war. great value by raids of this kind and i expect to do more of this kind of thing. but one of the reasons for that is that you learn a great deal. they will be in harm s way. there s no question about it. not i don t want anybody to be under illusions about this. this is combat, things are complicated. there s much different than the message that president obama has been repeating since the isis offensive began. we will not be sending u.s. troops back into combat. the american forces are not returning to combat 678. jack, good morning to you. before we get to the secretary s comments, what can you tell us about soldiers of this elite level, like master sergeant wheeler. the types of missions they conduct, the kind of training they have? very severely tested. the training is incredible. long lasting. they weed out lots and lots of
leaders using overhead recognizance, eavesdropping and spies on the ground. haji mutazz is a long-time deputy to an isis leader. he was a top financeer. the white house called him the primary coordinator for moving large amounts of weapons, explosives and people between iraq and syria. he planned the isis offensive that overtook mosul in june of last year, iraq s largest city of nearly 2 million people and was the so-called pioneer of baghdad. barbara star, cnn, the pentagon. we ll talk more to retired general marks, how significant
financier. there s no doubt this would be a significant loss to isis, not only because of his very senior role in the organization, but chief deputy to baghdadi, and because of his military expertise. reporter: and very much in the u.s. cross hairs. this is somebody that knows how to organize a terrorist group, knows how to organize a military campaign. reporter: the white house called him the primary coordinator for moving large amounts of weapons, explosives, vehicles, and people between iraq and syria. he ran the isis offensive that overtook mosul in june of last year, iraq s second largest city of 2 million people. the big question could the intelligence that led to him
fled from ramadi basically handing it over to isis. with the u.s. assistance a campaign is in the works to reverse that humiliating defeat. the stakes couldn t be higher. barbara starr has new information. what are you learning? this is one of the most critical developments in the u.s. war against isis a development that may be coming very soon. cnn has learned racki troops mae soon begin combat operations to retake ramadi from isis control, a town they lost to isis in may when they abandoned their post in the face of an isis offensive. a u.s. officials tells cnn that the u.s. has been helping iraqis put together an assault plan that could be ready to go within the next two to three weeks. this would be a test of the competence of the iraqi security forces. it s a test they must past.
breaking news out of baltimore, indictments against the six officers accused in the death of freddie gray. we ll have much more of that in just a moment. first we re covering another breaking story today. isis forces making sweeping gains in syria with international monitors saying that the terrorists control more than half of the country as more cities are falling to a bloody isis offensive. i want to dig deeper with former cia official phillip mud. you re going to map this out for us. i feel like a counter terrorism kid in a candy store. let s go. give it a shot. one of the reasons you worry about sigh sis solidifying control, is the ideology we see from them has spread into north africa. i would say if isis stays over the course of years, there are other areas that might be under threat. here s where al shabaab