of the shiia militia hezbollah. and hezbollah is fighting against isis in syria. so it surprised no one when isis claimed responsibility for this atrocity which lebanese officials say involved at least two suicide bombers and possibly two more. it means isis is now at war internationally, bombing those who are fighting the group wherever it can find them. >> isis is expanding. and today, tonight's attacks in beirut if really carried out by isis, this would reinforce its narrative at invincibility. >> reporter: u.s. officials suspect isis bombed the russian plane in egypt two weeks ago in response to air strikes by russian jets in syria. isis specifically called for attacks on russia just this morning in a new video. and now isis apparently brought carnage to lebanon to take revenge against hezbollah. there are other countries attacking isis, as well. including the united states. but there's little common ground on how to deal with the group. >> this internal religious civil war is broadening and getting more cruel and dangerous to all of us. >> reporter: lebanese officials warn the

? >> france is deeply engaged in syria and iraq with the u.s. coalition and france does have a difficult relationship with muslim communities going back to algeria. i think it is too early to say if this is al qaeda or isis. but what we could be confident of is that this is ultimately going to be violent sunni extremists and a level of sophistication we haven't seen in urban area since probably 2008 and the attack in mumbai, india, and -- >> and that is what i wanted to follow up. the sophistication, if these are coordinated attacks how does that escape the radar in this day and age in the vigilance against terror networks. >> it is surprising. the french of incredibly effective in counter-terrorism and they strengthened the laws after the charlie hebdo attack. i think they are probably found to be some communications possibly using encryption which kept the french officials from seeing this. but a lot of soul searching in france and also beyond in the u.k. and the u.s. to understand how an organization could plan this so effectively, to have multiple sites, explosives and small arms. th

, syria. here in paris, a veneer of normalcy proved to be thin as police fanned out with guns in hand, crowds rushing from outdoor cafes and from the public square where we are. it was a false alarm but it betrayed the hair trigger anxiety in paris after officials put a face on the eighth suspect on the loose. still more images emerged from friday's chaos. we'll begin our coverage with chief global correspond bill knee neeley. >> reporter: a guitarist rushes offstage. most were trapped. by the time of the gun battle, when french police stormed the hall, three terrorists had killed 89 people, a warning the aftermath is shocking. even obscured, the horror is clear. this man, police suspect, is an accomplice of the killers, and he's on the run. abdeslam salah, 26, and from belgium. police say he's dangerous, do not approach. after the massacres, police found a car abandoned with three guns and empty magazines inside. and they're looking for a bomb maker. the terrorists are identical suicide vests when nails inside. intelligence officials say there are strong links between the kill and he

-strikes against isis targets in syria demonstrating the resolve to hit back hard. but france and the rest of the world learned today the united states will not be deploying more ground troops into the fight. president obama saying the u.s. will stick with current isis strategy. even as a new isis video today leveled a direct threat at the united states. and here in europe, it was a day of dramatic police operations and the hunt for an accomplice and the mastermind of the attacks. we have extensive coverage of this unfolding story. let's start with bill neely. >> reporter: this is the man france believes was behind the paris massacres. this isis propaganda video is said to show abdelhamid abaaoud, once jailed in belgium and now believed to be in syria. what you can't see behind his vehicle are the bodies he's about to drag on ropes. he was close to at least two of the paris killers. police are still hunting for this suspected accomplice, salah abdelsalam who they describe as dangerous. his brother believed to be one of the killers, another brother questioned and released after police

with connections to france. 800 of them tied to syria. those names are getting extra attention for any attempts to travel. and fbi agents are stepping up their surveillance on known terror suspects in the u.s. roughly 50 are getting the closest attention, a senior official says. the isis video threat against the u.s. in washington is leading to some jitters. a school district in maryland today canceled its planned field trips to the city. and four people were removed from a spirit airlines flight this morning preparing to take off from baltimore after a passenger said one of them appeared to be watching an isis video on a cell phone. no arrests. washington is a city with nearly 30 police agencies, all of them told to be more vigilant. one of them, the secret service, is preparing to protect the french president when he arrives here next week. lester. >> pete, thank you. >>> as we mentioned, the manhunt continues for the terror suspect whose brother was killed during the terrorist attacks. now a third brother detained and later released is publicly pleading with this fugitive to give hi

number of u.s. operation forces on the ground in northern syria. many will look at that and say you've broken your promise about boots on ground. have you? >> well keep in mind we have run special ops already. and this is just an extension of what we are continuing to do. we are not putting u.s. troops on front lines fighting fire fights with isil. i've been consistent throughout that we are not going to be fighting like we did in iraq with a battalions and occupations. that doesn't solve the problem. >> tomorrow night part two of our interview with the president. a year out from the election of his replacement, our conversation about the 2016 race and what he thought about republican reaction to last week's debate on cnbc. coming up tomorrow here on "nightly news." >>> still ahead, digital babysitters. an astounding look at mobile devices, now many children already use them, before they are even out of the crib. what the parents of the most plugged in generation need to watch out for. >>> there is no denying that mobile devices have revolutionized the way we live. but the child

has changed france. the aircraft carrier now nearing iraq and syria, tripling its capacity to strike isis. revenge for all of this. lester. >> bill neely in paris tonight, thank you. >>> here at home, the fallout from those attacks have been swift on the campaign trail. heated rhetoric among the republican candidates for president. the front-runner, donald trump, going so far as to say he would implement a data base to track muslims in america. the backlash has been intense as hallie jackson tells us tonight. >> reporter: today, after suggesting support for a data base tracking muslims in the u.s., donald trump backtracking. tweeting, i didn't suggest a data base. a reporter did. but trump isn't ruling it out. >> i would certainly implement that. >> specifically, how do you get them registered? >> it would be good management. you have to do good management procedures and we can do that. >> reporter: now the backlash building, from muslims like this marine, his tweet going viral who said he already has special i.d. and from the first muslim american in congress. >> so i think that the

. >> reporter: and like america after 9/11 france is hitting back. its aircraft carrier close to syria, tripling france's strike capability. france is coordinating attacks with russia which has more than 60 war planes bombing isis daily. from russian warships, cruise missiles were launched. more than 100 aimed at isis in eastern syria. russia and west divided so often, united here in a common fight. and united at the un security council which has passed a french resolution calling on all countries to confront isis. all five permanent members of the security council have had citizens who have been killed by isis in the last year. isis, it calls a global threat. a group that is hunted now on the streets across europe. jose. >> bill neely in paris, thank you. >>> twice, this week alone, president obama has made pointed remarks on terror attacks that have taken the lives of so many innocent people, including americans. in malaysia the president said the siege in mali stiffens his administration's resolve against terrorism. >> we will stand with the people of mali as they work to rid their

the bombing of a russian airliner, the isis advance has spread well beyond iraq and syria and now into europe. some leading democrats say the president's rhetoric doesn't match the reality. >> the united states has to provide stronger leadership, in trying to unify the forces that are there. >> we need to be aggressive now. because isil is a quasi-state. >> the president's reputation as a reluctant warrior was forged two years ago. he threatened strikes against president assad if he used chemical weapons against his people. he did use chemicals, but obama did not retaliate. arab leaders haven't trusted him since. and want proof he will go after isis now. >> show that we are serious about leading from the front, militarily, by taking risks to degrade, defeat and ultimately destroy isis as a state now, in the next 12 months. >> reporter: france's president will be at the white house tomorrow. and nbc news learns he'll ask for more special forces in syria. for his part, president obama wants france to get better passenger lists from european countries on flights coming to the u.s. ho

with the latest. >> reporter: the fire ball over syria's sky, ball over syria's sky, threatens to ignite the entire region. a russian su-24, supersonic bomber shot down by a turkish f-16. the two russian pilots did manage to eject but they floated down into hostile territory. ground held by the very syrian fighters the pilots had allegedly been bombing. these so-called moderate rebels quickly posted a video cheering, insulting russia and the fallen pilot. >> why were they celebrating? >> because the downed plane was firing on civilians, on camps, on people. russia said it is fighting isis, but there is no isis in this area, he said. russia, which has bases in syria, scrambled search and rescue helicopters, desperate to save the other pilot. but the rebels claimed they fired on the rescue helicopters with an american-made missile. russia confirmed a chopper was hit. one crew member killed, the rest saved. in moscow, president vladimir putin was furious. >> this was a stab in the back by the associates of terrorists, he said. but turkey told a different story. releasing what it says

syria because there aren't schools anymore. just war. when i asked her to describe her journey, he was overcome. several refugees said the man was part of a smuggling ring that charged them nearly $2,000 each. and he was the only one on the speedboat who didn't speak arabic. >> you're turkish? this is arrest number 49. but there are plenty more smugglers out there. that's because many greek officials say turkey is turning a blind eye. richard engel, nbc news, greece. >> on this last leg of his africa tour, pope francis made his first trip toen a active war zone, a country swept up in violence. we report on his message of peace. >> pope francis opens the door of the cathedral. a symbolic act to start the catholic church's year of mercy in the capital that is the battleground between christians and muslims in the central african republic. a goal, the u.n. humanitarian coordinator said the pope can achieve. >> the difference that he can bring to this country is a new momentum, to bring community to each other. >> there is more violence than talking. security forces are everywhere for the

special forces raid, isis has spread far beyond its strongholds in syria and iraq. in fact, u.s. military officials tell nbc news they worry about the growing signs of isis presence in a half dozen other places. afghanistan, west africa, libya and in the sinai peninsula where the egyptian military has been battling isis for months. why is isis spreading so rapidly? with its mountains of cash and savvy online recruitment, isis is more open to newcomers than al qaeda ever was. terrorists have always targeted planes, but in the post 9/11 world, increased security has made them more difficult to attack in the u.s. and many other places. that is one possible reason why isis would target the low-cost russian charter, flying out of a small egyptian airport. the other reason -- russia has declared war on isis in syria. a senior u.s. official told me a short while ago, that quote, the confidence is there that a bomb brought down the russian plane. and he expects russia to retaliate heavily and militarily against isis in syria. >> richard, thank you. >>> let's bring in michael lighter, th

boasting shortly after the crash to isis leaders at their headquarters in raqqah, syria, that they had taken down the plane. the growing suspicion that it might be a bomb has convinced russia to stop all its flights to egypt. once it evacuates the 50,000 russian tourists in sharm el sheikh, from where the plane took off. russia's actions speak louder than words. it was the intelligence chief that recommended the planes stop flying here. president putin agreed. >> intelligence shared with the russian by the u.s. and britain, almost unprecedented. we still don't know what that intelligence is. british officials now believe a bomb may have been put in the plane's cargo hold. inside or on top of luggage. suspicion is falling on airport workers and lax security there. egyptian security officials are still searching an airports now under intense scrutiny in a region where isis is known to operate after a crash isis claims it caused. bill neely, nbc news, sharm el sheikh, egypt. >> reporter: this is tom costello, tonight across the middle east the u.s. is teaming up with foreign governments t

claimed it downed the plane to avenge the russia bombing of syria. so far it has produced no evidence. u.s. intelligence intercepts reveal isis fighters promising a big attack, then celebrating after the crash. egyptian security officials are now focused on the airport from where the plane took off and the workers there. british officials believe it may have been an inside job. a bomb smuggled in the cargo hold. the russian pilot of the jet has been buried, amid the grief, so many questions investigators still can't answer. and they also said today parts of the plane are still missing. bad weather here hampering the search. and they appealed to the u.s. and other countries to pass on any intelligence they had that might help find the cause. thomas. >> bill neely reporting in sharm el sheikh. thank you. >>> back in this country, it is a tragic story playing out in louisiana tonight where two police officers were arrested an charged with murder after firing at a car, this week, and killing a 6-year-old boy. questions remain what led to the shooting. details tonight from gabe gu

jailed in belgium and now believed to be in syria. what you can't see behind his vehicle are the bodies he's about to drag on ropes. he was close to at least two of the paris killers. police are still hunting for this suspected accomplice, salah abdeslam, who they describe as dangerous. his brother believed to be one of the killers, another brother questioned and released after police raided the family home in brussels. >> more attacks on france are being planned. the french prime minister warned today. which is why police raided more than 160 homes, arresting two dozen suspects and seizing dozens of guns and a rocket launcher. the french president addressing lawmakers, vowed to destroy isis. ordering a french aircraft carrier closer to iraq and syria. a dozen french war planes hit isis overnight. bombing its strong hold of raqqa, syria, in the biggest french raid so far. in paris today, not the noise of war, but silence for the city's victims. millions remembering, though they can't forget. praying, too, for the critically ill. dozens of vikes remain -- victims remain critically ill, c

target the 27-year-old belgian abaaoud who fought in syria. he had gone there after setting up a terror cell in belgium. attacked by police in january, french investigators believe the seven men killed attacking paris on friday and the two men on the run were controlled by abaaoud. last night, a break-through. word that he was in paris, in the apartment. but another clue led them there. information on a cell phone dumped just before the attacks. on it, too, a chilling message from the killers, we're off, we're starting. the terror group in the apartment was ready to act. police believe they were preparing to attack a paris business district. tonight, controlled explosions at the apartment. it's terror cell broken, other militants still free to strike again. well today's raid was the deadliest but not the only one. police arresting isis sympathizers across france. more than more than more than 403 nights and they believe all of this has prevented more attacks. the people here hope they're right. lester. >> bill neely also with us in paris tonight. thanks. >>> and in the nine magaz

was in syria. instead he was under their noses, traveling freely, allegedly plotting the deadliest attack in france since world war ii. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel reports that raises fears about who else could be hiding in plain sight. >> reporter: the man french officials describe as the master mind behind last friday's attacks was found just a mile from the stadium that was among his targets. there's an old arab saying, the best place but how did abdelhamid abaaoud featured in isis propaganda and linked by french officials to previous terror plots manage to travel to syria then slip back into europe perhaps more than once, assemble a group of attackers, amass an arsenal, then plan and carry out a series of coordinated deadly attacks, all undetected? they found the ring leader, but clearly too late. >> so the success was knowing who to look for and the failure was not actually looking for him. >> all these people were known to some extent, varying extents, if not by the french directly, by ervices of other countries in europe. we did not do what was necessary to