-and-a-half new information now on a major development in the war on terror. a military airstrike took out an al-qaeda strategist in syria, he was a member of the corazon group which our national intelligence director once said posed as big of a threat to the homeland as isis. joining us now, senior editor of the longmore journal which we encourage everybody to read. tom, great to talk to you about this topic because you ve been talking about not taking our eye off al-qaeda when the focus is on isis. how big of a deal is it that this guy is dead? well, i think this guy was a big deal within al-qaeda, he was groomed for leadership. he s a third cousin or was a third cousin of osama bin laden, so this is somebody they trusted him, and he could bring in the big bucks from donors because of those familial ties. it s a big deal he s gone. i would caution here the u.s.
syria. the united nations reporting today that more than 60,000 people have likely died in the nearly two year long conflict. this is on the same day a military airstrike reportedly killed or wounded dozens more outside the nation s capitol. war planes bombed a gas station in a damascus suburb destroying a number of cars and buildings. we cannot verify the authenticity of this film but rebel forces are attempting to thwart the overwhelming air power. leland is live in the middle east. why are the rebels mounding the new push now? reporter: they feel they can make a difference on the ground in this fight. the trump card for the syrian regime has been the air power, bombing rebel conditions and use gunships and fly in resupply missions. the rebels feel if they can capture the airfields in the