for discussion on this i'm joined by robert grenier, robert good to see you. israel was able to target and kill at least three of hamas's top military leaders on thursday. given the kind of precautions these men usually take, would it have been possible for israel to get at them without inside help? >> forget they completely controlled the entire cell phone system in gaza so they can use that for geo-location for intercept of communication for communication themselves with potential agents, they have drones that just blanket the area. and as the campaign goes on, it's only natural as people are trying to move, shoot and communicate as the military says, that the opportunities for some sort of a slipup just magnify over time. that said, the israelis have been very, very clever throughout the palestinian territories both in west bank and gaza in maintaining a very effective network of informants. so in this particular case whether it was largely technical through human informants or some combination of the two we certainly don't know. >> i understand there's tre

i'm joined by robert grenier, an ish mission manager. he's an al jazeera contributor, good to see you. how big a disaster is it for iraq if the islamic state got control of one or both dams? >> it makes a serious situation that much more serious. remember the extremists want to govern their areas, and are looking for revenue streams. they would like to put themselves in a situation where iraq would have to buy electricity. on the other hand, if they succeed in seizing and controlling the dams, they'd be in a position to sabotage the dams. >> they could flood towns with the water. >> they could destroy tur bins and make it difficult to put the electricity online. if they destroy the dams they could create massive flooding down stream. >> the kurdish peshmerga were believed to be some of the best soldiers, taking on saddam hussein, and thought capable of beating the jihadists. now they've been driven back. some thought the islamic state would have trouble holding on to territory. instead, they are taking more. >> that's true. i can't thank

joining us now is robert grenier, former counterterrorism official at the central intelligence agency. robert, we heard comparisons with al qaeda, the suggestion that the islamic state has plenty of money. how great a threat do you think they pose to the united states? >> they don't pose a great threat to the united states right now. i think what everybody is frayed of is the threat they could ultimately pose. and we see the islamic state bumping up against u.s. interests, they already see the need to defend themselves against u.s. interests, that threat will only be increased over time. >> the worry is that they could take advantage of europeans and they could easily come back and carry out attacks within the united states. >> well, that's absolutely true. there are a great many foreign fighters, including fighters, estimates up to 12,000 altogether. that's from around the world not just westerners. but even if the number of westerners could potentially be turned back is only in the hundreds that is a potentially significant threat. so long as they are preoccupied by the fight in syr

for more on the situation i'm joined by robert grenier. mission manager in iraq from 2002 to 2004 and he is an al jazeera contributor. robert as always good to have you with us. the u.s. is using air power exclusively. it's clearly been effective to the extent it's been used but are you surprised that it is being limited to far to just pinprick attacks? it certainly seems that there's no shock and awe this time around. >> well, no i'm not surprised. this administration as we know has very much wanted to avoid military engagement wherever they could and they are very cherry in drawn into an open military commitment. they are clear to state what the guidelines are what the policies are that they are trying to support and they're stating very clearly that any use of military force will be only in support of those objectives. number one to protect u.s. facilities and personnel and secondly to avoid a catastrophic humanitarian situation in northern iraq. >> in that context the white house says it's determined to keep the white house from being d

. >> robert grenier, thanks for joining us. >> you're very welcome. >> an attack on a mosque in easternart of iraq is causing political gridlock. dozens of people were killed inside the sunni mosque when an armed group opened fire. nobody has claind -- claimed responsibility. iraq's miements haider al-abadi has -- prime minister haider al-abadi has a month to form a new government. >>> moscow says they are carrying humanitarian aid. kyiv says the cargo could be used to support the separatists. they have evidence that russian forces are launching artillery attacks from ukrainian soil. neave barker has more. >> reporter: on the move, more than 260 russian aid trucks. the vehicles have been in limbo on the border for more than a week as kyiv and moscow argue over their entry. in defiance of kyiv the trucks are rolling into ukraine, kyiv is calling it a direct invasion. and this is where the trucks are thought t to be heading. the separatist held city of luhansk where street to street fighting rages. the city remains under constant ukrainian bombardment. of this monastery, more than a thous