And were teaming up with facebook, tracking the stories youre turning into trends. Time to reveal our first facebook find of the week. From abc news, this week with George Stephanopoulos begins now. Good morning. Im martha raddatz. There are fastmoving developments in the battle against isis. Including a breakthrough for the iraqi army against the terror group. As the u. S. Launches another round of air strikes and humanitarian drops. Plus, new fears, just 48 hours after the uk warned an attack there is highly likely. Were covering every angle. Lets start with pierre thomas. Reporter good morning, martha. Threat level, severe. Likelihood of a terror attack . High. Thats the blunt british assessment. Signs of stepped up police patrols. Hard evidence that the islamic radicals are a direct threat to the uk, the u. S. , indeed all of the west. This is not some foreign conflict thousands of miles from home that we can hope to ignore. Reporter an estimated 12,000 foreign fighters have gone to syria. More than 100 from america. But 1,000 from europe. Youre not dealing just with isil. Youre dealing with other Al Qaedalinked franchises in syria and potentially iraq. Thats the reason for the threat level change. Reporter american intelligence sources say they have identified no specific plot. But british authorities are likely responding to chatter from inside iraq. Radicals whose travel documents give them easy access to europe and the United States. Theyre the most urgent threat. Just in recent months, an american blowing himself up in syria. Another dying on the battlefield fighting alongside isis. A brit beheading american journalist james foley. The syriabased threat that top u. S. Officials have been warning about for months now tangible. Homeland security secretary jay johnson. Syria has become a matter of Homeland Security. Reporter the fbi director . Theyre coming back. Theyre coming back to europe. To north america. Reporter attorney general eric holder. Its more frightening than anything i think i have seen as attorney general. Reporter we caught up with holder in london as he was sounding the alarm with his european counterparts. How concerned should americans at home be about isis . Its just a matter of time before they start looking outward. And start looking at the west. At the United States in particular. So this is something that we have to get on top of and get on top of now. Reporter those words are now more urgent by the day. And martha, remember, you have two distinct threats flowing out of syria. Al qaedaaffiliated people that want a bomb on a commercial plane. And isis barbarians who appear capable of anything. Thank you, pierre. Now lets go to london. The new terror warnings have a city on edge. Jeffrey kofman is there for us. Jeffrey . Reporter its been called fortress london. Police are deployed to defend the british capital against a terrorist strike. The problem here in the uk is this. What to do if some of the worlds most extreme terrorists carry british passports. As pierre just noted, the uk estimates 500 young british muslims are estimated to have joined isis in iraq and syria. The fear is those militants will come home to the uk to inflict terror here. Its not an abstract concept. Britains well remember what they call 7 7. The july 7, 2005, suicide attacks that saw four british muslims detonate bombs simultaneously on three underground trains and a bus killing 52 civilians and injuring 700. In the london paper today, a fatwa was declared, forbidding british muslims from joining extremist groups. Trorm, the British Parliament reconvenes. They plan to rule on measures to block british jihadis from return lg home. Martha . Lets break all of this down with our expects. Dick clarke directed counterterrorism efforts at the highest levels for many administrations. And Jane Holl Lute was the deputy of security until last year. Britain has not raised its terror alert in almost five years. There is clearly something specific going on. What kind of attacks do you suspect isis could launch . There is something specific going on. Hundreds of individuals have gone and become trained in syria and iraq with isis. In a particularly bloody kind of terrorism, bloody kinds of attackses. They have the freedom to travel back home as we saw in those clips. And they will. So we could see all the kinds of thing that are terribly familiar to many of us. And to many of those in Great Britain what have experienced thri terrorists a tacks. They could bring them home. And britain is also hosting the nato summit later this week. And so everyone is on alert. Dick clarke, you heard the dire warnings. Yet, president obama said the other night at a fund raiser, that were in much less danger than 20 or 30 years ago. Which is it . Well, i think hes wrong. Were much more capable of defending ourselves now. We have the department of Homeland Security. A lot of resources going into counterterrorism. But the threat has also increased. I think the threat has increased more than the defenses. This new group. Isis, is highly capable. It has a lot of money. It has people from many, many countries. Our fear is it may have people in its ranks that we dont know about. We have the names of thousands of people and we can stop them if they try to get into this country. If we dont know their names, we dont know theyre involved, they can get in. Jane, when you were at homeland, you knew the names of many of those people on the watch list. Just tagging on to what dick said there, how many were where there 80 you worried about . How many so called clean skins, people who could get in without issues . Dick knows more about this than anybody else. There were many that we knew about. Many more we didnt. This is a group with money and a message. Theyre drawing angry, mostly young men from everywhere, who will travel anywhere, because they feel like they belong nowhere. What more can you do to prevent it in the homeland . If you had an unlimited budget, what do you think we could do . I dont think its about unlimited budget. To begin with, in the United States, the public is an asset, not an obstacle, to joining together for problems like this. If you see something, say something. Sure. The other thing the government should do. I was the lead negotiator for the United States with the European Union on passenger name record exchange, a big data agreement. That shares terrabytes of information. We need to expand that system and that process to other countries in the region. Quickly, dick, what do you thing could be done . I think working with the islamic communities in our major cities. As jane said, our best defense are our own american muslims who have been very cooperative. They dont want anything to happen like this again in this country. Thanks to you both. Now to the latest on the ground in iraq. Breaking developments. Word of a big breakthrough for the iraqi army in the battle against isis. Alex marquardt is tracking it all. From the region this morning. Good morning, alex. Reporter good morning, martha. Thats rig. Just a short time ago, iraqs military said it had broken through a more than twomonth siege by isis around a town where the United Nations had warned of a possible massacre. The town of amerly is home to more than 15,000 of a turkish minority. Surround by the radical sunni militants of isis, who had cut off their food and water. The Iraqi Military had been trying to evacuate the desperate residents. Helped this weekend by u. S. Allies. Aid was dropped on the town as well. Despite the setback, isis still controls a huge territory in syria and iraq. Theyve proven theyre a growing, sophisticated, wealthy fighting force, many of the top commanders who were once in the army of saddam hussein. Lets talk to our experts. Colonel steve began ganyard and robert harward. I want to start with you, steve. We talk about the zealotry of isis. Onethird of the leadership are former saddam army members. What do you have here . Is that why its so dangerous . It looks very much like white infantry. They train, organize, and equip much like a regular, traditional military. Al qaeda is focused on the far threat. Western targets. Isis is thinking about creating a caliphate. To do that, you need a conventional military. Ironically, that plays right into our hands. Our strengths are in surveillance, air power, hitting precise targets. So admiral harward, you have done a lot of this in your career. Youve been in iraq and afghanistan. You were the First Special forces into afghanistan. How do you fight this army, lets say for now, in iraq . Well, the first thing you do is go back and republish those relationships we established over ten years. We have deep ties throughout the organization and with the people of iraq. Well go back with those guys who are on the ground fighting, establishing those places. Those providing leadership, how do we mentor them, assess what they need . We have been doing that for eight, ten years. No, remember we left. We left. So you have to start over again. Well, you dont start over. You get back in there, you reestablish the ties. Assess what they need. Share intelligence. Provide capabilities. Do you need special forces . Sure. Just exactly like you did in afghanistan . Yes. Special forces, indigenous personnel and air power . It will take all the capacity that we can. Intelligence, political mentoring to help the new Prime Minister succeed. Operational. Guys on the ground fighting. What can we give them to help them do their jobs. Lets talk about syria. What do you do there . We dont have indigenous forces in syria. Just air power . Does that work . It could work. If we look at iraq. Just step back to iraq. You think about what the admiral did in afghanistan. Using indigenous forces on the ground, special operations, air controllers, u. S. Air power. That model could work in iraq to push isis back out. In syria, the president made it clear he has no intention of working with mr. Assad. The Free Syrian Army is not reliable. We would probably have to do something more like the early part of desert storm. Go in, pick targets, slowly get to isis on the ground. Not quite as effective but air power has a real role to play in both conflicts. Admiral harward, you have heard people say, we have to get in there fast. We have to go. We have heard people on the hill say, we have to get into syria quickly. The president is taking his time. Does it matter that were going slowly now . Militarily . You want to be smart, first and foremost. Are we tied with the right folks . Getting them what they need . We want to be deliberate. Its ironic to think of syria like the fattah. The enemy is using that as a safe haven. Where they know theyre safe somewhere and harder for us to get there. We have learned a lot. In dealing with safe havens the last ten years. Well get them. But you want to be smart in how you go into those areas. Best case in syria, steve . Best case is we go in with a coalition. That will are other countries that need to play. This is not just the u. S. s problem. Thank you for your expert analysis. Coming up, more of our indepth coverage of the isis threat. The jihadist armys surprising recruiting techniques to lure americans to their side. Why is one midwest city a prime target . Plus, the fallout for president obama after those no strategy comments. And later, we kick off our brandnew partnership with facebook. What is our facebook find of the week . Were back in just two minutes. 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Were offering our bestever pricing on mobile plans for business. Run the numbers on that. Well, unlimited talk and text, and ten gigs of data for the five of you would be. Oneseventyfive a month. Good calculating kyle. Good job kyle. You just made partner. Our bestever pricing on mobile share value plans for business. Now with a 100 bill credit for every business line you add. Now our closer look at a new development alarming senior u. S. Law enforcement. The ability of isis terrorists to recruit americans into the jihadist armys fold. As abcs chief invest gative correspondent brian ross tells us, one American City has become a top target. Reporter this midwest city is reeling from whats happening in the mideast. Of the estimated 100 Young American men fighting with syrias brutal terror groups, Authorities Say almost a dozen of them have been recruited from a pipeline from the minneapolis area. Theyre recruiting friends and friends and friends. Its becoming a Bigger Network of how to recruit young men. Reporter Community Leaders describe them as vulnerable young men who have become angry, often after runins with the law. Like doug mccain who was reported killed this week in syria. A a student in suburban minneapolis in the late 1990s, he became friends with troy castigar, who also became a jihadist with the al qaeda affiliate in somalia. This is the real disneyland. Reporter castigar was later killed in battle, like his friend, mccain. Authorities say social media is a big part of the recruitment. And surprisingly, isis uses rap music appeals to get foreign fighters. Despite its otherwise rigid rejection of all things western. Listen to this american voice. This goes out to all my soldiers, Freedom Fighters equalizers they slaughter us like animals now its time for the beast to bite em black flags we worldwide syria to atlanta reporter with increasing concern about the threats of american recruits should they return home, the fbi in minnesota has issued a public plea for held inspect trying to identify them. A lot of times, these individuals are fairly adept at covering their tracks. Reporter now the recruitment s expanded to include women, who the group says make effective fighters. This week, one family in the twin cities reported their teenage daughter had gone missing and is now believed to be with isis in syria. For this week, brian ross, abc news, new york. Lets take this on with our experts. John cohen just stepped down in july as counterterrorism coordinator for the Homeland Security department. Brad garrett is a former fbi agent who has worked Numerous International terrorism cases. And mubin shaikh is a former jihadist who went on the work with canada to prevent this kind of thing. Theyre recruiting like never before. Your concerns . Is it just social media . Why now . Why is this so huge . I think the tease illustrates one of the reasons were so concerned. Theyre very sophisticated in their use of social media. Theyve westernized their message. Theyre seeking to recruit or inspire westerners and people in that rap music was incredible. They have americanized their message. So, we have to be concerned. And we have to take steps to neutralize that. Its not just countering their message. Its understanding why their message is resonating and what we can do in the community to lessen the impact that that message has. Police are a big part of it. But Police Working with faith leaders, Community Leaders, social service providers. Mental health professionals. So that as we start identifying kids who may be going down the path of reacting to what their hearing from isis and from these other groups that we can come together as a community to keep them from carrying out an act of violence. I want to go to you, mubin. You selfradicalized. 20 years ago . 1995. You went to pakistan. How did this happen . And then you recruited others. What was it about you that was willing to go along with this . I think the same case for many of these individuals. Identity crisis. You dont know. Youre trying navigate the space in the west. How muslim am i supposed to be . How much western am i supposed to be . That will contradict. You go to those that greet you with open arms. Youre dealing with angry, young, disenfranchised, or at least feel theyre disenfranchised. They might not even be discriminated against. But theyll feel that my people are under attack. And you have vicarious suffering. You start to feel that their suffering is my suffering. Brad jump in here. Youve seen this. You know theres a difference between al qaeda and isis. Talk about that. Then once they find these young men or women, what do they do with them . Do they go from computers, they walk into syria. I know they do sometimes across the turkish border. How is this organized . There is a grooming period that occurs. Primarily it starts with the recruitment. A very slick multilingual almost hollywoodstyle videos that promote excitement. Weaponry. Empowerment. All of these things. Revenge. And maybe the most important. Community. We have built a new society. Come to us. No matter where youre from. Canada, the u. S. , the brits. Its like every other radical extremist group, whether its a cult or otherwise. They narrow the trough. Thats all you hear, day in and day out. Eventually, that is your reality. Theyre so far ahead right now. 10,000 fighters. More than 10,000 fighters. This seems like a lifelong problem for us. Well, if theres any good news, the fbi, the department of Homeland Security