to escalate their campaign in iraq or syria. this is a group by the way that's not been directly linked to a single terrorist plot in the west and that includes the period when they were known as al qaeda in iraq as the height of the iraqi insurgency when there were many operations against them. they want to deter the united states by putting out these violent videos. if they the united states goes to syria, that's a red line. they could start putting their significant sources in trying to attack the west. that would be very frightening prospect indeed. >> nevertheless, britain just raised its threat level to severe, the highest level there in three years. we should know that president obama is headed to wales next week for a meeting with nato. how does that impact raising this threat level? just one of questions we might hear at the white house in just a few minute. we are awaiting a press conference there. there is other news, including what is going on in ukraine right now. we've seen new images of what look like russian tank

and syria it is much more complicated, we have got to work with the plea syria movement, but they are relatively away and divided and last problem we have there is for too long a potential allies in the region like turkey and saudi arabia were punning groups like isis, you know, increasing their power now i think those folks have seen the light and they want to try to work with us, but it takes time to build a coalition, we can't stinl my bomb first and ask questions later, we have to have the right targets and the right support in order to be effective in stopping isis instead of uniting sunnis around them. >> very good, congressman king i want to play something for you that british prime minister david cameron said on friday about the threat to the u confident and possibly other western nations let's take a listen. >> if what we are pacing in iraq now with isil is a greater and deeper threat to our security than we have known before, people are rightly concerned about so-called foreign fight whores ralph from britain to syria and iraq taking part in terrorist acts and then come back

and we know we don't want to go into syria. if we maintain that stance, that is a choice, there will be consequences. >> we saw the general saying that basically the border is stopping, it is stopping the existence? >> yes, the original sin is failing to intervene more aggressively in 2012. that was precisely the warning if we don't do something now and let the conflict continue and getting worse -- >> you mean in syria? >> yes, the ratted cals are going to gain ground. el you can't undo the damage. now we have to manage the situation to best of our ability, but syria is so, it is destroyed iraq and it is not a state as we know it. do we want to contain isis or do we want to defeat them? >> how do we answer that question? >> we want to defeat them. are we willing to live with that for five, ten years and what kind of repercussions does it have on the rest of the region and the fallout from foreign fighters coming back home to the u.s. or europe. >> very quickly, do they get harder to defeat the longer you wait? >> precisely. if

chose to usein syria? >> i don't know if it tells us anything specifically he didn't make it back. he certainly can't eliminate the idea that these foreign fighters could potentially come back. again, that's the concern. as we have -- look, we also have a concern that they're getting radicalized in the first place, they're being attracted to such a perverse and brutal ideology, and that they would go over there and help in this complete depridation of the region inside iraq. it's very troubling. when we talk about the immediacy of the threat in the pentagon the reason why we are taking this threat so seriously, this is one of those factors. >> first of all, how many douglas mccains do you think there are out there? is the estimate still about 100 americans fighting inside syria right now? >> i've seen the estimate of about 100. i have no reason to doubt that here. at the pentagon we certainly think it's in the dozens, that's for sure but it's a very difficult thing to get your arms around >> as you sit in

ambassador to syria who resigned his post in syria. he said he couldn't justify the administration's policy there. he's senior fellow at the middle east institute. appreciate your being here. we've been hearing about the fears that the u.s. government and european government has about these jihadists in fighting in syria with passports. now we have the story of douglas mcarthur mccain, an american from california killed there. we have the story of the british, the video of the british guy from isis and that horrible video with james foley. how many western jihadists fighting for the opposition in syria are we talking about? and how much of a threat to doe pose to the homeland? >> i don't think we have an exact number, jake. but we certainly think it's in the hundreds. >> hundreds. >> in the hundreds. when i was working with counterparts from european governments, france, belgium, germany, they estimated there were hundreds of european citizens fighting in syria on behalf of radical groups there. in fact, our french counterpart said the

should be involved on the ground in syria? >> not in syria. the kurdish forces and i'm not sure which of the rebel forces, but let's remember isis is they enemy of the syrian government right now and so that has to be worked out. that's why i think it's a very difficult situation right now. >> what was shocking to me and i'm anxious to get your thought that the syrian military, bashar al arc assad and they lose control of this key checkpoint to the forces on the golan heights? what does that say it to you about the syrian military? >> it makes them suspect because there's no reason, unless that -- they were pulling back for more important targets elsewhere in the north of syria, but that is, to me, indication that perhaps this force is not as strong as we think it is. >> it's an indication to me that this regime potentially could be crumbling right now in the face of this enormous threat. they're losing all sorts of areas to isis and other forces there. >> but there is an opportunity here to say as we look at threats, the danger of isis and wh

the trick is how do you fight inside syria. for a while the west and many regional countries were supporting the opposition groups inside syria to defeat president assad and now the government will hoping it will change and the world will have to operate in order to defeat them in syria and iraq. >> how do you think the syrians are going to react to statements made by the u.s. considering we are expecting the syrian foreign minister to speak shortly? >> reporter: yes, he is going to be speaking shortly and the line the syrian government has been using and what they are fighting is terrorist groups, it's not a popular up rising and they think it's time to hammer the point and want to say syria operation without operation from the syrian government is going to be very hard to defeat i.s. the other point is even for u.s. officials it's a dilemma, how do you strike the islamic state group positions and targets inside syria, i mean if the u.s. is going to use drones the syrian government has airplanes and have missiles and antiaircr

when i went to syria, i was a filmmaker in support of the revolution, i was not fighting in syria. and, you know, for me, it's causes that i believe in, in libya, it was intensely personal because of good friends i had there. so it's -- i believe when you believe in something, you should do something to support it, not just sit on your sofa at home giving a thumbs-up to your television. >> matthew van dike, you certainly aren't doing that, i want to have you back shortly when you get back from there. i appreciate your time. thanks. >>> coming up, the president told me last year, he's no king, but that hasn't stopped the saber rattling by republicans. >>> but first a look along the west coast, a gaood day to stay out of the weather and stay out of the water. looking for a convenient way to fill your viagra prescription online? go to viagra.com to find out about viagra home delivery. millions of men have some degree of erectile dysfunction. talk to your doctor, if viagra is right for you, you can fill your prescription at your pharmacy, or check out viagra home delivery and get start

the syria piece still needs to be filled in because it's such a mess in syria. i think it's unfair to go after him for something that admittedly was inartfully said. >> his objective in what he was saying, and the white house has made this clear, he was trying to tap the brakes, to slow down speculation about how imminent it may be the u.s. is going into syria with air strikes. do you think he should have been trying to do that? >> yes, i think it was very important for him to slow those expectations. you know, once he asked the military planners, some of whom are trying to make the case for strikes, what would we achieve, tell me what would we even strike, some will take that and say, okay, he's asking for a target list and that means he's going forward. it was clearly i think his desire, really, to see if they could make the case. i don't think the case has been made. we don't have the same capabilities on the ground in syria like we do in iraq. and if we were to strike from the air in syria, we have to ask ourselves, if we displace isis from some part of syri

to syria, that's a real red flag. that's a real danger sign when somebody has been radicalized, has been in the fight and comes back home because they could have attacked us while they're home instead of heading back to join the fight again. >> there seems to be a mismatch in the administration's messaging here whether isis is a direct threat to the u.s. homeland today. you heard some officials saying, well, it's largely a regional threat. they're not an al qaeda 9/11 sort of concern. but earlier we had brett mcgurk saying it's a serious threat to the homeland right now. how concerned should our viewers be? >> there is a near-term threat, but the broader threat will be in the mid and long-term. when these hundreds and thousands of european fighters try to come back home, trying to keep track of those that mean us harm is a monumental challenge. but there is no near-term risk. this floridian you mentioned, he could have come back and attacked us. it may not have been very effective or very destructive, but as we saw in

and the same with syria. so the configuration of our ability to collect intelligence has certainly hindered the ability to get the kinds of intelligence that you would want for a circumstance just like we're facing. so for those of us who believed for some time hey, we need to configure ourselves a little differently if you're going to address this growing threat, unfortunately, that didn't happen. now we're finding there was no strategy going forward and we're going to have one hopefully by the end of the week. again, that's something we're going to have to work through in short order. >> the president made it clear that it's going to take days if not longer to come up with that strategy dealing with isis in syria. would you be one to advise the president or would you be smart to launch air strikes whether from drones or manned aircraft or tomahawk cruise missiles against the isis command and control facilities most of which are in syria, not in iraq? >> you have an interesting problem. this is a terrorist o

about to bomb syria? the mixed messages coming from this white house make that question very hard to answer tonight. we do know surveillance flights over syria have just begun. while air strikes are not part of the plan thus far, the administration reserves the right to conduct them on our own if needed. the air strikes we are already conducting against isis in iraq may be already having some adverse effects. the fbi and homeland security were sending warnings to local law enforcement late last week, warning that our current air campaign in iraq could provoke retaliation by isis sympathizers inside of the united states. so there are real risks if we attack in syria and there are terrible risks if we do not. if we instead let what the president called this cancer, isis grow. tonight we examine why we can't get a straight answer on the threat level from our own elected leaders. wheel examine the risks to america, and the exposure we face as a result of open borders at home and abroad. andy mccarthy and john

they're expanding across iraq, across syria. they're fighting the syrian rebels, and they're going to continue to do those things, whether or not we react. so if we don't react, if we wait, if we study the issue, we can be sure that the problem will get worse and worse, and when they hear we're about to weigh in, that factors into the calculations. >> so i guess the obvious question, where does the administration go from here? >> so john kerry will go to the region this weekend. he'll try to coalesce some international support around whatever it is they ultimately decide to do, and they're going to have more debate inside the administration. the white house doesn't want to intervene in syria. they've been very clear about that. there are a lot of people in the administration that say we have no choice. they haven't convinced the one man whose vote is the most important, his name is barack obama. until he's convinced, we're not going to see any movement. >> are the will, josh rogin, thank thank you for your insight. check out his

needs to go into syria, and launch those air strikes. and the reason being is that syria is a safe haven, and a sanctuary for the isis militants currently operating here in iraq. they have crossed the borders and they go back into syria, and the u.s. can conduct as many air strikes as they would like here in iraq, but at the end of the day, the militants will move back into syria, we heard frit jep ral dempsey the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. and we know that to defeat isis, with we have to go into syria. and with we know that president obama has been reluctant to go get involved in the syrian war, but it has claimed the lives of some 300,000 people, but this is no longer about syria and iraq, but it is now about america, because these isis militants are going after american citizens, and we know from the horrific video that we saw that they are threatening to execute a second journalist, steven sotloff, if the air strikes continue. >> i want to bring in a cnn analyst who is joining me from washington, peter bergen, and talk ab

reconnaissance strikes over syria. are air strikes over isis targets in syria the next step? might the obama administration end up working with al assad's government in damascus? we're only minutes away from the report on va hospitals across the u.s. did excessive wait times lead to the deaths of some of america's veterans? >>> hello, i'm whole repowolf blitzer reporting from washington. we're following breaking news in the break through in fighting between militants in gaza and israel. officials announced a new cease-fire has been reached, israel only a few moments later said it has accepted the truth. power correspondent reza sehe is joining us from cairo right now. reza, walk us through the details. what do we know about this cease-fire? >> wolf, i think what's important to stress is this does not address the core demands, the core issues that have been the source of this. a temporary cease-fire where both sides have agreed to stop fighting, which is good news, and at some point return to cairo and engage in indirect negotiations. we spoke to a senior egyptian official a s

throughout the three year brutal syria civilian war, one thing to know about syria, they have a strong air defense system. they have a sophisticated national defense system to shoot down what they see as enemy aircraft. and syria, of course, did not develop that system because of the civil war that they're in. they've had this system in place for a long time. part of making themselves a target by israel or any other middle eastern government that might decide they want a piece of the assad regime. the assad regime has not been cheap when it comes to investing in the weapon systems. they have a rock solid ally in russia. russia has been more than happy to sell syria any weapons it wants and prop them up on complex systems like air defense. and that relatively sophisticated air defense system in syria is one of the reasons those american special forces, that team of marines and delta force commandos that carried out that attempted secret rescue mission last month to save american hostages held by isis in syria, their awareness of syrian air defense systems is apparently why that special

differently here in syria now many of the members of congress of both parties have gone to syria in recent months. former. president we choose peace time for him to go. to go. to syria you really saw the stuff. on there and in the financial world. talk too serious to goldman's cannot stop because it only takes the demand to credit not good good. and life there are good and there are books. welcome back almost three meters high and sixteen kilometers long i'm not talking about a high security prison but in fact fencing has been erected ahead of nato summit next week in the welsh capital cardiff now the so-called ring of steel is meant to protect one hundred fifty willed leaders along with thousands of staff and journalists during the two day event and that's as fears grow that islamic state terrorists could be planning attacks to disrupt the summit police forces from across the u.k. have been called in to maintain security the total cost of those security measures isn't yet known but some critics claim that downing street could be about to foot the bill of up to fifty million pounds. and re

you know, why was he in syria? i think maybe it was people he was hanging out with because that's not who he is. he's not isis. he's not a terrorist. he's a happy person. he's close with family. you know, very close to his mom and to his child. like, i don't believe it. >> and despite the evidence, mccain's cousin says the idea that he was a jihadist is ludicrous. president obama has essentially put isis on notice. right now he's weighing options for possible military action in syria after authorizing surveillance inside targets in the country. u.s. officials admit it will take more than just air strikes to defeat isis. >> there's not a military solution entirely to the isis problem. obviously, we have to take the fight to them. we're doing that in iraq. we need to cut off the funding, we need to cut off the flow to foreign fighters. all of these pieces need to be a part of the strategy in the long term. >> u.s. strategies has hit isis hard in iraq, slowing its advantage in the nosh part of the country. >>> breakin

differently here in syria. many of the members of congress of both parties syria in recent months. this. week. to go. to. syria. subsystem. i mean after the show breaking on our t.v. international while celebrities in the west take up the ice bucket challenge the arab world is desperate to pull loads awareness of the toll victims of war by using the rubble of gaza instead of shows will tell me why back. differently here in syria now many of the members of congress of both parties have gone to syria in recent months has a. former. president which is diddy's telling him to go. to go. to syria you probably saw the stuff. he's in for becoming independent schools a nation that nation should be self-governing govern the feels better to love someone else to do it for. staying with us it's been that difficult to be on social networks of late and not to stop. thousands of people posting photos and videos of themselves getting dazed in ice cold water almost two million people have already taken part in the stunt to promote awareness of. no room disease more than sixty million dollars has alr

neighboring to syria of course. the syrian foreign minister's inter have a take if you would like to help him in his fight against islamic state fighters, is that an indication, then, that syria can't do it alone? >> reporter: it's an indication that of course they welcome any support in this bat. also syria wants to build on this opportunity politically to regain legitimacy, to regain recognition. that president assad is the president of syria and he has the ultimate say, that's why the foreign minister yesterday warned that any act, any military act, any military strikes on syrian land has to be coordinated with the damascus, otherwise it will be dealt with as an aggression. and that's a threat that they may use their air defenses against any drones or any flight that will strike without coordination with damascus. >> okay. in ba beirut, thank you very muh indeed. >>> the islamic state group that also controls part of iraq. fighters hold onto the city of mosul as well as the surrounding towns and villages, and oth

iraq and syria. maybe one specific concrete threat is isis is that these are british militants and even maybe americans that have joined this. it's very alarming. almost deja vu to a year ago, last labor day weekend we were expecting the president to come out and announce syria strikes. he wanted to and backed off once it was clear congress wasn't going to get that approval. you actually have a new polling shows 60% of americans now support these strikes. now that the threat is growing, the danger is imminent. the call is there for them to do something is and a the white house doesn't have a lot of answers. >> this is a missed opportunity on behalf of the administration to really get out there with decisive action and rhetoric to at least make people feel that we are on top of this. >> you know, you really have to distinguish between what they are doing and saying about isis in iraq and isis in syria. so, they have been more decisive in iraq. there have been air strikes but syria is a much more compl

ambassador to syria. >> thank you. >> bashar al assad, syria's president you know him. mr. obama said he won't sit down and negotiate with assad because assad is brutal himself, accused of using chemical weapons on his own people but just because the president won't do business with him does that mean the united states can't do business with him in another way? >> i think there's a way to try to work on the problem in syria without working directly with president bashar. he is the president of the country. he managed to get elected by a massive margin, just last spring for his third term, but the brutality that he has carried out and he has authorized against his own people has been enormous, and i don't see that there's any way we can have any open cooperation with them without losing the support of those that we will need to do the direct confrontations with isis. >> so i just spoke to a congresswoman who said the united states should reach out to other countries to help combat isis. which other countries should the united states be talking to? >> i think the main people

syria. but having said that, would he have liked to have that one back? >> i want to care fly one thing. what you described. the president was talking specifically about military options for countering isis in syria, there are a number of things that we've already done to -- as it relates to the broader situation in syria to confront some of the challenges there. the united states, as we've discussed many times in this room, is the largest single donor of humanitarian aid to syria in terms of dealing with the terrible humanitarian situation that has been caused by the violence in syria. we've seen significant numbers. millions of people who have been displaced by the violence there. the united states has been engaged in an effort to support the moderate syrian opposition. there are a range of ways in which that support is provided. there's also some diplomatic support that's been provided to them. so there already has been some work under way in syria to try to address some of the challenges

we need to hit them in syria. we need to help free syrian army mobilize so they can fight them on the ground. when it comes to ground troops if our military commanders tell thanks we need ground forces to defeat isil, which is a threat to the united states, so be it. we have got to win and stop these guys. >> i want to bring in retired army lieutenant colonel and pog consultant, robert maginnis. bob, you say you doubt president obama, because you're saying about this president, i want to make your words right, you say you doubt he has the intestinal fortitude to take on isis. this is in an editorial that's been just recently published. why do you think that is and do you think that the chain -- the beheading of james foley this week might change that calculus? >> most certainly politics is at play here, jim. the president has known for some time that he is not going to put boots on the ground. he has been saying that consistently. you know, they -- we go back and think about when the syrians were using chemical we

in syria? yesterday the senate minority leader mitch mcconnell encouraged president obama to come to the congress to make a request. congress would vote on it. he sounded very hawkish. what does did the white house feel it needs to do? >> that is a key question. you'll recall last year when the president came to the very edge of ordering air strikes against assad's forces in syria and then ed back, the president said he wanted to go to congress and wanted congress to vote on that kind of military operation and really that will mission fell apart in the weeks that followed. this time around what the white house is saying this is a different situation. the president may not necessarily go to congress to ask for their authorization. i was talking to a senior are administration official last night. they feel right now the president is legally protected through his powers as commander in chief to conduct military operations in iraq because they've handed over these war powers resolution letters, rep

inside syria? we will speak with vijay prashad . then, to the streets of staten island new york. thousands marched to protest the death of eric garner. >> no justice, no peace. reston priest eric garner, mike brown, trayvon martin. >> then, we go to ferguson misery, where the funeral is being held for michael brown. we will speak with the hip-hop star, talib kweli. >> the fact that he is someone who could be my son, someone who could be me, someone i relate to on a lot of levels, being a black man and my experience in america, it touched me in a way that the news stories could not capture. >> all of that and more, coming up. democracy now!. has level of a 12 story apartment building and a seven story office roaming as it continues its assault on gaza. than 100 palestinians have been killed since israel resumed airstrikes last week. on saturday and sunday, medics said at least 22 people were killed, including a one-year-old girl and a mother and three children from the same family. beenal palestinia

and i know you're in parts of syria where the government is not in control. but what about the danger to the doctors, because you have the savagery of the isis group which dominates a large portion of syria. >> the conflicts, and access is to hard. and we have had to be creative in delivery of our programs for that region. and we have had to juggle it with the beneficiaries that we're trying to serve, and the security of our staff. it's not just the expatriate staff but all of the doctors in the hospitals, but i've been there and they have a disregard for humanitarian principles, which is difficult for us. i've worked in many contacts around the world, where at the end of the day, at least ambulances were respected and we don't see that in syria. >> you see doctors in jordan and lebanon and iraq working with people. and let's look at the doctors, and a trauma surgeon at work. >> we have the three new cases coming. >> some of these doctors are working around the clock. this doctor was a refugee himself. how many people are there like him, who, in your group, w

and order strikes against isis targets in syria. we've been told at this national security meeting it's going to take place after the president delivers the statement in a few minutes, that we shouldn't unite expect any decisions to be made there or announced after the meeting when it comes to isis and syria. in the last 24 hours, i don't have to tell you, jake, what has bubbled up in ukraine is once again very high on top of this president's agenda. so we do expect to hear the president talk about what nato talked about earlier today 37 that is they have photographic evidence of russia's activity inside ukraine's borders. we heard the u.n. ambassador say at the united nations security council earlier today that "the mask is coming off" so some very tough talk from samantha power with respect to russian military activities in ukraine. but jake, this whole question of isis in syria is one that is a very difficult one for this president. obviously had, when we heard the news last week of the beheading of james foley, there was a great

in syria all my children went to school, said another woman, and they didn't want to leave syria despite the violence. she forced them to come here. now none goes to school. instead, her daughters now like many others are working the fields to help support the families and find shelter in this settlement. >> reporter: in lebanon, 70% of refugee children are not receiving any formal education. and the dropout rate is on the rise as the number of refugees increase and the funds to help them decrease. some of the refugee children are lucky to be enrolled at public schools in lebanon. but they have to struggle to catch up with a curriculum that they are not familiar with. and with more than 1.3 million refugees in lebanon public schools are saturated. some ngos offer basic alternative learning but the children will not get are credit for it. some children have not been to school in three years, and it's unlikely that they would be able to enroll this year. these seven children have not been to school in two years as well. >> my children's future is destroyed. we used to dream that our childr

operations forces in syria. i would not be surprised if he stops simply at airstrikes in syria. the president is very smoothest and -- is very resistant to on the ground.ts and that is understandable. but this is a pretty serious threat. >> thank you for joining us. ukraine's president poroshenko called on parliament to .ring early elections the announcement came as officials in kiev said russian armored vehicles have moved into ukraine, trying to [indiscernible] russia has denied any involvement. >> fighting has erupted in southern ukraine. the question is, between whom? bridge appears to show the combat. it's not only militants who are using tanks. moscow says the fighters are pro-russian separatists. kiev says they are russian. >> they are disguised as rebels, but they are russian serviceman. a.m., a convoy of armored vehicles comprised of two infantry armored vehicles and other truck crossed over the border into ukraine. comes as russia announces it will dispatch an envoy -- a convoy to eastern ukraine. came withoutvoy kiev and the red cross's permission. russia says it will

in syria. >> is the president on the same page as his cabinet when it comes to dealing with isis. >> the more important observation is the cabinet is on the same page as the commander in chief. i'm fully confident that's the case. >> is the pentagon on the same page as the white house in terms of the threat posed by isis? >> yes. next question? >> now, don't be surprised if the president gets some work done on isis tomorrow morning. the president was supposed to spend much of this weekend doing some fund-raising and attending a wedding up in new york, but earlier today, brianna, the white house announced they're changing the president's schedule. he's coming back tonight and spending part of tomorrow morning here at the white house. that might mean some more work on isis is yet to come. >> we'll be waiting. jim acosta, thank you. the concern in britain is much greater than it is in the u.s. right now. as the threat level was raised to severe, prime minister david cameron warned that isis poses

the conflict in syria did give them more momentum. they have more fighters, more money, and a more solid cause where they can recruit more people. if you talk to the syrian opposition, they accuse the syrian regime of turning a blind eye if not supporting the existence and growth of the i.s. groups. the syrian government has said they have always said they are fighting terrorist groups like i.s., and now they are hoping the world will see their point of view, and at least scale back on his push to remove them, his the main rival right now on the ground is the i.s. group. >>> the deal that brought sergea sergeant bergdahl home is being said to be illegal. >>> hamas says it has executed at least 17 people it accuses of collaborating with israel. these deaths follow the killing of three senior hamas commanders by israel yesterday. jane ferguson has the latest from gaza, and a warning the images in this story are graphic. >> 11 took place in the early hours of this morning, 7 more have taken place, and some of those took place right here

happening now, syria air strikes. u.s. drones already scouting targets as president obama weighs his options for expanding the attacks on isis. >>> jihadists on the border and it spills over into israeli-held territory as al qaeda allies seize a key crossing point. >>> and a mother's plea. after the brutal murder of one american, the mother of another american hostage begs isis to release her son. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >> we are tracking major developm t

syria. eric: i'm eric in for bill hemmer. syria asking the u.s. ask permission before launching any attacks. >> reporter: if airstrikes in syria are ever going to happen, the pentagon needs to know what kinkind of fire power isis has. the white house has been careful to say president obama hasn't made a decision to pursue action in syria, but these flights against militants, the president once lumped in with what he called a jv tear vifts, if the president wants to unleash an aerial assault in isis this surveillance is necessary. eric: the pentagon coordinating with the syrian government on these strikes? >> reporter: there is no coordination. the obama administration is candid about saying they are not look for permission before they launch surveillance strikes or potential airstrikes. president obama has been saying for years that syrian president bashar al-asaad must go. as we know, he's still there. now his foreign minister is warning the white house they better call damascus to ask for

all part of a campaign to spread fear among the people of syria. according to the report the executions have become common in the militant strongholds of ale aleppo. we've seen jaimings showing militants slaughtering people including beheadings and mass killings and crucifixions. it details war crimes, crimes against humanity and claims syria's government has committed. well among the accusations the president there bashir al assad his regime attacked his own people with chlorine gas eight times back in april and it's three years that president obama said he needs to go and quite a long time since he crossed the red line yet there he is. our chief intelligence correspondent kathryn harris is live in washington. we're learning more about the islamic state's military capabilities. >> reporter: that's right. the terrorist group isis or isil has taken a strategy jig approach to gain recruits and equipment according to a new analys analysis. an independent and privately funded research group reads in part isil did not become effective suddenly in early

what do we do about syria? if you are -- assume these were iraqis were talking about or the curds doing something in iraq. the origin is in syria. the capital is there. and syria say complicated issue for us to deal with as well. i'm not asking you but feel free to take that and i'm interested in what the panel thinks about that. >> you can't handle isil just in iraq. their base is still in syria. in addition to the things i talked about in terms of iraq, we have to do what the press reports we are doing now with the cri in the lead which is vetting, arming and training non-extremist elements in syria. for the moment those elements exist. they have a two front war. they are being attacked by the syrians and being attacked by the extremist. they need to be strengthened and enhance their ability to take the fight to both groups. and at some point, if we make some progress, i think the assad regime will begin to split apart. and the only thing i see as a next step is putting together a unity government of the elem

syria has warned the u.s. not to fly over its territory, but its air defenses are trained on its arch enemy israel and are not considered a serious threat in a part of the country where american planes will be flying. u.s. intelligence has already flown spy missions over syria without losing any aircraft. president obama has not yet approved air strikes inside syria, but he warned that isis or as he calls it isil will not easily be defeated. >> and we'll continue to take action where needed to protect our people and defend our homeland, and ruling out a cancer like isil won't be easy and it won't be quick. >> reporter: american air strikes have succeeded in stops advances in iraq, but it continues to make gains on the other side of the border in syria. this propaganda video of an isis attack on a syrian military base starts with a suicide truck bomb followed by heavy weapons fire and an assault with small arms ending with the capture of russian-made weapons. it is unclear when president obama will make a decis

s.i.s., and iraq and syria. the president says that in a threat assessment, that isil, is a threat, to iraq, and that's clear now, at this point, and also the entire reare john, and that he is sending secretary kerry back to the region to work with regional players. >> that's right. and there are a couple of different things in play. talking about the formation of a government, and how the state could jeopardize that. that's different than what we have heard from members of his team, top defense official whose say the state is a threat far beyond iraq. far beyond syria's borders it is a threat to people in the united states, frankly. >> yes. >> so we see the president talking about it, in context of iraq, but not giving any indication at this point, if he is going to move to deal with the bigger question of the islamic state and the threat that it poses in a place like syria, as it grows. he focused on political solutions, on trying to win over the sunni population to show them. >> right. >> that there is room f

the president speaking about isis in syria. the terror group beheading americans and publicly executing thousands in both iraq and syria. the president plan to combat isis, well, he doesn't have one. karl rove is here to respond to that in a minute. first ed henry live with the very latest. >> reporter: greta, remarkable because the context is he was speaking specifically about isis in syria, not iraq. earlier in the news conference the white house scrambling to point out, yes, in the transcript earlier he said he's got a military strategy in iraq. he was specifically talking about syria and was being pressed about why haven't you gone to congress, why aren't you making your case to the american people, why are you not seeking a debate and a vote for authorization of the use of force in syria? so it was in that context we should note. nonetheless, it's still a devastating quote because this is a president who let through some of the things, last thursday his own defense secretary, chuck hagel, said that this threat from isis is

they control land across syria into iraq. all of this has changed in that period we're talking about. the other part of this is i think the military s-you knois,, poised to do something. what's the best strategy not a matter of will. the reason the decision makers are hesitant is reflected in polling. if you look at polling right now the polling would indicate that, you know, i saw was it a fox poll 54% say the president is not tough enough. >> "usa today" pew research. >> the president is not tough enough. if you start to ask people again should the united states, for example, put more boots on the ground, should we engaging another war it's clear republicans and democrats say no, we don't want that. >> yeah. the question is what we need. next up with the panel, president obama, vladimir putin, russia and ukraine. what's happening there. wait, are you running full adobe photoshop on a tablet? yep. but it's not just a tablet, it's really a laptop. it's a surface pro 3, with a touchscreen. well it can't be as fast as my mac. s

and that syria is syria bit was added to its title fairly recently in two thousand and eleven after president. obama went public calling on mr assad to step down do you see any connection between that policy stance you know calling on assad to step down and the growth of isis and other terror groups in the region no but let me explain my views on that my own personal view was asking someone to step down in the absence of a den of five a kind of political way forward is not the way i would do it i think what we need to do is a den of along with some other countries and i again i would include russia in this a way forward for how syria can be governed in the future because it's clear the kind of narrow basis on which assad was governing that is on the basis of an alawite. fellow tribesman and then a few of others was not sufficient so clearly there needs to be kind of an international plan on the way forward what i'm suggesting is we need a kind of bosnia type solution and then we can figure out who can be a part of that future and who should not be well i think some people would sugg

what is it doing both in iraq and syria? >> in both cases, going back a bit, it was behind maliki, it was behind assad. it is still completely behind assad irrigate it has bailed out on maliki. to turn that around. a lot of this really revolves around syria. it is very hard, the way brett mcgurk was talking, it is virtually impossible to solve the isis problem in iraq without solving the isis problem in syria. that boils down to how assad gets dealt with and where we go from here. one big turning point now is if the fsa disappears, if the islamists give up or join isis, then you basically have isis and the regime within syria, what will happen then? will they fight it out? will the regime lay a productive role in one way or another? he sees that as his way out of this. i suspect the iranians will try to push him -- i was in iran recently and they pushed aside as your guide to solve the ice is problem. >> you're saying, let assad be assad. david? >> the critical factor here is the relationship between the iranian government a

is it a foundation, a precursor to air strikes in syria? >> well, i think what he is trying to do is find out where their headquarters are, and some of the leaders, so that if he wants to attack, he knows -- he knows where -- where to go. i don't think you are going to have a sustained air campaign, like we have for example in iraq where we're aiding the troops on the -- on the ground. >> yeah, but this is interesting, and the rationale, help me understand the rationale for such a move if the president decides to go in this direction. in going after the leadership of isil in syria, that would mean establishing a link, wouldn't it, between that leadership and the death of james foley, otherwise why not take these particular steps over syria three years ago? >> well, i think you have got a couple of issues here, three years ago, isis was not there. they did not come in until the so-called moderates started fighting assad. then they joined with them, and then separated and took some of the so-called moderate fighters with them, and took some o

he had plans to enter syria. that side of the border between turkey and syria is very loose, and many journalists and armed rebels cross the border without any kind of documentation. nobody has documents about who he entered and left. it's hard to track down who has actually entered syria from that border. what we know is that dozens of journalists and other people have been kidnapped inside syria. in the past few months we have seen some of these journalists and some of these hostages released due to ransoms after many countries who had these hostages came from ended up paying money. but in many other cases we have not known anything about these hostages. some are syrian, famous syrian human rights activists were kidnapped and we don't know anything about them after all sorts of groups try to disclose the location. that is not possible. there are two religious thinkers in syria kidnapped close to the border with turkey. we don't know anything about them despite very concentrated efforts by the church here, by th

you see it playing out all over the place, syria as a focal point but also where. >> well, yeah, syria has become a hot pit for some of the rivalries hisham was just talking about, but the camps can be viewed, likewise, as co consisting of iran and saudi arabia, sort of at the highest level, i guess, and then, within the sunnis, you have qatar and turkey arrayed against saudi arabia and the united arab emirates and even egypt. then you have a tacit alliance between israel and the conservative growth monarchies directed against iran, and boosting egypt. so you have all this overlaid on a sunni and shia sectarian conflict that's been largely mobilized by these bigger geopolitical tensions. >> brown: are these shifting, still, as we sit here or are these pretty well now set at this point? >> that's a good question. i think they've pretty much consolidated. >> brown: what do you think? i think so. i think the sunni-shia conflict, which is really new -- the first time in my lifetime in modern arab, recent history where you have one front stretching from the gulf to the mediterranean. at the

if we just deal with iraq, they flee to syria. if we just deal with syria, they go to iraq. there's a different nature of the problem. different kinds of solutions. we can't deal with one without the other. we have to have a strategy in iraq, but we also have to deal with syria. it's a combination of a political strategy to get local support from both syrians and iraqis, to get regional support. it's not just a threat to us, it's a threat to the region and a smart military strategy in both these countries that can ultimately push them back and over time defeat them. that's a long-term strategy. >> sandy berger, thank you your time. >> we'll turn to another crisis facing the white house. the president finally weighing in on immigration reform. but not before 145 protesters were arrested outside the white house. which is why he's investing ain his heart health by eatingw. kellogg's raisin bran ® good morning dad. hi, sweetie. here's another eye opener, not only is kellogg's raisin bran ® heart healthy, but its a delicious source of potassium. mom make you eat that? i happen