we can see the people below trapped on sinjar mountain. they're clustered under olive trees right now waving to us. they seem to have gathered in these shelters down here. a lot of women and children waving. the crew hurls packages out the door. people swarm the chopper. this has been one chaotic aid distribution. i really hope we didn't hurt anybody with the bottles of water we were throwing down from the height of 20, 30 feet. it's chaotic. people were waving, giving thumbs up. there are a couple of people very relieved to be off the mountain and clearly very, very frightened. then the helicopter lands one last time to pick up more passengers. >> here they come! >> reporter: more desperate people throw themselves at the aircraft. heaving their children on board. it's first come, first served. there were some who couldn't make it. aboard the aircraft, shock. exhaustion. fear. that eventually gives way to relief. i can't describe to you how relieved people are right now. they're just shocked in the chaos of that moment. but we've got littl

we can see the people below trapped on sinjar mountain.hey are clustered under all the trees right now, waving to us. they seem to have gathered in these shelters down here. a lot of women and children waving. >> reporter: the crew hurls packages out the door. people swarm the chopper. this has been one chaotic aid distribution. i really hope we didn't hurt anybody with the bottles of water we were throwing down from a high of 20, 30 feet. it's chaotic, with people were waving, they were giving thumbs up and there are a couple -- there are a couple of people very releafed to be off the mountain and clearly very frightened. >> then the helicopter lands one last time to pick up more passengers. here they come. more desperate people throw themselves at the aircraft. heaving their children on board. it's first come, first serve. there were some who couldn't make it. aboard the aircraft, shock, exhausti exhaustion, fear that eventually gives way to relief. >> reporter: i can't describe to you how relieved people are right now. they are just sho

. >> we have gone through a lot at sinjar mountains. children -- women and are being killed. i have 4 children and i don't know there were about. 2 have disappeared and i don't know about the other 2. >> the president -- residents of the kurdish capital of erbil are fearing fighters from the islamic state may soon attack the city. this is resident mahmoud you see if -- yousif. >> we are afraid that something bad will happen and supplies will run out. we are afraid because the political and militant situation could as percussion, we bought , and uses, meat quantities of canned foods come out of fear something bad will happen, god for bid. towe go now to northern iraq speak with tracey shelton, freelance journalist covering iraq, syria, libya, and conflict zones throughout the middle east. her recent piece for "global post" is called "there are reports of the islamic state executing dozens of yazidis." can you tell us about the situation and who the yazidis are? in a density region -- yazidi region and -- [indiscernible] >> we are having

they say a mission atop sinjar mountain has become less desperate and many refugees have been able to escape with the help of u.s. air strikes. u.s. advisers made the assessment. they were sent to determine if a rescue mission was necessary. tens of thousands of yazidis and christians fled to the mountains driven from their homes by islamic extremists. fewer than 5,000 remain. defense secretary chuck hagel told reporters yesterday six days of u.s. air strikes have pushed militants away allowing refugees to escape. he said those left behind seem to be doing relatively well thanks to air drops of food and water. secretary hagel said while a u.s. rescue mission now seems unlikely, he won't rule it out completely. he says iraq remains a troubled country and the u.s. effort there is not over. a u.s. military led rescue mission could have involved american ground troops, but the white house insisted their job would have been for humanitarian purposes and not for combat. now brittain, france, and germany are among allies now committing to give supplies to the refugees or equipment to those b

>>> refugees continue to hide in the sinjar mountains as the u.s. bombs more rebel targets. ♪ ♪ >>> i am jane cut and this is at&t u-verse live from doha. also on the program, more fighting in eastern ukraine, russia denies reports that part of a military convoy was destroyed after crossing the border. >>> hundreds of thousands of worshipers turn out in south korea as the roman catholic pope holds an open air mass in seoul. and using otters to catch fish, now this crucial fishing partner is facing a bleak future in bangladesh. >>> there seems to be no end to the fight ago cross parts of northern iraq. the u.s. is helping the iraqi government and kurdish fighters drive out islamic state group. it's taken over large areas in the north of the country. the group wants to establish an islamic state in the region and has driven more than a million civilians from their homes. refugees are still hiding in the sinjar mountains as the u.s. continues its bombing campaign in the area. the u.s. targeted four sites, controlled by rebel fighters. reports suggest i

bombing has hit targets near mosul and areas in the sinjar mountains. reports suggest 15 islamic state fighters have been killed in the latest attacks, the heaviest airstrikes since the u.s. started thcampaign last week. refugees continues to shelter in the sinjar mountains to try to esc ate the islamic state fighters. many ethnic minorities have been targeted by the intolerant group. hundreds have cross into turkey. others are sheltering in in crowded camps near the border. is blamic state groups control large parts of syria. the area it holds stretches from the north of syria right across to fallujah and samarah in eastern iraq. the fighters have forced government troops out of many towns and villages. zeina hodr reports from erbil. >> reporter: u.s. air strikes targeting sinjar and in areas around the mosul dam are hoping to push at about back fighters. they have said time and time again the objective is to defend the kurdish regions in the north and to protect minorities. what we do understand from our sources in the peshmerga is that the kurdish fo

when isis moved in, the civilians moved out and up to sinjar mountain. e water, even less food. it was a crisis the team needed to see for themselves. >> i'd been offered two ways to try to go see the yazidis trapped on mt. sinjar. one was to cross the border into syria and come back into iraq and then hike for miles to mt. sinjar and then hike up the mountain. the other was to perhaps try to get some kind of a helicopter to the mountain. we were hearing that there were aid drops taking place. >> it was sort of the only way to get on top of this masada like mountaintop that the yazidis were in. and, you know, it was surrounded by isis. >> after days of waiting, the cnn team was granted permission to accompany a mixed crew of kurdish peshmerga and iraqi air force personnel on an aid drop mission to mt. sinjar. >> i knew that this was a dangerous trip. but i thought that going to see what was taking place was worth that risk. 15 minutes into the flight, they are just unloading their machine guns. and they're picking out targets down below. and we can't see

but officials admit even with the crisis improving in the sinjar mountains, the crisis won't be overe soon. >>> libya's newly elected parliament has asked the united nations for an international intervention to protect civilians. also vote today dismantle militias responsible for the violence. they have been clashing with fighters around tripoli's airport but it's still being controlled by a rival militia. >>> pakistan's capital is in full lock down ahead of an anti government march planned by opposition groups of the leader imran kahn and opposition cleric are calling for the government to step down. they accuse the prime minister of vote riging in last year's election. they plan to leave thousands of supporters -- lead thousands of supporters in defines of a court order. tell us about the protest, what is is planned? >> reporter: well, as you put it rightly, islambad is in a state of lock down, but now all eyes are on islambad. we are told that even the flights coming in to islambad airport this morning are disrupted because the city is sealed off. in the next few hours, imran kahn

iraqi of military affairs. >> they are pushing south of erbil and there are claims to some of the sinjar mountaintuation has changed because the u.s. air strike has been very, very effective. there was a strike on one of isis' places north of sinjar. the relief operations going well. thousands of people have been saved and rescued but many other thousands are still besieged and trapped on sinjar mountain and the isis has been taking a more and more aggressive positive to annihilate them. the situation is still danger. the situation is not over. isis is a very, very lethal force, very dangerous with an ideology of hatred and it's trying to expand and change its military tactics to move their battles from one area to another with their superior weapons and guns. >> one of the things that the u.s. said is that these air strikes is not going to alleviate the isis threat. what do your forces need, in addition to what they have right now, in the form of military equipment, in the form of other support to win this fight? >> well, i think it's important their support is crucial but really it has to be fo

sources that 80,000 people have crossed over through syria, that back way route that goes down from sinjar mountain, across a bridge, back into northern iraq. a lot of those were actually on the mountain, and although they are not in immediate danger anymore, it is still very much a community in crisis. >> a political standoff in baghdad. is that being felt in erbil? what is the impact of that across the country? >> we haven't seen a lot of effusive welcomes for the new prime minister delegate. no one is sure how different he will be from the old prime minister, who still by the way is refusing to budge. they are from the same party and there has been a lot of bitterness between baghdad and erbil. it won't easily be erased with the designation of a new prime minister. there is hope this will be a new page turned and it's desperately needed both on the humanitarian front, this kurdish region is overwhelmed with displaced people, it's a u.n. emergency in fact. part is because it hasn't received funds from baghdad. the other is a military issue, essentially the consensus is there needs to be a lot mor

how many people remain at the top of the sinjar mountain? >> reporter: i could see during -- we were only over the mountain for probably ten minutes, fifteen minutes, topped. circling, dropping off the emergency food and water, and medicine. and then picking up these people. could see hundreds of people down below. and those numbers could be much lower. kurdish officials say there are tens of thousands still trapped on the mountain. and in some places, you could see probably more than 100 cars all parked in a cluster, which gives you a sense of how many people fled their home villages and hometown a week ago to this place, to this refuge on a hill. it was a large number of people. and as we flew around in circles, you could see the families cluttered under trees in the shade. so they appear to be spread out. brooke? >> what, ivan, did people tell you, tell the soldiers on board this helicopter after it landed? >> reporter: you know, brooke, there was this 15-year-old girl wearing purple clothes. she was beautiful. and she was inconsolable. as

the route off sinjar mountain in to syria and back in to iraq.ds have come this way with the help of syrian, kurdish rebels. the yazidi live in the kurdish region but with their towns taken over by islamic fighters, here they rely on the kindness of fighters. by the time a lot of these people cross the bridge they have been stranded on the mountains for days and walked for hours. these are the survivors. but a lot of them are wondering what will survive of their community. this camp just a few kilometers from the crossing was built for syrian refugees, it's now full of yazidis who tried and failed to defend their towns. >> translator: seven of my relatives it were killed by shelling. some were beheaded. >> reporter: he says they need help to go back and bury the bodies. he shows me a photo of the did he cap dated body of her elderly brother killed last thursday when the islamic state group took over their village. >> translator: my brother was beheaded and they put it on the internet for everyone to see. >> reporter: the yazidis say they have suf

they were trapped on sinjar mountain. some jadzs have been rescued by represent, thousands more have been led into kurdish territory in iraq, along the way families have been separated. >> translator: i put two of my sons in the car that came to get us then i went to grab the one i'm holding and when i got back the car had already left. i haven't seen the other children or my husband since then. >> yazidis and christians say the group called islamic state ordered them to convert to islam or die. iraq says there could still be more than 100,000 yazidis and christians trapped on top of that mountain. omar is president of the u.s. institute for peace center for middle east and africa. it's good to have you on the program again. >> thank you. >> with the political situation in iraq, how is it, even possible, to stem the tide of the islamic state in iraq? >> i think that one of the crucial elements is to recognize that the military solution or military intervention be it u.s. intervention limited or full iraqi military reactio

trapped on sinjar mountain. clustered, they're clustered under all the trees right now, waving to us. they seem to have gathered in these shelters down here. a lot of women and children waving. >> reporter: the crew hurls packages out the door. people swarm the chopper. >> this has been one chaotic mission. i hope we didn't hurt anybody with the bottles of water we were throwing down from a height of 20, 30 feet. it's chaotic. people were waving, giving thumbs up. and there are a number people very relieved to be off the mountain and clearly very, very frightened. >> reporter: then the helicopter lanlds one last time to pick up more passengers. >> here they come. more desperate people throw themselves at the aircraft. heaving their children on board. it's first come first served. there were some who couldn't make it. aboard the aircraft, shock. exhaustion. fear. that eventually gives way to relief. >> i can't describe to you how relieved people are right now. they're just shocked in the chaos of that moment. we'

some of those strikes you showed from today, in fact, were around sinjar mountain to help protect the people trapped on that mountain. they've, as you know, been coupled with humanitarian aid drops. also to protect our people in irbil and protect the strategically important city of irbil. we really wanted to prevent isil's very rapid move on irbil. it happened really over the past several days and that's why you saw the president take very quick action because there was an imminent threat to irbil. where we have a number of people today. he did speak with congressional leaders. we've talked to congress quite a bit about this. they understood the need to move very quickly to protect our people there. and unlike syria, the iraqi government invited us in. they asked us all different leaders in iraq, religious leaders, government leaders, tribal leaders, asked us to help in this case. that's why you've really seen where we could act for very urgent humanitarian crisis. tens of thousands of people, as you mentioned, potentially about to starve to death on this mountain, when we can bring r

a thousand people in sinjar, they're still in the mountain. even that we have no connection with more than 1,000 person. they are in the south of sinjar. that area still there, an. >> yes, you say there are still many still trapped on that mountain. we know that countries like the u.s. and france have been bringing them aid. but the fear is if they don't get off that mountain soon they're just going to die. >> you know, the mountain, the sinjar mountain is a very big mountain. so a thousand of people there, they don't know where the other group--they have no connection to all of them. some of them they are in the south. they then come to the north. some of them in the north, they go to the area where they walk to the syria border. all of this happen in the last three days, and then 100,000 people, 90% of them, they don't have cars. 90% of them they are kids and old women and old men. just this morning we heard from some people they are more than 1,000 people, all of them, they are hold men. they cannot walk to the area. they are under the contr

kurdish army has been at the forefront of battling the islamic state. >> i walk by foot from sinjar mountain to syria. >> as the fighting continues in the north the political in-fight something far from resolved. the prime minister designate haider al abadi has one month to form a government. >> so will nouri al-maliki step down or tighten his grip on power. what does that mean for a power change in baghdad, and how will that impact iraq as a whole? while insurgents with the islamic state fight for more ground. joining us, our guests. . >> thank you all for joining us. let's talk about our nominee for prime minister. who is al abadi? >> who is haider al abadi. 's leader who came to the country in the 70's, and has been involved in the iraqi war position since that time. he was one of the leader in london and beirut, so he's an outspoken person, and outside of the country. haider al abadi, he has been in all the iraqi position meeting over about 30-35 years so far. when he went back to the country he get literally minister and demonstration. he was the minister, and then he get elected and he

a lot of the people from sinjar mountain have now managed to come around. they come across into syria and northern iraq. that doesn't mean their difficult journey is over. >>> this floating area is the place for displaced yazidis. thousands have come this way with the hem of syrian kurdish rebels. the yazidi live in the kurdish region but with their towns taken over by islamic state fighters here they rely on the kindness of strangers. by the time a lot of these people cross this bridge they have been stranded on the mountains for days. and they've walked for hours. these are the survivors but a lot of them wonder what will 75 survive of their community. >>> yazidi tried and failed to defend their towns. >> translator: seven of my relatives were killed by rebels, they were killed by beheadings. >> decapitated body of her brother moussah. >> my brother was beheaded and they put it on the internet for everyone to see. >> in yazidi say they have suffered 17 massacres over the century. the only solution is for them all to leave. their anger extends to their lea

. >> the syrian and kurdish fighters tell us the sinjar mountain range is completely under their control and the humanitarian situation is much more manageable with only a few hundred of the many thousands of families left who had previously been stranded here. it is a very different situation in the valley surrounding us. to the north all the territory previously held by isis, plan through which the kurdish fighters and open to corridor so people could flee, it is still a very precarious situation there. help is still needed for the fighters and people on the mountain. that route is precarious. it is only a kilometer away. yesterday, we heard gunfire at several points. we were warned mortars had been fired earlier in the day. that gives you an idea of how difficult it is for civilians trying to use that road. there was active fighting last night. we heard shelling through the night about 30 kilometers away. it is still a very active zone, very difficult place for civilians who have been caught up in the fighting. >> that was adam reporting from sinjar mountain. >> inspection of a russia

. >> thousands of members of a minority christian sect remain stuck on sinjar mountain with limited food and water after isis fighters forced them from their homes. the u.s. advisers will try to determine a way to get them to safety. nbc's keir simmons talked to refugees who are starting to grow desperate. >> we need obama help us. >> why? what do you need him to do? >> we need food, everything. >> meanwhile, the u.s. is continuing to send weapons to kurdish fighters and france has announced it will start supplying arms as well. the u.s. is also keeping up air strikes against isis positions, but the pace of those strikes has slowed. over the last two days, u.s. military officials have stressed that the strikes effectively is limited. martin dempsey told "usa today" and i quote, the pace at which isis was advancing has been abated. it doesn't mean it will stay abated. while the fighting goes on in the north, new attacks in baghdad are spreading fear among the population there. two car bombs exploded today, following two bombings tuesday that left ten dead and nearly 40 wounded. the new vi

he escaped isis, and made it up to sinjar mountain.on the run, the hamid family story is one of grit and survival against terrifying odds. it is a story that's far from over. ivan watson, cnn, zakho, iraqi kurdistan. >>> and we're going to stay on iraq and go straight to our correspondent there, nick payton walsh with breaking news out of iraq. nick, what's going on? >> reporter: well, for days, brooke, we have been waiting to learn the fate of the political deadlock here. iraqi prime minister nouri al maliki in the eyes of so many the man whose sectarian divisiveness between the sunni and shia groups that represent a divide in this country has led to the opportunity for isis to storm through the north. many wanted to see him go. for the past few days, it seemed impossible he could stay in his post. and now minutes ahead of a supposed speech by him on state tv, we're seeing a banner on state television saying he has decided to step down from his post in favor of the man that washington, nearly everybody sees as the next prime minister

military completed a fourth air drop of food and water along the sinjar mountains. there you see members of yazidis approaching those bundles of aid. more than 30,000 refugees have escaped with help from kurdish rebels. now the u.s. is weighing options to rescue the rest. just hours ago at a press conference in australia secretary of defense chuck hagel spoke for the need for a wider humanitarian response. >> this is a humanitarian issue of great consequence for all the world, and i think great powers understand they have responsibilities in these areas. >> meanwhile, the u.s. is also monitoring the deepening political crisis following a show of force from prime minister nuri al maliki. nbc news' richard jordan joins us from the washington, d.c. bureau. richard, good morning to you. what's the latest there? >> good morning. now that the u.s. is willing to arm kurds, it is yet another indication of how serious a threat u.s. officials believe isis is. now the obama administration is working on a game plan to get those iraqi christians out of harm's way. >> reporter: t

the city of mosul itself and areas in the sinjar mountains. fighters from the islamic state group are said to have been killed. los angeles mass is warning of a drawn out campaign if israel does not accept their demands. >>> in u.s. in missouri police have released a video of michael brown moments before he was shot dead by police. overnight 200 protesters stormed in to the same convenience store. let's go back to our top story. thousands of iraqi christians have fled in resents months. we immediate some of the families seeking safety in lebanon. >> reporter: desperate iraqi lineup to seek food rations. the church it trying to help them. those who just arrived from northern iraq. like maria, she arrived in lebanon three days ago. >> translator: we were scared. it's very hard to leave everything behind and just flee. >> reporter: they all tell the same sometime are stories. johnny has been living here for a month and living off charity. a christian family pays his rent for this small apartment where he lives with his wife and three girls. >> tr

some of those strikes you showed from today, in fact, were around sinjar mountain to help protect the people trapped on that mountain. they've, as you know, been coupled with humanitarian aid drops. also to protect our people in irbil and protect the strategically important city of irbil. we really wanted to prevent isil's very rapid move on irbil. it happened really over the past several days and that's why you saw the president take very quick action because there was an imminent threat to irbil. where we have a number of people today. he did speak with congressional leaders. we've talked to congress quite a bit about this. they understood the need to move very quickly to protect our people there. and unlike syria, the iraqi government invited us in. they asked us all different leaders in iraq, religious leaders, government leaders, tribal leaders, asked us to help in this case. that's why you've really seen where we could act for very urgent humanitarian crisis. tens of thousands of people, as you mentioned, potentially about to starve to death on this mountain, when we can bring r

>> that's because what that team of special forces found when they went to the top of the mountain sinjar. they found far fewer refugees than believed. they say in the low thousands, several thousands as opposed to some estimates reported of 10 to 20,000. in addition to that, those lower numbers, they found that one, the people there are getting the food and water they need, that the humanitarian air drops that the u.s. has done is getting to those people so that they are not starving to death. they are not dying of thirst. they also found that some people want to stay, that their homes are on the mountains and for the people that do not want to stay, what has been happening so far has been successfully getting those people off the mountain and that is a combination of one, u.s. air strikes to push back isis fighters and two, efforts on the ground by kurdish forces, the peshmerga forces. because of those things tonight, the pentagon making a judgment no longer necessary to bring in a mass air or ground evacuation that may involve more u.s. troops on the ground there. >> that's encouraging

just last week tens of thousands of minority yazidis were strand he on sinjar mountain after running from islamic state fighters. thousands of others have been led down the mountain by kurdish troops often on foot with very little food and water. >> i came from the mountain by my foot. i'm walk, from sinjar mountain to syria p walking. just we have the bottle of water. >> over the weekend there were reports that some of the islamic state's victims were buried alive. until this crisis many people had not learned about the yazidis. our roxana saberi got to know some of them by reporting from northern iraq last year. >> many became trapped in the sinjar mountains with no food or water. many are heading 200 mild to the southeast to their holy city of lalish. all yazidis are expected to make the pilgrimage to this ain yent tomb once in their life. they believe the man who started their faith dated back to adam. babachbesh is the guardian of the temple. the holes in this rock represent the good and evil that exists in each one of us. i asked him if the yazidi faith has similarities with oth

it's happening in the sinjar mountains in the northwestern area of iraq. they were forced into the area as the takeover of iraqi resources continues to expand. tara mergener reports from washington. >> reporter: president obama authorized the targeted air strikes on iraq but he was quick to say they that does not mean war. >> reporter: the militant group known as isis is said to be advancing toward the city of erbil where american diplomats and civilians are serving. >> we are prepared to take action if they threaten our personnel or facilities anywhere in iraq. >> reporter: the president also confirmed humanitarian air drops of food and water near sinjar mountain where thousands of religious minorities are stranded. they have been driving religious from their homes. they're dying of starvation and water. some republicans have suggested the president doesn't need their go-ahead to take action in iraq. the u.s. withdrew fully from iraq in 2011 after nearly ten years of war. the president is pushing for a broader diplomatic strategy to solve the problems in

i walk from sinjar mountain to syria, walking. just we have the bottle of wat water. then no more. not only me, thousands of peoples. >> so why are yazidis ben targeted? they've been branded at devil worshipers by the islamic state who say they must convert or die. they're members of a pre-islamic sect. they live in northern iraq, turkey and syria. the yazidis say they often have faced persecution in iraq over their religious followings. they believe god as creator of the world which has been placed under the care of seven angels. helping the yazidis to escape the sinjar mountain. >> it is unbelievable because they are really, really emergencies will they are in shock. a thousand people, they don't have a place. thousands of people. don't have enough food or medical. 90% don't have cars. 90% are children, women an old men. as they come under control of the islamic community, i'm sure they try to kill all the people in the mountain and in the south. they don't let them leave the area because they don't think the yazidis have a right to plight. >> let's talk about the situation with

when isis moved in, the civilians moved out and up to sinjar mountain. er, even less food. it was a crisis the team needed to see for themselves. >> i'd been offered two ways to try to go see the yazidis trapped on mt. sinjar. one was to cross the border into syria and come back into iraq and then hike for miles to mt. sinjar and then hike up the mountain. the other was to perhaps try to get some kind of a helicopter to the mountain. we were hearing that there were aid drops taking place. >> it was sort of the only way to get on top of this masada like mountaintop that the yazidis were in. and, you know, it was surrounded by isis. >> after days of waiting, the cnn team was granted permission to accompany a mixed crew of kurdish peshmerga and iraqi air force personnel on an aid drop mission to mt. sinjar. >> i knew that this was a dangerous trip. but i thought that going to see what was taking place was worth that risk. 15 minutes into the flight, they are just unloading their machine guns. and they're picking out targets down below. and we can't see what

also escape from sinjar mountain.s a firsthand view of a desperate situation for thousands of iraqi refugees trapped by sunni militants. >>> racial tensions in the u.s. heartland. police fire tear gas, during a second night of protests against the shooting death of an unarmed teenager. >> also ahead, more on the ebola outbreak. liberia asks for and receives permission to use the experimental serum that could treat the disease. >>> all right. at this hour the world is mourning the loss of actor and comedian robin williams. he was found dead monday in his

also escape from sinjar mountain. cnn gets a firsthand view of a desperate situation for thousands of iraqi refugees trapped by sunni militants. >>> racial tensions in the u.s. heartland. police fire tear gas, during a second night of protests against the shooting death of an unarmed teenager. >> also ahead, more on the ebola outbreak. liberia asks for and receives permission to use the experimental serum that could treat the disease. >>> all right. at this hour the world is mourning the loss of actor and comedian robin williams. he was found dead monday in his california home just north of san francisco. >> you know, the local sheriff's office says coroners believe williams' death was a suicide due to asphyxia. he was 63. cnn's nischelle turner takes us back through the actor's illustrious career. >> reporter: his high-octane brand of comedy was his trademark public persona. but robin williams proved himself an oscar winner with a strong philanthropic side. born in 1951, it was in his 20s when williams was unleashed.

many including members of the yazidi minority group are trapped in the sinjar mountains. they were without food and water for days before the air dropped supplies. a kurdish senior official has confirmed that is fighters have taken over the dam and if damaged it could cause flooding from the tigress river to baghdad. >> i'm joined by founder and executive of the iraq foundation for development and democracy in london and a political analyst. i first have to--we just heard barack obama speak, and it's surprising how much he has emphasized how important it is for iraq to form an inclusive government to the point where it is almost a criticism of what is going on in the iraqi government now. what chance is there of iraq forming that inclusive government that the u.s. has colorly wants, and will his message have any impact? >> well, the fact that any military movement needs environment and actually the policies actually created to help inenvironment to take over. the sunni moderate has pushed it to the lap of the extremist. now to get over this and isolating the kurds and lea

there have been air strikes against a small number of isis positions on sinjar mountain. the u.s. think they have at least stalled isis in place, both on the mountain and down in erbil. but these pictures clearly show us isis, again, far from stalled, far from down and out. one of the things that is also happening, because the peshmerga kurdish fighters now are the front line of defense for these pea, the u.s. is trying to facilitate increased shipment of arms and ammunition to the peshmerga. there were from the iraqi, there were three shipments of ammunition to the peshmerga, emergency shipments since thursday. but these people are going to need more -- so much more than that. they're going to need more arms, more ammunition. the president making clear any effort for a sort of humanitarian corridor to get everybody off the mountain is going to have to be an international effort. if the president sticks with no u.s. boots on the ground to do that, there will at least have to be a massive air combat patrol over this mountain to keep the isis fighters at bay, keep them away from any

the second is related to this urgent humanitarian situation that exists on sinjar mountain. there's a religious ethnic minority, a population of thousands of men and women and children, stranded at the top of this mountain. isil forces are marshaled at the base of the mountain, vowing to kill those who descend. and that is an urgent military situation, the united states military last night, on the authorization of the president carried out a successful air dron of supplies, food and water and basic mel supplies to those individuals who were stranded on the mountain to try to provide some humanitarian relief. the president has authorized military strikes that could be used to address that situation at the mountain. there are kurdish security forces that are seeking to dislodge that siege there at sinjar mountain, and if the americans can be helpful in supporting kurdish forces, then airstrikes could be carried out pursuant to that goal. the third is slightly broader. but is related to our belief and commitment to supporting integrated iraqi security forces and kurdish security

and in the past 24 hours, taking military strikes around the sinjar mountain area to protect the tens of thousands of people trapped on that mountain. we're giving them food and water that they need and taking active military steps to protect them. these are limited objectives here. the president said there's not a specific end date. i think it would be silly to put one down on paper on such a fluid, fast-moving situation. but long term, the iraqis need to have a strategy to fight this war. we're helping them do that with arms, training. >> marie harf from the state department. thank you. >> thank you. >>> let's turn to rhode island democratic senator jack reed, a handful of senators that opposed the iraq war the first time around. senator reed, you've heard marie. we've heard from the president, from secretary of state john kerry. there does not appear, in the senate or in the american public, a desire for anything resembling an open-ended commitment. yet we have the humanitarian crisis on sinjar mountain, the battle with isis. we have the situation in the political world of iraq. ho

almost everyone was on sinjar mountain. they walked down into syria and back into iraq again, but they're journey isn't over. >> on the mountain, people were hungry and thirsty and didn't know what would happen to them. they still don't. this is the new sinjar mountain. thousands of people are stranded here. after what happened in their villages, they say they can never go home again. it's not just the massacres, it's the death of an entire way of life. >> 5,000 people are crammed into this construction site near the border of the kurdish region and turkey. many of them say men from the surrounding arab villages supported the islamic state group and were involved in the kidnappings and killings. for more than a thousand years, the yazidis ever practiced their religion and kept to themselves. they thought it would keep them safe. they were wrong. aljazeera, northern iraq. >> tune nearby is that and egypt canceled flights to libya following weeks of fighting in the country. rocket fire struck an off a fluent area of tripoli f

he escaped isis and made it up to sinjar mountain. like thousands of iraqis on the run, the hamid family's story is one of grit and survival against terrifying odds. a story far from over. ivan watson, iraqi kurdistan. >> just incredible ivan was able to reconnect with the same people on that helicopter. we are getting some startling reports now of what happened when isis forces rolled into the town of sinjar more than a week ago. en isis commander tells cnn that fighters abducted more than 100 children and women and took them to mosul. they have taken the opportunity to "call them to islam. "the commander also says isis fighters killed a large number of men in sinjar. >>> iraqi prime minister nouri al malaki is losing support for his bid to stay in office. we'll have more on the political situation in iraq and how it could affect the isis militant's march to baghdad. that's coming up in less than 30 minutes from now. >>> now we move our focus to big story developing right now in the united states. there's been another night of protes

we have spoken to some of those people who have walked for hours down sinjar mountain in the past daythey tell hor endous stories of telling of women dieing in childbirth. intense suffering there. baghdad and erbil a visit by the french foreign minister to reinforce france's commitment to humanitarian aid. that's a theme with a lot of european and other current trees saying they do not want to get involved in military help, but they do want to help with this widening humanitarian crisis. >> iraq's president has ordered the grounding of all of the ukrainian designed 14 type passenger planes. the decision was made after one of the aircrafts crashed in west tehran earlier on sunday. it killed 39 people. nine people survived repor. reports say an engine failed. there have been several plane crashes which have been blamed on aging aircraft and poor maintenance. >> they said the plane had crashed and just said, come quickcally come quickly and receive the bodies of your children. >> we should thank god the pilot could move the plane away from residential buildings. fortunately, it did not c

i want to ask you about that, sinjar mountain. but first, you know, as far as these potential air strikes go, to elise's point, how effective would air strikes be against isis? >> well, what i would say, brooke, first you've got to consider the geography of this area. if you consider anyone ninewah province, sinjar is a rocky hill, in the middle of a desert and the central point of where isis controls. the state of ninewah, they have control over so to reach a point with any kind of relief efforts is going to be very challenging. it is not going to be very easy to bomb here. it is going to be very difficult to drop humanitarian supplies there, because this hill is -- you can walk on it. so any time you might drop something there, isis forces could go up and get it, unless you pinpoint it right at the very top of the mountain. i've been on sinjar mountain several times. >> what's that like? >> we used to have a communication site there. it's challenging. and as we talk about what the various options are for the president, i'm sure

this is how they are getting some of these yazidis off of that mountain in sinjar. they are using construction equipment. where are they taking them is the question. where can they go for safety, peter? do you have any gauge on that? >> well, i mean, the area is located, i mean, a number of the yazidi refugees have made it into syria. there seems to be a small corridor that allows them to escape. however, that is only true for a very small number of them. most of them are still stuck in the same situation. so for them, the situation has not improved. >> help us understand and even al qaeda has called them radical. and when you get that moniker from al qaeda, then you know that they are on one far end of the spectrum. help us understand as it relates to other terrorist groups that though u.s. and the world has fought before. how savage isis really is. >> so isis has often been said is even more extreme than al qaeda. you have to understand, in the 2000s, isis came out of the islamic state of iraq and al qaeda in iraq which was creating havoc in that particular countr

at a time community did come under attack in the sinjar mountains a week ago.s is not the only minority has been targeted. the christians were given the same ultimatum a few weeks ago. thousands were forced out of their homes. and so, as a humanitarian crisis is growing on the ground, up to 1.2 million iraqis, displaced iraqis live in the kurpdish region. officials are struggling to cope. they are appealing to the international organizations to help those people. so, a growing humanitarian crisis as the war continues. >> all right, zeina chodr, thank you. >>> the security national council has held a news conference for which they called for the united states to launch airstrikes against islamic state rebels in syria as well as iraq. we will hear from them in a moment. but first, this is zeina hodr's report. >> more territory captured by the islamic straight group, but this is not iraq. the group is advancing on more than one front and in more than one country. this is a syrian town in the northern country side of aleppo, a region under the control of rebels fig