zena hoder is reporting from beirut. we apologize for that technical difficulty. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu today praised president obama for taking action against i.s.i.l. in iraq and syria. netanyahu compared i.s.i.l. to hamas, poisonous branches of the same tree. dire warnings about iran. james bays, has that story from the u.n. >> a hard hitting speech second week of the u.n. general assembly, last week was a jewish holiday. he attacked president abbas but his main thrust was militant islam. >> leading states in the arab world increasingly recognize that together we and they face many of the same dangers. and principally this means a nuclear armed iran and militant islamist movements gaining ground in the sunni world. our challenge is to transform these common interests to create a productive partnership one that would build a more secure, peaceful and prosperous middle east. >> earlier i.s.i.l. was also mentioned by the syrian deputy prime minister and foreign minister when he spoke to the general assembly. in his speech he at any time make muc

zena hoder brings us a look at the destruction the islamic state left in one town north of mosul. >> reporter: the scars of battle. the islamic state group used houses as defense lines before it was forced to retreat to the city of mosul. they came back home to find this. the group's fighters moved into madria village in mid august. they did not only use the house as a base. they tell me they ate whatever food they found, they even used their clothes and they didn't give up without a fight. this is an organization that u.s. officials say is beyond anything they have seen. even those who engaged in direct combat say they faced well trained fighters. >> they placed a few snipers in different houses. and they did all the way, the roads, put the tnt. >> reporter: the islamic state may have been pushed back from the mosul dam and the area, but far from defeated. didn't win this battle alone. dozens of u.s. air strikes supported the counteroffensive. undoubtedly air power does damage. it may have been an option here but not always the case. the islamic state group controls cities, populati

zena hoder has that story. >> god promised us victory, obama promised us defeat. this is what syrians in the northwestern province of idlib want to tell the world. they took to the streets to protest the u.s. military campaign against the islamic state of iraq and the levant. it is not because they support i.s.i.l. these people say they don't trust the u.s. administration. obama our revolution is an islamic one and they want an islamic state is what they chanted. >> we condemn the air strikes against the syrian muslim people. they killed civilians in idlili. >> syria's al qaeda branch. the group along with the powerful movement ordered their fighters to leave their bases in anticipation of more attacks. the u.s. did say it targeted the al qaeda affiliated group horasan which is believed to operate under nusra. taking the fight was the most controversial part of the strategy of obama. now, many syrians including so-called rebel commanders say that is exactly what it will do. the hasim movement was the first free syrian army linked brigade to react, which received a