hit them in tikrit, they move to ramadi. hit them in ramadi, they move somewhere else.y rate, the iraqi security forces now are not a strong option. if our goal is to defeat i.s.i.s., you have to see what you have to work with and what you have to work with is the shia militias. >> ifill: derek harvey, does that mean i.s.i.s. has to be treated as a long-term enemy. >> clearly has to be treated as a long-term enemy, but i think we're overestimating the capability of fighting strength of the popular mobilization units of the shia militias. they are not that good and they've demonstrated that at the outsecurities of tikrit and in other places when they overwhelmingly overmatch sunni fighters in a small town or not a built-up area they do well. but in street fighting urban fighting against an organized offense, they've demonstrated they are not good. >> ifill: derek harvey of university of south florida and vali nasr of former state department seniorjohn hopkins schoolof advanced international studies. thank you very much. >> woodruff: many of the images that first called t

on april 3rd, parker filed is sorry from tikrit, on government-backed force, recapturing the city.qis that took issue with his support went on facebook threatening his life. and on an iraqi tv channel, it led parker to conclude that he was no longer safe. after a decade of covering iraq, he left the country. >> here was the liberation of tikrit, a major city, the most significant victory that the iraqi forces have achieved against i.s.i.s., and the reporting that came about it was focussing on the transgressions and happened on the battlefield. but by and large i think that reporting itself did not focus on any positive events that happened with the liberation of the city, and rather focussing on the negative aspects. >> in tikrit the big question was what would the shia dominated groups do once they had recaptured parts of the heartland. how would they act. this was the time that the report came in, that a journalist witnessed an impromptu execution of a soldiers in the street, and hundreds of houses were burnt. it touched a nerve. >> it showed what had happened, and there were re

tikrit is a better pair dime. in tikrit, you had the iranian head of the revolutionary job core, his forces trying to work with shia militia on the ground to take tikrit from isis. they failed and stalled only when the u.s. backed forces came in to help the iraqis were we able to push isis out of tikrit. that's a story that hasn't been told much. it served two important purposes. it reclaimed tikrit for people and pushed back forces. it sent a signal to iran we're not going to let you get on the ground and take over iraq. that's an important objective for u.s. military planners. one is arrest isis advance, and second is send signal to iraqis u.s. and other coalition partners have their back. they don't need to turn to iran for help. >> going to be a delicate dance moving forward. lastly, a u.s. special operations forces raid in syria launched from iraq essentially took down the money manager of isis. were able to kill him and app ri end his wife. this is a special operationsz force. it started with gunfire led to

you lose tikrit, you take ramadi. brian: in this ping-pong game, the rainy and's are playing a key role. how significant is the political support they have in the fight against irs -- i.s.? reporter: it is significant because they were the first ones helping iraqis, sending experts trainers, and even the commander of the national guard, of the republican guard came to iraqi and commanded the brigade which is a militia, a shia militia trained in iran. and they are said to be the most professional -- much more professional than the iraqi army's. so iran plays a significant role in this fight. brian: ok, a respondent from baghdad, live as the ukrainian army marches on monday. thanks for that. we're taking a very short break. stay with us. we will be looking at the lessons learned from the ebola crisis. peter: on a very different note, we will be finding out who is representing germany at this weekend's edition of the eurovision song contest. do stay with us. peter: welcome back. the world health organization has admitted

if you look to an earlier operation for instance tikrit it took the iraqi forces more than one month to creep back. so it is very unlikely that they can take ramadi back so quickly. >> does that have anything to do with morale within the iraqi army both the u.s. and canada have questioned the attitude of the iraqi armed forces. >> well one of the problems is that the change of command -- the chain of command broke down and a number of security forces were there which made coordination very difficult in the fight against isis. this was also the problem with sunni tribal fighters, suggesting they were not receiving weapons enough from baghdad and they had to buy their own ammunition. it's very difficult to reinstitute security forces to retake ramadi but it is still possible. >> it is indeed a very complex situation. the forces that are now advancing on ramadi are quite diverse. iraqi soldiers of course but also iran-backed shiite militias and the locally recruited sunni tribal fighters you just mentioned. is that a model for success or is it causing tension? >> it's possible those for

others are likely to join because -- are unlikely to join because they saw what happened after the tikritve. it's very unlikely there will be more sign i tribal support at this stage. >> the more successful isil becomes, is it making it easier for them to attract fighters to join them? >> of course it is. it's galvanizing their morale. especially sometimes they also feel that god is helping them in the offenses, the sand storm that actually presented -- prevented u.s. air strikes from actually let's say defeating them is a sign to them that god is helping them so with these victories and god on their side they feel invincible. >> what do you think will put a stop to it? should it be boots on the ground? >> i think it's a combination of many different responses. yes, of course boots on the ground would helpful but it's very unlikely that president obama will do that. i guess that engaging sunni tribes, not just by making them empty promises like. [ inaudible ] initiative in 2006, 2007. but actually maybe proposal an all tonight my to sunni provinces in iraq, that might helpful because righ

. >> now turning to tikrit and these reports, ian, of mass graves that were found, can you tell us more about that? >> yeah. we're hearing it's just one person shy of 500 people, bodies that have been exhumed from that mass grave. we're hearing that they are cadets that were killed by isis about a year ago, last june. these people, their bodies were taken to the baghdad morgue where there are forensics experts looking at them, trying to identify the bodies, get them to their families for a proper burial, although they haven't been released yet. but we're hearing, also, that this is just one of many more mass graves to be discovered and uncovered in tikrit. >> and, ian, isis loves to release videos, so they released a new video of the city of palmyra. what does this show? >> well, we're hearing or we're seeing, rather, the ancient artifact, the ancient monument statues that are from palmyra, it's haunting, really, this is something that a lot of people have been concerned about, what would happen to them once isis took over. but it's interesting, the "new york times" reporting that on a

they succeeded in taking that -- back tikrit and it caused a lot of casualties.e know that anbar is a stronghold of jihadis. many leaders of islamic state are from anbar and ramadi. the solution was sunni motion fighting -- sunni militia fighting al qaeda. it succeeded at the time because it was fighting the jihadis -- fighting the sunni majority of the region. they were given arms money and were promised more participation in the political system in iraq. all the promises were not fulfilled. today even when the families of the sunni militiamen fighting the jihadis tried to rejoin baghdad to have shelter, they refused them entry. how can you imagine that people fighting the jihadis in ramadi are seeing their families in the desert and not being able to enter baghdad. even being threatened. why would you imagine they would keep on fighting? we saw videos of policemen in ramadi sunni militiamen fighting the jihadis. molly: could the strength of isis play into their hand? >> of course, because we have nothing to offer to the sunni population. youngsters are attracte

now going even further south we have tikrit. tikrit was a success story.isil have been routed from the area but residents are not going back. the main reason is that they fear that isil could come back. now, we get to the beiji oil refinery. there is a fierce fight going on for the oil refinery, and it keeps changing hands between isil and the iraqi security forces. let's get down to the nitty-gritty here and anbar province. they have areas they can control in that province. they have a fight for the roads it's predominantly desert so they need to control the roads. they're already in the center of fallujah, they want to get into the center of ramadi. that sparked a crisis. >> okay, coming up on al jazeera we'll examine why foreign policy has largely been ignored in the lead up to u.k. election. >> they're not happy. they're angry. these indonesia football fans. we'll tell you why. hungry and risking it all... >> these people wanna get as far away as they can >> the migrant crisis sweeping europe, are governments turning their backs on those that need help

kobane and tikrit. i think the civilization army you have the tribal fighters once you count on these forces and if they manage to gain the lost lands in anbar that would be a major break through. >> just to be crystal clear you see the government in baghdad see playing a productive role combined-- >> no, no, no. >> and the sunni-- >> the iraqi government-- >> who leads that process? >> i think its either the the--mainly it's the leaders or consultants, whatever you call them experts they're leading they're the ones driving these people forward. >> thank you. now at least 14 people have been killed and dozens more injured by government shelling in the syrian town. it is said that the government used barrel bombs and it's thought eight children were among the victims. there are reports that dozens of syrian government soldiers were killed. activists say rebels attacked the soldiers as they were withdrawing from a hospital on the outskirts of the city. another 250 soldiers successfully made it out of the

tikrit was retaken in march by the shia militia mostly and u.s. air. i just yet to see the iraqi army fight. let's not forget we spent 12 years training this army, putting billions of dollars into it, and it can't stand up to a couple hundred isis fighters in tikrit? there is no army. the salaries aren't getting paid. it's corrupt. the only people doing the fighting ft. government are the shia militias and they're operating under a jihad if you like, the supreme ayatollah in iraq. >> it's a major setback. and we fear and worry the pictures and images we'll see come out of ramadi in the weeks and days ahead. thanks for your insight today joining us from california. >>> now, in bangkok, former thai prime minister arrived at court to begin her trial on nengs charges. >> she's accused of mishandling a multi-billion dollar rice subsidy scheme. >>> the former prime minister could go to prison if found guilty. she was forced to step down last year after a thy court found her guilty of abusing power. >> now recovery and clean up effort is underway in colombia.

and they're coming in with great numbers after the fall of tikrit after they lost the battle in tikrit also in from syria. they're incredibly well trained. and they have very heavy weapons. and they also, many of them have come to die as suicide bombers. now they're using construction equipment, armored, such as bulldozers, that's what they have used actually at the compound. so even though ramadi has fallen. there are other cities in anbar that are still standing and we believe that the next few days are going to see victories against, against as for reinforcements come in. and more coordination with the international coalition. >> in reality how likely is it you will see victory. among the forces that were fleeing the scene there, in ramadi, were elite forces. so if elite forces don't feel they're capable to go up against isis, then who is on the ground. >> there is a lot of talk here among iraqi officials including central government to determine exactly what happened with the forces that you see retreating. and i think we will, learn more about -- who gave the orders and what happe

when it cam to tikrit, it took u.s. air strikes to loosen their grip of city for their the iraqi army and militias to finally go in and take control of the city. don't expect this to be an easy fight. it's likely to be very bloody. we have seen recent video released that allegedly shows isis militants inside ramadien control of police stations. there was also another video, recently released that allegedly shows one of the terrifying armored vehicles that isis is, isis uses. packed with explosives. they drive them toward the front line. and then they detonate. these are all things that iraqi fighters and their militias, that will be fight will have to confront when they try to retake the city. >> yeah, and iraq's prime minister seems to thing it is just going to be a matter of days, retaking ramadi. that's not what a lot of analysts are thinking here. ian, let's move from iraq to syria now. and as we have reported it's believed about 200 people were excuted by isis in palmyra, including 13. the number expect to rise. so

losing tikrit and other territory. look at how much they put in trying to hold kobani and they weren't able to -- how much they tried to put toward taking kobani and they never were able to take kobani. they needed a victory, and so they really put through everything that they had to try to take ramadi. >> we're looking at pictures of u.s.-air strikes in the region. it doesn't seem that the us air strikes are doing enough on its own. this is a long-standing issue about how effective america can be. let's take a look at a map of isil-controlled territory. isil still controls much of the same territory it has for some time. it begs the question how is it that you defend isil without sending actual u.s. ground troops in if, in fact, what we hear from the pentagon is correct? in ramadi the iraqi troops the american-trained iraqi troops had a 10-1 advantage over isil? >> if you look at just the iraqi security forces i believe there's at least 15 brigades in baghdad alone. so the iraqi government actually has security forces

first it was tikrit that got back in the right hands. fallujah mosul, ramadi where your son died. you watch these cities go and then we hear the press secretary, we can't light our hair on fire every time we have a setback. what is your reaction to that? >> first they were saying there is no symbolic if it did fall. then they watched as the comments from general dempsey. now they're making up excuses. we have blood on that soil. my son's blood is on that soil. so many others have sacrificed greatly for that area. and it just shows that there's things we could be doing differently there. there's tactics that could be employed that we could make a difference over there. and now they're only emblazoned to go further and go into baghdad and take that area as well. >> miss lee, we played this last night. the president, when he pulled out, said oh everything's great. everything's going to be fine. and obviously his strategy is not working. george bush warned about this. let me remind everybody what he said in 2007 would happen if we pulled out too early. here was his prediction. >> begi

recent, i mentioned this earlier, fall of tikrit, iraqi forces able to take tikrit back from isis, the narrative was isis was being pushed back. the next assault would be mosul, the big city they control in iraq. there was some momentum building towards that. this switches momentum back in isis's favor. the fact they have been able to take another big strategic city, less than two hours drive from baghdad. i know ramadi well, spent a lot of time there. it is a big signal from isis of their continuing ability to fight. sending anti-tank weapons, it's an old cliche about the military where you say generalities are always fighting the last battle, the last war, there's a sense of that here. these anti-tank weapons might have been more useful a week ago, 10 days ago, two weeks ago than they are going to be. it's generally a good idea iraqi forces have better and better arms to use against isis but the fact is that when you're dealing with suicide car bombings and tractors and so on, i'm not always sure that the weapons are useful. you don't know a car is a weapon until it's right on you an

we watched them in tikrit. they fought side by side with federal police and the seventh division up there were fighting as one both sunni, shia against a centralized enemy. >> do you think it paints a roye picture to say they would welcome them as liberators? >> at the base level the people who live here day-to-day, absolutely. they want iraq back. they want their country back. the politicians as we have discussed before it gets complicated. >> i want to show the map one more time. what will happen in the next few days? there was u.s. led bombing to prevent the city from falling. >> that becomes your center of gravity. you see iraqi security forces starting to pull out. that video you watch was northwest ramadi. so that's where isis has really a stronghold. over the next week you'll see bombardment of aerial attacks from the coalition. >> air strikes right there hard. >> hard. pull everybody out. just hammer the heck out of isis. >> we'll see what happens. you agree this is a major development. all right. kate?

whether that is the success in tikrit -- you will recall i sold took over tikrit -- >> the question wasbout the setbacks and the learning curve. mr. earnest: the point is, isil has experienced progress and setbacks as well. what is true is that the strategy that the president has deployed alongside our coalition partners, has more often than not yielded important successes. that strategy is predicated on having a capable willing fighting force on the ground. made up of iraqis, multi-sectarian in nature, under control of the central government. the u.s. is training and equipping those fighters, making clear they need to operate under the command of central government. when they are at the battlefield we are backing their efforts on the ground with military airstrikes. this is a strategy that has yielded success in a variety of areas. there is a lot more important work that needs to get done. whether it is ramadi, anbar mosul. we continue to have confidence in the strategy. the other thing we have been clear about, this is not a fight that you -- the u.s. will fight for the iraqi people.

i seen sunni and shia fight together on top of a roof in tikrit. again, it's one focus, one isis enemy. as it moves up the chain of command there seems to be this resonance and unfortunately, i think a lot of times back here we resonate that sunni/shia aspect ourselves sometimes. that's what we know. that's what we're always afraid of. instead of looking at maybe is there another aspect out there. i'm not saying this is easy. it's a difficult situation. i will tell you about secretary carter. the department of defense prides itself on yes, no, i don't know. and when you start your statement with apparently as the secretary of defense that to mean is we really don't know. like bob said we don't have a good look in al anbar. it's a problem. >> ambassador crocker, you know the culture, you know the language you know the people. if the president of the united states called you right now and said ambassador what do we need to do? quickly, give us the most immediate recommendation you would offer. >> one word, engage. that means sending the secretary of

we saw in tikrit that turned into weeks because of booby traps and ieds. they are fighting to the last minute. that is what makes taking ground so difficult. you have the shi'ite militias that have proven to be effective against isis east of ramadi preparing to go back in. as we saw in 2005 and 2006 when u.s. forces were in iraq it was very difficult for them to bring security and control to this area. this anbar province. it wasn't until the sunni anwaken awakening they were able to do so. that is going to be a difficult task for the iraqi government to do. especially with the shi'ite militias who have bad blood with the sunnis in iraq. >> no question and that sunni-muslim awakening and they will have to see urban combat again. the united nations this morning saying within the last 48 hours, 25,000 innocent civilians in ramadi has fled. is isis letting them out? >> reporter: that's about 1/10 of the population of ramadi that was able to flee. they the lucky ones. despite needing food and water and health care and shelter, they were able to get out. for th

leadership over there was not happy about the shia militia being up in tikrit, very instrumental in the fight over there. it breaks my heart to watch in this humanitarian crisis is going to get worse as we go on. >> it seems that way. mu bean you understand the culture of groups like isis. what do victories like ramadi do for isis with regard to recruitment? >> it's great for recruitment. you will see videos coming out of parades in the open square in full daylight individuals very happy about it people are tweeting about it and you'll start to see the video clips embedded into some of their propaganda pieces that will come out. >> phil we were talking earlier, you think there's too much of a it focus on ramadi and other specific cities that fall or battles and we're not focusing enough on the broader war. >> that's right. look i spent 25 years as an analyst at cia and the fbi. any time analyzing a complex problem you have to look at least a handful of characteristics. want to buy a car it's not just price, there's a bunch of other things. you want to assess an insurgency it's not just

by one. >> reporter: the bodies of 470 found in mass graves at the presidential palaces palaces in tikritnsic officers are work to go identify the victims through their dna. it's a major task, we hope to announce by the end of next week the first list of names that we have been a able to identify. ♪ ♪ >>> hospitals in yemen are coming under increasing pressure as the humanitarian crisis escalates. forces loyal to yemen's president in exile saying pushing houthi fighters back across several front but despite support in the form of the saudi-led bombing campaign, losses are mounting on both sides. kim vinnell reports. >> reporter: blood stains the streets in what was a busy shopping district in tiaz. yemen's warring sides blame each other for what happened here. civilians are among the wounded and the dead. amateur video from another part of the city shows the rubble of what is said to be a military commander's home. activists say it was once the headquarters for houthi fighters from outside tiaz. further inland in oil-rich forces loyal to the president in excited hadi are advances under th

we look at what happened in tikrit we see that with the controversy around that. the militias had to pull out and the iraqi military secured it to prevent those from taking place. they do have have a good track record in the sunni areas. that's why we did not see them initially. with the fall of ramadi they want the militias to be on the forefront of taking the city. >> some in ramadi will see them as a force and ties to iran. we just learned ian, the prime minister has arrived for talks. ian lee, thank you. >>> u.s. officials are assessing the trove of the raid that killed a key isis commander. officials say a dozen army force commandos raided a building in eastern syria. the isis commander died in a heavy firefight when he resisted capture. he helped run the isis oil and gas operation along with a senior military role. pentagon officials say there were no u.s. casualties or civilians in the raid. officials hope some documents prove to be a gold mine of data. we have sunlen serfaty at the white house with more. >> reporter: john and christine the u.s. is kharchar

anbar is unlike other area where is they're managed to regain control of cities like tikrit for examplefrom isis within a month. the landscape, the sectarian dynamics are going to play a huge role when it comes to anbar deploying these shia forces into the semiheartland. although saying it's come at the request of the leaders and the province it's very risky. a lot of concerns about the sectarian tensions with that. these forces have been accused in the past accused of carrying out attacks, some of them in have been accused of carrying out attacks in sunni areas. and as we saw in the past the u.s. helped having u.s. forces on the ground in 2006 and 2007 also recruiting these tribes in anbar is what allowed them to gain control of anbar at the time. and win back that province from al qaeda. so far, reluctance from the sunni tribes to join the fight, not all of them are joining the fight because of mistrust issues between the shia government. and they say they've heard the promises from the iraqi government to arm them in the past. and so far, they have not seen that happen john. >> thank

this is happening as they are trying to exhume 499 bodies in tikrit which isis claim it is killed last year at a military base. iraqi officials and foreigners stayed in a hotel where bombs hit. we have our correspondent arwa damon with us. the idea of arming the sunnis directly is not without controversy. >> reporter: it is not. that's because of the ongoing secretarytarian issues here. they have yet to do that. then of course you have the various different dynamics of the battle field where you end up with more unconventional forces armed fighting alongside each other in the battle against isis. at the end of the day, this is iraq and not many things go to plan. the sunnis have been asking for weapons for over a year wanting to take on the battle against isis themselves. bearing in mind that these are sunni fighters that the u.s. allied within the past. they were the ones that turned against al qaeda back in the day and created the awakening council and fought alongside u.s. forces. at the same time there are people who feel america betrayed them and left them at the mercy of the shi'

helped take tikrit down. they got brought back down rearmed, refitted to help the shia sunni friction. for the month i was there, i did a quick in and out. it is a common enemy to the sunnis and shia. they are fighting together. are there some problems at times? absolutely. we have problems and our ground folks go a little bit crazy. i don't think we should be pushing that away. i think the pius will come out there. >> so the big division between you two is whether or not this is a short-term fix or longer-term fix, all right. fine. we'll see what happens on that. the other issue the coalition is saying we just killed a really bad guy, a top isis commander. now we have her wife. we will get them for this intelligence. do you buy that this is a big take? >> absolutely. this is a spider network. we have been doing this sense we started this thing. joint command, that's their job to take down the high value targets. now, granted, this guy may not have been on the radar screen. at kind of the mid-level and the st

when they stopped, seized their participation in tikrit they were the first group to go into tikrit. that's what they do. i want to claim credit. you do have to look at or at least what i look at his you have two groups -- i think when you go there, especially those relationships that are all intertwined. that you forgot we talk about -- [inaudible] so i'm making a difference essentially. i'm with you. those groups want to claim credit as much as possible. >> two sides to this. one is this idea of think the critical thing is command and control. involvement of various pmu composed, our ability to control which pmu composed are involved in operations is probably somewhat limited. and our ability to tell good pmu from that pmu is government officials say behind closed doors, it's probably pretty limited to some extent. the question is not who's involved, but it's not a commitment to of the operation is handled and it's how people behave in combat. so we shouldn't try to put a blanket ban on the involved of groups because it's a variable we can't control. we don't know if we are achievi

. >> forensic teams in iraq pulled nearly 500 bodies from makeshift graves near tikrit. it is believed they are iraqi military cadets killed last year. isis and shia drove militias from tikrit in march. >>> allowing surveillance planes to identify migrant if southeast asia. the u.n. estimates more than 2500 refugees are stranded. at sea. thailand is hosting an international meeting right now to discuss the crisis. >> the head of fifa says the corruption scandals engulfing his organization brought quote shame and humiliation to football. >> but sepp blatter said he won't step down as fifa president despite calls to do so from world leaders, critics and various football associations. members gathering in zurich now will decide within hours whether to re-elect blatter. >> and you will remember, he is up against jordan's prince ali. for the top job at world football's governing authority. >> we want to talk more about the upcoming vote and the fifa standal and how it might all shake out with matt from inside world football, joining us via skype. matt, thank for joining us. w

meantime, in tikrit, forensic teams pulled nearly 500 bodies from makeshift graves. officials believe they are iraqi military cadets killed by isis last june. >> cnn's ian lee is joining us from cairo. he is falling these details of these developments. we are finding out about -- first, let's talk about this mass grave, ian. 500 bodies, former military cadets. what more do you know about that and how these men might have been killed. >> what we are hearing, natalie, is that they were executed about year ago last june. dumped into mass graves. and what we are hearing from authorities is that this could be just one of many more mass graves yet to uncover military cadets that were killed by isis. their bodies have been taken to baghdad where there is forensic experts going over them, trying to identify their remains beforehanding them over to the families. but really this just underscores the brutality of isis, when they take control of a city and territory. >> yes. one can understand why many of the iraqi troops are dropping their weapons and running when isis moves in

this is not tikrit. they had a cry mobilizing them from south, to avenge the i.s.i.s. massacre. there's no rallying cry for ramadi. we are not seeing the security forces going to ramadi to help their brothers. they are reluctant. they have been begging for help. it hasn't come. >> as you say, there's a difference in the way in which the baghdad government handled the situation in ramadi. it looks as though the government might prepare to send shia militias into the government. how badly does the iraqi army need the support? >> well it's really not - it's the splintered iraqi army that is left asking for reinforcements. they have got to the point where they are asking for shia militias to come in the same militias responsible for ethnic cleansing. and the iranians could force proxies. coming into ramadi and now we expect them to be different, to distinguish between a sunni military and an i.s.i.s. fighter when they never have done that in the past. i don't understand how iraqi special operations forces are retreating from ramadi and hope rests with sectarian militias to come into

look at what happened in tikrit. they went into tikrit a sunni city.owed that [ inaudible ] they go to mosul next. so for sunnis it's really the impossible war if the central government wins it's a major disaster, and if isil wins it's a major disaster. >> and you why have a very fragile coalition trying to fight this war. you have the iraq jii army the shia militias and there's a lot of concerns about how sectarian this is. >> clearly now we're going to have three types of militias in iraq. and the central government's military is basically eclipsing. we have the peshmerga in the north, the popular mobilization and its sisters in the southeast, and then isil and sunni militias. we have three militia groupings. this is what is looking more and more like the official iraq unless something else comes into the picture to make sure there is a national reconciliation. otherwise we're going to see that decentralization where the iraqi military will start losing grounds if the shia-lead popular mobilization takes more ground. >>> in syria state news reporting

despite the fact there were those highly tout victories in iraq when it was finally pushed out of tikrit. managing to launch attacks against two key locations in iraq and neighboring syria. isis has a stable of fighters at disposal that seems to be growing. the capture of palmyra. you have the battles taking place with isis and the syrian army. the syrian government not acknowledging that palmyra has fallen. iraq did manage to move out of the artifacts. the sprawling testimony is at the threat of isis. should isis have full control over palmyra, it should open up routes to damascus. the capture of ramadi is bogging down iraqi security forces along the various frontlines that exist in anbar province. the government is trying to scramble in reinforcements. the government is crippled by capable fighting forces under its own command which is why we have been seeing the u.s. effort beefed up when it comes to trying to retrain and restructure the iraqi army. the iraqi government is trying to send out more of the controversial although capable shi'a paramilitary units backed by iran. it is also

coalition forces took back tikrit from isis but you have ramadi falling just a few weeks later. again, let's look at the map again. today, three months ago, really almost difficult, almost impossible to detect that until the overall map changes, it is heart for iraqi forces for coalition forces to say they're making significant progress against isis. >> yeah the map doesn't lie. jim sciutto, thank you so much. >>> "outfront" tonight, former cia counterterrorism official phil mudd and a retired colonel who serve as executive officer to david petraeus in the u.s. troop surge in iraq in 2007. you heard the secretary of defense, ash carter saying iraqi forces just showed no will to fight. you worked with these soldiers. what did you make of his comments? do you agree? >> you know iraqi troops are brave when well led. and i think this is an issue of leadership not of will. those iraqi forces in ramadi would have stayed and fought to the det if they had commanders they believed in and if the commanders wanted to hold the ground that they were ordered to hold. this is an issue of getti

they've got a very good police force that did great job in tikrit. they're out there now.at the end of the day, we have to bring all the combat power and the prime minister today signed a paper to allowing some of the badder corps and other militias that were prominent in tikrit and federal police in the seventh division will come out there and they'll help. i think this is good because at the end of the day, the iraqis not about sunni and shia iraqi nationalists and right now they have a common enemy and they want to defeat daesh, isis in al anbar. >> final question to you, on the u.s. delta force operation, the special operations force that went into syria and killed abu sayyaf described as the chief financial officer of isis how big of a deal do you believe this is? >> well it's, you know a mid-sized deal i guess. i mean the individual will be replace replaced, of course, but on one side a lot of documentation has been obtained in the raid. we'll see what kind of intelligence comes out of the wife of the individual. but you know what there are far more waiting in the wi

the battle for ramadi is going to be nothing like the battle for tikrit. this is something that has the to materialize very quickly. because isis has proven that it is capable of adapting to the dynamics on the ground. the concern is that, by trying to push towards bag chdad it wi bog down the fighting force along various front lines and potentially leave it vulnerable elsewhere. arwa damon, cnn, baghdad. >> the u.s. will deliver a new shipment of anti-tank weapons to iraq next month. a state department official tells reuters the shoulder fired missiles are meant to prevent bombings like isis used to capture ramadi. the unnamed source says the terror group carried out at least 30 car and truck bombings, some as big as the truck bomb that killed 168 people in oklahoma city back in 1995. the u.s. promised iraq's prime minister it would ship the weapons during his visit to washington in a april. >> isis has taken control of syrian city and the ancient ruins of near palmyra. many are worried the terror group will destroy the city's artifacts like in the iraqi

to be iraqi government forces and allied militia looting homes and shops in the northern city of tikrit. they recaptured the city from isil two months ago. locals have not been allowed to return to their homes >>> schools have reopened in nepal just months after being hit by an earthquake. they will be outdoors. the schools in areas hardest hit will remain shut. the earthquake killed more than 8,500 people and flattened half a million homes. more than 33,000 classrooms were destroyed. here's this update from kathmandu. >>reporter: some of the parents are saying they're a little bit uncomfortable sending their children away from them at a time when there's still a great deal of insecurity and concern for safety. but here you can see there's a ceremony going on where the principle is welcoming back his students. he's putting a sticker on their forehead as a good luck symbol as they return to school for the first time nearly five weeks after that 7.8 magnitude quake struck on april 25th. you can see behind where the children are grouped up is the original school building. it is now condemn

this as forensic teams are trying to identify 500 bodies exhumed in tikrit. the bodies are believed to belong to military cadets that isis claims to have killed last year at a nearby military base. overnight in baghdad, at least nine people killed and 14 injured in twin car bomb blasts at hotels popular with officials and foreigners. standing by live in baghdad is senior international correspondent arwa damon. good morning, arwa. >> reporter: good morning. we just sent a team out to both of those locations that were targeted overnight. extensive damage done to the front of the babylon hotel. security on the ground not allowing media close by. same situation at the other location the sheridan hotel although it changed its name. this is a clear message that isis may not have taken over this particular city violence still exists on a fairly regular basis. and a message that the targets that the two strikes were hotels that are very frequently stayed in by foreigners and vips. throwing into the question the iraqi security forces to keep these installations safe.

they were able to take on isis and tikrit and push them out. although after a very intense slow battle there, secretary of state, john kerry also watching the situation. this its what he had to say in seoul. >> every single country in the region bar none is opposed to it and is engaged in fighting them. so i am confident about the longer road. yes there will be moments like yesterday in ramadi and there will be difficult challenges ahead. >> iraq's prime minister has criticized the united states saying they didn't get the air support they wanted. in the battle of ramadi. the united states saying they're going, they're, they are providing air support for the, to retake the city. when you look at a map, anbar province to the west of baghdad. ramadi the largest city there. it opens up a corridor from ramadi, and baghdad. isis isn't on the verge of taking baghdad. that is a very heavily fortified city. it does have iraqi officials concerned. rosemary. >> very important point to make there. given what we know so far. ian, how long is it likely to ta

. >> government forces reached a key northern city of tikrit last month with help from air strikes in the u.s. led coalition. losing the center of ramadi is a blow to the government and coalition. >>> authorities in burundi say a coup attempt has failed. some military officers announce they were trying to take power earlier this week. the country had been in turmoil as citizens were protesting the president's indecision to seek a third term. the constitution only allows him to serve two. senior army officers announced wednesday they were attempting a coup while the president was in tanzania. their supporters and opponents engaged in gun fights. local media now report three coup leaders under arrest. a government spokesperson says the president has returned to his palace in the capital. citizens are still protesting his decision to run again, staff with the u.n. high commissioner for refugees say more than 100,000 have fled to congo, rwanda and tanzania. >>> refugee boats from myanmar and bangladesh continue to drift towards the shores of southeast asia. many of the people on board are

. -- in tikrit. the fall of ramadi is the biggest setback for the government in baghdad since they launched a major operation last summer following the islamist state group sweeping the three in the north. the u.n. is leading aerial attacks on state targets across iraq and syria. on an official visit to south korea, secretary of state john kerry commented. secretary kerry: their movements, by and large, where there are air patrols and other capacities have been reduced. that's not everywhere. it is possible to have the kind of attack we've seen in ramadi, but i'm absolutely confident in the days ahead that it will be reversed. josh: at least a dozen civilians have fled their homes since the fighting began on friday. laura: they are human and entitled to human rights, the words of burmese pro-democracy icon speaking up about the plight of the burmese muslims. they have since found them selves stranded at sea. some asian states are now prepared to take in some of the migrants. >> extremely dire situati

. >> the operation will come into the northern areas of the province and southwest tikrit all the way to ramadi. this is a vast area. it is where the islamic state is present. >> according to the umbrella group for fighting militias, the operation has been named after hassan, a revered imam, stoking fears it may fuel sectarian tensions. the government is smarting from comments by the u.s. defense secretary that it's army despite outnumbering the islamic state, has no will to fight sparking a war of words. on the defensive, the chief of the revolutionary guard who said it is the u.s. that has shown no will to fight. going into damage control, joe biden reassured iraq of its commitment in the battle against the islamic state group. iraq says you only have to look at its track record to see it is up to the task. >> we have listed them a few months ago baghdad where the airport -- or the airport was threatened. >> militants continue to pull more fighters into ramadi. all eyes will be on the army as it puts its training to the test in days to come. annette: the syrian or has killed 140 mem

losing control of tikrit keen to be showing their on the offensive or able to get their people out of iraqi detention. once again no clarity on who they managed to release but it goes back to a tactic they used at the start of the campaign that liberated many extremist militants on the out skirts of baghdad perhaps looking for freshman power or get veterans back this their ranks. a troubled time for the militants group here but clearly able to project power on the out skirts of background and what should be an iraqi government stronghold stronghold. nick payton walsh. >> thank you for that. i just wonder do you think the most critical thing this tells us is it's cayhaotic in terms of iraqi security forces trying to hold things together? >> well yeah. that announced they were going to do this which was taking as many of the prisoners as possible. the whole movement is coming out of prisons. the various iraqi riz breekprison breaks since the withdrawal. it makes sense. asked why did he rob banks. that's where the money is. they are breaking into prison because that's where their comrade

i think what happened is after tikrit and the fall of tikrit isis made up their minds that they were truly going to take ramadi. they had tried many times before and not succeeded. so they generated combat power to do that. they conducted a number of supporting attacks in the area seizing towns, and also seizing some of the influential neighborhoods that are on the outskirts of ramadi so that they can conduct an attack into the government center from those neighborhoods. those are obvious to everybody looking at it. and i think the military characterized ramadi if you can remember at the time, general dempsey said it wasn't as high a priority as the refinery and was not strategically important. i likely think that's a statement that he would likely like to withdraw. >> general, let me step in here for just a second because you said something that i want to press in on. you said at this point you want to give the iraqi forces a little bit more credit. defense secretary ash carter absolutely did not do that. he said that they looked the will to fight. and from this report supported by