as jamie mcintire mentioned nearly 2,000 troops are still in afghanistan. do we expect president obama to change his mind on the numbers when the two meet tomorrow? >> you can expect the president to be announcing the white house is historianing strongly at that. with many of the wounded warriors you see in jamie's piece, went to camp david where he met with the defense secretary as well as the secretary ofsecretary of state and the ceo abdalla abdalla. ashraf ghani has one ask the troop draw down, the american troop levels now at 10,000 as recently they were at 130,000. he wants that 10,000 to stay as it is through 2016 that advise, train and equip role with the countertrornl aspect to it as counterterrorism aspect as well. john kerry the secretary of state was alongside ashraf ghani and here is what he had to say about ghani's request. >> president obama and president ghani have had regular discussions about the transition that's happening in afghanistan. president ghani has requested some flexibility in that process. and it's our understanding it's our k

jamie mcintire, not a part of this operation is the u.s. coalition, why not? >> as you heard stephanie there is concern that there could be increased sectarian alienation in the city of tikrit. the u.s. wants i.s.i.l. out of tikrit as much as anyone but also concern that having iranian backed troops could further alienate the sunni minority. >> offered i.s.i.l. fighters what he called one last chance to lay down their arms or face what he termed punishment they deserved because they stood with terrorism. 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 r

jamie mcintire is in the pentagon with that story. many jamie. >> therejamie. >> iranian backed iraqi troops as they gok bogged down in their offensive trying to fight against i.s.i.l spy aish aircraft essentially picking out targets to hit today. the strikes hit today are designed to soften the defenses and try get that stalled iraqi offensive kick-started again. a pentagon official said targets picked today were dug in storage facilities and command and control nodes. it is a recognition that the urban warfare that's able to retake tikrit is very difficult to do. can't be done by air power alone but designed to gifs give the iraqi ground troops room to move. >> it didn't want to be the air force for iranian commanders. what is the pentagon saying about that aspect now? >> they are making the point that even though these troops are advised and assisted by iran they are primarily played up of iraqi shia militia. there was also i'd have to say a little bit of iran bashing today. the pentagon indicating that iran doesn't have the where

antonio, stephanie. >> thank you to jamie mcintire at the pentagon. >>> meanwhile a spokesperson says the u.s. military looking into report that 40 fighters were killed in ramadi, joint task force says it has no additional information at this time. >> a video reportedly released by i.s.i.l. shows the apparent murder of afternoon israeli individual by a juvenile. his family denies allegation, he disappeared in turkey after traveling there as a tourist. we spoke to a senior fellow at the project about the video. >> we have a very dangerous phenomenon, we have a lot of people in the arab world muslim world who are helpless they do not have a vision towards a future. what is happening now is the most alarming, the most clear wake-up call for countries like the united states or continents like europe to get involved in supporting an arab coalition to fighting i.s.i.s. >> for more we go to douglas olivavant. just returned from from a trip to iraq. let's start with the comments from general dempsey that there is no doubt american forces will drive i.s.i.l. out of tikrit. which one is it? >>

jamie mcintire, al jazeera. >> calling it crucial to stem the rise of i.s.i.l. which is also known as daesh. >> it is critical that the world understands the terrible threat that the daesh and its allied forces pose to the states of western and central asia. terrorist movement whose goal is to destabilize every state in the region are looking for new bases of operation. we're the front line. >> ghani also he says his country owes a profound debt to the over 2200 troops killed in afghanistan. >>> blast land close to the presidential palace but not clear if the building was the target. >>> in iraq, the country's prime minister today confirmed he asked u.s. forces to help retake the at this time of tikrit from i.s.i.l. in his address haider al-abadi thanks the u.s. for its assistance had launched air strikes against i.s.i.l. targets mr. tikrit. until now the u.s. had had no role in the operation there. >>> officers in the south have taken control of basra al sham. syrian military forces have been trying the reclaim territory along the border with jordan. in the nor

so far just a handful of then have received asigh aasylum in the united states jamie mcintire is in washington. james amyjamie. >> the state department has more than 11,000 resettlement petitions pending. of that 11,000 only 578 have been let in so far. for days activists have been standing in the shadow of the white house reading names of people who have perished in syria over the last four years. 28-year-old castey zack casty casty zack zachariah. >> i've been gassed and bombed and made it here. >> your friends and family in syria would like to get out? >> i would like to discuss this information but let's say my family is in syria and i'm working on getting them into a safer place. >> how hard is that? >> it is so hard. >> reporter: 24-year-old masad belshi came to the united states on a student vee is a after it ran out he was granted asylum. but masab, an aspiring journalist says most of his friends and family are trapped in refugee camps like yarmuk outside damascus where he documented conditions in a video before he left in 2013. >> they are a seizure around the region, it is dangerous