american journalist steven sotlov who -- sotlov's mother made a direct emotional appeal to the isis leader. >> as a mother, i ask the justice to be merciful and not punish my son for matters he has no control over. i asked you to use your authority to spare his life and to follow the example set by the profit mohammed who protected people of the book. >> it's against this backdrop that has president obama weighing what to expand the u.s. air strike campaign to islamic targets in syria. urging him to have congress vote on whether to give the president authorizization to expand the military mission. let's bring in nbc's -- who joins us from our london bureau. two american citizens are now believed to have been killed fighting for isis in syria. there may be dozens of other isis fighters in syria? >> we also have a video that was put out by isis that was also responsible for a suicide bombing that was believed to be a syrian military outpost. that video was released by isis that showed an american citizen. we know there are definitely american citizens in the ranks of isis. obviously others t

this plea from sotlov's mother was a very emotional plea. but to see isis responding to some sort of political gesture, trading something of strategic value for the group as opposed to simply appealing to them on a humanitarian level. >> aman, now to a massive cyber attack on u.s. banks, including jp morgan chase, the nation's largest bank. some suspect that russian hackers are behind this attack, that is leading to speculation on what this is -- let's bring in nbc news justice correspondent pete williams, he joins us live. so pete, is there any indication that this has something to do with those -- >> we know roughly when it took place, earlier this month, a couple of weeks ago, it targeted jp morgan and as many as four other banks. then it starts to get sketchy, it's not clear exactly where this came from, there's some indication officials say it came from russia, but it could have been eastern europe as well. if it came from russia, some are speculating that perhaps it was in retaliation for u.s. sanctions. but one official says if the go

the threat to murder journalist steven sotlov, these angry words from the president, emotional words from the vice president. the treatment of this as an emergency in britain, our closest ally. this is getting close to a tidal wave of momentum on this subject. president obama started air strikes against isis targets on august 8th, since then there have been at least 84 separate u.s. air strikes against isis targets just this month. the washington post asked an unnamed u.s. official today whether the u.s. would consider suspending the air strikes as the isis demanded in the beheading video unless the strikes stop. the reply was absolutely not. the only question is if we do more. and in fact since the execution video was released, and that demand by isis was made that president obama stop the air strikes or else, since that isis video came out yesterday, the u.s. has launched more than a dozen air strikes against isis just today. the u.s. military announced today they're thinking about sending more u.s. troops into iraq. another 300, maybe? in addition to the nearly 1,000 american troo

showed foley's beheading the group threatened to kill another american journalist miami-based steven sotlov if president obama doesn't get out of iraq. a scenario now even more unlikely. >> you're going to see a lot more american air strikes than we would have had this not happened. >> reporter: meanwhile, the foley family is mourning the loss and celebrating the life of a man who died while trying to ease the suffering of others. foley's parents are calling him a martyr for freedom. dara. >> brian moore in d.c., thank you for that report. >>> more news from chief foreign correspondent richard engel on the isis threat beyond iraq and syria. >> reporter: security officials say isis has between seven and 12,000 foreign fighters. hundreds from europe and one known american. >> we are coming for you. mark my words. >> reporter: he died carrying out a suicide bombing for a group considered more violent than al qaeda. >> even a group like al qaeda, which has perpetrated atrocities across the world revere these tactics as being far too brutal. >> reporter: it's so easy to get to sear wra. young me

with isis terrorists threat tong behead steven sotlove, his mother begs for his life. theo curtis held nearly two years by another extremist group which reunited with his mother and back home today in massachusetts. douglas mccain was killed in syria, a mid westerner who went to the middle east to wage jihad with isis. >> i think my does [inaudible]. who he was. that's all he's about. >> reporter: there reports a second americ was killed with mccain. a law enforcemt official tells nbc news it appears to be true. what isis is about according to a new u.n. report is unbridled cruelty. using public executions for both terror and recruiting the extremist ares sieged a huge portion of iraq. but the white house says bombs are not enough. >> american military might alone cannot solve this problem on a sustainable basis. >> while weighing a new round of air strikes, president obama is pleading to oth nations to help fight a terror threat that is spreading. >> reporter: an president obama will be meeting with the u.n. security counci next month to discuss the growing problem of

with isis terrorists threat tong behead steven sotlove, his mother begs for his life. theo curtis held nearly two years by another extremist group which reunited with his mother and back home today in massachusetts. douglas mccain was killed in syria, a mid westerner who went to the middle east to wage

isis is now threatening to do the same to miami-based writer steven sotlov. third man was released after being held in syria for almost two years. u.s. officials insist they paid no ran so many for the release and condemn what amounts to branch rolling kidnappers and murderers. >> many different parts of the world are more dangerous than we were before because the terrorist groups have more resources. >> reporter: tough decisions that begin and end at the president's desk. congress is on summer break this week. many lawmakers are demanding a say in what the u.s. military does next. in washington, brian moore, nbc 10 news. >>> a warmer day today than what we saw over the weekend. the temperatures will keep warming up for this week and even into your labor day weekend. hotter temperatures in the forecast. we have 90-degree temperatures in the forecast, believe it or not. we haven't seen much 90-degree temperatures this summer. they are around as we go through the next seven days. we are tracking a tropical storm, cristobal. this one is down near the bahamas. it

in the big concern now for our government is steven sotlov, the other journalist being held right now by isis. richard engel is nearby in turkey on the trkey/syria border. before we discuss jim foley, what can you tell us about the latest round of u.s. strikes, air strikes, against isis today? >> the u.s. military tap has been turned on. it still could be turned off but we're now seeing regular missions against isis targets in northern iraq around mosul, around erbil. these are not just limited strikes, with each one having to be authorized at high levels. we're now seeing a rolling military campaign. most of it being carried out by special operations forces, not necessarily by big army, big air force, but by groups that are led quite intelligence division. and this campaign is why we believe -- why the militant group said that it killed american journalist james foley. by the way, u.s. military officials also believe that was likely the reason that once those strikes began, that isis started feeling the pain of those strikes. it took out one of the americans in its captivity and behe