tried to advance towards tikrit.y were -- weren't able to make any progress, there was heavy fighting. it's not going to be an easy fight. at the end of the day the islamic state group has much support. there was a sunni uprising months before the government lost control of the area. so the government must gain the support of the sunnis if they are to win this battle. the sunni tribal leaders say we welcome the new prime minister. but they want this government to be brood based. they want real representation, and they want a say in governing their countriecountries. so you need all factions on board. right now sunni arms groups are not interested in taking up arms against the islamic state group. for them the target is the central government in bagdad, a government they have accused of mar generalizing them. so it's a tense situation, and without national unity then that would be the biggest threat for iraq and not the presence of the islamic state group. >> there is an important road that lies from bagdad to the mod

we heard that iraqi forces failed to retake tikrit, this being the third time. why is it so difficult for iraqi forces? >> this is going to be a very difficult fight. like you said, the third attempt. the islamic state group and other sunni groups control a third of iraq. what they control is the sunni heartland. one way or the other they have support among the population. the iraqi forces do not have a presence in this region. the iraqi army virtually collapsed in the north. we understand the iraqi army is advancing north of baghdad with the help of shia militias. this will not be easy. what we understand is they are using snipers to slow the advance, roadside bombs, and for now, in the north, yes, we have been reporting advances against the islamic state, but we have to bear in mind that the peshmerga, and elements of the military, they wouldn't have been able to take the dam this easily without the support of air strikes. u.s. air strikes made a difference, taking out the artillery, and the checkpoints and convoys and vehicles. the iraqi army needs the suppor

tikrit is about 130 kilometers from the capitol of bagdad.qi forces they say reached three locations, one to the north of tikrit, to the south, the birthplace of saadam hussein. now, the iraqi army hadn't been successful in their battle in the south, but now they seem to be making gains. why is that? >> reporter: well like you mentioned, they were not able to advance towards tikrit, really. the capitol, a strong hold of the islamic state groups. the islamic state group may be the dominant force on the ground but sunnis are fighting alongside them. not necessarily because they share the same ideology, but they have a common enemy, the government in bagdad. they need the support of the sunnis on the ground if the they are able to defeat the islamic state group. but so far we have heard from sunni tribal leaders they said yes, we're ready to cooperate with the new government. a new prime minister has been nominated. if the iraqi sunnis feel that they have a say in governing their country, then they will take arms up against the islamic state gro

now the target is tikrit. >> reporter: the iraqi government have launched they tikrit. this is the area of the form they are president of iran. it's symbolically close to iraq and others. very important city for iraq. if the government managed to retake this city, definitely they could push their own troops at the same time and inflict devastating attack against i.s. militants. so far the progress has been slow. the officials say because of mines and booby traps and also snipers shooting at the iraqi army, that's why they haven't been able to make fast progress. we have reports from the people on the ground. they say iraqi air force, iraqi helicopters are also involved in attacking i.s. militantmilitant. >> thank you very much. >>> time then for other news making headlines. a ceasefire between israel and palestinians in gaza has been extended for another 24 you are los. announcement was made less than an hour before the previous five day truce was due to expire. will there's talks of a long term arrangement. >>> pope francis says efforts to stop militants in iraq are le

government troops launch a major operation to retake the city of tikrit. we look at the role of western troops on the ground there. >>> the son of jackie chen is arrested in beijing for possession of marijuana. he's the latest celebrity to be in china's crack down of drugs. aaron is here. what were you doing august 24, 2004? >> i was right here on the bbc talking about the day google went public and entered the stock market. then it was just a search engine. boy, how a he can deck cade has changed that. look at the next ten years for the mighty google. >>> it's midday here in london, 7:00 a.m. washington 6:00 a.m. missouri where the officer in charge of operations in ferguson say criminals have infiltrated the crowd of protest hers and are intent on violence. police used tear gas and smoke canisters to undue the unrest. at a news conference, ron johnson said some of those arrested overnight were from as far as new york and california. he depended officers saying they had come under heavy gunfire and been attack aed with rocks and bottles but haven't afired

heavy fighting near tikrit. the gaza ceasefire is extended once again, but israel's military claim rockets have been fired from the strip. [ shouting ] >> missouri authorities claim police have come under heavy gunfire in ferguson, but the protesters say they are the ones being mistreated. >> i have been harassed three times by the same officer. and that's what people get tired of. >> and hundreds of millions of dollars in damage? detroit's worst flood in 90 years. ♪ >>> hello, the iraqi army is fighting the islamic state to retake tikrit. it's a sunni, dominated city where the islamic state has now cemented itself with help of other sunni groups. the advance has been slowed on the outskirts of the city due to sniper fire and roadside bombs. there has been fierce fighting in the area for the country's largest dam which is now in control of the army and the kurdish forces. let's go to the northern city of erbil the capitol of the region. now that the musol dam has been taken, it seems the battle is moving towards

tikrit fell to the group formerly known as isis on june 11. it has since been controlled by sunni armed groups. this comes after forces regained control of the strategic basel dam, aided by airstrikes from the u.s. our correspondent is following developments at the dam. >> or has been confusion over what exactly the situation is. today, we had an armed export with them to the area and it's clear they were in control of all of the facilities there and the entire dam. they also said they were in control of the area, which is a nebulous term. isis are onlyid five or seven color matures away and that fit with what we saw toward the end of the visit. we could hear heavy gunfire in the distance. two or three kilometers beyond the dam, which is three kilometers long itself, you could see clouds of smoke rising and it seems to be outgoing artillery firing, and it may have been incoming as well. but have made more progress they have not really been able to secure a large offer zone around it up until this point. when it was taken by kurdish troops, the

tikrit lies on the road between baghdad and mosul where there has been fierce fighting for the largest dam, which is now under the control of the army and the peshmerga forces. >> reporter: once again, the iraqi army tried to advance toward tikrit. and they weren't able to make any progress. there was heavy fighting and it's not going to be an easy fight. at the end of the day, the islamic state group is not fighting alone. they have the support of sunni armed groups. much of the attention is focused on the islamic state group, but there was a sunni uprising in iraq months before the government lost control of one-third of the country. so it is vital for the iraqi government to get the support of the iraq sunnis if they are able to win this battle. and if they are are to prevent an all-out war. yes, we welcome the nomination of the prime minister, but under certain conditions, they want the government to be broad-based and inclusive. and they want representation in governing their country. so you want all of iraqis communities to be onboard if they are to get rid of the islamic state g

maliki decided to give salaries to people from mosul and tikrit to only those in baghdad now and none of those in kurdistan reach. so had it not been for the u.s. air strikes and the international help, it would have been extremely difficult to stop isis and make progress. as well as helping the internally displaced people who are now well over 600,000, in fact, if you include those elsewhere, it exceeds 650,000 people. so imagine kurdistan just under 5 million and it suddenly increased by 5 million without the resources to pay their salaries and baghdad withholding their budget. in any case, kurdish leaders have come around and have invested seriously in baghdad's political process. they now have a president in baghdad who was instrumental in stopping maliki from extending his premiereship -- some of which might be beyond his powers. they want guarantees that -- they want guarantees not just from him but from the house of shiites as well as others putting pressure on them. they want guarantees that the next prime minister will not be like mr. maliki. they will not use salaries as a t

bill: you were mentioning there might still be some fighting in tikrit. maybe we should talk about that mosul dam you mentioned. here it is in the northern part of the country that's apparently back in the hand of the islamic kurdish forces. you blow up that dam and look what happens here. you are 30 minutes from the water flooding mosul. the tigris river. baghdad is 12 hours away. the u.s. embassy is housed. how critical is it the kurdish fighters say we can take that despite the i. ement d.s that were set up at that dam. >> the intelligence helping the kurdish and iraqi forces. very important to get that dam back. it provide electricity for much of northwestern iraq, irrigation. the notion that the terrorists isis could have blown that dam up and the isolation is enormous. but it puts the u.s. use of force at the outer limits of the constraints president obama put on it and it raises the fundamental question. what should our objective be. i think it should be destroying isis. we did not hear that from him specifically yesterday. when candidate whether w

on the ground, the iraqi troops now are trying and actually have been trying to retake the city of tikrit for weeks. the hometown of the form her president hussein. without ground support and success that we have seen from the american forces up north and specifically to support the efforts of the kurdish troops in retaking areas in the north. of course america made it clear in early stages of this crisis they would be waiting to see progress on the political scene here in iraq in term temperatures of forming an inclusive government in order to make their support more effective. >> air strikes clearly have their place don't they? if we look at what's happened around the mosul dam. i guess the question for the iraqi government whoever is heading it, do the forces themselves have the way to keep tikrit and mosul dam if they get it back? >> of course that's the question. they have a long way to go. they haven't retaken any major city or town from those that they have lost to isis over the past two to three months. that will will take more significant support whether from the american forces,

the body was at the airport after being found by tikrit locals. that indignity compounding fury. death is a solution to isis. the world needs to get rid of them. these people have no place on earth but understood it. the sunni, the shia, the christians, everyone. one of perhaps 1700 calls for blood vengeance, 1700 childhoods shattered. nick paton walsh, cnn, baghdad. >>> we want to turn to the other main story we are following today in ferguson, missouri. we can show you live pictures along with new information that cnn confirmed. police in ferguson used mixed gases to disperse the crowd. police authorities used smoke bomb canisters and tear gas canters to disperse the crowd in ferguson according to a highway patrol lieutenant that affiliate kmov spoke to. initially the police used smoke canisters. that's what they said they would do initially. then they used tear gas canisters. ronald johnson initially told people they would not use tear gas. seems like they did use tear gas in this case. we will get more information as we speak with officials about this tonight, tomorrow and th

. >> the iraqi army is being more aggressive, trying to take back tikrit from islamic state group on tuesday, and so far it has failed. and is it impossible to defeat them unless we get alize among the sunnis, who at times have fought with them? >> we need to make alliances with the sunni, but what we saw today, the americans making advances on tikrit, they have not had much success, but when reinforced with u.s. air power, they're good enough to get the job done, and i suspect that's going to be our model going forward. >> but the u.s. air power, as you have written s. not enough to defeat these people. >> not in itself, but u.s. air power, in conjunction with the land forces with the iraqis and the kurds, is enough. it's not going to happen overnight. >> what about help from the others? saudi arabia has declared irs and al qaeda the number-one enemies of islam. and if we have countries like this getting involved, is that going to help? >> i think we're starting to realize that islamic state group is a real threat. and we welcome help from where everyone it comes. iranians are helpi

heavy fighting near tikrit.a ceasefire is extended once again, but israel's military claim rockets have been fired from the strip. [ shouting ] >> missouri authorities claim police have come under heavy gunfire in

while the world focuses on the brutal killing of journalist foley, these special tikrit are facing isis fighters with fresh determination. come easy.l not the front line is hardening. kurdishmeet the their enemyo fought to a standstill. theeters over the bridge, black flag of the islamic state and everything it stands for. howstaggering thing is close the front lines are. we've clearly seen movement just on the other side but the fighters here say they're determined to protect their protect their homes. several attacks have been repelled and their commander says troops are ready to give lives butd and their they need help. >> we are asking the international community and european countries for weapons. our enemy has sophisticated weapons. but we needd better. in kirkuk, there is no panic. people haveinating their -- whoh in their fighting men defend the city. the governor told me he's confident the islamic state will be defeated. >> it's a dangerous enemy. of iraq only the enemy syria, it's the enemy that world.anywhere in this >> it may be a global issue but if -- for now, the future o

areas that previously controlled by isil -- and they remain contested around to credit, -- around tikrit, but we take the fight to them and that is important. this is their fight. are,n advise them and we the fight is going to have to come from the competency and the capability of the security forces. >> admiral john kirby, thank you for joining us. missouri state police will take charge of security in the town of ferguson after four days of violence there triggered by the killing of a black unarmed teenager by police. today president obama appealed again for peace and calm. we have this report from ferguson. >> in different parts of ferguson, protesters are starting to take to the streets. like they have done every day since the shooting. the demonstrations here have been peaceful. but during the night, police and military gear tried to clear the area of demonstrators. ande was confrontation accusations of heavy handedness and harassment of journalists. president obama again called for calm and said mornings to the police about their behavior. in thelocal authorities police have the res

isis captured tikrit back in june and forced thousands toss flee their homes. the u.n. estimates that a total of 600,000 people have been displaced by the terror group's take over in northern iraq. >>> police say an illusive perverted peeping tom was finally caught all thanks to a video he was caught on tape staring in the woman's apartment as she showered. take a look at this erie footage the woman's boyfriend set up a camera after he caught the same man lurking around their property. you can see suspect creep up the the screen window and then duck away. police arrested the 51 year-old after he was caught looking in the area have of another home. >>> man with the video camera has a chosen counter of the rodent kind on a new york city subway platform. this nasty encounter and there is that little guy if you want to call him that the forty-second street subway station. journalist joe size a carries around a camera but capturing a rat attack was the last thing on his mind. >> i mean i'm a football field away minding my own business and this rat comes straight at me with n

not now after two months after what is happening in mosul, tikrit. now maliki has decided to have airstrike support for forces. but at the end this corporation must end the controlling of fires for this regions. now why it's now because maliki is now convinced that if he does not have the support of the kurdish he will not have support against the isil. it is convinced that maliki will do something by isil. >> and he has not so far. he has not been successful at all. there are reports that i.s. has taken mosul dam and other areas. explain how strategic this is. >> well, it's oil and water, the two things that control the person inside iraq and inside the middle east. now when they're controlling water it means that they will threaten the entire area, and if they want to negotiate they will be in a powerful position. secondly even the oils, even the is also controlling the oils to turkey. and it export oil to these regions, it will control them. it will have support and strong position when they negotiate. it also means that they will say if there is

. >> iraq forces say they launched attacks against islamic state militants in areas around tikrit. it is about 80 miles north of baghdad. you he can site on the big map. the militants have controlled that city since june. meantime, kurdish fighters tell the reuters news agency they secured two towns irbil and northern iraq. and militants still have a presence outside the towns but their far away and too far away to reach them with mortars or machine gun fire. all this camps u.s. officials say they launched a barrage of airstrikes to help the government and kurdish troops. president obama said the strikes helped iraqi and kurdish forces take a major step forward by recaptures iraq's largest dam and that was a big deal because analyst says the militants could have destroyed the dam, but made no sense they've would do that. it would unleash a 65-foot high wall of water and even flood parts of baghdad, according to a pentagon report. a pentagon spokesman says just minutes ago the u.s. may construct more airstrikes in iraq if needed for humanitarian assistance or protecting americans. j

stories on al jazeera with the mosul dam now in the hands of iraqi forces, they now have the town of tikrit its sites. >>> ukraine's government says fighting has r

. -- out of tikrit. a report from jeremy cook on the plight of refugees who have arrived. >> on the road, clear evidence of u.s. airstrikes that have helped drive islamic state forces off of their strategic objective. kurdish ground troops have worked together. still, a rare opportunity to celebrate. but won victory can not erase the pain here. survived a massacre. he was lined up and shot with every other adult male in the village. he lived by playing dead in a pile of bodies. his wife and children were taken away by isis. meansitter experience that in this dustbowl landscape in the searing heat, the mood remains bleak. in each tent, a family. each family, with time now to reflect on horror and loss. this is just one part of one camp. you really get the feeling that an entire people have been displaced here. most are telling us they believe they can never go home. but how, how can they stay here? children, there are so many here. they have escaped. they are alive. but still, traumatized and vulnerable a

i understand there's a battle on one of the villages between amerli and tikrit. we under from the fighters, there's small ammunition and weapons. they are hoping it may push the fighters out of there. they are also pushing the fighters north. have been hearing artillery shells, small arms constantly, and we are estimating the battle is about a kilometre from us here. and we are hearing a lot of movement in the air. it's been significant. since noon on saturday, yesterday, there has been repeated strikes on the is positions here. there's rumour that the fighters jets have been pummelling the lines. they have been softening up around amerli... (technical difficulties) >>> apologies, we have lost sue turton, but we debt a sense of what has been happening in the league. an area where they have pushed back. australia is the latest nation to draw a growing international coalition against is fighters. the nation will provide guns and ammunition to support kurdish forces. they launch air strikes overnight. hoda abdel-hamid reports. american officials say they have never

. >> reporter: now iraqi forces are fighting to drive militants out of tikrit, one of the town's captured in june. isis fighters are imposing their own version of islamic law and threatening religious minorities in the region. the united nations estimates at least 600,000 refugees have been displaced by the fighting, including this child whose family fled to escape the militants two weeks ago. the u.n. is launching a major new aid operation to get badly needed supplies to the refugees. case boswell, cbs news -- craig boswell, cbs news, washington. >> four-day air life of supplies is expected to begin wednesday. >>> he was known as vermont's maverick senator. former vermont senator jim jeffords died yesterday at a military retirement center here in our region. jeffords was a veteran member of the house before moving to the senate in 1989 as a republican. but in 2001, jeffords quit the republican party to become an independent during george w. bush's presidency. jim jeffords was 80 years old. >>> the man behind the booming voice of saturday night live in the original price is right has ué d

area stretches from the north of syria to mount sinjar in north of iraq to cities and towns like tikrit and fallujah. the iraqi army says it is fighting along side kurdish forces and that they've reached the perimeter of the dam. an army spokesman said that they're loss planning an assault to retake parts of the city of mosul to which a large number of i.s. fight verse retreated. we go to the kurdish forces and we're following the battle. >> reporter: there is an active front line in the east of mosul. peshmerga forces trying to advance, but they've been unable to do so. the islamic state group, they're approximately two kilometers away from the front line. they've been using sniper fire mortars to prevent the perso peshmerga from moving forward. they want to recapture the lands in order for displaced people to return. they've taken over three christian villages, but from what which understand from peshmerga commanders they have no plans to push through to mosul, the stronghold of the islamic state. there is an active front line in the east of mosul, and there is a battle under way for

>> judy, the analysis is there were two missing ingredients in the assault on tikrit., of course, is coordination with american airstrikes. the retaking of the mosul dam was a collective effort of kurdish, iraqi fighters and american airstrikes, very strategically targeted out of a joint operations center in erbil. the second thing that was missing was a cohesive iraqi force. this time the iraqis were fighting on their own and according to a senior kurdish military official here, it was a hodgepodge of regular iraqi army and shiite militia. he said they had great weapons but poorly led by commanders appointed on sectarian grounds, he said, and they were not really committed to the fight. and he said that -- essentially, he described the same kind of iraqi army that fled from northern iraq in june when the islamic state attacked mosul and all these other outposts up here near the kurdish region, and that's a bad sign. if that's true, that's a bad sign for the test that president obama has set for greater u.s. military involvement, that is that you have a cohesive and po

that was not available to the iraqi troops who were closing in on tikrit today. offensive, this one a humanitarian effort, huge effort by the u.n. to bring much needed aid to the estimated half million refugees displaced by fighting in the northern part of iraq. they are bringing in tents and blankets and food by land and sea and air, all over the course of the coming days. one of the biggest efforts they have ever launched they say. but clearly huge needs and hope that both on humanitarian front we could well see a turning point here with a u.s. role critical. >> back to you guys. >> thank you for your reporting. former army captain in iraq, michael green, who heads the truman national security project. thanks for being with us. >> good to be back. >> maybe you could talk me down. what i remember was the president saying we have a humanitarian intervention, have to present genocide and go into those mountains and then broke the isil siege and seeing continued air strikes. maybe that's good policy, maybe, but it certainly seems from my understanding in reading ab

they weren't very successful in their push towards ta -- tikrit, what was the reason behind this. >> army all but collapsed, really in the face of the advance. it's not going to be easy. we know the army is being supported by shiite militias. they need the support of the people there. and what we have been seeing over recent weeks are continuous attacks by the iraqi army. air strikes, shelling, targeting homes. so you need these people on your side. at the end of the day the advancing force has a disadvantage. and we have to remember, they captured a lot of weapons from the iraqi army. so this is going to be a very difficult fight, but what is becoming clear is the obama administration cannot do much unless there is a government in place that represents all of the unities, and this becomes a united nations. >> reporter: this is a city not at peace with the it's a or the rest of iraq. the iraqi air northwest has been targeting it for months now. their enemy is the islamic state group and sunni forces who have taken up forces against the army in bagdad. almost 700 are believed to have

to fight the extremist fighters on a string of fronts, including in saddam hussein's hometown of tikrit. this as the united nations is readying a massive aid operation to try to help some of the 500,000 iraqis who have been displaced during the conflict. let's look at some other news stories for you on "france 24 -- on "france 24." monrovia tofired in try and break up a stonethrowing crowd. people are angry about leaving their neighborhoods placed under koran team. the liberian president has put a curfew into place at night to try -- under quarantine. the liberian president has put a curfew into place at night. have been, 34 locals killed and some 30 hurt in the past 24 hours in you.net -- in donetsk. it is the largest city still in rebel hands. several neighborhoods have been hit with artillery fire in the past few days. isistan's powerful military calling for talks to resolve a weeklong political crisis. tens of thousands of protesters have marched on parliament, demanding the prime minister resign. people of all ages staged a sit in outside parliament after they defied a government b

i did a story last week about potentially 1700 iraqi recruits at a place near tikrit. that was overrun and they were herded off on this video to mass execution. some shot dead in the dusty field, others taken to a river in fact where they were just in a line, one after the other shot in the head, single shot, dumped. one of the most horrific things i've seen on video. sanjay. >> nick and jake, we have to make constant decisions certainly as news organizations what we're going to show, what is appropriate to show. jake, it's a different situation obviously in missouri. you've been there when things got hairy there as well. i've been struck again from my prism, watching it on tv, at times it looked like a complete war zone. it looked similar to some of the things in the middle east. is it like that in person, jake? how do you give people the whole picture as opposed to just a slice of the pie? how do you balance that? >> well, it's difficult and it has looked like that at times during this crisis here in ferguson. it has not in the last few days. the police are employing

. >>> the rebels have already over run the towns of mosul and tikrit. in gaza a 5-day ceasefire extension between hamas and israel continues to hold but there still hasn't been a breakthrough on a long-term truce. del have the tkpwa*ts have returned from high ky row where negotiations were being held. >>> ukraine's military says it has surrounded the town of luhansk cutting off pro-russia rebels. heavy shelling that city and the strong hold of donetsk has killed dozens of people. the u.n. and human rights groups are warning of widespread abuses by the rebels after hundreds of abductions barnaby phillips reports from slo slow vee after. >> reporter: what won't be so easy to fix are all the broken lives. this is boris and his wife maria this picture is of their son, he disappeared when the separatists arrested him. they said he was stealing. there are reports that they executed him in a type of crude summary justice. maria has been looking for him everywhere, she says she has to believe his stella life. she saw him in her dreams last night. when the separ

iraqi forces launched a new attack to try to retake tikrit today, scott. this is saddam hussein's former home town north of baghdad. has been under isis control since early june. >> pelley: charlie d'agata reporting from erbil for us tonight. charlie, thank you. isis is phone for depravity, and today it released a video that purportedly shows the beheading of an american photo journalist, exaernl naernl retaliation for the u.s. airstrikes in iraq. we will show you only this still image from the video. the man being held appears to be james foley who went missing in syria nearly two years ago while working for the global post web site. the u.s. government has not confirmed the authenticity of the photo. tonight, the war in gaza is back on. hamas militants fired at least 50 rockets at israel. israel responded with new air strikes and both sides walked out of peace talks. more than 2,000 palestinians and 67 israelis have been killed in this summer's fighting. this evening, texas governor rick perry was fingerprinted, photographed, and booked on two felony cha

>> absolutely not they have launched a wide scale military offensive, around tikrit to push back the islamic state there, they are using aerial bombardment, in some cases they are sort of counting on this local backlash, hoping that the islamic state really can't plant roots and local resident will start to turn against them, including tribesmen, quoting local sources than the meantime iraqi forces are trying to regroup and strengthen their focus on holding the key cities and making sure that the insurgents don't push southwards toward the capital. >> all right, nour malas of the wall street journal, joining us via skype, thank you. >> in britain, church of >> sreenivasan: in britain, church of england officials are calling on prime minister david cameron to offer sanctuary to thousands of iraqi christians who have fled northern iraq following the jihadists' military gains. the right reverend david walker told the observer newspaper that the cost to the uk would be miniscule compared to what britain spent on the war in iraq. he says the uk now has a moral duty to help. in australia t

it's the city itself which is their strong hold as well as other urban centers across eye whack, tikritr example, so the fight against the islamic state group is far from over, what we understand is we have been talking to people inside mosul city and what they have been telling sus that people are afraid. they are worried about the war will reach them. as we understand we have been talking to pe peshmerga fighters they are trying to recapture territory that they lost last week, territory where christians and other minorities live. they don't want to push in to sunni territories, this will really be a very sensitive iss issue. this will require iraq as a nation taking on the islamic state group. they are still in control of territories in the east of mosul. the islamic state group is holding their ground. preventing the kurdish forces from advancing further. it hasn't been easy for the peshmerga. they have been coming under sniper fire. and the islamic state group has been using mortars to target their positions. this is an active frontline and the kurds with their limited resources hav

, the question for liz and kirsten and everyone, who's going to take back the cities of fallujah, tikrit, and mosul? the iraqi army? what is the iraqi army fighting for? the iraqi state? the iraqi state barely exists now. a leader of the kurdish fighters said there's an asymmetry in the motivation. the isil people want to die and go and have lunch with mohammed. our people want to fight and go have dinner with their families. those are the kurds whose have built a nation and know what they're fighting for. what would the iraqi army be fighting for? and absent that, who will take the cities back? >> george, you're right that it's a complete disaster and a sectarian mess, but i think the security of the nation requires that we focus on what is the direct threat to us. and part of the problem in the president's policy to date is he has been saying, well, we have to wait until we have a political solution before i'll take action. we've now had a political solution. maliki is gone, but what we learned with the surge, for example, is the military action, demonstrating to people we will be ther

they captured saddam hussein's hometown of tikrit. they staged a mass execution there. perhaps one of the most valuable gains has been the second largest city. mo zul. that was notable not because of mo zul's size, but because of the location in a spot that links iraq and turkey and syria. tonight it is the plight of a city called sin jar located west of mosul. they are reengaging militarily in iraq. over the weekend as isis continued the brutal land grab, they teased the city and they hope an ethnic and religious minority group. they practice a religion that is derived from christianity and judaism and other influences. when isis took over, they forced them to flee for their lives. isis vowed to kill them. they fled and some of them into the count ans surrounding the town. now they are stuck in the mountains with no food and no water. they are surrounded by isis forces that vowed to kill them if they return home from the mountain. 40,000 people, mostly women and children are stranded right now, dying of dehydration and hunger and unable to look for water because isis w

will tikrit break--quick break. women come back or hear of a multimillion-dollar free some police force. california state lawmakers have passed a first-ever state built as defined sexual consent on college campus. here's what students think all thus. most students said that this is a good team and they hope that this will help campuses across the state look into these crimes. many victims can speaking out so that more needs be done to stop sexual assault on campus. now lawmakers are passing laws to help prevent and investigate these crimes. their turn to change the language from no means no to yes means yes. there must be conscious decision from both parties in order to engage in sex. students hope that the focus will be on the victim's. this new bill will apply to all colleges and universities that will accept financial aid. here's a live look outside. a little breezy out there along with misty conditions along a coastline. of more when we return highway 152 is open after a press fire broke out on thursday. this fi

as we mentioned they are in charge of mosul and tikrit.philip, with that said is this a game changer? i hate that said but when we see groups coming together, what does this mean? go well, it could mean different things. they've always been operating together. in terms of its, a look at how they've been operating. the conditions they can develop for defenses not good at all. if you want to found your organization and you look for ways to defeat them even through their different alliances. if there are further alliances, it's never a good thing. >> michael: what do you think of iran identifying isis. i think that the iranians are, as odd as this may sound, they're turning out to be strange allies or strange bed funding. >> the islamic state. >> the iraq army owned u.s. vehicles and weaponry could not be verified but it proved to be an immense payload. the group has been tapping into pipelines, looting soldiers facilitiestorage facilities, and smuggling oil to other countries. but one of their main sources of money is ransom money. >> they u

two months ago hundreds of cadets at a military academy in tikrit were executed. >> in the baghdad cityhing p nick peyton walsh spoke to people. >> reporter: internally, dying. cadets from military academy overrun by isis militants in june herded to slaughter. isis filmed their murder, perhaps the most infamous shock video yet. used to speed their advance. here they chant, isis forever. anything. in the dusk the masked men take turns and the anonymous, endless killing of perhaps 1700 people. in baghdad's satyr city they have a loss. he watched his brother die. the last time they spoke on this same phone he said his base was surrounded. would he look after his children. i felt that his life had just ended, he says, that he is dead, because of the way he was speaking saying things like, take care of my children. i said to myself, he knows he's going to die. it took three weeks before he could bring himself to watch the video. i was afraid to see it, he says, so i kept hesitating. my son would bring it up, i would pull it down, up, down, up. there's not one thing in that video that i do no

iraq's military has reportedly attacked islamic state forces in anbar province and the city of tikrit. they are trying to push back fighters from an organization that the pentagon called a bigger threat than al qaeda pre-9/11. seven months ago president obama compared the islamic state to a junior varsity basketball team. today the united states launched a fresh round of air strikes against the group as part of the effort to assist iraqi and kurdish troops on the ground. >> islamic state grabbed america's attention when it released video after the beheading of foley, a journalist. the man that spoke had a british accent. secretary chuck hagel confirmed in keeping with u.s. policy the obama administration refused to negotiate a ransom for foley. islamic state asked his family for over $100 million. in july the pentagon deployed a rescue mission for foley and others held hostage. paul beban joins us for more. >> the white house never disclosed the operation, but decided to go public, because a number of media outlets for on the verge of reporting it. the mission to rescue james foley wa

other key cities like falluja, ramadi, tikrit and others. as we're hearing, being reiterated again by u.s. defense officials, this is really stopping isis for now, halting that advance, but its not weakening them to an extent, not really defeating isis, which is what -- the aim of these operations is. more things need to happen here in iraq the political process is key. try and bring on board the sunni minority of iraq. they have been key in the past in combating extremist groups. this is a very tough task ahead for the iraqi prime minister designate haider al abadi. he needs to regain the trust of the sunni community who has felt alienated by the policies of nuri al maliki. another point, isis is not only in iraq. as we know, they are very active in syria. those borders are nonexistent. they have been able to move between iraq and syria and a point being made by u.s. defense officials, general martin dempsey yesterday saying that the issue of isis in syria needs to be tackled to be able to weaken and defeat this group. >> and she's putting