The turks fighting the kurds and we often try to segregate those in boxes and say we re focused on isis and trying to deter chemical weapons, but not dealing with the broader conflict. elizabeth: the u.s. got more involved than in 2013, to target isis, but on the rebels, is that right? that s right, following the rise of isis which sort of stormed across syria and iraq unexpectedly and then started capturing the u.s. citizens, beheading some of them. the u.s. in 2014 started gearing up and then at the same time, had its own coalition, but was arming rebels on the ground, with the goal of both fighting isis and maybe also fighting the assad regime. elizabeth: so when did we see an up-tick in interest from russia. what vacuum did they fell and why is there such an interest. russia came in in 2015 and 2016 when it looked like assad was gaining ground for a
Regime and its patrons, russia and iran. we ve spent a week talking about the unique horror of chemical weapons. the time for talk ended last night. we re here today because three permanent members of the united nations security council acted e now for some context. because obviously today several european leaders are voicing support for the u.s.-led air strikes against syria, but warned against the seven-year confli conflict. blaze, it started in 2011, but, boy, it s a lot more complicated now than then. it certainly is. we often think of it in the u.s. as multiple conflicts going on at once. there s the civil war, opposition trying to topple assad in syria. the isis threat that sort of popped up in 2014 is now largely contained in syria and iraq.
Gone down. reporter: but experts warn the terrorist group isn t close to total defeat. it still includes many places, including mosul where it s managed to keep its defenses. it still holds terrain in northern syria and other zones across both countries. reporter: tonight, we re told the coalition is really not getting much help from vladamir putin. a short time ago, i spoke to a u.s. intelligence official who told me that despite russia s claims that they were intervening to target isis, they were overwhelmingly targeting anti-assad groups. you reported a lot of isis casualties. what about american casualties during this war on isis? reporter: officials say a total of five american military
I want the president to develop a strategy and i want to be able to convey that to the u.s. military. our u.s. military can accomplish anything it chooses to do if the mission is clear and there aren t so many politically correct hamperings of their ability to execute on that. so, set the mission, and let the military do it, they ll get it done. what s your understanding right now? the current u.s. strategy in syria, fight against isis? i think the number one thing in the fight against isis is we cannot allow them to hold any ground. they cannot hold ground. that doesn t mean you can carpet bomb, that s not going to actually win the war. you re going to actually have people on the ground. i m not saying those are necessarily u.s. troops but we ve got to have a coalition and empower people to go in and clear it, literally room by room by room, in order to get it done. would you go so far, some have suggested, cooperating with regime of bashar al assad, also
Cons consular would ask how many times they met before. but it gets back to the question of how do we determine what questions could we ask? what things can we look at that shows a person s intention to do harm when they get to our shores? you served, as you knowledged, as a clandestine officer in the cia in the middle east. you served for about nine years before becoming a united states congressman. does the u.s. have the ability right now, based on everything you know, to infiltrate isis at a high level in clandestine ways to get intelligence, track individuals who pose a threat? they can. they should be. and we need to be doing more. you know, if i was the president, i would call up the director of the cia and say you have 45 days to double the amount of human intelligence that s coming out of syria. going after the plans and intentions of isis and the leadership of isis is a key collection gap that we they d to be collecting more information on. and this is how we re going to