first, the people of mosul are the key to liberate mosul. the mosul people must be shown why. liberation is better for them than the regime of isis. history shows that the people are the reason armies succeed or fail. in a city of nearly 2 million people soldiers, even in thousands, or how well equipped can do only so much. we need the people of mosul to rise up and to help the soldiers combat isis. with the people rising up against isis, i believe they will. we must give them a vision of what their life would be like after liberation of mosul. in addition, to the support during and immediately after liberation. before i tell you what i believe that the vision should be i want to tell you the planning and work that is going on right now for the liberation of mosul. we have now two training camps. in these camps american canadian and turkish. special forces are training thousands of mosul police and volunteers. the combat skills and skills they need to have to be in the fight for the liberation of mosul. one of these two camps is for mosul police. the other is for the volunteer

and daish to come back into mosul. but the liberation comes first of course. but it is there. after that will be decisive. our people would be watching. but we bring them in so that people of mosul can survive here this is obama last month with $200 million. this human target. president obama promised immediately after deliberation all of it will be tied up in baghdad's pure rockers say. .. they need to trust that force also. i have good working conditions with most of the arab tribes in the mosul area. these tribes will be difficult in the liberation of mosul. and i was also that these tribes it also to trust the force. whatever we have done we still need to give the people of mosul a different vision that they had from the previous government in baghdad. this brings me to the second point. the people of mosul want democracy to be reinstalled soon for election. the people of mosul should elect their own representatives. not by the government in baghdad, not iv extremist shia or sunni come and certainly not by iranian

you want to save mosul, you can save mosul is. you need weapons. you are not asking for boots on the ground. you are not asking for american boots on the ground, are you? >> no. we just ask for the air support from the u.s. and ask for advisors. but our boots are on the ground the sunni mosul fighters are ready now i have two camps with 10,000, 5,000. they are ready to fight but they are without weapons. >> you don't want boots on the ground. you are not asking for us to put boots on the ground. you want weapons because you believe you can get isis out of mosul and president obama won't give you the weapons directly. >> we get promises today from the top staff of the state department and and pentagon, just today we have some promises. >> when are are they going to deliver them because time matters. >> that's what we ask the time is not with us and isis is to u.s. to all the world but now in this time we can defeat isis. we can fight isis i'm sure that within one year it's a different situation maybe at that time you need to send your troops there t

sister diana: about 20 minute distance southwest of mosul. after a week or so our displacement happened, which never thought that would happen with a couple hours that we were forced to leave which take -- it's about one-hour distance from my hometown to kurdistan. took us 11 hours to go there because some were marching, some were driving. because it was a traumatic stage for us. i would say like very few christians have stayed in mosul or that they couldn't leave because they were asleep when that happened. rep. higgins: is the hope of the christians from mosul who have been forced to flee to one day return? sister diana: yes. the message that i was given before i left they said to me, i've been working every day with the idps -- that's what they call us, actually there -- they said to me, sister, just please tell the community, tell the members of the congress that help us to go back home, we want to go back home. re/p. higgins: what has been the position of prime minister abody relative to the christian community of iraq? no, don't need to

sister: it's -- which is close to mosul, about 20 minute distance southwest of mosul. brand: west. sister yeah. : after a week or so our displacement happened, which never thought that would happen with a couple hours that we were forced to leave which take -- it's about one-hour distance from my hometown to kurdistan. took us 11 hours to go there because some were marching, some were drivi because it was a traumatic stage for us. i would say like very few christians have stayed in mosul or that they couldn't leave because they were asleep when that happened. brian: is the hope of the christians from mosul who have been forced to flee to one day return? sister: yes. the message that i was given before i left, they said to me i've been working every day with the idps -- that's what they call us, actually there -- they said to me, sister, just please tell the community, tell the members of the congress that help us to go back home, we want to go back home. brian: what has been the position of prime minister abody relative to the christian community of iraq? you don't need to say. i g

so that people of muzzle -- people of mosul can survive. president obama pledged $200 million in aid. with this humanitarian aid, will it be on hand immediately or will it he tied up in baghdad's your accuracy? we know the liberation of muzzle is not just a military fight. i organized a form in egypt. they are continuing their work against the ideology of daesh. i established a set of people inside mosul who would join the force if needed. i have working relations with most of the tribes in the area. i will see -- i will say also these tribes need to trust the force. what ever we have done, we need to give the people a decision from what they had in the previous government with baghdad. this brings me to the second point. the people of muzzle want -- the people of mosul should elect their own representative from outside not by the extremist and not by any kind. i welcome international observers of this election. this election must be free and without interference. you may ask what is our vision after liberation? this will bring me to my thi

we are having this conversation now, but ramadi is not a situation like mosul. or sin -- forces are retreating, consolidating, and will come back. >> how much has a complicated chore jobs for the u.s. defense chief to say iraqi forces do not have the will to fight. >> there were readership deficiencies. they spoken that directly. they will say with the leadership deficiencies where that will be punished, and where the soldiers performed heroically, that will be rewarded. i was just talking to folks in touch with them, they are ready to fight, and we will help them. jane: you are watching "bbc world news america"." still to come, as murder and rape skyrockets in el salvador, we will look at what led to the surge in violence. china might not spend as much on internal security as the u.s., but its budget for law and order is growing. it is outstripping national defense. our reporter went to the annual beijing police of equipment expo , an event showcasing the latest law-enforcement gadgetry for the ruling communist party. >> the chinese authorities have been buildi

sorting out mosul will be months away. the big, underlying problem is a sectarian divide between sunnis and she is. ramadi is a sunni city. it's militiamen -- if militiamen are sent there like these, there could be bloodshed. >> they have called on that shia fighters to come in the city and help with the fighters. this is crucial and will pave the way for the most successful campaign elsewhere in iraq. >> in the city of mosul crowds of delighted islamic state supporters greet the news that ramadi has fallen, but the iraqi government and the americans are confident they will recapture ramadi soon. the only thing is, they will probably need help from iran backed shia militias to do it. katty: for more on a very volatile situation, i up with the armor american ambassador james jeffrey. he's now at the washington institute for near east policy. some debate between washington, the iraqi government and analyst over how serious a setback this is, the taking of her mighty writ what is your take >> it's what the people in iraq thin

>> first of all we mosul because the situation in mosul by the time the tourism was very strong. so our convent was bombed a couple times not only one time. we had to leave mosul because it was becoming unbearable for the sisters living there later on in 2014 in august sixth that was when we realized that it was going to overrun most of the town. >> i heard testimony yesterday when you -- i guess it was on wednesday one woman was saying that how isis showed up and said she had to leave and she wanted to get her daughter and they went will you tell her get her daughter. >> that was one of the hostages that was left there for two months. by the time the woman was released with her husband her daughter in her lap. her name was christina. and they grabbed the daughter -- her daughter from her lap and they said to her you go and she begged them to take the daughter but she said this is going to be ours. >> what happened? >> we still don't have any news about little christina who was 3 years old. >> incredible you put a face on this. you live and breathe this and we hear about it diffe

now in mosul we have our volunteers. they have the local partner to fight isis but without weapons and support. >> what do you mean when you say a strategic plan? are you talking about a federal system of iraq being endorsed? >> i think that the fight isis is not just a military fight. it's a military and -- as -- a fight is idealogical and a political fight, more than military fight. there is no view. what is the vision after the liberation of this city? what happened in anbar and mosul before is because there is no political work in this area. >> okay but people -- [ overlapping speakers ] >> what kind of vision are you calling for sunnis after isil? >> i think that the people in this areas need to know that their life after the liberation will be different to what is before the occupation of isis and they want -- we need them to rise up against isis. we need them to cooperate with us to fight isis. until now those people are just separated themselves. they are not following isis but in the same time they are not so he

mosul fell. it wasn't as if no one saw them coming. the administration was getting warnings all along. from the ambassadors in the region and iraqis. maliki's government was saying, look, we need more help, things are falling apart. >> there's a variety of questions we're confronted with as we look at this situation. and that are presented both in the last film you did, which is about the rise of isis, and this one. one is, are we doing the right thing? you know, is the strategy -- is there a strategy? is the strategy being pursued? and then the deeper question is about the limits of american power in the region which is can things actually be done which is the much harder question. much easier to say, well, if we'd done x, y, and z. the harder thing is to say, maybe we can't really -- >> yeah. look, there's a lot of monday morning quarterbacking going on. it's very easy to take shots at the president. as palmyra falls, ramadi falls, as mosul fell, you can say, we should have done this and if we

george monastery in mosul. uprooted and forcefully displaced, we have realized that isis plans to evacuate the land of christians and wipe the earth clean of any evidence that we ever existed. this is cultural and human genocide. the only christians that remain in the nineveh plains are those who are held hostages. as hostages. to restore and rebuild the christian community in iraq, the following needs are urgent. liberating our homes from isis and helping us return. coordinated efforts to rebuild what was destroyed through slaughter, and electrical supplies and buildings including our churches and monasteries. encouraging enterprises that contribute to the building of iraq and interreligious dialogue. this could be through school and academic projects. i am but one small person. a victim myself of isis, and all of its brutality. coming here has been difficult for me. as a religious sister, i'm not comfortable with the media and so much attention. but i am here, and i am here to ask you, to implore you for the

and then you mentioned the day after for mosul. and i wonder what the process is in the other areas that have been liberated for meeting the needs of the people. thank you, sir. [ speaking foreign language ] [ speaking foreign language ] [ speaking foreign language ] [ speaking foreign language ] [ speaking foreign language ] [ speaking foreign language ] [ speaking foreign language ] >> translator: as far as isis and the fighters are concerned, there are three main category, first the immigrants or the caliphate army, they are foreign fighters who come from different parts of the world. the second group are those who have now adopted the ideology of isis and some of the former fighters, they also had some other people with them at the beginning who were coordinating but now they've adopted their policies and style. they agree on whatever isis is doing and they agree with the approach, with the conduct and behavior. and they have chosen to be with isis and the lifestyle that has been chosen by isis. of course they are the minority.

it is on the road to mosul, a strong hold of isil. we take a look at the government's battle with isil. >> let me bring you up-to-date. let's start with mosul first. that's in the hands of isil. they have been coalition airstrikes towards the west of that trying to take over a piece of supply line between syria and mosul here in iraq. moving down further south we have an isil stronghold, and one that they are keen to hold on to. 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,

go into mosul, but if you lose anbar, then you lose access to mosul, and so this has been a huge setback for that idea. there has been criticism particularly of josh earnst who is the white house spokesman who said the loss of ramadi has to be seen in the longer term that of course there will be setbacks as this battle continues, but we shouldn't be running around with our air on fire. john mccain says thousands are out of their homes, hundreds have been killed where is the humanity? we really need to reexamine the u.s. policy as far as iraq is concerned. >>> iraqi prime minister is in moscow today for a meeting with russian president vladimir putin. patricia sabga joins us now. what do both sides hope to get from this meeting. >> reporter: abadi is looking for additional arms to fight isil. iraq already buys hefty amount of weapons from russia. and middle eastern countries don't like to be solely dependant on one supplier. but the united states is watching very, very closely. it helps to take stock of both country's relationship with iran. shia iran is arguably the major power broker in

november 2009, a bomb was detonated at our convent in mosul. five sisters were in the building at the time and they were lucky to have escaped unharmed. our sister asked for protection from local civilization authorities, but the pleas went unanswered. as such, she had no choice but to move us. on june 10th, 2014, the so-called islamic state in iraq or syria, or isis invaded the nineveh plain. starting with the city of mosul isis overran one city and town after another, giving the christians of the region three choices, convert to islam, pay tribute to isis, leave their cities, cities like mosul, with nothing more than the clothes on their back. as this horror suppressed through all of the nineveh plain, by all 6th 2014, nineveh was empty of christians and sadly for the first time since the seventh century a.d. no church bells rang for mass in the nineveh plain. from june 2014 forward more than 120,000 people found themselves displaced and homeless in the kurdistan region of iraq leaving behind their heritage and all they had worked for over th

(gunfire) ...and seized iraq's second- largest city, mosul. (explosions) sunni residents welcomed them. (cheering) >> smith: u.s. officials were blindsided. >> the fall of mosul was something that we had not anticipated, and the suddenness with which that fall occurred was something that was a shock. >> allahu akbar! >> they seized everything from small arms to light-armored vehicles to anti-aircraft weapons. when terrorists of this kind get their hands on weapons it was a huge concern to us. i don't think we truly understood the depth of the problem until the fall of mosul. >> smith: for all the contingency planning that you routinely do here at the pentagon, were there plans for how to react to the fall of mosul to isis? >> well, no, there were not, because of course... so look, there were several things that surprised us about isil. the degree to which they were able to form their own coalition, both inside of syria and inside of northwestern iraq; the military capability that they exhibited, the collapse of the iraqi security forces. yeah,

hasn't happened in mosul yet. has it? >> no it hasn't. you are not going to see it in mosul. right now mosul's isolated. pretty much have it cleared off in the north. pressed from the south. it's isolated. no reason to go into a fight there. >> all right. james reese, bill mudd mark hertling thanks very much. >>> important note to viewser, 9:00 p.m. special report "blindsided: how isis shook the world" taking you deep is inside isis. who are these people? what do they want? that's "blindsided" 9:00 p.m. eastern tonight. >>> coming up a disturbing new report indicates the nation's airlines e!xtremely vulnerable to hacker es. one man tells cnn he sent commands to a plane's engine during a flight. you're driving along, having a perfectly nice day, when out of nowhere a pick-up truck slams into your brand new car. one second it wasn't there and the next second... boom! you've had your first accident. now you have to make your first claim. so you talk to your insurance company and... boom! you're blindsided for a second time. they won't give you enough money to replace your brand

the whole idea was they would take over mosul, and he said that that would be a long-term goal, but to get to mosul, they have to take over anbar province so until they can get anbar under control and move through ramadi then there is no prospect of them dealing a blow to isil really at its heart, which is in mosul. so there's a long way to go and a lot of voices will be heard over the next few days and weeks about u.s. policy, but it seems that barack obama is committed on the path he's on in ensuring the iraqis have the necessary guns weapons, and training to carry the fight to isil. >> thanks very much indeed. ♪ >>> -- play sha's prime minister has ordered the navy to search for migrants still adrift at sea. 3,000 have been rescued all came ashore in malaysia and indonesia in the past month. robert mcbride has more from malaysia. >> reporter: that was always the problem with this policy let k the people whom you are trying to help know that they can now receive help. these migrants boats are thought to be way offshore especially since the push-back policy by the different governme

than mosul, mosul has support of the people and they cannot loose and anbar and to defeat i.s.i.l. they need to control anbar. >> reporter: and tribe support is needed and some back the government in fightings i.s.i.l. many others are not. the tribes that play an important role in fighting al-qaeda years ago but say government leaders never recognized their help and left them without any political power. there are real fears that the city of ramadi will soon fall to i.s.i.l., officials have down played the significance of the city in the overall fight against the armed group but many others disagree. i.s.i.l. will not only be able to control the capitol of the sunni heart land it will be able to claim victory in a strategically important province that shares a long border with i.s.i.l.-controlled territory in syria. for now the iraqi government doesn't seem to have a clear strategy to recapture anb arc r sending in malitia will do little to bring about political reconciliation and that is what iraq needs to defeat i.s.i.l., i'm with al jazeera, baghdad. >>> people in the macedonia

. >> he went to mosul, an iraqi city about the size of philadelphia. population around 1.5 million. it's the biggest prize isis has captured. this extraordinary video gives us a rare look into everyday life under isis. it brings to mind the writer -- the banality of evil. isis has its own license plates and traffic cops who give parking tickets. and there are friendly shopkeepers. >> completely brainwashed. i've never in my life met people like this. >> this, of course is the mosul isis officials wanted todenhofer to see. they gave him written permission to come to the city, and he believes they let him leave alive to make a point. >> they wanted to show me that they are a state, and that this state is working. it's not a perfect state, it's not like the united states. but it's a state. >> and it's getting bigger. todenhofer saw new recruits pouring in every day. >> in this recruitment center, we had every day more than 50 new fighters. they can lose fighters, they don't care. the amazing thing is that they are completely enthusiastic. they think it's the time of their life. they th

fallujah mosul rimadi all approved by the ministry of defense. this is part of the wider u.s. led effort going on now really since august of 2014, the goal to eliminate isil from iraq, syria, the wider region and also now the international community according to president obama who said this is going to be a long term project. indeed that has been the case. it's cost upward of $2 billion, roughly $8 million a day. when the u.s. is maintaining through the strikes we've seen in the last 24 hours is successful, it said has pushed back isil front lines 25%. >> kimberly, thank you for that from washington, d.c. let's talk to the representative of kurdistan's regional government in washington d.c. the u.s. has been playing down the importance of rimadi, but if isil are successful in completely controlling it, how damaging is that for the government in baghdad? >> certainly the u.s. has been extremely helpful in the airstrikes and this is where we've been able to somewhat degrade isil. unfortunately, if isil takes over or isis takes over ramadi and control of anbar, they can use i gu

out of big cities like mosul and now ramadi, fallujah which is next to baghdad. somehow the administration has to find a way to help or push abadi to reach out to the rest of his country. otherwise, it looks to me as if the sunni areas are gone. >> ifill: do you think the problem lies with abadi? >> i think abadi wants to do the right thing. he certainly tells u.s. officials often he's trying to reach out to sunnis, but for a year the u.s. has been trying to encourage iraq to pass a law that would provide money and training and weapons for sunni national guard that could with effective in places like ramadi like mosul in turning back the fighters. that legislation has not been passed. abadi needs help and to be prodded. if the weapons and training don't come, there are no sunni fighters. >> ifill: feisal istrabadi, is this a sign by the united states and the iraqi government itself? >> that may be. the stunning success in taking mosul in four hours should have focused all our minds discreetly. i think mr. ignatius is right, that there is not -- well, a year ago,

working with iraq to retake mosul by the end of the year. also kurdish fighters are confronting huge challenges against isis as so many have yet to receive the promised equipment and resources to fight isis on the ground. they are taking on big casualties as well as they wait for the u.s. to act. joining us now, lieutenant colonel tony schafer along with bayonne raman, who is joining us via skype. thanks to both of you for joining us today. tony, let me begin with you. this week the white house downplayed the loss of this key city of isis. you have news that the efforts to stop isis are really faltering badly and beyond iraq you have information that isis is right now making headway in afghanistan right now they are in control of five provinces, is that correct? >> yes. huge progress. let's be very blunt about this. everywhere that al qaeda was, isis now is and in one of those places where they are being able to make great gains is in afghanistan. they are going after the profit centers there. they have already taken over five provinces in t

why should he have felt that mosul falling would be any different. dragged into this by public opinion. he doesn't have a strategy now. that's the worst thing is that he settled on this half hearted air campaign where our rules of engagement are restricting from taking these guys out. border crossing. we haven't found headquarters. spotters on the ground pointing where we can get these guys and convoyness broad daylight sometimes. it's not very encouraging. >> rick, it's almost terrifying when you think we are now hearing from everybody well now in -- now this was going to happen in ramadi is that the baghdad will take over. they will retake isis. they will throw isis out of are a made. what in the world does anyone think that shia militia maybe more involved. if that does happen, it just means that iran has a greater footprint in iraq. >> you wonder how permanent it can possibly be even at this stage we see these signals even from washington now and to see the defense secretary talk about the iraqis not having the will to fight on the field there ar

officials were blindsided. >> the fall of mosul was something that we had not anticipated. and the suddenness with which that fall occurred was something that-- that was a shock. they seized everything from small arms to light-armored vehicles-- to anti-aircraft weapons. when terrorists of this kind get their hands on weapons, it was a huge concern to us. i don't think we truly understood the depth of the problem until the fall of mosul. >> reporter: for all the contingency planning that you routinely do here at the pentagon, were there plans for how to react to the fall of mosul to isis? >> well, no, there were not, because, of course-- look, there were several things that surprised us about i.s.i.l. the degree to which they were able to form their own coalition, both inside of syria and inside of northwestern iraq; the military capability that they exhibited, the collapse of the iraqi security forces. yeah, in those initial days, there were a few surprises. >> reporter: the reaction was shock and concern that it looked like they were losing iraq. but there was very little

. >> and about this time last year it took the city of fallujah and also mosul. and right from the beginning we saw it collapse but maliki undermined the force. we have been trying to patch a back together but with this strategy the president is pursuing the not be enough strategy not enough advisers were not enough fighters. there isn't even enough air power to them what they saw us so heroically. every average retrain eight or 10 per night and also afghanistan and there isn't enough arms for the tribes but the fact is that we have to reassess where we are. we cannot toch go down this road and we cannot take mosul anytime soon or this year is a reality. lou: and in stark contrast from what was emanating from the pentagon. and how the iraqis were preparing to take mosul there is no evidence of any force to begin such an assault from ramadi with their hands of the islamic states. >> absolutely they are consolidating but we can conduct was a significant operation across the militia. with eastern and western syria at the same time north of baghdad with the terrorist

all of us from many places around mosul all of us, we fled. after three days, isil had control of all of our towns. no one thought about saving their things. a lot of people even left their money behind. it was a tragic thing that happened i feel that tragedy and then i paint. when i meet witnesses and they tell me their stories and i see that in the media there are no images like this, i decided to make these kinds of paintings to record what happened and show it to the world. my-game is to be like a messenger to the world. i'm getting a lot of offers and good jobs to make happy art like i did in the past, but i'm refusing to do that. for me, what will i say to my people that i'm painting happy things? i refuse. everyone asks me the question, how do i do this art? the artists ask the same question. it's a secret. it's that i'm feeling when i'm painting and they can't. there are good artists also, but the difference between me and other artist isis i people what the victims feel. i put myself inside this tragedy and that's the difference betwe

he's surrounded by a team of doctors and nurses in mosul. a lot of doctors who have fled and called back to mosul to the hospital and gotten confirmation that he's been treated. i also know that last friday, the now sort of nominated and considered to be the likely successors, at least as a caretaker of isis in the event that al baghdadi dies or he wants to hand the reigns over, he gave the friday sur monday at the mosque in mosul. you'll remember last year, after the fall of mosul to isis, al baghdadi himself gave the sermon there. so i think that these stories do check out. i know the u.s. government has been throwing cold water on it. >> why would u.s. intelligence -- at least publicly put out very different assessment? >> human intelligence in iraq has been very poor. they rely on intercepts through communication. isis has learned how to avoid getting their chatter interrupted or snared. these are multiple sources now confirming this. i can't go into too much detail, but one of the sources i know was a captured isis fighter in the town w

we're talking about the refinery that's from mosul that could do that. it's a very lengthy, painful operation, we've been in such complex vicinity we're told it's already laden with booby traps. you saw in the images quite how chaotic it could get given information that they have been been causing plumes of black smoke. the weather, we are hit now here in baghdad by an enormous stand storm which has made our lives unbearable. and that is making it harder for troops too. that's how isis got under the cover. that'll make operations tough as well wolf. >> tell us about the iraqi elite gold division as its called. this is u.s.-trained special oermgss forces that the iraqis have. are they largely iraqi shia or sunni, iraqi kurds who are also part of this so-called golden division? >> it's trained by the americans, sort of void of that notion of increasing shia indication that's happened to the iraqi army the former prime minister. the theory is they are not part of that. now of course, if units will have different biases potentially, the guys we spoke to had

anbar is the last line of defense for mosul. they need to control anbar to take mosul. >> some tribes back the government in fighting isil, many others are not. the tribes that play an important role in fighting al-qaeda years ago but say government leaders never recognized their help and left them without political power. >> there are real fears that the city of ramadi may fall to isil. officials have down played the significance of the city in the overall fight against the armed group. isil will not only control the capitol of the sunni heartland it will be able to claim victory in a strategically important province that shares a long border with isil controlled territory in syria. >> for in our the iraqi government doesn't have a clear strategy to capture anbar sending in shia backed militias will do little for reconciliation and that is what iraq needs to defeat isil. >> 360 migrant workers from my anbar, and laos were being phormingessed to work on fishing trollers and were rescued. we have spoken to one of them. >> he is h

look at mosul. this is the key headquarters for isis in iraq. we are talking of pushing that back to next year to gain back this key piece of territory as well. this is going to be a long fight, measured in year not months. >> jim, thank you. >>> meanwhile, a new opening may be opening for isis to strengthen its position in syria as the civil war rages. al assad, they are fighting to overthrow him. could his days in power finally be numbered? what would that mean for the u.s.-led war against isis? let's bring in barbara starr. she is working this for us. what are you learning? >> the assad forces in syria, they are acknowledging suffered problems setbacks in recent weeks as rebels gain ground. the u.s. military is just about to begin a controversial program to train other syrian rebels to fight isis. making a rare public appearance before supporters syrian president. bashir al assad honors children of dead soldiers and acknowledges setbacks. >> translator: syria is currently waging a war, not just a battle. >> reporter: islamist rebels including

he was killed west of mosul in the north of iraq. he was said to be holding a meeting inside a mosque with other isil leaders at the time of the strike. we have this from baghdad. >> this is definitely a blow to the islamic state of iraq and levan. what we understand was that he was only recently appointed second in command in the group. the reason why he was appointed according to reports and officials who have managed to speak to defectors is that the head of isil has been wounded he's immobile and unable to run the day-to-day affairs. we understand that the second in command, the stand-in leader is how many people are calling him. what we understand also is that he is a physics teacher. he's from mosul he has a long history with al-qaeda, a high he was a high-ranking member. so, whether or not this is confirmed, we still do not know. but we do know that there are other successors in line. there were a few nominees that the isil council was going to vote on, but he's believed to be a very case mat tick leader and a very significant

we also learned today from inside mosul that a sermon was given at the grand mosque in mosul last friday. that was the very same mosque that al baghdadi made his only appearance last june when he claimed the mantle of caliph. >> if he's one of these four leaders with this bounty on his head i'm also wondering if he's filling in would he be the person -- is he's who's being groomed? >> it's difficult to know. i suspect that the answer is probably not. the reason is that baghdadi had a direct lineage back to the prophet muhammad. he also had a senior education in islamic studies. both of those things were essential in him claiming the mantle of caliph. he's known to be a strategist and he's known to have the confidence of the organization. my read on that is he's an ideal deputy that can fill in for a while, but he couldn't take the baton if it were passed to him. >> again, the other side of this martin that the united states is telling cnn recent intelligence indicates baghdadi is still running isis. let me take it a step further. the u.s. has had no information baghdadi was at a strike i

>> they did in ramadi what they did in mosul, flee. what's your analysis nick of what's going on? because this looks like a disaster? >> well it is exactly the opposite narrative that the u.s. and coalition have been trying to give about anbar, that this is going to be the next place the iraqi forces cleaned isis out of. instead they're trying to explain it's not that important but we're still going to have to retake it. messy narrative. 500 dead in the last weekend's worth of clashes. isis showing their capacity to penetrate into the town and most shockingly the elite of the elite frankly past the golden vision of iraq's security forces leaving in a hurry and leaving behind what seems to be quite a lot of their armor and weaponry. right now about 15 kilometers to the east iraqi tribesmen, loyal to the government along with police they say have those days ago even a fraction of them they would have been able to affect a change inside ramadi. as messy response and many asking how we got to this stage where shia militia will be called upon to try to retake the city. that's a very co