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are there on the ground but in this case, our president has made a decision. we re going to execute that. reporter: general votel knows it works bet from iraq. working remotely has worked in the past. barbara starr in cairo, thank you. the nation in iran marked 40 years with president trump and familiar chances of death to america. our senior correspondent fred pleitgen, this anniversary comes as u.s.-iranian tensions are clearly escalating once again. reporter: yeah, they certainly are, wolf. iran s leadership is showing itself to be more combative than in the past saying it wants to keep and enhance its ballistic missile program. here s what we learned. tonight a show of defiance against the u.s., during iran s
fighters remain in syria and iraq. barbara tell us more about what the general is saying. reporter: wolf, president trump wants to declare that isis has been pushed out of its last strong hold in syria and that the physical caliphate, the land, the territory, isis once controlled is no longer in its hands. here in the middle east tonight, general joseph votel, the head of the central command is sounding a much more strategic long-term view, caution about what he thinks isis is still capable of. it s an important objective for us to take that away from them. but it doesn t mean the end of the organization. and we are going to have to continue to put military pressure on and the syrian democratic forces will and we will help them. reporter: general votel, of course, not contradicting the president. but he does point out it s easier to put pressure on isis if you re right there oig. it s always easier when you
the commander of u.s. central command is in the middle east this week as part of this farewell tour before jepping down. general joseph votel says tens of thousands of isis fighters remain excontradicts president trump s claim that they have been destroyed. barbara starr is the only television correspondent accompanying general votel. she joins us live from cairo. fascinating interview, barbara. reporter: well, it was, john. we flew overnight from the united states landing here in cairo today as general votel begins his series of meetings with military counterparts across the region. this comes at a very sensitive time, shall we say, because president trump wants to declare 100% of the caliphate is gone. the physical caliphate, the land that isis controlled in syria. that may well come in the coming days and weeks, they are down
maintain this kind of ideology that s there s leadership, there s fighters, there s capability out there and that s something that general vot he will wel has bee about. u.s. troops continue and have been withdrawn from syria. more than 2,000 will be making their way out of that country in the coming days. so interesting to hear from the general who must feel strongly knowing that people will look at those comments and say they re slightly different than what the president has said but sticking to that timeline for sure. great to have you on the road with general votel. millions of americans face a new round of heavy snow this week. cnn chad myers is here with our forecast. punxsutawney phil didn t say