Hello, everyone. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. Im amara walker. Im george howell. We begin in iraq. American war planes have been pounding isis positions in the north. Thoerchlths u. S. Says four air strikes on saturday destroyed isis armored personnel carriers and armored trucks in the sinjar area. The strikes killed at least 16 islamic fighters who were attacking kurdish checkpoints. U. S. Officials say the strikes were made to defend yazidi civilians stranded in iraqs sinjar mountains. U. S. President barack obama is warning of an extended air Strike Campaign against isis with no specific timetable spelled out. Meantime, cameras captured the desperate situation in Northern Iraq as kurdish troops delivered aid to members of the yazidi sect who are being persecuted by isis who are not adhering to fundamentalist islam. Iraqi Kurdish Forces have opened a road to provide an escape route for those trapped on sinjar mountain. Food and water are now getting through to some of the tens of thousands stranded there. Cnns ivan watson reports from the Northern City of erbil. Desperation on a mountaintop. Kurdish civilians, some clearly wounded, baking in the august sun. This little girl crying, i lost my sister and brother. Where is my mother . With every passing day, kurdish Officials Say more people die here of dehydration and exposure to the extreme august heat. Kurdish Officials Say tens of thousands of people from the yazidi religious minority fled to this Mountain Ridge to escape isis militants who recently captured the nearby town of sinjar. Isis have the yazidis surrounded. They are relying an air drops of vital water and food delivered by the u. S. And iraqi air forces. Kurdish tv released this footage of a helicopter delivering assistance to the same area. A lucky few make it on board the flight to safety. Their faces pretty much say it all. Not far away, isis militants have been celebrating their latest advances. Showing off their control of the mosul dam, a strategic piece of iraqi infrastructure. If it breaks, it could flood all the way down to the capital baghdad. Further east, u. S. Air strikes appear to have slowed the isis advance. Bombing suspected isis positions just west of the zaub river, just 20 minutes drive from erbil. Kurdish officials relieved and thankful for the u. S. Intervention. We are most grateful and express our gratitude and deep, deep appreciation for president obama and the u. S. Administration and for the courageous u. S. Army and airmen who are now patrolling the skies of iraq and iraqi kurd stan. Reporter u. S. Air power has given the Kurdish Administration in erbil the opportunity to bolster its defenses around this fragile sanctuary in the north where hundreds of thousands of iraqis fled to escape the isis advance. Ivan watson, cnn, erbil in iraqi kurdistan. Our next guest is an expert on iraq. He says hes never seen a militant group like isis ever before. Gareth stanfield is the director of the arab and islamic studies at britains university of extear. Thank you for your time today. Lets first start about just talking about the breakdown of iraq. The kurds, the sunnis and shias all kept together under brutality under Saddam Hussein but now looking at the situation, fair to say the country has really just fallen apart . What can be done at this point to move things forward between these different groups . Yes, i think your analysis is quite right. Rnd saddam, a tremendous amount of brutality. Even though there was a sem plans amongst arabs. Now what weve seen since 2003 and especially 2011 is really the ripping apart of iraqs social and political fabric. What can be done now . The Islamic State has got right in the middle of this issue between sunni, shia and kurds. Something has to be done about the Islamic State, whether its the eradication of it as a political entity or whether its the working of it or a more moderate version of it in though future which may have to be the case because its so strong. Ultimately, though, to keep the kurds in iraq, there needs to be some former solution that allows them to have the height that they have and to keep the shia happy with the concept of iraq. They need to be in power as Prime Minister, holding a Prime Ministers position. Its a very difficult political game Going Forward and even more difficult securitybased game as well. So heres another question. Obviously, the United States reluctant to put any troops on the ground as it has done before. So the question now, do you think this is a matter of policy to bring these different groups back together or would it take military force . I think president obama has never moved away from the notion of iraq being maintained as a unified state. One in which iraqis of whatever ethnicity or sect Work Together in a Wider National interest. Whether that is possible or not, hes not moved away from that policy. So what were now seeing is, yes, an immense amount of effort an the political front by senior u. S. Officials to try and stitch together this very tattered fab ridiculous. Now getting involved with military strikes against isis Going Forward. Now america has committed to striking isis. I think it will get drawn into striking it more and more. Its such a capable, powerful and widespread organization that it has reserved strngt in depth that weve never seen with any other Islamist Group in iraq or elsewhere arguably. Certainly, youve been tracking the money trail of isis, where they get their funding. Can you talk to us about how this group is able to maintain and what do you know about where they are getting the money to do what they are doing . Well, its very difficult to track this money. Certainly very capable and dedicated organizations in the u. S. Have tried to do this, and rather well. It still remains quite unclear. Theyve clearly inherited a lot from islamic organizations in iraq including al qaeda iraq and Islamic State of iraq. Theyve also been selling oil from oil fields theyve captured in syria and reports perhaps of iraq but i doubt that. Perhaps to the tune of a Million Dollars a day. And there are also the fact that they theyve taken a great amount of military material from the army meaning they can offset that cost. They dont have to buy military equipment. On top of that, i think isis is quite a passmonious organization. Doesnt cost a lot to run it. You arent going to commit corruption within isis if you are a member so they dont need a great amount of cash to survive. Also the great amount they take a considerable amount of donations from arabs across the region from radical muslims across the region, from private donations, although thats almost impossible to find out. Similarly, the states of the region and the arab gulf, the Arabian Peninsula deny that they fund isis. And its very difficult to say either way whether thats the case or not. As far as slowing or even stopping isis, talk to fuss you could about the Peshmerga Forces and their capabilities. Are they able to do the job and stop isis where they are . The peshmerga are a very dedicated, Capable Military organization of the kurds. With commanders from different parts of the kurdistan political spectrum. However, they are a light infantry. They have light military weapons. Ak47s, rpg7s. They have some heavier weapons as well. Thats certainly the case. What they are facing is an organization that has far more heavy weapons, and its an organization that is utterly determined with a very high moral, high tempo of operations as well. And the Kurdish Peshmerga have struggled as isis has turned their attention to it. However, with american air strikes against isis targeting the heavy weapons they have the artillery and the Army Personnel carriers, along with perhaps western military supplies to the kurds so that the kurds can be the foot soldiers against isis. This could perhaps turn the tide against isis Going Forward. Pcall to say whether this will t work or not. Certainly the kurds should now be able to defend their territory but whether they can push isis back into mosul or maybe back even into syria is really a question that remains unanswered. It is no doubt a complicated situation. A lot of history that brings us to where we are now. Gareth stanfield, we appreciate your insight on this situation in iraq. Thank you. Coming up after the break new developments in the conflict in gaza. Well have a live report coming up from the region. Plus, Ukrainian Forces surround the rebelcontrolled city in the east and those inside warning of worsening humanitarian crisis. U eat but do you know whats in your skincare . Neutrogena naturals. A line of naturally derived skincare with carefully chosen, clinically proven ingredients and no harsh chemicals. Healthy skinstarts from within. Neutrogena naturals. Welcome back. In the crisis in gaza, palestinian negotiators are giving an ultimatum to israel. Now the talks in cairo have not resumed since the two sides failed to renew a ceasefire that expired early friday. In the meantime, no end in sight to the fighting with militants firing rockets into israeli territory. And israel continuing to launch air strikes into gaza. With more on what is happening on the ground, lets go to cnns john vause live in gaza city. Palestinian negotiators issuing this ultimatum that israel come back to the negotiating table, but weve heard from israel that they are saying they wont unless the rockets stop being, you know, they stop launching these rockets into israel. So at this point it seems like the prospects for a ceasefire isnt looking so good. Yeah, and thats a fairly frank assessment, amara. What were seeing overnight, though, fairly limited rocket fire from gaza into israel. And what seems to be fairly limited air strikes being carried out by the israelis. About 20 targets hit here since midnight by the israeli air force, although one of those was deadly. A 17yearold was killed in the central part of the gaza strip. Everyone is focused on what is happening in cairo or what is not happening in cairo. We understand that right now, the egyptianed me yad ed med me meeting. There is a lot of talk out there right now the egyptians have put together some kind of compromise plan, that they are putting it to the palestinians right now. Theyve also presented it to the israelis. Were not too sure if that is the case but certainly the egyptians are talking to the palestinians. We know that the israelis have said time and time agone there can be no negotiations in cairo and they are refusing to return to cairo to continue those ceasefire talks until all of the militant rocket fire from gaza is stopped. And that has not been the case. We are hearing from the palestinians as well. A lot of frustration it seems coming from them. They say the israelis are stalling. They arent taking their demands seriously. They arent hearing anything back from the israelis in terms of their key demands. And thats lifting the economic blockade of gaza. And they are also tacking on to that now, they want a sea port here in gaza and the israelis, of course, are saying a sea port just isnt going to happen. But i guess negotiations on those other issues, as far as the israelis are concerned, can take place once the rocket fire stops. And that hant happened. So were at the position now where hamas is saying unless the israelis return in some kind of serious capacity to those talks in egypt, then the palestinian delegation will leave and then we could see a renewal of the fighting and hamas has warned if this fighting does kick back off, that there will be rocket fire towards tel aviv for instance and also they could be targeting the airport in tel aviv. Ben gurian airport. When rockets landed there nearly three weeks ago, that was a huge blow to the israelis. If the palestinian delegation does end up leaving cairo, there is this expectation that hamas and the other Islamic Militant groups may ramp up their rocket firing into israel. But, really, in the end, an escalation would mean the Palestinian People would be the ones who will suffer. Yeah, and thats been the case pretty much for more than a month now. The numbers really are staggering. And we have to say these are still early numbers. Not entirely sure exactly how many people have been killed. Were not entirely sure how many homes have been destroyed. But according to the palestinian officials and u. N. Officials here, the death toll in gaza, its approaching 2,000. Somewhere between 1800, maybe over 1900. The u. N. Says most of those deaths are civilian deaths. The israelis disagree. The number they are putting out, theyve killed about 900 militant fighters. And no way to confirm that either. We are also being told that 10,000 homes have either been destroyed or damaged. But the united nations, unwra said that 60,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed. The infrastructure has taken a huge hit. Many are living in shelters. Theres a concern about outbreak of disease. Theres only a few hours of electricity every day which has that knockon effect. So the population here has taken a lot. Many are still defiant. They still want to fight on. They want to see something at the end of the day for all the pain and suffering and all the destruction here. Others are i get a feeling they just want it to come to an end but they also want some kind of relief as well. I would imagine. John vause, thank you so much, live in gaza city. You know there is reaction from israels leadership on the demands from the palestinian delegation. Heres cnns jake tapper speaking to a senior israeli official earlier. The egyptian process was supposed to be based on a ceasefire and serious discussions. Now when discussions are difficult, they can break the ceasefire and shoot rockets, and they can the whole time say were going to leave the table. If problems are going to be solved, what we need is to stick by the Egyptian Initiative which means ceasefire and serious discussions. A little bit later on, well have a live report from jerusalem for more an where israel stands as this conflict continues. Ukrainian forces are surrounding a key rebel city in the east amid a growing humanitarian crisis in the stronghold. Donetsk has been hit with heavy shelling. The rebel leader there is vowing to defend the city to death. The fighting in Eastern Ukraine has gotten so severe the Recovery Mission for downed Malaysia Airlines flight 17 has been suspended. Especially on the wednesday, there were arrival fire. Only 150 meters of our search team. And our search team is unarmed and cannot protect itself. That was one. Secondly, in the last days, we get less access to certain areas we want to search. Correspondent will ripley is live in the ukrainian capital of kiev. And with the very latest information. Will, russias foreign minister Sergei Lavrov is discussing a humanitarian mission, but critics are questioning whether theres an ulterior motive. What more can you tell us about those discussions . Absolutely, george. One of our cnn analysts put it well. As opposed to peacekeeping, russia may be trying to get a piece of ukraine. Also, crimea fresh on the minds of many leaders in kiev as they just are releasing new information within the past hour or so about the situation on the grond. We know that the Ukrainian Military has circled donetsk and its described that circle as getting smaller and smaller, describing what the rebels describe a very tense situation in donetsk right now. There was intense fighting overnight, including artillery fire at 4 00 a. M. Thats word from the rebels. However, donetsk, at least for the People Living in that city, Public Transportation at this point is still functioning. They still have limited water service. People have electricity. However, a situation farther to the east in the other rebel stronghold of luhansk, much more critical. Were told that for over a week now theres been no electricity. Supply lines are basically cut off. So very limited food, medical supplies. Again, the water cut off. No communications in or out of the city. So theres this, what many consider both the rebel side, ukrainian government, the russian government and many around the world who are watching this situation develop, theres a real potntial here for a humanitarian crisis. You have more than 200,000 people who remain in that city right now who are having to live literally caught in the crossfire and cut off from the rest of the world. And if the days progress and theres not a way to get them some kind of help, medical care, food, any other basic necessities, this situation could get a whole lot worse for the People Living on the ground there right now. And thn you talked about mh17. That search susresponded. Investigators not able to get close to some areas. They havent been able to search some areas where wreckage and human remains are believed to be because its just too dangerous right now, george. A lot of families, im sure, are frustrated with the suspension of that crash site. Will ripley joining us live in kiev. We appreciate your reporting. The news continues on cnn. Powerful typhoon is making its way across japan. U van cabrera is with us with more an that storm. And a dark cloud fills the sky in tehran. Well get the very latest on a deadly plane crash there. At your Credit Report site. Do you guys have Identity Theft protection . [ male voice ] im sorry, did