its grip on the latest con quest. the city of palmyra. dumping the decapitated bodies in the streets and calling on citizens to expose government soldiers. latest is exposing the priceless ancient ruins. ian lee is here with us. the latest is a way to keep funding isis operations by selling antiquities. it is devastating. it shows the reach and the ease isis is having in its record expansion here. reporter: that s right, christine. when you look at the taking of palmyra, first, you do have the historical artifacts there that we have seen in other places in iraq and syria destroyed by isis.
underresourced, the white house press secretary josh ernst said are we going to light our hair on fire every time there s a setback? i would point out from my colleagues that maybe his hair isn t on fire but there are bodies on fire in the streets of ramadi as we speak. we look at the problems that are confronting this country around the world and you look at isis for example. isis was created by barack obama. they are now trying to get all of these candidates including jeb bush and everybody to try to get this gotcha question on well, would you have voted for it? the better question is mrs. clinton, would you have voted or supported barack obama taking our troops out when everybody single advisor to the president said that if you took them out the gains, the success that we had, the victory that we had in
period. there were 90 suicide car bombs that targeted iraqi security forces in that area and ten of them had the quote explosive capacity of an oklahoma city-type attack. one of the measures that the u.s. government is now rushing in to play is to try to help deal with these incredible armored vehicles loaded with explosives that get sent toward the frontlines. they look like something from the mad max movie is to rush some 2,000 anti-tank missiles to the iraqi security forces. that is one of the latest measures that the u.s. government is planning to help try to slow down the advance of isis in western iraq. john. that right now seems to be the majority of the aid going in there. let s see if that is enough. ivan watson thanks. in syria, isis tightening
syria. the threat is there for palmyra as well. also the looting of antiquities as well. isis has used antiquities, the legal trade of them to help fund their operations. i was at a conference talking about the significance of this. i talked to a former u.s. ambassador who had advice for americans. take a listen. you can call it as we used to call blood diamonds. these are blood antiquities. it is important that the american public know that when they are buying antiquities, they check it out first. they don t want to be involved unwitnessingly supporting terrorist groups. reporter: for any trade you have supply and demand. isis is trying to produce this supply of antiquities. the demand is in the west. that is where a lot of governments are trying to stop people from buying them and
fighting. in syria, isis tightening the grip on the city of palmyra. dumping the decapitated bodies in the streets and calling on citizens to turn in government soldiers. these latest developments have triggered global concerns of the fate of the ancient ruins there. cnn s ian lee is with us. despite the artifacts lost what are the ramifications of the city falling? reporter: john when we look at it you first have to talk about the civilian population there. tens of thousands of people living there and as you mentioned, isis going door-to-door looking for anyone who is a threat. they executed people. also this is a very strategic city. it is at a crossroads that leads to homes and damascus. also the antiquities there. for isis this is like robbing a bank. we know they destroyed antiquities across iraq and