moment. there s a dichotomy going on, steve, at the moment with the forces in syria which are isis, the nuzra front, associated with al qaeda the syrian regime and hezbollah outside of the syrian regime. there s sort of a dichotomy at the moment between all the groups in syria who s contesting what areas? we know that raqqa is the self-proclaimed capital of syria which isis declared but then nuzra. and then in the northeast of syria and then damascus held by syrian regime and then hezbollah to help protect. there s a lot of protagonist in syria going on at the moment. what s going on or what the west had just done is eliminated the senior component of isis which
ground raids, very closely targeting their operations. you know, maybe a dozen killed, the special forces unit infiltrated iraq and conducted this raid into eastern syria with tremendous precision. we have the defense department telling us no u.s. personnel wounded or killed. how likely is that when you re looking at something on this scale to come out with no casualties on the u.s. side? i visited the tier one special forces unit in iraq and afghanistan over the years and watched them in action. they are some of the most remarkable fighters on the face of the earth. more importantly, they re net worked into the national intelligence service in a unusual way. i think the majority of their
talking about how key it is to undermine the financing how isis gets its money, how it finances its rapgzoperations. that s a crucial component in reducing the power and capability of isis. how significant in the light of that is this killing? is this killing and capture and the information it s gained from this? i think the u.s. has already been targeting and other coalition partners have been targeting the isis oil infrastructure. they ve been bombing it. that probably has a more direct impact in slowing down their ability to make money off of it than the killing of one leader even if he is the emir of the oil and gas sector according to the u.s. military. i think the more important factor is the psychological one. it s sending a message even if you are in eastern syria, where there are no u.s. troops
all right. as we ve been saying we are following all of the breaking news out of syria this morning of u.s. special forces carrying out a raid that resulted in the death of an isis leader. someone who is apparently intimately involved in the financing of isis and the capture of his wife. she s being held in iraq. we are working to get richard engel on the phone from istanbul. we thought we would have it for you right now. but a little difficulties in getting that up and running. while we are doing that. we will shift gears for a second and turn to fight night in salt lake city. that was last night. political debates of course often referred to as faceoffs. game of politics referred to a
all right. we ve been reporting this morning on the u.s. special forces raid inside syria. a raid in which a top isis leader abu sayyaf has been killed and his wife captured. as we told you earlier officials telling correspondent richard engel that he was the emir. richard engel joins us live by phone. if you would, take us through everything you know right now about what happened. sure. first of all it s significant it took place inside syria. u.s. is operating quite openly and deliberately inside iraq. but moving inside syria is a very different kind of mission all together. there are no friendly forces on the ground. there s no real syrian