conor powell has more. this is actually not the first time iraq's military has tried to retake that city. >> yes, harris exactly. last summer the iraqi military tried to retake tikrit. they fell within a few days and fizzled after that. taking tikrit is a really important part of the operations to retake mosul this summer, maybe later this spring, depending on when it happens. tikrit lies on a key road that goes from baghdad to mosul and you can't launch any type of operation on mosul unless you can control tikrit because you need supply lines. 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 a

conor powell, appreciate it, guys. >> thank you what does today's speech by israel's prime minister and u.s. response mean for businesses? boy, we've got a lot of israeli businesses doing business here in the u.s. we're talking to two companies with a presence in both israel and the u.s., on how they bridge the gap of doing business in both nations. david: also israeli prime minister really changing the covers, making it a lot more difficult for the president to sell an iranian nuclear deal to the americans. but what is the cost of stopping iran in its nuclear tracks? we'll debate that. >> for first time ever, publicly disclosed, gm says, some people rejected settlement offers related to gm's defective switches problem. why, and will this pave the way for future lawsuits? we have ken feinberg, gm compensation fund manager, who received those requests to reject the money. you can't predict the market. but at t. rowe price, we've helped guide our clients through good times and bad. our experienced investment professionals are one reason over 85% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipp

bill: conor powell leads or coverage from amman, jordan. how effective have the airstrikes been, connor? >> reporter: overtakennian officials -- jordanian officials want 20% of all the coalition airstrikes against isis the u.s. and its pilots are flying more than half of those. how effective those air strikes are, it's a tough question to answer. the coalition says they don't have particularly effective intelligence on the ground. what we are seeing is where these airstrikes back up ground troops, particularly in iraq where there are kurdish fighters and shiia muslims. isis does appear to be losing grounds in iraq. iraqi officials said they need more help, more weapons and more supplies. the current sort of structure of this overall offensive is just simply not good enough right now. twhriel is some effective parts of much this policy and plan in place. it isn't effective enough according to iraq why it and coalition officials. >> would syria even accept foreign fighters to help defeat is there are this country? >> so syria's foreign minist

fox news correspondent conor powell is live in jerusalem with more. conor. >> yeah greta. just a few months ago isis lacked unstoppable seizing property in iraq and syria. they are losing ground and some cases fleeing in iraq. large parts of the city tikrit is now in iraqi backed sohio militias. how much is under their control is not clear yet. there is reports northern part of tikrit is under pro-government forces control. this is really a significant turn of events. they are the troops are reportedly even starting to advance toward the city center. tikrit, of course, is one of the largest cities held by isis. this is by far the largest anti-injure jent -- anti-insurgent carried out by. this is defeat for isis if it does hold. question whether or not iraqi forces can take and hold the city of tikrit. the u.s. is not part of this operation because it is simply being led by iranian generals. now the u.s. though does want to see effort succeed because any operations that take mosul later this summer will be made much easier if tikrit is in the hands of pro-government, pro-ir

conor powell is live in jerusalem with the latest. >> reporter: with his commandsing victory on tuesday, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has a solid and reliably conservative bloc to form his new government on. as he sets out he has taken criticism from here at home and about abroad. . he has been criticized after netanyahu took several hard line positions during the election vowing to block the establishment of an independent palestinian state if reelected. but it was his effort to get out the base voters that caused the real tension in israel. on the final day of election netanyahu warned that arab israelis who were voting in, quote, droves -- that comment drew accusation of racism here from the arab community while the white house said it was deeply concerned about the divisive language coming from netanyahu's party. now, president riff lin said today in a benjamin netanyahu's new government must serve all israelis both jews and arabs. he is expected to work on relations with the united states and also trying to hold a firm line on blocking the international community's att

conor powell is live from jerusalem with the latest there. >> reporter: jenna, any hope that yemen could avoid a civil war seemed to disappear today. hours before president hadi went underground, yemen rebels arrested yemen's defense minister. they have really upped ante in terms of what is going on now. they announced a reward for capture of president hadi. declaring all-out war on internationally recognized government in yemen. after taking yemen's third largest city over the weekend iranian backed shiite rebels control half the country. they are on the march. they're looking to expand territory they're controlled. they are now moving towards the port city of aden where president hadi had fled to. the houthis are backed by iran. they have the support of former yemeni strong man abdullah saul lay, was both backed by the saudi arabia and united states before he was overthrown during the arab spring. now the current president has asked the united nations to authorize foreign military intervention in yemen. there are conflicting reports where he is right you now but anyone's guess to his l

i'm conor powell. benjamin netanyahu claiming victory tonight after his likud party did better than expected in today's elections. opposition leader rejecting netanyahu's claims, insisting that his labor party is still in the running to form a new government. exit polls suggest it is a very close race between the two major parties, who appear to be in a virtual tie. netanyahu will likely return for a fourth term as prime minister but it is far from over. the final results are expected on thursday. already both netanyahu and

conor powell is with us. where does this leave us right now? >> the u.s. is playing a role in the conflict in yemen primarily in a support position. the pentagon providing logistics and support including jet refueling, search and rescue. this is very much and saudi operation with saudi jets flying the overwhelming sorties over yemen. apter areas like turn ski pledged support but it hasn't materialized much in the way of actual support. there is an effort to build a joint arab military. but so far it's a joint force in name only. there are growing reports the saudis could enter into p.m. in the coming days but it's not clear what that inst. louis look like. martha: that's bent question since the he her jefns isis. do you think it will materialize? and will we see an invasion by tonight other players except for saudi arabia? >> reporter: for the last five days the houthi rebels begin to gain ground in yemen inching closer to the strategic port city of aden. the saudis have 250,000 or so troops and there are reports they could enter into yemen possibly with e

conor powell is joining us with the very latest snechls sister the pentagon is stepping its support up for that saudi operation in yemen against those iranian backed houthi rebels, right now it appears to be logistics and intelligence rather than any type of ground support with troops on the ground in an invasion for yemen right now. this comes as saudi jets continue to strike inside the yemen against the houthi rebels for the third straight day, air strikes appear to be targeting weapon depot and also missiles captured by rebels, but it isn't clear what type of impact these air strikes are actually having on houthis as they try to push across yemen and are inching closing to the port city of aden, there are also new reports of heavy clashes between the shiite rebels and sunni tribal fighters in the southern part of yemen. u.n. officials and diplomats from several sunni countries, including saudi arabia fleeing the port city of aden as the fighting intensifies there, but the saudi operation is facing some problems. the u.s. navy sort of having to rescue two saudi pilots who were forced