the sfoction a little closer to baghdad. troops are massing in samarra and other pleases due to be a major offensive due to other officials in the coming days. >> in the news ahead - we meet the senegalese migrants returning home from libya after failing to reach europe. free water and cheaper power. >>> top stories on al jazeera. security in moscow is tight as opposition supporters march through the city in memory of boris nemtsov. vladimir putin's government dismissed accusations that it was behind the killing. the united nations says more than 1100 were killed in violence in iraq. 611 civilians among the dead with baghdad the most violent city. palestinians in gaza protested in egyptian courts decision to declare hamas a terrorist organization. it sets a dangerous press dent. more on that we her from a fellow from the palestinian institute of studies. >> it's a dangerous decision. it undermines egypt's interests in the region first and foremost as others pointed out. if egypt is no longer able to mediate between the rival

. >> ben wedeman for us in baghdad baghdad. men, you have been there. >>> two french olympic medalists among those killed in the helicopter crash in argentina. the boxer alexis vastine and camille muffat were killed. two pilots and other nationals were killed. it appears the choppers collided while filming a scene for a reality show. >>> the u.s. ambassador to south korea released from the hospital overnight. mark lippert is grateful to everyone who reached out. lippert plans to return to work soon. lippert's attacker kim ki jong is facing murder charges. >>> hillary clinton will answer questions about the e-mail scandal that has been dogging her for weeks. the sit-down interview could come woman 48 hours. she is expected to say she did use a classified state e-mail but could not use it with her blackberry because her system was too andtiquatedantiquated. the white house and mrs. clinton did exchange e-mails. suggesting he knew or saw she was using a private e-mail account. >>> he is a likely republican candidate for 2016 scott

making it not only a tragedy but a huge political issue in bag baghdad baghdad. unlike the iraqi army collapse when isil rolled symbol iraq last june, no one is running from this fight. in the past two days t the shia cleric has reactivated his dormant militia to reinforce fighters in tikrit. camp spiker is a rallying call they chant, we are going to avenge our brothers four fold referring to the dead recruits. they are just setting off. they haven't seen the fighting yet. iraqi leaders are confid he want they can retake tikrit. u.s. officials share that view. vict odors like this come at a high cost the unknown hundreds of soldiers and militia men who have been killed in battle or at the hands of isil. the uncertainty of how far the desire for revenge will go. jane araff, al jazeera, baghdad. >> at least 14 people have been killed and dozens more injured in two bomb attacks on churches in pakistan. taliban fighters claimed responsibility for the attack which took place in lahor. the pakistani taliban timed its attacks to apparently cause maximum did he have stat

he cuts the ribbon and leaves the museum in baghdad. drives an hour and a half north to the city of samarra and personally with all of his commanders launches a new war on isis. we do not know if the timing of this ground operation was also moved up in response to the anger about this video from mosul, but the prime minister of iraq yesterday personally launched a very, very large iraqi military offensive against the city of tikrit. last summer, you'll remember when isis fighters took over swaths of iraq in a rapid advance across big portions of the country, tikrit was one of the cities they grabbed, and one of the most important cities. they have occupied tikrit for eight months now. as we speak, an estimated force of around 20,000 iraqi soldiers supported also by sunni tribes and shiite militias are fighting to take tikrit from isis. this is the first iraqi military ground operation of its size since those humiliating days last summer when the iraqi military visibly collapsed and its soldiers turned and ran in the face of isis abandon

distant between tikrit and baghdad. after the iraqi forces take tikrit, the question is going to be, will they then take shircot, peel off and go toward kirkuk? or will they continue to open up the supply lines between baghdad and mosul. you can't go directly into mosul. there's got to be this campaign plain from baghdad to mosul with all the places in between. the critical piece will be when they turn toward kirkuk. right between kirkuk and the other dot in the middle is a small town that seems to be becoming the capital of isis. it was already a problematic area. it was a bad area when we were there. and what you'll see is continual action to drive isis out of territory. >> the retaking of the ground? >> the key will be, will the locals agree -- >> the tribal groups, the baathi officers, they're watching. >> but they -- i mean, the u.s. toward the end was able to reverse a lot of gains that al qaeda had made was because of disenchantment by the tribal groups, and payments made to the tribal groups. the sunni awakening

it lies north of baghdad on a strategically important highway. the new offensive is a test of the iraqi forces ahead of a planned attack on i.s.'s stronghold of most of -- of mosul. first, tikrit must be captured, and iraqi forces are said to be attacking from three sides, acting on their own with no support in the united states or other allies. >> recapturing saddam hussein's hometown will be no small feat. we go to baghdad to follow this major operation launched by the iraqi military. what's the latest you can tell us about this offensive? >> according to the information i got run the central command here in baghdad, the troops were first heading north. they were clearing everything and then they were heading towards tikrit, clearing the surroundings, and now, they even conquered, as i heard the birthplace of saddam hussein. it is a suburb of tikrit. but they have cleared it now. it's in the hands of the government. i just talked to somebody inside . he said there is fighting in the center of tikrit and in the north and in the south. >> not so

like aig and the iraqi government signs of baghdad agreement. essentially that renewed the distribution of funds from the central government. a. a 70 percent payout of national income that goes to iraqi kurdistan that was suspended in january 2014 because the kurds were moving to develop and export oil without a revenue and royalty sharing agreement with the central government. the baghdad agreement is central to a revenue-generating agreement it allows the payout to resume. it establishes an important precedent of negotiating the differences. meanwhile, they need to start acting more like a sovereign state rather than a a tribal militia. they need to establish greater transparency. the barrels of reserves. crackdown on corruption more inclusive and participatory. the operation launched in 1991 they have gotten a running start on building the institutions and establishing a democracy. they are far ahead. i think they have a positive democratization affect when each country where they live , the events. will they have a national election? has an

i was just in iraq last week in both baghdad and in erbil in both baghdad and in erbil with our kurdish friends and ankara with our turkish friends. the shia militias are everywhere in iraq as people know. general sulayman who was head of the force for iran has now become a celebrity in iraq. and i have to say it feels very strange to be there knowing much of the activity we have under way while it is necessary is really to iran's benefit. and i know there is a lot of concerns that after this activity is completed, if we're successful with isis, which i know we will be, and in essence the next issue is going to be dealing with security of our forces there with the shia militias. i was happy to see that turkey has gone ahead and signed an agreement, to train and equip agreement, that's something you made happen and thank you for that. at the same time, i know there is a lot of concerns now about how we deal with assad's vero bombs as we train and equip these individuals, how do we protect them from the barrel bonds which cause them to diminish in greater numbers than they can be trained.

distant between tikrit and baghdad. after the iraqi forces take tikrit, the question is going to be, will they then take these others and go toward kirkuk? and i think they will. or will they continue to open up the supply lines to mosul. so they can have a direct link from baghdad to mosul. you can't go directly into mosul, because there has to be a campaign plan from baghdad to mosul with all of the places in between. the critical piece is when they turn to kirkuk. right between kirkuk and the other dot in the middle is a small town. that seems to be the coming, the operational capital of isis. they have moved some forces forward there. it was already a problematic area. it was a bad area when we were there. and what you'll see is continual action to drive isis out of territory, the retaking of ground. >> the key will be, will the locals agree. >> that's the tribal groups. the bathi officers, and they're watching. >> why the u.s. towards the end was able to reverse a lot of the gains al qaeda had made is because of di

if baghdad would get invaded. at the time they thought they convinced the bush administration and the military that that was an important site to protect when the invasion happened. they expected it to be protected. they were shocked when no protection was offered, the site was left abandoned and looted. >>> some of the losses are priceless. staff blamed u.s. troops for not protecting treasures. items that dated thousands of years and was billions of dollars were destroyed. >> that was april 2003. just a couple weeks after the u.s. invasion. not only did the u.s. not take any steps to protect the iraqi national museum in baghdad, once it was looted, the u.s. response was no big deal. why does everybody care so much. >> the images you're seeing on television you're seeing over and over and over. it's the same picture of some person walking out of a building with a vase. and you see it 20 times. and you think my goodness, where there that many vases? is it possible there was that many vases in the whole country. >>

we are live in baghdad. >>> the 2016 presidential campaign has begun. senator ted cruz announcing his bid for the nomination. welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. it is monday march 23rd. john berman will be in later this morning. about 100 special operations troops were evacuated from the country in yemen. the chairman of the house homeland security committee warning of the dangers posed by losing yemen as a base for u.s. counterterrorism operations. >> we will have no footprint to monitor what aqap or isis is doing in the region. without plots and intelligence we cannot stop it. >> on sunday houthi rebels seized an international airport in the city of taiz. the united nations security council met in an urgent sessions calling on all sides to put down their weapons and negotiate. a u.s. official warning that yemen is in a rapid downward spiral and at the edge of civil war. let's bring in the latest with correspondent nic robertson. >> reporter: christine, this is a dangerous escalation in yemen. yemen is where al qaeda in the arabian peninsu

distant between tikrit and baghdad. after the iraqi forces take tikrit, the question is going to be, will they then take these others and go toward kirkuk? and i think they will. or will they continue to open up the supply lines to mosul. you can't just go directly into mosul. there's got to be this campaign plan from baghdad to mosul, with all the places in between. the critical piece will be when they turn toward kirkuk. right between kirkuk and the other dot in the middle is a small town. that seems to be the coming, the operational capital of isis. they have moved some forces forward there. it was already a problematic area. it was a bad area when we were there. and what you'll see is continual action to drive isis out of territory, the retaking of ground. >> the key will be, will the locals agree. >> that's the tribal groups. the bathi officers, and they're watching. >> why the u.s. towards the end was able to reverse a lot of the gains al qaeda had made is because of disenchantment by these tribal groups and payme

it lies on the road connecting baghdad to mosul. but it's not just the iraqi army involved in the operation. an estimated 2,000 sunni tribal fighters are taking part and according to iranian media the commander of iran's elite revolutionary force is involved. the general reportedly arrived in the area two days ago to help direct. if the operation in tikrit is successful and the iraqi government and their allies intend to relaunch an offensive to recapture mosul in i.s.i.l. fighters. in april or may. >> today god willing we will start an important military campaign to liberate the citizens other areas in the province from islamic state militants. i call upon you to deal with citizens well, our goal is to liberate people from the oppression and militarism of daesh. >> jane arraf has more from baghdad. >>> this is the first bald for a major sunni city, since i.s.i.l. took over last june. tikrit was one of the first cities they seized and has remained pretty much an i.s.i.l. stronghold since then. they tried otake back the city but stop

it is a crucially important city on the main road north of the capital, baghdad. tikrit was captured by islamic state in their let -- in their lightning advance west summer. up to 30,000 troops are trying to retake it. these iraqi forces are complicated mix -- the iraqi army plus shia muslim militias and some local sunni tribes who reject iis -- who reject islamic state. they are sharing a common goal of bolstering iraq's embattled government. but even if they can take hold in tikrit, the bigger tougher prize is most all, iraq's second city still firmly under islamic state control and part of a web of territory across iraq and syria which must be shrunk dramatically to defeat them. >> it's a mixture of skills and weapons. once they start getting rolled up it's possible they could be kicked out of iraq quite quickly. then of course, they will fall back on syria and that will lead to from matter altogether. >> but first, tikrit must be retaken and the iraqi government has to win or else its entire strategy will be in tatters. >> for more on this offensive, i spoke w

the city is a gateway to baghdad, just 130 kilometers south. the iraqi president announced the campaign on state television . he is urging security forces to protect civilians during the operation. >> i call upon you and all other commanders to deal with citizens well. our goal is to liberate people from the oppression and terrorism of islamic state. we should protect the citizens and their properties will stop >> the campaign is seen as a key test for the embattled islamic -- the embattled iraqi army. it is also a major step toward reclaiming northern territory from the group. previous attempts to retake tikrit have failed. the government is bringing and heavy artillery and tanks to dislodge islamic state militants from their self-proclaimed caliphate but a long battle lies ahead. >> among the biggest losers in that battle in iraq and syria as well are the christian communities dating back millennia, their culture and architecture destroyed. >> the vibrant community of over one million christians in iraq has been reduced to just 200,000. many

are the arms forced to go through baghdad to get the kurds? >> i'll take the question but let me offer this. baghdad has not disapproved any request that the kurds have made for weapons. we have attempted to work with baghdad to streamline to the maximum extent possible to reduce any delays that may inhibit or impair the expeditious delivery of arms and equipment to the kurds. >> do you think this includes sufficient technology and long range weaponry to meet their needs and their requests? >> all that is coming. as you know, sir, through the support of the congress we're training and equipping 12 iraqi brigades and three of which are peshmerga brigades which will be armed and e equipped with the same sophisticated e weapons that the ther brigades will receive. >> is there any possibility that any of that could be transported to the kurds? >> that's a question we should pose to the department of defense but i'll take the question. >> thank you. with regard to ultimate victory, with regard to trying to get turkey involved, do you think there's

making it not only a tragedy but a huge political issue in baghdad. unlike the iraqi army collapse when isil rolled into iraq last june no one is running from this fight. in the past two days, shia cleric alsadr has sent members of the peace brigades to reinforce fighters in tech crete. camp spiker is a rallying call. these fighters chant >> we are going to avenge our brothers four fold, referring to the dead recruits. they are just setting off. they haven't seen the fighting yet iraqi military leaders are confident they can retake tikrit. the u.s. officials share that view. but victories like this come at a very high cost. the unknown hundreds of soldiers and militia men who have been killed in battle or at the hands of is isil. the uncertainty of how far the desire for revenge will go. jane arraf, al jazeera, baghdad. >> the former u.s. for metal east in the iraqi capital right now. he told al jazeera the battle for tikrit slowed down a bit in the last few days because of the nature of the fighting. when you are talking about street fighting city fi

they would see the government and -- in baghdad as u.s. puppets. brian: we have some video of you training afghan army troops. how much training did you do in iraq and afghanistan? general bolger: i was in charge of the coalition military assistance training team. our team of about 550 allied troops working with the iraqis, built large portions of their current army and air force. i did a year there. afghanistan, i was charged with their military and they have police. in afghanistan, i have the whole operation. brian: here is video from 2012. >> legacy weapons from the soviet era. building on the existing experience of the afghan national army with new technology is key, according of nato's -- according to nato's training mission. >> focus on training. we do not deliver a lot of the instruction ourselves. we teach the instructors how to do it. >> the afghan army officers we spoke to set their soldiers are ready to fight the insurgency. but many worried about the future. brian: we've read all the time that they do not care that much. general bolger:

fight centers saladin province north of baghdad. thoapg directaround 20,000 soldiers and militia fighters are advancing on the city of tikrit. it's been under the control of i.s.i.l. since june. jane arraf in the capital city of baghdad, what is the latest jane? >> reporter: troops are advancing, and in towns leading up to tikrit, opposition fighters started in samarra north of baghdad. there is no u.s. air support but a lot of iranian involvement sunni tribes and iraqi security forces. they have taken a town of aldor and around the outskirts of the city. that city has been evacuated of most civilians but it is still full of i.s.i.l. fighters and full of explosives. let's take a closer look at this battle. >> the city of sala hudin their prize is tikrit. the city is the birth place of the former leader of iraq, saddam hussein. seezed byseized earlier by i.s.i.l. fighters. >> this is the campaign to liberate the country from the tyranny of i.s.i.l. >> force of around 20,000 have stormed tikrit. shia militias and 2,000 sunni fighters

jane araaf reports from baghdad. >> five kilometers northeast of tikrit, this counter terrorism units is pinned down by sniper fire. is ill specializes in snippers and explosives and here, it's used to deadly effect. this battle last week is an education of why taking to tikrit is slow going. the counter terrorism battalion is an elite unit u.s.-trained. they have been deployed from nearby camp spiker to clear the road for advancing soldiers and malinc. a men. in just a few minutes, they lost five of their men on the battlefield. seven were injured. this is a side of the war not normally seen. the military and malitias won't disclose how many have died in battle. to fleshout isil gunmen the troops set fire to the fields. as isil retreats from around tikrit new evidence of a massacre has emerged. near the village of abuajil. health ministry workers on saturday found some of those believed killed near camp spiker last august. >> we have come today to open up the graves and lift the remains and then transfer them to baghdad. there, we will take them to the forensic labs to get their dnas

i ended up talking with him was not really fitting in so we talk about baghdad and he was looking for work so i had the very strange feeling i had from a year earlier days and i was angry about the war i was on the tail end of the first battle of fallujah and it was explained to be that they thought was gross mismanagement and poor leadership and completely irrational policy making making, and that they have brosnan as a result then a few weeks later snowden me windy and i wasn't a iraq -- i was in iraq and bush was reelected so for me that was a difficult process to understand in light of everything that happened was very difficult to accept people would in the face of knowledge reelect the person that had put us there in the first place and as i began researching the began to develop symptoms of my own i was in a movie theater there was the idea -- to lead the explosion in the closely resembled that of a shot from the point of view i would be in the cinematic experience was very overwhelming for me and i blacked out when i regained consciousness i was in dollar hallway of the cinepl

but that idea did not persist. , they did not crest the baghdad -- trust that baghdad government because it was largely shia and kurds. other ethnic religious groups. when americans began to withdraw, sunni arabs lost. the prime minister of iraq -- a guy who played with the election results in 2010 to try to keep himself in office and tried to do it again last year and was finally run out with pressure from us. he made a temporary agreement with sunni arabs, but he showed his true colors. maliki was a guy who spent time in iran. he never fully trusted the americans or the sunni arabs. many sunni arabs were, but not all. he did not trust them. that temporary surge of ideas was the same as the temporary surge of troops. the ocean is fair. but it is an ephemeral. the beach is still there. what has changed? what have they changed? brian lamb: there are two generals the got attention for the wrong reasons. one of them is stanley mcchrystal. how well do you know him? and, what was the reaction that article came out? in rolling stone that michael hastings wrote. general bolger: he is the unknow

in baghdad today, the chairman of the u.s. joint chiefs of staff, general martin dempsey, urged patience in the fight against isis. but on board a french aircraft carrier in the persian gulf yesterday, dempsey voiced his frustration with iraqi forces. "we've got trainers and advisers that are waiting for some of the iraqi units to show up," he said. "and when they've shown up handful of them, they've shown up under strength and sometimes without the proper equipment." raad saleh ateia and his wife quaraish are desperate for any sign of progress in tikrit. they fled their home in the city just three days after isis captured it in june. "armed men from isis took our son omar away," quaraish told us. i chased after the car and i was crying because i couldn't keep up. raad told us isis interrogated 20-year-old omar and accused him of drinking alcohol. the militants later released him but omar's still too frightened of isis to appear on camera. do you think that iraq will ever be free of isis? "god willing," quaraish told us. we wa

general dempsey was here in baghdad. he met with iraqi prime minister, defense minister and his message was the u.s. led coalition is lead the fight against isis. the partners have since last september launched more than 2,000 air strikes on isis targets in syria and iraq. the u.s. led coalition trained more than 5,000 iraqi soldiers as well as peshmerga fighters in the north of the country. so given that all eyes in iraq are on tikrit, where there is -- eye -- ran yan involvement. as far as the situation in tikrit goes iraqi forces which are led by the shi'a paramilitary forces with the iraqi army forces playing a supporting role seem to be making significant progress. we saw at the frontlines of smoldering vehicles. in three days in fact the iraqi forces managed to advance 50 miles to the very edge of tikrit. when we were there, they were one mile to the east of the center of the city. yes, there is an iranian role being played there. i had the opportunity to speak to four iranian advisers at the front line. they descr

dempsey noted during his helicopter flight over baghdad he saw worrisome signs of iranian influence. he spotted a plethora of flags at check points and elsewhere in the capital. only one of which happened to be the iraqi flag, he said, alluding to the banners of iranian-backed shiite militias. can we get real, i ask my friend from south carolina, as to what is taking place now the iranians are now in sanaa they're in baghdad and beirut and damascus and meanwhile this president and secretary of state pursue the mirage of a nuclear agreement that will somehow change the entire equation and i'd be interested in his views of what the saudis are doing which is accommodating in their own way and possibly making plans to acquire their own nuclear weapons along with other nations in the middle east. mr. are graham: just to sum it up our foreign policy is in a free-for-all and it's incompetent in its core. no one can feel good about shia-led groups going in some tikrit with iranian command and control. if you know anything about iraq to hope -- the hope for iraq is for the seanies -- sunnis t

jer mauomana karadsheh, cnn, baghdad. >>> the u.n. security council plans to hold an emergency meeting. it is set to begin about ten hours from now. >>> and there is newly uncovered footage of the latest suicide attack in yemen. you're looking at one of the bombing suspects making his way into a mosque on crutches. he apparently hid explosives in his leg cast. in another moment you can hear the bomb go off. [ explosion ] [ moaning ] >> the blast on friday started inside two shiite mosques and were followed by explosions outside as people tried to flee. we turn to our journalist from sanaa. i'm seeing reports coming out of yemen that shia rebels have seized yemen's third largest city and they are controlling the airport. what do you know this hour? >> reporter: this is a houthi march in an attempt to surround aden where the president is located. as of now, all the air strikes have been from sanaa. and sanaa takes 35 minutes for aircraft to reach aden. it only takes five minutes for an aircraft to attack aden. so as of now we expect man

baghdad is now a shia city. i think one of the things we of scene after the event this summer -- a lot of these things were happening before. many predicted what would happen in amerli dialo, was predicted by human rights watch, which would amount to ethnic cleansing, in my view. the mask has slipped off and there's really no pretense or attempt at pretense that this is not a sectarian war that is been fought by the primitive actors. and besides, isis and militias. aaron: given this dynamic, what do you think this pretense for iraq's future? could we see a return to the brutal days of 2006-2007 when a sectarian conflict was out of control and tens of thousands killed? is there a fear of sliding back into that? >> i think we already are there and many ways. last year, there was an estimated 17,000 iraqis that were killed. that is the most balanced by four cents weekly in the violent -- most of violence by far since we peaked. these are sunni areas that have been taken over by al qaeda in 2006-2007, often because

reporter: what we are hearing in baghdad is that they were surrounding tikrit for two days with tanks and artillery and everything to today they have barely attacked from all sides. i just talked with somebody inside the city saying there is heavy fighting going on. there are a lot of explosive devices exploding, but we hear as well that some of the eye as fighters have already left tikrit and who is left -- some of the i.s. fighters have left tikrit. and people who took tikrit months ago. >> surprisingly, we are hearing that iran and the u.s. have been working together to achieve this victory. what type of coordination have we been seeing between these two? reporter: this is an open secret in iraq for some weeks arma. they were training together in the province of anbar for this military operation that is going on now. it was iranian commanders iranian guided militias, the iraq he army and the americans working closely together in this operation. so this is nothing new for the iraqis. what is new is that apparently there are iranian tanks surrounding tikrit and even entering the city

with more, i'm joined live from baghdad to talk about this. there have been a number of developments. you've had iraqi air strikes and the car bombings we mentioned. what's the latest on the fight against isis there, and how it is impacting the iraqi forces? >> reporter: all eyes are on the city tikrit north of baghdad. this would be the first major city that iraqi forces are trying to recapture from isis. as you recall, isis took the city? june of last year as it was advancing in northern iraq. that operation that began earlier this month about three weeks ago, it did seem that there was a lot of optimism. that iraqi forces the iraqi government were really optimistic that they are going to recapture the city in days. now seem to have stalled. according to officials that we've spoken to here they're describing this as a tactical pause and say that they have surrounded isis militants inside the city. and they're not advancing for a number of reasons. that could change at any point. despite all of this the casualties are still coming in. they're

so taking this spot, just north of baghdad as well is a really key thing. it is also important in terms of psychology and the gateway to the sunni triangle so if isis loses tikrit it will signal a weakening ofl+vsupport. >> analysts are saying even if thex6fç fighters are successful it could create bigger problems. why is that? >> so, at the heart of the current conflict in iraq it is a sunni-shia divide. the iraqi government is primarily shiite and backed by iran and in the isis areas the sunni tribesmen, basically a sunni-shia divide in terms of where isis has support ask the iraqi government has support. the fear is this military force that moves in tikrit, if they were able to hold on it to, they would move in there and be primarily shiite, baghdad based and irany fighters and the sunni population would feel a -- still feel disenfranchised and the conflict would just continue there because neither side is addressing the legitimate concerns of the other. >> conor powell reporting live. thank you very much. let bring in a former deputy director with the

it is on the main road to baghdad, and iraq's sunni -- heartland. the government are hoping it could persuade sunnis in other places to rise up against isil. they have already retaken a town 30 kilometers away from tikrit and two other villages. more soldiers are standing by further out. if they take tikrit they will then push further north to mosul, the biggest city under isil's control. we are joining our correspondent jane arrhett on the phone now. what do you know about what is happening in and around tikrit. >> reporter: residents of tikrit including officials here say indeed iraqi forces backed by shia militias have entered the city and are holding parts of the city. it is saddam hussein's former hometown. residents there say that the parts of the city have been rigged with explosives which is part of the reason it has been such tough going. but they are also reporting that one of the key bridges into the city has been blown up. that hasn't yet been confirmed. they say isil fighters using explosives have detonated one of those bridges, and tha

in 2003 when baghdad fell this building itself was set on fire. the fire burned for two days, destroying hundreds of thousands of books and documents with it. this was literally rebuilt from the ashes. he has doubled the archive's collection of official documents. the library has saadam hussein extensive book collection, and books from what was iraq's huge jewish community. the staff has started cataloging documents signed by iraqi jews in the 1950s, just before they were deported. it's part of an agreement with the u.s. to contribute to iraq's jewish archives now held in the united states. but he also wants iraqis to see the documents to help them realize that every group has had its share of suffering. it's a expected to be finished next year. >> libraries have a very important unifying effect because they play a role in the formation of the identity. they are not sectarians. they do not have an ethnic dimension. -- they will help remedy the wounds of the past. >> reporter: more than one thousand years ago, baghdad was a center of knowledge. tho

we're live in baghdad. >>> and the 2016 presidential campaign has begun. senator ted cruz announcing his bid for the republican national nomination. welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. it is monday march 23rd. john berman is in washington this week. happening now, yemen in crisis. special forces are pulling out of yemen as a result of the deteriorating situation there. the house committee warning that the dangers posed of losing yemen as a base for counterterrorism operations. >> to monitor what aqap and isis and shi'a militants are doing in the region. without good intelligence plots against the homeland without that we cannot effectively stop it. >> on sunday, houthis rebels seized an international airport in the city of taiz. the united nations security council met in an emergency backing yemen's president and all sides to put down weapons and negotiate. yemen is in a quote rapid downward expirespiral and on the edge of civil war. let's bring in nic robertson. a grim assessment nic. >> reporter: it is a grim assessment. no indication that th

jane araf is in baghdad and joins frus there now. jane give us an idea then of how far iraqi forces have managed to push back isil. >> reporter: well, in the town of baghdadi, about 16 kilometers from the huge air base where the u.s. iraqi forces and other coalition partners are stationed, the iraqi military says that just a few days ago, it managed to take back pretty much all of the town of baghdadi. >> word "all" is disputed by others on the ground including the head of the baghdad mun is passty the am bar governor's office and the had theh head of the security he says it's not that clear-cut. there are pockets of fighting there. according to residents, some trapped by fighting the city has not been entirely cleared. it's a small city but key because it's close to the base and, also because it's on the way to the syrian border. now, what the iraqi military has been trying to do is to retake not just the town of baghdadi but the brings across the euphrates river of that isil had. those have been taken back. >> news of these gains c

. >> we have come today to open up the graves and lift the remains and transfer them to baghdad. there, we will take them to the forensic labs to give their dnas and match them with the victims' families. >> the malitias who took back this town said there are 400 bodies spread across four grave sites. they are believed to be some of more than 1,000 unarmed military recruits left undefended who were killed by isil making it not only tragedy but a huge political issue in baghdad. unlike the iraqi army collapse when isil rolled into iraq last june no one is running from this fight. in the past two days, shia cleric muqtar asadr, sending the former army to reinforce fighters in tikrit. camp spiker is a rallying call. these fighters chant, we are going to avenge our brothers four-fold, referring to the dead recruits. they are just setting off. they haven't seen the fighting yet. >> iraqi military leaders are confident they can retake tikrit. the u.s. officials share that view. victories like this come at a very high cost. the unknown hundreds of soldiers and militia men who have been

. >> the united nations said more than 1,000 died in iraq last month. 611 were among the dead with baghdad the most violent city. members of the iraqi army, including peshmerga and other government forces died. the actual total could be higher. the casualties in anbar province held by fighters from isil were excluded. >> we have the latest from baghdad. >> residents are continuing to leave the city of tikrit in preparation for a major military offensive to take it back. tikrit 160 kilometers northwest of baghdad was one of the first cities taken over by isil when they rolled into mosul in june. it's also a very personal fight for the iraqi military. it's near tikrit, at the air base where isil killed more than 1,000 unarmed new recruits. their families here are still trying to locate their bodies. as in other fights, this one will include u.s. air support iranian advisors, shia militias and sunni tribal fighters. it's part of the big offensive that will eventually take back mosul and other areas near the syrian border. officials here and in the united states appear increasingly cautious ab

she joins me via skype from baghdad. what is the latest on the iraqi forces' efforts to take back some of the ground that isis gained last summer. >> . >> well the reports that they moved into another village which is close to tikrit. the offensive has been going for the last week perhaps more slowly than expected, but moving suddenly ahead. and there's about 32,000 troops involved. isis has been able to hold out against them in the center of tikrit but they lost a number of villages around tikrit and tamara. >> by some measures this is a sign of success. is the iraqi military ready for this fight now? versus in other times where we had reports of them turning away on the battlefield and fleeing? >>. >> well, we were out on the front lines the other day. and we definitely saw i would say a new level of organization and enthusiasm. but i wouldn't say it's as of the iraqi army that is leading the fight as the shiite par military organization known as the popular mobilist-- committee the shiite militias which are closely ti

it's one of the largest cities held by isil and lies on the road connecting baghdad to mosul. but it's not just the iraqi army involved. 2,000 sunni tribal fighters are also involved. if the operation is successful the iraqi government forces and their allies then plan to launch a much larger offensive to recapture mosul from isil fighters and that offensive could take place as early as april or may. >> today, god willing, we will start an important military campaign to liberate the citizens of the province which includes samara al allam, and tikrit, and other areas in the province from islamic state militants. so i call upon you to deal with citizens well. our goal is to liberate people from the oppression and terrorism of daish. >> we have more details now from baghdad. >>reporter: this is the first battle for a major sunni city since isil took over large parts of the country last june. tikrit was one of the first cities they seized after that and it's remained an isil strong hold since then. the iraqi military has tried to take back the city but it's stopped short of this k

signed the baghdad agreement. that essentially renewed the distribution of funds from the central government to the krg. there's a 17% payout of national income that goes to iraqi kurdistan. that was suspended in january of 2014. because the kurds were moving to develop and export their oil without a revenue and royalty-sharing agreement with the central government, baghdad agreement essentially was a revenue-generating agreement. but it's a temporary deal. it exists for just a year. it allows the 17% payout ore assume. and it establishes an important precedent of the kurds and baghdad negotiating their differences. meanwhile, iraqi kurdistan needs to start acting more like a sovereign state rather than like a tribe or a hill shah. militia. they need to establish greater transparency over the oil revenues. there are an estimated 45 million barrels of reserves. they need to have a crackdown on corruption more inclusive and participatory politics. the operation was launched in 1991, the kurds have gotten a running s

and this is causing a problem for the current baghdad government. because they want to win and it's not always clear exactly whether it matters who carries out the actions on their behalf. so counterinsurgency is the wrong strategy. with a tendency to think about iraq as if we were still there in occupation. we spent a lot of resources and lost a lot of allies in that way of thinking about iraq. but that iraq is not the iraq of today. the iraq of 2006 is very different from the iraq of today. so i would say that the best policy with respect to isis is containing their current advance, but also thinking about american interest in a broader sense. we've been talking a lot about policies and operations and we are not thinking about what our american interest in the region. because you can't decide how exactly to respond to isis or how to respond to security or exactly how to respond to iraq and whether airstrikes are the right means unless you actually think about what it is that the united states to try to come push within the region. >> all right. le

tikrit is a mostly sunni city 80 miles north to baghdad that fell to i.s.i.l. fighters as they marched against iraq last summer in what they portrayed as a revolt against the shia led government. several attempts to retake the city last summer failed but this time the iraqi army has the help of tens of thousands of iranian backed shia militiamen. that helps the offense but could inflame sunni intentions, especially if it destroys most of the city. one official told al jazeera america, we can't have another kobani, referring to a sunni citysyriancity that was retain the pentagon made a point of saying it it was not providing air support or other support to the offensive. it is not supporting this operation, explaining iraq is a sovereign country. what officials say in private is that the offensive is an iranian-backed operation with iranian commanders advising and assisting and the u.s. is long establishing that it is not affiliated with iran. >> we are not trying to encourage some sort of indirect communication either. >> not only has tikrit symbolic value as t

. >> relationships between the krg and baghdad seem to be a fit bit fragile again. what do you think is the reason for that? >> the oil crisis prince pli. and i think last autumn major progress was made but a deal was done that was predicated on $100 oil, and when oil is the currency of deals, suddenly the value of the currency is virtually halved you get a problem, and there isn't enough to go around to do what everybody thought. if the kurds deliver the oil that they said they were going to deliver to the baghdad government, their own budget will take a massive hit because the residual oil that they're able to sell is worth half what it was. equally, if the baghdad government doesn't get the oil it was promised from kurdistan the hit to its budget from the falling oil price will be amplified by the reduction in supplies from kurdistan. so i'm afraid that is at the root of the problem. i'm visiting both iraq and kurdistan in the next couple of weeks and i will have discussions with both side as to where they are on their private discussion about how to try and solv