>> as the battle incidentensifn the outstirts kirts of aleppo, reporter was given access to the front lines where syrian forces are battling rebels. >> reporter: years of urban combat have laid waste to aleppo's old town. we're right on the front line in the syrian government's offensive against the opposition. the soldiers here tell us they still frequently see rebels on the other side but they also say they often pick them off from the snipers' nest. the soldier tells me morale has never been higher. "thanks to god, everything here is under control," he says. "our fingers are on the triggers ready to destroy the rebels." bashar al assad's forces have made major gains while the opposition rebels say they're simply being slaughtered. for years this battlefield was in a stalemate, the front line right arou

we're using it pretty effectively in iraq, in syria, in raqqah against the islamic state. first strike that you saw in libya will not be the last strike in libya. so there's a hard power short game component. medium term we've got to go after their financing and the long game is going against their recruiting efforts, their proselytizing using strategic communications to try to shift this dialogue and that really entails partnering with the arab world. again, back to the conversations today between the king and the president, that's the long game, but you're going to need all three from hard power to soft power to get this thing done. >> president obama announced plans yesterday to close the detention center at guantanamo bay. he said it does not advance our national security and serves as a recruiting tool for terrorism. republicans say that these are the worst of the worst and should not be housed on american soil. you were in charge of u.s. southern command, which was responsible for gitmo. you were in charge from 2006 to 2009. what do you think of the president's plan?

right now it's in raqqah, the divine capital.one is being drawn there because they believe this is the end of times. once we go in there, take raqqah down, they'll see this is not the caliphate and at least at that point they'll stop bringing so many people in. right now, they're bringing people in from everywhere. inspiring people from all over the world. they said yesterday they'll get attacked tomorrow. >> we hope our intelligence officials will crack down on this more. rob o'neill, thank you. the man who killed osama bin laden. >>> a huge two hours ahead on this day after the new hampshire primary. jeb bush, marco rubio and last night's winner donald trump all join us live. nexium 24hr is the new #1 selling frequent heartburn brand in america. i hope you like it spicy! get complete protection with the purple pill. the new leader in frequent heartburn. that's nexium level protection. if time is infinite, why is ta john deere 1 family tractor can give you more time for what you love. because with our quick-attach features, it t

isis has crucified people in the center of raqqah, syria.up has killed thousands of yazidis, an eths nick and religious minority. this 15-year-old described what happened to his family in sinjar province. trt isis killed my dad, my uncles. they kidnapped 25 relatives, including women. >> reporter: isis has enslaved yazidi women and girls. bragging about it in videos. >> where is my yazidi girl? >> reporter: they are pushing the white house to formally accuse isis of genocide. religious freedom advocates say it's past time. >> you've got killings by a number of barbaric methods, beheadings, rape of young girls, a number of actions with the intent to inflict violence, death and other forms of mental stress which will drive those communities from the middle east. >> reporter: u.s. officials tell cnn inside the obama mrg administration a debate has been going on of whether to accuse isis of genocide. >> i share just a huge sense of revulsion over these acts, obviously. >> reporter: but kerry says the administration's lawyers have to first make a

ground, principally the arabs and the kurds who are willing to stand up and take territory back from raqqah to ramadi. we have to continue to work with the iraqi army so that they are better prepared to advance on some of the other strongholds inside iraq like mosul when they are able to do so. and we have to cut off the flow of foreign funding and foreign fighters. and we have to take on isis online. they are a sophisticated purveyor of propaganda, a celebrator of violence, an instigator of attacks using their online presence. here at home we have to do a better job coordinating between federal, state and national intelligence. we need the best possible intelligence, not only from our own sources but from sources overseas that can be a realtime fusion effort to get information where it's needed. but the final thing i want to say about this is the following: you know, after 9/11, one of the efforts that we did in new york was if you see something or hear something suspicious, report it. and we need to do that throughout the country, but we need to understand that american muslims are on the

the next thing the pentagon is watching is russian maneuvering around raqqah, the capital of isis infor spending time with us here in "the situation room." >>> outfront next, donald trump on a major victory lap, even talking about his vp pick. plus sanders accusing trump of racism against obama. new details tonight about the uber driver charged with killing six strangers. what he is saying to investigators behind closed doors tonight. let's go "outfront." >>> good evening. i'm erin burnett. outfont tonight, a quote, bombshell, in trump's taxes. that's what

questions ago you said mosul is not in the future and i'm wondering if you think that both mosul and raqqahill be moving past the isolation phase and into a more direct operations phase before the end of the year? general dunford: honestly, i don't know. i don't know. my point is in highlighting that operations have already begun. there's a lot of unknowns, as you part the operation. what's the enemy going to be, the support going to be? my point is rather than trying to project when this is over, you know, we ought to focus on setting the conditions now to isolate mosul and make sure we have successful operations in mosul. so i would not at all be in the business of predicting when mosul would be secure or seized. >> one more question. reporter: general dunford, given the high rate in which released guantanamo detainees return to the battlefield, are you a little concerned that these released guantanamo detainees will go back to the battlefield and kill americans again? general dunford: first off, we're not releasing the detainees from guantanamo bay. there is a plan to cause them to be re

what local forces will serve as a whole for us once ice sill removed from mosul, raqqah and the surrounding areas? how will iran seek to increase its interest in iraq? how will turkey respond to the threat of isil to its borders? will our partners across the gulf unify their efforts in syria and how will isil act within iraq and syria and tra transregionally as it is put under increasing amounts of pressure? again, i look forward to your assessments on these important issues. the past year has seen substantial changes in the nature of the international community's relationship with iran. the joint comprehensive plan of action between the so-called 3, p5+1 in iran has a rigorous regime ever assembled. i hope our witness also provide their assessment of the likelihood of iran complying with the agreement over its term. while the jcpoa made substantial progress with respect to iran's nuclear program it allowed iran to return to the economic community. this presents the united states and partners in the middle east with an adversary with additional resources they may use to support proxies in s

they're getting squeezed in raqqah, their capital, so they're moving over to libya.about it. as they try to get a government together, they're going to continue to grow. the u.s. concerned that isis will go after libyan oil fields. >> that could be a source of huge revenue for isis as well, which raises the questions air strikes from f-15s and f-16s, one thing. what about u.s. ground troops going into libya? >> i don't think you're going to see ground troops. the u.s. is looking to other countries like italy, the isis envoy who was just in egypt this week presumably talking about this operation. they're increasing their covert special operations. you'll continue to see these kind of one-offs like we saw in november when they went after the leader of isis in libya, but the u.s. wants to get that government in there and try to work that way. these one-offs are not really going to solve your isis problem. it kind of reminds me of the debate in syria where the debate dragged on and isis grew. right now, we're seeing 5,000 operatives in libya. it's going to continue to gr

we cut off the road that accessed raqqah and mosul and many other things we can discuss. assisting the government in baghdad as it seeks to professionalize its security forces and through the international syria support group which we formed, put together, we have helped design a plan that's resulted in the delivery of a possib possiblpossible cresessation of hostilities. we have a team working directly with the co-chairs, the russians in an effort to try to encourage that process to take hold. i will say that for the first time in years, five or six communities have received some 114 trucks of humanitarian assistance, and some 80,000 people now have supplies for a month that didn't have it a week ago before we were able to seal that agreement. and my hope is, though i know it's very difficult, no illusions about it, my hope is that we can work out a modality. we're calling in every party to join this effort and we can talk about our vision for the political settlement itself. i close by saying, mr. chairman, as everybody knows this is the last budget of the obama adminis

picture terms, think of an arrow going north tn take mosul and another arrow coming south to take raqqah. that's kind of a good mental picture of taking care of isil w in syria and iraq. we have other places in the world, but we have -- it's necessary, not sufficient but necessary to destroy isil in 's iraq and syria.d. and what i'm going do with them is say, here are all the capabilities that are needed. boots on the ground. he airplanes in the air.. more prosaic things. logistics. bridging. training. training for those police that are going to patrol cities like they're patrolling ramadi now ae once the cities are retaken. you i will say, okay, guys, let's match up what is needed to win with what you have and kind of d give everybody the opportunity to make an assignment for themselves. this is important.rtant.thates i the united states will lead bec this. and we're determined. real but other people have to do their part. because this really is -- civilization has to fight for itself. -- >> we've flown about 10,000 sorties over iraq and syria in this effort. but most of them have been

by encircling and taking this town, we're seeking to sever the last major northern artery between raqqahand mosul and ultimately dissect the parent tumor in two parts, one in iraq and the other in syria. this is just the most recent example of how we're effectively enabling and partnering with local forces to help deal isol a lasting defeat. next, two of the other four challenges reflect a recognition of, a return to in some ways great power and competition. one challenge is in europe where we're taking a strong and balanced approach to deter russian aggression. we haven't had to devote the significant portion of our defense investment to this possibility for a quarter century, but now we do. the other challenge is in the asia pacific where china is rising, which is fine, but behaving aggressively, which is not. there we're continuing our rebalance in terms of weight of effort to maintain the regional stability we've underwritten for the past 70 years allowing so many nations to rise and prosper in this, the single most consequential region for america's future. meanwhile, two other long