the group published guidelines for what it called sinjar operations. enslaving the families of the infidels and taking their women is a firmly established aspect of thesha ree ya. >> translator: it had been the tradition since the early islamic conference when they took over. they have certain rules. >> this is an analyst at a research center who has made study of the rise of the islamic state. >> i think there is a tendency among people to think it's mostly in the west to say that isis is nothing to do with islam. i think that is absolutely false. isis justifies everything every act that they conduct and carry out for islamic traditions. >> the blind adherence to tradition. >> translator: my feeling was i never ever see them again. these people took the smile from our lips. they took all of our happiness. at ally bank no branches equals great rates. it's a fact. kind of like shopping hungry equals overshopping. i take prilosec otc each morning for my frequent heartburn. because it gives me... zero heartburn! prilosec otc. the number 1 doctor-recommend

the fight is still going on inside sinjar city.the weapon that we have received have been old weapons like, we need mortars, helicopters armored vehicles. >> he worries his forces are outgunned by isis which has been armed inadvertently by the u.s. >> translator: most of the american weapons that were given to iraqi armies fell into isis hands. and they have all modern and advanced weapons. like humvees and armored vehicles. >> peshmerga we spoke to were bitter about how they were paying for the cowcowardice of the iraqi forces. [ speaking in a foreign language ] >> translator: meanwhile, others are running towards. >> whether it's incoming or outgoing i couldn't tell you this time. >> patrick, a 37-year-old american doesn't want us to use his full name. he is one of a handful american-european adventure seekers who have joined the peshmerga to fight isis. >> a lot of rpgs, a lot. i don't know how many they have but it's an endless barrage. mortars, they shake the earth man. >> while i was there the two sides were having a standoff

the situation. >> we're driving up to mount sinjar at the moment.re was heavy fighting up here. and there's still a threat of isis attacks. up ahead is where the yazidis took refuge in june and still many of them up there. living conditions on the mountain provided a bare sustenance. >> translator: there are tents. some are cold some are okay. in the summer it was warm and comes down to zero degrees celsius. >> the local fighting force. her tent on mount sinjar is filled with family and strangers. >> translator: some of them are my relatives and some are newcomers that we have welcomed among us. we share the tent together. >> not all the yazidi refugees live atop mount sinjar. those who made their way off the mountain were living in newly constructed trailer parks. most of the yazidi women taken as slaves are still missing. some have been able to get messages back to their people. their plea, don't worry about our safety. bomb our isis captors. one of those messages. >> translator: please help us. we were raped many, many times in the day. we need t

the group published guidelines for what it called sinjar operations. enslaving the families of the infidels and taking their women is a firmly established aspect of thesha ree ya. >> translator: it had been the tradition since the early islamic conference when they took over. they have certain rules. >> this is an analyst at a research center who has made study of the rise of the islamic state. >> i think there is a tendency among people to think it's mostly in the west to say that isis is nothing to do with islam. i think that is absolutely false. isis justifies everything every act that they conduct and carry out for islamic traditions. >> the blind adherence to tradition. >> translator: my feeling was i never ever see them again. these people took the smile from our lips. they took all of o woman: for soft beautiful feet i have a professional secret: amopé and its premium foot care line. the new amopé pedi perfect foot file gives you soft beautiful feet effortlessly. its microlumina rotating head buffs away hard skin even on those hard-to-reach spot

sinjar to assess the situation. >> we're driving up mt. sinjar at the moment.en a lot of fighting around here. up ahead is the mountain itself where the jazzdies took their refuge in june and there are still many of them up there. >> translator: there are different tents. some are cold some okay. in the summer it was 50 warm. now it's down to zero degree sell yus. >> her tent was filled with family and strangers. >> translator: some of them are my relative's some are newcomers that we are welcomed among us. we shared the tent together. >> not all of the yazidi refugees live atop mt. sinjar. those who made their way off the mountain were living in newly constructed trailer parks. most of the yazidi women taken as slaves are still missing. some have been able to get messages back to their people. their plea don't worry about our safety. bomb our isis captors. one of those messages -- >> translator: please help us. we are raped many, many times in a day. we need to die. >> and the unthinkable, a plea from an iraqi mother that her kidnapped daughters be put out f t

they have guidelines for what it called the sinjar regulations. they say quote enslaving the families as indidfidels and taking their families as concubines is an aspect of the sharia. >> it has been the tradition since early conflict when they took over certain areas they have certain rules. >> hassan is an analyst at a research center in abu dhabi who made a study of the rise of islamic state. >> there is a tendency mostly in the west who say isis has nothing to do with islam. that is false. isis justifies everything, every act it conducts it carries out through islamic tradition. >> that blind add peerherence to tradition meant ang lish for takil and ali whose loved ones were skill held by isis. >> my feeling was i will never ever see them again at home. these people took the smile from our lips. they took all of our happiness. really? new alka-seltzer plus day powder rushes relief to your worst cold symptoms plus chest congestion. oh, what a relief it is. here we go! apples may fall, but the apples of your cheeks don't have to. defy gravity wi

sinjar. that policy of stopping territorial advances quickly morphed into addressing the humanitarian crisis. the u.s. delivered the humanitarian supplies and air airstrikes against the isis fighters in sinjar. ultimately it was the pkk and the people's protection units that opened the humanitarian corridor allowing tens of thousands of the yazidis to fully mt. sinjar. the second phase of the operation was really humanitarian in its focus. america's approach continue to evolve to a point where we now have emphasized we have taken territory. we assisted kurdish peshmerga and some iraqi forces in the battle to retake the mosul dam. the peshmerga also launched a counteroffensive to regain territories and shingle a region on this syria turkish iraqi border. peshmerga liberated mt. sinjar and the villages around sinjar and all of this was happening at the same time as we were getting involved in kobani. so isis is a real threat to iraq, to syria. it controls a third of iraq's territory, a half of

as we heard, a lot of it back in august at mount sinjar. we heard that many women were solved into into slavery or sexual slavery. we have brought back as far as east coast and west coast of syria. we've discovered mass graves, a lot of young boys and men have been executed. we're still missing about 5,000 yazidi men boys, women and girls to this point. >> meanwhile, the iraqi government continues it's offensive to retake the city of tikrit in isil. what are you hearing there about the operation? >> well, every time isil or isis realizes that they're losing ground, they would send in suicide-bombers, suicide trucks. they have a lot of sharp shooters, not necessarily iraqis or syrian, a lot of these we discovered to come as far as chechnya. there have been a lot of boobie traps. every time they felt they were losing ground, they would resort to these tactics. it has become more challenge for take over these areas. but peshmerga are determined to take back these cities and mosul as well. >> that's the big appreciations isn't it. i was going t

peshmerga liberated mount sinjar and the villages around sipjar, and all of -- sinjar and all of this was happening around the same time as they were getting involved in kobani. is so isis is a real threat to iraq, to syria. it controls a third of iraq's territory, a half of syria's territory. there are 8-10 million people who live on those territories under isis control. isis is well armed because of the arms that they seized from the iraqi armed forces. they're well financed. when they came into mosul they took $340 million out of the mosul bank. they were operating 18 oil wells and refineries. they've generated revenue through hostage taking, through selling historical and architectural artifacts. it's estimated that the annual budget for the islamic state is going to be $2 billion. so they are a force to be reckoned with. >> i want to back up just a little bit and i ask this question of you because you have always been very straight with sort of criticizing u.s./iraq policy, and you've done so across both administrations in terms of the governance of iraq and some of the decisions

led air strikes helped kurdish forces break the siege of mount sinjar. pro government force he recaptured beiji. a coordinated mission to retake mosul will probably begin in april or may involving up to 25,000 iraqi troops. need to recapture the city of tikrit because of its strategic location of the north south supply route from baghdad. at the very least there's expected to be strong resistance there. >> more to come here on al jazeera, including: more on why a u.s. backed rebel group in syria has decided to disband. and, south africa's sex workers demand a change of law to bring a change to their lives. >> the new al jazeera america primetime. get the real news you've been looking for. at 7:00, a thorough wrapup of the day's events. then at 8:00, john seigenthaler digs deeper into the stories of the day. and at 9:00, get a global perspective on the news. weeknights, on al jazeera america . >> a reminder of the top stories on al jazeera. israeli's prime minister has defended his scheduled speech to the u.s. congress saying he does not mean to disrespec

-led air strikes helped kurdish ground forces break isil's siege of mount sinjar. in november pro government forces recaptured the home to iraq's biggest oil refinery. more recently pashmerga fighters have been making advances. although the u.s. has indicated they may not be ready by then. but they first need to recapture the city of tikrit because of its strategic location to baghdad. previous attempts have failed and there's likely to be strong resistance there. >> for more on this let's go live to fox island in washington state and speak to a senior advisor for the national security network and also former u.s. army major general. sir, thank you so much for joining us here on al jazeera. first of all, what do you think will be the major challenges faced by iraqi security forces? >> any urban warfare, attack is a complex military event, and we have a complex force. this is a force that has not developed habitual relationships, it's going to integrate air and helicopter support. complex urban warfare with a complex attacking force, an enemy that is blooded and pro

isil's siege of mount sinjar where tens of thousands of yazidis were stranded. more recently kurdish peshmerga have been making advances against isil. a coordinated mission to retake mosul will probably begin in april or may although the u.s. has indicated they may not be ready by then but they first need to recapture the city of tikrit because of its strategic location of the north-south supply route from baghdad. we should not forget previous attempts to take tikrit have failed and there's likely to be strong resistance there at the very least >>> two people killed and nine others injured in cairo. the bomb was hiddenen underneath a parked car. a group calling itself revolutionary punishment reportedly claims responsibility for the attack >>> straight ahead, tensions power struggles, and mistrust between syria's rebel groups causes one of them to disband. >> john kerry warned of further conventions if the kremlin and pro russian separatists fail to fully implement the cease fire. a fragile truce is holding in the east of the country where fighting has killed m

-lead air strikes helped break isil's siege at mown sinjar and in november with the help of coalition strike pro-government forces recaptured beiji. more recently kurdish peshmerga fighters have been making advances around mosul. a coordinationed mission to retake mosul will probably begin in april or may. involving 25,000 iraqi troops. but they first need to recapture the city of tikrit because of its strategic location. we shouldn't forget previous attempts to take tikrit have failed, and at the very least there is likely to be strong resistance there. >>> forces rival to libya's air force have been carrying out tit-for-tat air strikes. a jet struck the oil point and the airport, though it is said to only be minor damages. forces from the u.n. hit back targeting the only working airport in the capitol tripoli. tripoli's forces are battling on a third front as well against isil affiliated fighters. now it's all ahead of the u.n. brokered peace talks due to begin in morocco later in the week. our correspondent has more from tripoli. >> reporter: the air strike that targeted this -- th

sinjar, we were involved with the united states and others in airdrops of food and emergency supplies to them and supporting kr g-forces in trying to secure an escape route from the mountain for them, and it became clear over time that the overwhelming majority of those that wanted to get off the mountain had been able to do so. and i think in the north certainly our engagement with krg forces, the leverage that that engagement gives us the anyway quite generous instinct of the krg forces towards minority communities in the north, is the best -- the best support to offer to those minority communities. but of course it remains the case that those who belong to religious minorities in areas controlled by isil can expect a horrendous fate to await them. and as the iraqi government eventually rolls back isil control, i have no doubt we will uncover atrocities that we are not currently aware of and i'm afraid that's a horror that awaits us in the future. >> we also know that the position of uzidi women and the fact that many of them have been sold into slavery. we've had accounts from some

sinjar, we were involved with the united states and others in airdrops of food and emergency supplies to them and supporting kr g-forces in trying to secure an escape route from the mountain for them, and it became clear over time that the overwhelming majority of those that wanted to get off the mountain had been able to do so. and i think in the north certainly our engagement with krg forces, the leverage that that engagement gives us the anyway quite generous instinct of the krg forces towards minority communities in the north, is the best -- the best support to offer to those minority communities. but of course it remains the case that those who belong to religious minorities in areas controlled by isil can expect a horrendous fate to await them. and as the iraqi government eventually rolls back isil control, i have no doubt we will uncover atrocities that we are not currently aware of and i'm afraid that's a horror that awaits us in the future. >> we also know that the position of uzidi women and the fact that many of them have been sold into slavery. we've had accounts from some

the peshmerga has taken control of the mosul dam, the crossing with syria, the sinjar mountain, zumar and the kissic road junction which eliminated a supply route for isil from syria to mosul. these forces also broke the siege of the oil refinery and have begun to push north into the tigris valley. to the west, sunni tribes are working with iraqi security forces to retake the land in the heart of al anbar, a land i know well. last weekend under the cover of bad weather, isil launched an attack on the town of al baghdadi, near the air base in al anbar where our forces are located with the danes and australians to help to train iraqi soldiers and tribal volunteers. isil as it has done over and over again rampaged through the town, killing civilians and driving hundreds of families into the safe haven of the air base. but the iraqis did not sit idle. they organized and fought back. the prime minister went to the joint operations center in baghdad and ordered an immediate counterattack. the minister of defense flew to al assad to organize available forces and iraqi army commander sent an

the peshmerga has taken control of the mosul dam, the crossing with syria, the sinjar mountain, zumar and the kissic road junction which eliminated a supply route for isil from syria to mosul. these forces also broke the siege of the oil refinery and have begun to push north into the tigris valley. to the west, sunni tribes are working with iraqi security forces to retake the land in the heart of al anbar, a land i know well. last weekend under the cover of bad weather, isil launched an attack on the town of al baghdadi, near the air base in al anbar where our forces are located with the danes and australians to help to train iraqi soldiers and tribal volunteers. isil as it has done over and over again rampaged through the town, killing civilians and driving hundreds of families into the safe haven of the air base. but the iraqis did not sit idle. they organized and fought back. the prime minister went to the joint operations center in baghdad and ordered an immediate counterattack. the minister of defense flew to al assad to organize available they organized and fought back. the prim

sinjar, we were involved with the united states and others in air drops of food and emergency supplies to them. and supporting krg forces in trying to secure and escape route from the mountain for them. and it became clear over time that the overwhelming majority of those that wanted to get off the mountain had been able to do so. and i think in the north, certainly, our engagement with krg forces the leverage that engagement gives us the anyway quite generous instinct of the krg forces towards minority communities in the north is the best support to offer to those minority communities. but of course it remains the case that those who belong to religious minorities in areas controlled by isil can expect a horrendous fate to await them. as the iraqi government eventually rolls back isil control, i have no doubt that we will uncover atrocities that we are not currently aware of. i'm afraid that's a horror that awaits us in the future. >> we also know that the position of yazidi women and the fact that many of them have been sold into slavery. we've had accounts from some who managed to e

we were over sinjar iraq. we were able to drop meals for displaced citizens.ground displaced. that image to me was powerful because, you know it shows we care about the people we support. >> yeah. >> amazing. what's your favorite? >> my favorite photograph is actually a series of photographs. it was a life changing series of photographs for me. it's on satisfy starting shantel tebow. i had the opportunity to capture her story. it was very emotional. it was life changing for me. we shared a lot of tears and laughter. those photographs were actually selected because -- in sequence -- because it told her story. >> we see the harder pictures and lightest with the teddy bear. what's the hardest you had to photograph? >> the hardest i had to photograph was -- i'd have to say the breast cancer story and the afghan funeral. >> why was that so difficult? >> those were difficult because of the emotional impact. you know we always think about life and death and everything in between you know. when you get an opportunity to capture it, it puts life into a different perspe