iraq. for example, down at ramadi, the u.s. or the iraqi forces have a 10:1 advantage over isis in ramadi but they have been unable to take that city. ramadi is critical, according to u.s. officials, because it s the route from raqqa, the isis headquarters there in syria, to mosul. so if they can seize that city, they can cut off that line of communication, supplies going to mosul, and hopefully strangle isis in the second largest city there in iraq. indeed. jim, there has been a lot of debate here at home about what the role of u.s. forces is in this conflict. you mentioned those soldiers who are quote, forward deployed but not close to the battle lines. what exactly does that mean? what is their role in this type of conflict? reporter: u.s. officials
afghanistan. general keane, show us where and who the russians are headed? this is a blowup of the syrian map. the orange represents the regime control area. the yellow and the green represent the rebels. the green is isis. what is happening in syria in the last year, the rebels have made significant gains here and in the north, this encroaches on the coastal group that is right here where the russian base is. this is his political support. the regime is in a precarious situation. the reason for the airstrikes are to stop the advance by the rebels particularly in this area here and here and the stars indicate the airstrikes that are taking place the last three or four days. there are a couple here to the east near isis headquarters but
tarrized palestine. i m sure u.s. officials ears perked up at that. that lays the groundwork for that between allyings. when president obama has invited netanyahu to the white house in november, we ll see how that meeting goes. we know earlier meetings have been, let s put it bluntly, tense. jim sciutto, thanks very much. let s get to the other breaking news. russia unleashes a second day of air strikes in syria. the escalation clearly complicates the fight against isis and the effort to end syria s bloody civil war. questions persist about whether russia s really targeting isis or the enemies of the syrian president bashar al assad. russia says today s air strikes took aim at isis headquarters in hama and an ammunition dump. posted this video said to be from those air strikes. cnn cannot independently verify that it is. arizona senator john mccain says he has confirmed that russia is
into the street where several motorcyclists were charred. it sounds like a horrific scene and the videos we re getting in is just it s shockingly awful. steve, voice of america and southeast asia, thank you for your time. the plane that crashed with 53 people onboard in indonesia was also carrying nearly half a million dollars in cash as part of an assistance program for the poor. searchers have spotted smoldering wreckage of that plane but bad weather is hampering efforts to reach the debris. all right. coming up, women of isis inside the secret world of the terror group s harsh rule. they described how they would patrol the isis capital in syria. i would tour the markets, take pard in raids and take women who were violating the dress code to the isis headquarters, duwa told us. that s her during training. she told us she often personally
iraq and syria and these far flung groups in plays like nigeria or somalia or libya or anywhere else. but in this latest propaganda film, the footage of these murders in libya, this massacre of people in libya, is not only interspersed with other footage that seems like it was clearly shot in syria and iraq, the whole thing also appears to have been produced by the same isis media production team that has made all of the other scarily slick videos we have seen from them. so somehow the libyan branch of isis got their execution footage to the guys in iraq and syria to produce this movie. so this is not just some random group of fighters in libya calling themselves isis because it s a cool new thing. it actually appears to be an operational wing of isis working with isis headquarters, but in a totally separate noncontiguous country. in the video, the isis