international correspondent arwa damian on the iraq/syria border. what are you hearing? well, at this stage, the u.s.-led coalition is not quite saying that it has been fully liberated. the syrian democratic forces, that is the kurdish-led force that is being backed by the u.s. and its allies, is saying that they now have full control over the city. they re focusing on trying to root out any potential remaining pockets of isis sleeper cells, fighters that might be hiding out in the rubble and, of course, trying to clear the city of various different explosive devices that isis has buried in the roads, alleyways and within the buildings itself. the vast majority of civilians have fled the city and when you look at the images, the destruction is absolutely breathtaking. it is as if every single building has been completely decimated by this war. the refugee camps that civilians have been fleeing to over the
of itself. the isis ideology is very much alive. isis still has a significant presence on-line. it still has as we have been seeing in recent weeks the capability to either issue direct orders or at least inspire attacks overseas. arwa damian for us on the border, thank you for the reporting. we appreciate it. this morning, many questions, patience is waning, now nearly two weeks after four american soldiers were left dead in niger. here is what we do know. these are the four soldiers killed, two of them special forces or green berets, two of them support personnel. they died on october 4th, when they were ambushed by 50 isis affiliated fighters. joining us now, cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr and military analyst lieutenant colonel frank. everything we know about this comes from your reporting. thank you for that. remind us what we know about
president of the united states. so you might ask yourself, if there had been a favorable outcome for the johnson family, would the president be out there publicly talking about it. quite tragically there was not a favorable outcome so he s not talking about it. you can come to your own conclusions. i have no idea why he isn t. but the isis question is what is so important as well. isis is an organization that is metastasizing around the world. raqqah may be liberated as arwa reported, but isis is out there, inspiring attacks and proving that it can get to americans. colonel francona, we got new audio just in, and so i do want to play it for you, the first time we re hearing it. the president pressed again this morning on the fact that he had not yet called the family members of these four u.s. servicemen killed in africa. listen to what he said on the radio. now, as far as other
left inside the city, but most certainly, it is in its final days and this is a very significant moment. remember, raqqah was the first major city to fall to isis. the capital of its self-declared caliphate and now isis can no longer at least make that claim. significant losses territorially but that does not necessarily mean the end, the defeat of the organization itself, kate. question of what it all means going forward, a huge question for all of the leaders on the ground and here in the united states. great to see you, arwa. thank you so much. we ll bring you updated statements when they come. this we re following today, most americans believe the president of the united states is leading the country right now in the wrong direction. not all bad news for the president. especially when you look at his own party right now. details on that ahead. years of citi history matter to you? well, because it tells us something powerful about progress: that whether times are good or bad,
claiming victory saying raqqah has been liberated and major military operations there are over. joining me from iraq s border with syria senior international correspondent arwa damian, lay this out for us. hi, kate. the forces on the ground the syrian democratic forces, are not quite yet claiming that raqqah has been liberated, although yes, they have declared major combat operations over saying they re focusing on going after small pockets of resistance, smaller groups of isis fighters, also trying to make sure that there aren t any sleeper cells either single individuals or small groups, hiding out in the rubble of that utterly devastated city. they are saying that they expect to be able to fully announce raqqah s liberation in the next they re hoping two to three days. the u.s. coalition spokesperson also said that based on their rough estimates, they think that about 100 isis fighters may be