barb aara starr reported. and some of the witnesses are saying things that are not making a lot of since. he reportedly asked people if they were a christian and then executed them. but then on one of the blogs he describes himself as being spiritual, and having a bias against blacks, but he describes himself as ethically mixed, so all all of the discrepancies are things that the investigators are looking at closely to try to put together a more complete profile of who he was and what drove him to go over the edge. >> mary ellen, we mentioned that the neighbors described this gunman as quiet, withdrawn and skittish and is that typical in the cases like this? >>> it is not typical. we have had shooters far more extroverted, but when you have an individual like this, they may stand out more, and the fact that they are isolated and separate from the peers, and they don't have a support network, and they don't is have the ability to have a reality check, the behavior that begins to broad and evolve and grow does s

>> barbara starr, standby. we'll come back to you as you gather more information. let's go to jean lapinski. with the emergency management agency. tell us where you are and what you know, jean. >> hello. >> yes, jean, are you there? >> yes. sorry, i had to put you on hold. >> no problem. you're live on cnn. if you could tell us first of all you're with the columbia county emergency management agency. where exactly are you located? and what do you know about this incident? >> we're located in bloomsberg, pennsylvania. we know right now that according to the pennsylvania state police that the balloon has landed. at 15:40 it landed 300 north of the muncie exchange road and yagle road. >> so it has landed. do you know where it landed? did it land safely? did it land in an area where it wouldn't cause any damage? >> i don't really know exactly what that area looks like. it looks to me, just on a topographical map we had that it wasn't a real populated area. so we're hoping that was the situation with it. since it is in a different county we haven't gotten a whole lot of

. >> starr teague. >> reporter: garrett ballard, ethan's best friend since grade school, and starr teague, a former and brief love interest, were two of the teens in ethan's red truck that night. these are never before seen deposition tapes from a civil lawsuit resulting from the crash. starr says ethan, garrett and another boy started drinking around 6:00 p.m. the night of the crash. >> all three of them did a shot of vanilla -- i don't, i don't know what it was. >> so they start drinking, taking some shots, and then they decide to go pick up some friends. on the way back they decide we want to get some beer. so there's already alcohol at the house and ethan clearly has money, but they decide it would be more fun to steal the beer. >> at the walmart, i went in. grabbed the beer. >> reporter: this is surveillance video from that walmart. sure enough, there's garrett ballard and four other teenage boys. >> and then we walked out the fire exit. >> ethan stayed with the vehicle. and when the other five stole the case of beer, they actually ran out the exit door. >> reporter: the teens head b

and they will rotate in and out of syria from irbil iraq from barbara starr.eneral hertling, i want you to refer back to what bob baer was talking about and it is dees de-escalation, which is introduced into our vocabulary a few weeks ago. and so nobody want ts to get caught in the cross fire, and between the americans and the runs, and it is a notion of deconfliction to a whole other level, ground level, and it is difficult and complicated, but is it do-able from your per s k perspective? >> yes, it is. and the reason i say that, like a baptist minister who sees the baptism by immersion is because i have seen it doene. it is going to be sporting that you you have to have deconfliction, because you have people who are not already known to be your allies. this is special forces who will be able to coordinate their activities on the ground with the xacommand and control headquarters in irbil. while the headquarters are in irbil, you can also operate out of incirlik for travel into and out of. and might there be incidents between america and russia? and iranian n

starr says ethan, garrett and another boy started drinking around 6:00 p.m. the night of the crash. >> all three of them did a shot of vanilla -- i don't, i don't know what it was. >> so they start drinking, tang some shots, and then they decide to go pick up some friends. on the way back they decide we want to get some beer. so there's already alcohol at the house and ethan clrly has money, but they decide it would be more fun to steal the beer. >> at the walmart, i went in. grabbed the beer. >> reporter: this is surveillance video from that walmart. sure enough, there's garrett ballard and four other teenage boys. >> and then we walked out the fire exit. >> ethan stayed with the vehicle. and when the other five stole ran out the exit door. >> reporter: the teens head back to ethan's empty house, and the drinking continues. not just beer, but shots of the 190-proof grain alcohol called everclear. >> and then the young woman, um, needs to go to the convenience store. but even the other ones who'd been drinkinknew ethan had too much to drink and they tried to

its official name is the "starr bumblebee." that's because it was built by a pilot named bob starr. i would have trouble fitting in there. how did he fit in there? >> bob was a really sort of slightly built guy, right? so, he sort of squirmed himself in. >> the little plane only carried two and a half gallons of gas. so, the flight of the bumblebee was very, very short. i'm just surprised it made it off the ground. >> yeah, well, you know, one of the reasons he kind of named it "bumblebee" is, you know, there's the old myth that you know if bumblebees knew anything about physics they wouldn't be able to fly, right? so, that's kind of where he took the theme from. >> up there is a concept that really needed to "be" aware of the physics of flying. that looks like a one-man flying machine. >> it is. it's a one-man hoppicopter. it was meant to drop soldiers into battle with their own personal helicopter. interesting idea but terrible application. all it did was break legs, and it was abandoned really quickly. >> oh, no! >> didn't work. >> if the hangar seemed crammed with craft, outside

barbara starr has late details and jim accoosta working his sources. >> u.s.aded into syria. what will they do there? >> they will head into northern

barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. >>> james gal vin is with us right here in the studio. and for his perspective on the syrian crisis, you've also written a lot about the history of the modern middle east. >> thanks so much for joining us. as we saw in barbara starr's piece just then, clearly russia is escalating its intervention in syria. given all we've seen to date, is there any reason we should believe them when they say they will not send in ground troops? >> well, they already have 1,500 troops there to mainly run equipment. but we have to understand what the russians want out of this. they don't want to destroy isis. that's a secondary goal for the russians. the main goal actually is preserve the regime of bashar al assad. they want to be able to use air power with syria troops, hezbollah troops and perhaps iranian troops to do that. i don't think they're going to introduce a large number of troops into syria, but this is all speculation. >> explain to me, wh enwe heard from the defense secretary saying that the russians will start paying a price for this, he didn'

so that fits with what barbara starr reported earlier on our end.e have also reached out to the white house and the state department. right now, they are letting the military do the talking. we did hear from the u.s. embassy in afghanistan. they put out a statement that said, the u.s. embassy mourns for the families affected by the tragic incident and for all those suffering from the violence in kanduz. our thoughts and prayers are with their team at this difficult moment. that's what we have so far. still looking for more reactions and statements as the day wears on. >> an important detail here. doctors without borders says that it notified u.s. officials in kabul of their location days ago. >> that's exactly right. doctors without borders said the bombing continued for more than 30 minutes after they notified military officials that they were under attack. the group said that all parties to the conflict, including in kabul and washington, were clearly informed of the precise location of their facilities as recently as thursday. they gave the gps l

pamela brown has the latest on the frightening nuke sales and begin with barbara starr live from the pentagon. how close did those u.s. pilots get to the russian jet? >> well, good evening, erin. it was two f-16s headed to an isis target in eastern syria. what happened is a russian fighter jet came within 20 nautical miles of them. that sounds pretty far away, right? but now there are new flight rules for u.s. pilots. if the russians come within that 20-mile limit, they must divert, they must turn their course. why? because right now there is no technical military agreement on how both country's pilots will operate in the skies over syria if they encounter each other. the u.s. wants this agreement in place. until it is in place, they are going to obey this new 20-mile rule. not that they think that russians are about to shoot them down but the russians are very aggressive flyers and there's a lot of concern about a mistake up in the skies. erin? >> barbara, you're talking about them being aggressive flyers, a miss stak mistake. this is a mess. if a u.s. and russian plane were to coll

barbara starr joins me now. barbara, what's the latest. >> russia's launched two dozen cruise missiles from four ships in the sea. four missiles went astray and crashed inside iran. a russian ally that apparently crashed in a rule area, there may be people hurt on the ground. there may be farm animals killed. the russians insist it did not happen. iran is saying nothing but the u.s. says it did. four of these missiles with 1 thousand-pound war heads crashed inside iran. >> an incident like this has bro broader implications. >> it does. fine, well and good, hopefully not too many civilians are hurt but landed inside a country that's an ally of russia but what it if landed in a neighboring country, jordan, turkey, an iranen nuclear facility. they are being reckless. today ash carter said one of his big problems is that russians aren't even giving any notice of these missile launches, anderson. >> barbara starr, thank you. >>> more to talk about with ann marie slaughter, president of the american foundation and pol

>> wow, barbara starr, excellent reporting. thank you so much for that. coming up next, to politics we go. who has the most to gain examine to lose on tuesday night in the big debate? our lightning round next. 0. and get 300 dollars credit for every line you switch to at&t. he can not see through doors. his speed, anything but superhuman. but when it comes to health care options, george found helpful information and resources at aarphealth.com this makes him feel unstoppable. well, almost unstoppable. discover real possibilities at aarphealth.com today and tomorrow take on the world. >>> who will make headlines the day after the democratic debate this week? it is time for our lightning round. a professor at moore house college and cnn contributor. ben ferguson, host of the ben ferguson show. they agree on some things but not much. 30 seconds. gentlemen, do not go long. i will cut you off. ben, first question to you. can clinton flip the script and put a stop to bernie sanders's recent momentum? >> look, i hope that she comes with everything she's got. the

>> barbara starr, thank you so much for the latest there.y have dwayne pasino columbia school district officer, individual, who's on the phone with me now. dwayne, can you hear me? >> yes. >> dwayne, i understand you yourself have seen the blimp? >> yes. >> can you tell me how high it appeared to be be flying? low to the ground, pretty high up there? >> it actually seemed like it was coming down. it was coming right down the highway with the ropes dragging, hitting the power lines. >> you actually saw the ropes hitting the power lines yourself? >> i didn't actually see the power lines but i saw the ropes down. it was barely above the tree, i would say 100 feet or so. >> did it appear to be -- please continue on. >> i saw what looked like it was partially deflated. it was a pure white blimp with the ropes hanging down. and at first i thought it was going to come down on our school grounds but the wind took it a little bit northwest. and it started to head away. >> cruising along pretty slowly? >> yes. >> dwayne, thank you. mary schiavo, let m

our barbara starr now just reporting, just into us, that u.s.re video teleconference at 11:00 a.m. eastern, so in about 30 minutes' time. as soon as we know what takes place on that call, we'll let you know. the man who knows all about syria, richard murphy, former u.s. ambassador to syria. first off, your reaction to what matthew has reported. >> what matthew has said is that the syrian ambassador is faithfully describing the position of the syrian government, his government, so you can not that. that this is -- the policy is to strengthen the regime because the regime is the only effective force against isil. now, this is a great oversimplification of the situation in syria. we have tried, not very successfully, but we have tried as a government to pull together the various opposition elements, the modern elements as best as we can identify them to get together politically and military. for assad, they have always been seen as enemies, as terrorists. it's a smear term he has used for the last three years. it's not true. some are more violent t

barbara starr has the latest. >> the pentagon insists the mission was worth it, but for one american family, the worst possible news, an american service member killed when troops went with kurdish force s to a compound in northern iraq. the mission was to try to help rescue a number of hostages that isis was holding at this so-called prison, this compound. the u.s. was supposed to transport the kurds to it. the kurds were supposed to be in the lead. but as they all approached the compound, a fire fight broke out. the kurds came under heavy fire from the isis forces there. it was, at that point, that commanders on the ground made the decision that they would under the rules of engage. ment help the kurdish forces, help keep them safe and they moved in. it was then that the one service member suffered a serious wound. he was med vasculared to a trauma center nearby, but he succumbed and died of his wounds at that it trauma center in northern iraq under u.s. military care. a number of hostages were rescued, about 70, but it turned out according to pentagon at this point they don't thin

cnn's barbara starr asked ash carter about this unusual move. >> reporter: you have been dealing with the russians for years. a russian general shows up this morning at embassy in baghdad and apparently reads you your people a note saying air strikes begin in one hour. what do you make of that? as secretary of defense, is that acceptable military relations with you and where does this leave you if you sit down and talk to the regime military about the way ahead? is this not bizarre? >> i have been dealing with them for a long time and this is not the kind of behavior we should expect professionally from russian military professionally. that's one reason why i think it is a good thing to have an avenue of communication that is less unprofessional than a drop-in. >> remarkable. the u.s. accusing russia of misleading of the target of air strikes. american officials say the war planes were not flying in isis held regions. the washington post reports that the strikes hit rebel areas in the area and trained by the cia. carter accusing russia of quote pouring gasoline on the fire of syria's

barbara starr asked ash carter about the unusual move. >> you are dealing with the russians for years. a russian general shows up at the embassy in baghdad and apparently reads you a note saying air strikes will begin in one hour. what do you make of that? is that as secretary of defense, is that acceptable military to military relations with you and where does this leave you if you sit down and talk with the russian military about a way ahead? is this not a little bizarre? >> you are right. i have been dealing with them for a long time. this is not the behavior that we should expect professionally from russian military professionally. that's one reason why i think it is a good thing to have an avenue of communication that is less unprofessional than a drop-in. >> the u.s. also accusing russia of misleading about the target of its air strikes. american officials say the war planes were not flying in isis-held regions and the washington post reports that it hit anti-rebel troops in syria. accusing russia of pouring gasoline on the fire of syria's civil war. for the latest, let's bring

>> barbara starr with the latest at the pentagon, and thank you. very disconcerting, clearly. >> and meanwhile, there is sanctions being called for in the maldives >> so as you take home this case as a human roigts case, a violation of of what the u.n. says is international justice, what are the logical next steps? what happens if the government doesn't let him out of jail? >> the united nations panel that decided the case, not only that there were violations, but the only appropriate remedy is for him to be released and granted compensation. we need to move from the public statements that have been made in support of our case to more concrete measures. that would include sanctions, individual sanctions like travel bans and asset freezes against individuals who are responsible for the malicious prosecution and unjust conviction that he has faced. >> the first democratically elected president of the maldives, you can see more of the interview on "amanpour" right at the top of the hour. >>> north korea released an nyu student who has been detained si

let's go to our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. what's the latest, barbara?ntagon hopes to have answers, at least preliminary in the next several days about what happened but make no mistake, hospitals, schools and mosques are no go zones for u.s. air strikes. international outrage after a hospital in northern afghanistan was struck from the air by the u.s. the u.s. is investigating its role in the attack that left 12 medical staff and 10 patients, three of them children killed, another 37 wounded. the hospital is run by the aid group doctors without borders, a global charity that works in war zones. they call the attack a war crime. >> well, again, i wouldn't use the label like that because this is something that continues to be under investigation. >> survivors described the horror. >> translator: there were flames all around me. i saw patients and doctors burn to death. >> translator: there was no place to hide. >> the damage massive and ac-130 gun ship like this struck the hospital with the on board guns. >> afghan forces advised they were taking fire fro

first, let's go to barbara starr.bout how this mysterious blimp incident happened? >> wolf, good evening, this went on for over three hours as this blimp drifted 200 ocmiles from maryland as it drifted into northeastern pennsylvania dragging that cable behind it ripping out power supplies to some 20,000 people in that area of pennsylvania tracked by two armed f-16ths and people on the ground would not be in harm's way when it fell to earth. just before 4:00, it started deflating. they do not know why it started deflating and they were able eventually to secure it in northeastern pennsylvania. the question tonight, wolf, is what happened. obviously this is a big problem, not supposed to happen. it's even supposed to deflate if there is an emergency and it drifts off the tether. it's not supposed to be designed for this kind of contingency that happened today. major investigation underway looking at the whole military effort here, the contractor that runs the program, a number of contractors involved trying to figure ou

pentagon correspondent barbara starr has more. >> reporter: a warning from president obama to russian president vladimir putin. >> an attempt by russia and iran to prop up assad and try to pass fi the population is just going to get them stuck in a quack mire. and it won't work. and they will be there for a while. >> and criticism for targets of putin's air strikes. >> if russia continues hitting rebel force, will the u.s. defend those rebels? the pentagon not really to even say if the russians have hit them. >> we don't have a clear picture of their intentions at this point. >> gop members challenging the narrative. >> i can absolutely guarantee there were strike against our free syrian army or groups that have been armed and trained by the this ia. >> russia continuing its air strikes even as the pentagon and moscow talked about how to ensure pilots from both both countries can avoid each other in the skies over syria. >> the u.s. pilots are going to have to look after themselves. they're also going to have to be very aware of their surroundings. and they have to know where russian

up first, barbara starr, u.s.ning program in syria isn't being halted, it's being in their words adopted. what is going on? >> wolf, there is no way around it. this is a massive overhaul of one of the pillars of the u.s. fight against isis. syrian forces backed up by russia continuing to escalate attacks in western syria. as the u.s. announces a massive overhaul of its effort to train syrian rebels to fight isis. >> i wasn't satisfied with the early efforts in that regard. >> reporter: few were. instead of recruiting fighters from the battle field for training, the u.s. will provide air strikes and air drop ammunition and communications gear in northern syria to members of the so-called syrian arab coalition. some 5,000 fighters from various tribes and militias that have been fighting isis for months. u.s. special operations forces have worked already with the coalition and pressed the pentagon for months to back them up. the original effort to train thousands in turkey and jordan and send them back into syria fel

ana. >> barbara starr, keep on top of it for us.t whole region is having trouble right now. tensions flaring in the old city of jerusalem. as forces clash over a disputed territory both sides hold sacred. two palestinians were hospitalized moments ago. they were hit with both live and rubber bullets. and this comes on the news that an israeli soldier was attacked by a palestinian who tried to grab his gun. netanyahu has called off a trip to germany today because of the violence is expected to meet with jerusalem's mayor today. we spoke about the recent escalated violence. >> meeting the prime minister regularly the last few weeks and will probably meet again later today. we're going through a period where incitements and using lies, as if though israel is trying to change the status quo in the temple mount, which is not the truth, nothing to do with the truth. using the incitements to have independent people take naive, butcher knives, kitchen knives and stab people and hurt people. and this is all coming from the excitement side t

barbara starr, thanks so much. i want to bring back our experts phil mudd and bob behr to talk about this. bob, you heard barbara's report there. it seemed as if there was some information about this being a hospital that certainly for days some u.s. authorities knew of. so what do you think? was this knowingly struck? >> well, i find it hard to believe that centcom would strike a hospital. yoernd i do know doctors without borders sent people to centcom and even in combat sent the coordinates to the hospital to the military in kabul. even the ac-130s which attack the hospital have what's called a safe box. they should have the coordinates of all hospitals and targets that are off limits. why that system didn't work we have to wait to find out. but if that plane did attack and it knew it was a hospital, that's a war crime. >> so it's essentially geotagged as these airplanes are flying so that they can avoid these certain areas and they are knowingly off limits, right? >> yeah. there's even a name. i think it's calle

joining us is our international correspondent barbara starr. do they believe it is russian? the information they are getting, and obviously, very sensitive and they are not saying how they believe it is russian, but they do. and they are also not able to tell us whether it is actually operated by russians from some ground station perhaps in syria, and perhaps somewhere else, and the information is very, very sketchy, but at the moment, they believe that the initial reports are indicating to them that it is some type of russian drone. the russians saying that it is not. jim? >> and nick walton patton, why did the turks shoot it down? a message to russia if it turns out to be a russian drone? >> they say it is standard operating procedure, and unknown aircraft comes into their space, and they gave three warnings, and no response obviously from a dro drone, and they shot it down, and it was actually quite far inside of turkey. the sensitivity is heighten, because the ministry of defense officials were here saying that the russians were saying, so sorry, that it was bad weather

let's get right to cnn's barbara starr live at the pentagon.is apparent error, at least according to the pentagon, made? >> this is what is not known yet. now, some investigators may have some preliminary answers, but it may be several days before more is heard, before some explanations are offered. international outrage after a hospital in northern afghanistan was struck from the air by the u.s. the u.s. is investigating its role in the attack that left 12 medical staff and 10 patients, three of them children, killed. another 37 wounded. the hospital is run by the aid group doctors without borders, a global charity that works in war zones. they call the attack a war crime. >> well, again, i wouldn't use a label like that because this is something that continues to be under investigation. >> reporter: survivors describe the horror to the bbc. >> there were flames all around me. i saw patients and doctors burn to death. >> translator: there was no place to hide. >> reporter: the damage massive. an ac-130 gunship like this struck the hospital wit

and now we go to the correspondent barbara starr, and now, barbara, what is happening?t of flying around right now, and what are they going to be doing about this? >> well, wolf, the information just coming in, and norad, the north american air defense releasing information that the blimp became untethered from aberdeen, north of washington, d.c., and it is flying uncontrolled, and think of it as a large helium filled balloon structure floating uncontrolled over pennsylvania. it is being tracked by two air force f-1s that were scrambleded out of their air station in atlantic city, new jersey. they are tracking it. following it. the faa and other federal agencies are working on it right now trying to ensure air traffic safety in the path of to a aerostat, because it is uncontrolled in the uncontrolled flight, and making sure that no aircraft get in its way. and trying to decide what to do about it. what is this system? it is essentially helium-filled with extensive radar equipment and something they are using and testing at aberdeen. it is a system that is designed to tr

let's bring in pentagon correspondent barbara starr. high-stakes meeting between u.s. and russia. what's going on? >> reporter: we're told that meeting was scheduled to begin four minutes ago, right at the stroke of 11:00 in a secure video teleconference room here in the pentagon and going to meet with another secure video teleconference in moscow. we're not getting a lot of information from the russian side. for the u.s., they are sitting down with russians to talk about how to coordinate air operations by both countries over syria. after yesterday's event when the russian general knocked on the door of the u.s. embassy in baghdad and said, you have an hour to get out of syria before we start bombing, the pentagon very unhappy, wanting to get a fast-track on this, get everybody the table. sit down and talk about it. on the u.s. side we're told a top civilian policy official here at the pentagon and three-star navy admiral who heads up strategic planning for the joint chiefs of staff. you got the heavyweights there. we're waiting to hear who moscow has put at the table on their si

we're covering these latest developments with barbara starr at the pentagon, joe johns at the white house. barbara, let's start with you. what details are you hearing from your sources. >> good morning, john and kate. multiple u.s. officials are now telling cnn that the white house is expected to make this announcement shortly. what by all accounts the president has decided is a small group of u.s. special operations forces, the most elite, the most highly trained will go into northern syria. this is an area controlled by the kurds, up near the turkish border. they are going to go there to support both kurds and the syrian arab fighters. there are thousands up there from all of these groups fighting isis. but they lack ammunition, equipment, logistics, the real ability to begin to execute a campaign, if you will, to push isis out and push isis further south. so what are the u.s. special operation forces going to do? they are going to help with that kind of planning and coordination, make sure they get ammunition drops, make sure they get the logistics, help them gather intelligence. the u

barbara starr joins us now with more. barbara, the russian air strikes, what's the latest tonight? >> reporter: john, a day of high drama. this all began earlier today when a russian general showed up at the u.s. embassy in baghdad, said we're going to start air strikes in one hour, get your u.s. warplanes out of syria. tonight the pentagon insisting it will continue air strikes that it chooses to do inside syria. u.s. warplanes not going anywhere. the big concern right now from defense secretary ashe carter is how to keep u.s. pilots safe but what are the russians really up to? where they struck is not an isis stronghold. that's very concerning to the u.s. they struck in areas where there are anti-regime forces, mill milita -- militias fighting bashar al assad. >> as of now what is the u.s. doing beside watching, being a spectator in the region? i know the u.s. is continuing its on strikes against isis. >> number one, continuing with the strikes that it wants to do, that the u.s. and the coalition want to do. but in his press conference earlier today, defense secretary ashe carter

barbara starr is monitoring developments tonight from the pentagon. barbara, what happened? >> there were two u.s. air forces f-16s coming out of turkey over eastern syria trying to strike an isis target when russian aircraft came within 20 miles of them under the new rules the u.s. has, the u.s. pilots broke off and left the area. the rules now are that if the russians come within the 20-mile limit, the u.s. backs off. not that they think the russians will shoot them down but the russians are aggressive flyers. they are uncertain. the u.s. doesn't want to have any mistakes happen and certainly, not until both sides reach that technical agreement on how they will both fly in the skies over syria but keep themselves safe. >> and i understand they have also launched naval strikes in the sea. >> absolutely. the u.s. noticed ships moving into the southern caspian launching two dozen highly precise missiles in a naval bombardment of targets in western syria. again, what this is under scoring the u.s. says is the overwhelming majority of the targets that the russians are hitting n

>> barbara starr for us at the pentagon. thanks so much. >>> president obama's decision, which whatever you think of it it is a big change for him. >> i do not foresee a scenario where boots on the ground in syria, american boots on the ground in syria would not only be good for america but also would be good for syria. i will not put american boots on the ground in syria. i will not pursue an open-ended action like iraq or afghanistan. the resolution we submitted today does not call for the deployment of u.s. ground combat forces to iraq or syria. >> joining us now, jim acosta at the white house with more. jim, what's the white house saying about this announcement? >> reporter: well, they are saying this is going to be basically a deployment of 50 or so special operations forces that they will be serving an advice and assist role. white house press secretary josh earnest said they will not be engaged in a combat in syria but could potentially be involved in raids like the one we saw last week in iraq, a rescue mission durin

let's go to barbara starr at the pentagon. a syrian activist told me today that the real problem is the white house meddled with the pentagon's plans to train and equip these fighters and created these rules to fighters had to pledge to only fight isis. >> well, all indications are, jake, that is not going to change. but plenty of other parts of the program will. syrian forces backed up by russia continuing to escalate attacks in western syria as the u.s. announces a massive overhaul of its effort to train syrian rebels to fight isis. >> i wasn't satisfied with the early efforts in that regard. >> few were. now instead of recruiting fighters from the battlefield for training, the u.s. will provide air strikes and air drop ammunition and communications gear in northern syria to members of the so-called syrian arab coalition, some 5,000 fighters from various tribes and militias that have been fighting isis for months. u.s. special operations forces have worked already with the coalition and pressed the pentagon for months to bac

this could have been much worse than turned out. >> let's go to barbara starr monitoring developments from the pentagon. >> they, too, are saying there will have to be a full investigation into what happened, how it became loose, how it got untethered and whether or not this is a program that they will really decide to continue with. this is a program that is supposed to monitor 360 degrees over the nation's capital to look for incoming airplanes, low-flying cruise missiles and any air threat to this area of the united states, but this kind of technology really was first developed for the war zone for military basis in iraq and afghanistan they were having trouble keeping watch 24/7 over their perimeter. if this is not supposed to happen over the united states, this coming loose and drifting 200 miles in uncontrolled flight with no ready way to bring it down, i think it's fair to say the pentagon will be taking a look at whether it wants to continue with this effort. >> so this one was being used to monitor over washington d.c., do we know how many are in use around the country? >> we

barbara starr is out front. did the u.s. know it was bombing a hospital? >> reporter: clearly a mistake, but no excuse. the u.s. does not bomb hospitals, mosques and schools. the question now is how could this have happened? in the aftermath of the attack on the doctors without borders hospital, a stunning military order from the top u.s. commander. >> i've directed the entire force to undergo indepth training in order to review all our operational authorities in rules of engagement. >> reporter: that order and acknowledgement that something went wrong. and the secretary of defense minced no words saying in a statement, when we make mistakes, we own up to them. that's exactly what we are doing now rules of engagement spell out when and how the u.s. military can conduct air strikes like the ac-130 gun ship that hit the hospital. doctors without borders says the u.s. knew it was a hospital. they were under attack for 30 minutes. he could not have been a mistake. >> until we are told otherwise and see an independent investigation, we presume this was a war cr

barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. >>> the military action will of course have an impact on the middleast. senior international correspondent ben wedeman is covering this for us from beirut. ben, earlier this week, we saw president obama meet face to face with president putin. clearly whether it comes to syria, there's no common ground between the two. >> reporter: well, there's common ground in the -- rhetorically at least in the sense that both of them say they are targeting isis. on the ground, it's a completely different situation. what we've seen is a pattern of air strikes on areas and groups that are clearly not isis. in fact, this morning, the british defense minister said that only one in five targets hit by the russians is isis. the focus of the air strikes until now is very much in the area along the damascus/aleppo highway. a strategic road that of course links the syrian capital with the western coast. the cities of latakia where, of course, some of the russian forces are concentrated. and that's, of course, where there's a large proportion of the alawite community to whic

cnn's barbara starr has the latest. barbara. >> cnn has learned that u.s. found the u.s. did know this was a hospital being run by the medical group doctors without borders in northern afghanistan. two u.s. officials tell cnn the location was in a u.s. military database. one official saying the medical group did everything right. 22 people including 12 medical staff and three children killed in the u.s. attack october 3rd. doctors without borders says there has been more trouble. an armored vehicle carrying military investigators forced its way into the wrecked compound causing damage and potentially destroying evidence. >> it's just another example for us of how this investigation is unfolding in a way that really necessitates an independent investigation. >> still, u.s. investigators trying to answer the questions. how did it happen, who ordered the aircraft to fire? other key questions, did the knowledge it was a hospital get passed along? when an ac-130 gunship struck, did the air crew and u.s. special operations forces on the ground know it was a hospi

i'm wolf blitzer, and we have barbara starr standing by, and nick walton -- nick paton walsh is on the ground there in syria, and also, clarissa ward, our foreign affairs correspondent. and barbara, what are you hearing? >> well w u.s. troops will be at pass risk, but using the words that the white house needs to use, it is not a combat mission. so what are the special operation forces going to do? they are going to go into the syria, and right into the heartland of where isis fights, and try to help the kurdish militant militants who are going after them with mission planning, and how how to get to south for the front lines. charisa has seen it, troops are short of ammunition, and supplies, and the united states wants to help them there, and this is keen thing, when you have special operations on the ground, they are also intelligence gatherers, and talking to the fighters, and learn learning the lay of the land, and learning where isis is, and they will be able to help overhead fighter jets, and two fa-16s and two more fighter jets to readily take out isis. another key issue is that

barbara starr keeping an eye on the developments and joins us with more. barbara, the russian air strikes, what's the latest tonight? >> john, a day of high drama. this all began earlier today when a russian general showed up at the u.s. embassy and said we'll start air strikes in one hour, get your planes, your u.s. war planes out of syria. tonight, the pentagon insisting it will continue air strikes that it chooses to do inside syria. u.s. war planes not going anywhere, the big concern right now from defense secretary ash carter is how to keep u.s. pilots safe in the same air space as russians but also what are the russians really up to? where they struck is not an isis stronghold. that's very concerning to the u.s. they struck in areas where there are anti regime forces, militias fighting bashar al-assad and russia is doing what the u.s. doesn't want to see, propping up assad, john? >> what is the u.s. doing besides just watching, being a spectator as it were? the u.s. is continuing its own air strikes against isis and thousands of them over the last ye

jake. >> barbara starr, thank you so much. joining me now is cnn national security commentator and former republican chairman house of the committee, congressman rogers. how should the u.s. respond to this increased aggression by the russians in syria? >> you know, the first thing that's going to have to happen is we have a strategy on isis. when the united states comes out and says your strategy is flawed, we really know what the russians are trying to do. they're trying to push out the secure zone and protect assad's troops. anybody that didn't believe that was going to happen when they started ramping it up hasn't been paying attention. so i think we have to take it in phases. one, you have to make sure that they understand that we're serious. if we in fact are serious about continuing our air campaign, then we need to ramp up what we're willing to do. turning and flying away when they cross that 20-mile mark is not telling them -- sending russia the right message candidly. so put together an isis campaign that is aggressiv

let's get right to cnn's barbara starr. she's live barbara, the president called the security situation on the ground, quote, fragile. will the role of u.s. forces in afghanistan change at all? >> perhaps not, jake. as with afghanistan always it's all about preserving security and security is always the problem. as the taliban showed their biggest win in years, briefly taking over a city in northern afghanistan, an isis and al qaeda continue expanding their ranks across afghanistan, president obama says the situation is still too dangerous to cut the size of u.s. forces still fighting in the country's longest war. >> the bottom line is in key areas of the country the security situation is still very fragile. and in some places there's risk of deterioration. >> reporter: the administration had sought to end u.s. involvement in the 14-year war that began less than one month after the 9/11 attacks. the plan had been to cut dramatically the number of troops next year. now the 9800 troops will remain through most or all of 2016

our barbara starr is there with more details. what are you learning?reporter: the air force has just given us a statement. let me read to to everybody. this is about spencer stone. the air force saying, quote, spencer stone, airman spencer stone, has been transported to a local hospital and is currently being treated for injuries. the incident is under investigation that he was involved with. here is what we know. spencer stone currently serves at travis air force base in northern california. he was involved in some sort of incident. we do not know what in a bar. and suffered multiple stab wounds. according to a u.s. official, a defense official, familiar with the case. he is in stable condition, we are told, at a hospital near travis air force base where this happened in the region where he served. he is in stable condition, we're told, by this official who's familiar with the current details at this hour. suffered multiple stab wounds in this incident in the bar. we do not know the nature of the incident. of course, airman stone along with his two fr