a 48-hour cease-fire was supposed to have started a short time ago in yemen. the saudi-led coalition declared it earlier saturday. the cease-fire could be renewed if the houthi rebels and allies ally aid to g allow aid to ge to the areas. 26 isis fighters were killed in air strikes friday. the first location was near the town of talafar. the air strikes hit an isis vehicle and positions on the ground. a similar strike was carried out near the village to the south of mosul. iraqi christians have ere erected a new cross at their church after the original was destroyed by isis. meantime, u.s.-backed iraqi troops are gaining ground on the stronghold in mosul. elite units stormed the northeastern edge of the city friday. showing you live images this hour from seoul, south korea. enormous crowds of protesters there for several weekends in a row. demonstrators calling for their
government. to help push back islamist militants and their supporters. kurdish leaders, however, hinted that kurdistan probably doesn t want to do that. remember, kurdistan is really an autonomous region that stretches across a few countries in the middle east. shown here in the green area shaded on the map. you see up there in talafar, mosul, kirkuk. part in turkey, part of it here in syria. actually, no, part of it in the north of iraq. the north of iraq, that s the one place that s really stable. the kurdish troops there, they call them the pashmurga, are the only ones fighting back against the militants who joined in with them. and those kurdish forces have been very effective. last week, they took control of the oil-rich city of kirkuk and now there are no signs that they re willing to give it back at all. state department deputy spokeswoman marie harf joins us now. nice of you. thank you. thanks for having me, shep. happy to be here. what s the situation now?
that country. conner, thank you. as the islamic militants ruthlessly try to take over every major part of iraq, where is the majority of the fighting and how is that impacting iraq s neighbors? fox news bill hemmer joins us, bill? talafar up here in the northwest. about 100 miles from the syrian border. critical town to i will explain in a moment. mosul fell. tikrit last wednesday. now the eyes of the world are centered iraqi capital of baghdad. 40 to 50 miles on the outskirts of baghdad. will they go in will maliki s government fight back? we are waiting to see what happens there in shorthand you can explain iraq just as a reminder now in three different sections here. on the map, number one would be the kurdish region up in the northeast number two the syrian region. number three would be
ayman, you ve watched this movement, you ve seen what s going on. what s the latest on the ground there? reporter: well, the situation from a humanitarian point of view continues to cause major concerns for international organizations as they try and alleviate some of this pressure that is building up with hundreds of thousands of iraqis leaving the northwest part of the country. in addition to that, we are getting some news about the offensive by isis groups and affiliated groups that have pushed northwards of mosul. they have now taken the city of talafar but capturing the most senior military official. as we ve seen in the past several days according to the images posted on these al qaeda-related websites, some of those officers and some of those military personnel are being executed in mass graves. we haven t confirmed that independently, but that is causing enough fear here ground for people to believe they are true and it is certainly stoking the flames of sectarianism even mor
paris and brussels were planned and coordinated out of isis so-called capital of raqqa. additional imminent threats to many nations require us to move with urgency against all strongholds still in their hands. east mosul has you know have fallen after tour fighting by the iraqi security forces with u.s. and coalition support. since january it is returning to normal with businesses reopening, cleanup under way and kids back in school. west mosul in accordance with tactics changed by president president trump is surrounded and are our iraqi partners are in a stiff fight. there is no escape for isis. even while we do all that is humanly possible to shepard the innocent out of harm s way. talafar is also surrounded and other pockets of isis exist