their aim, the militant group s self-declared capital of raqqah. it is being pounded by waves of air strikes and hit on the ground by kurdish fighters. an exclusive reporting cnn international correspondent nick paton walsh is seeing the fighting first hand from the kurdish front line 20 miles outside of raqqah. reporter: air strikes repeatedly pound raqqah, but it s here that any ground offensive by the kurds towards the capital of isis, self-declared caliphate, would have to begin. still a sense of stalemate. their ultimate goal of ra kashgs visible on a good day in the far distance and issed at times in the past few days hit by isis mortars. don t miss nick s full exclusive report from syria tomorrow morning on new day starting at 6:00 a.m. eastern time. we ll be right back. ok, we re here. here s dad. mom. the twins. aunt alice. you didn t tell me aunt alice was coming.