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Don Lemon Tonight

President of the United States Has Authorized Air Strikes in Iraq

Aired August 07, 2014 - 23:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. This is CNN TONIGHT. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting tonight from Washington. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Alisyn Camerota is joining us from New York.

We have breaking news tonight in Gaza, as well as in Iraq. The president of the United States has authorized air strikes in Iraq as ISIS terrorists spread their vicious reign of terror north and threatening American military advisers and consular officials in Erbil.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To stop the advance on Erbil, I've directed our military to take targeted strikes against ISIL terrorist convoys should they move toward the city.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: I'm Alisyn Camerota along with Wolf. And the brutal terrorists known as ISIS struck Iraq's largest Christian town, giving residents a stark choice, convert to Islam or die. They stormed the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar, forcing its people, tens of thousands of men, women, and children to run for their lives. Those people are trapped in the mountains tonight. And their only hope is U.S. humanitarian air drops which just began in the past couple of hours.

BLITZER: Food, water, and medicine will save many, many lives.

There is other breaking news, Alisyn, that we're following tonight. Rockets from Gaza have hit southern Israel just a little while ago. Israelis say that would break the cease-fire. That's according to the IDF, the Israel defense forces. We're going have much more on this tonight as well. Let's get to the breaking news in Gaza and Israel.

Jake Tapper is joining us from Jerusalem right now. Two rockets, I take it, Jake, came into southern Israel, not causing much damage. But what is the fallout? What's going on? Is this a formal rupture of the cease-fire?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Israeli defense forces says that this is a violation of the cease-fire, which is still in effect. It's not yet 8:00 in the morning here. That's in two more hours. And that is when the 72-hour cease-fire was set to expire. Israel, Egypt, the Palestinian authority, all had wanted to extend that cease-fire indefinitely and unconditionally. But Hamas, the militant group that the United States and Israel consider to be a terrorist group, the group that controls runs, was elected to run Gaza, said a few hours ago that they will not support extending the cease-fire unless their demands are met. Their demands have not been met. And then it will just roughly an hour and a half or so ago, the Israel defense force is reporting that two rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel around the area of Eshkol, which is southern Israel to the east and south of Gaza.

There are no reports of casualties, no reports of damages. The iron dome missile defense system did not play a role in stopping these rockets. Israel says that Hamas is responsible for them, whether or not Hamas fighters actually fired the rockets. Hamas, of course, is in charge of security and running Gaza. So therefore they are responsible, Israel says. And Israel considers this to be a violation of the cease-fire.

This is not a surprise for the Israeli government. They had anticipated that Hamas would violate the cease-fire. They say Hamas has done that several times already. We know already of several concrete examples over the last three or four weeks as this military campaign has waged. And now they are preparing for what might be a response to these rockets being fired. They already had been preparing for Hamas to not agree to extending the cease-fire as Israel, Egypt, others in the Palestinian government had wanted to do, Wolf.

So right now this is an area that is already on edge. And with news of these two rockets being fired from Gaza into Israel, there are fears that this could escalate even more quickly, that the elusive peace in the Middle East that nobody was expecting to break out, of course, but the cease-fire, it looks like it is over, Wolf.

BLITZER: It certainly does. All right, Jake, stand by. I want to go to Gaza right now.

John Vause is in Gaza city for us. What are you seeing there, John? What are you hearing?

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Wolf. Well, it is all quiet here of course. We're two hours away from the deadline of that cease-fire expiring. But of course now that two rockets have been fire from Gaza into Israel, and all bets are off.

So there are a couple of important points which we need to raise when we look at has been the sequence of events over the past couple of hours. Normally when there has been rocket fire coming from Gaza into Israel, within about ten minutes, there is some kind of claim of responsibility either from Hamas or Islamic jihad, whoever is responsible for the rocket fire. It appears on their websites. In the case of the al-Qassam brigades, the military being (INAUDIBLE). Their Web site is down right now so can't check. But also, it usually appears on Hamas television in some form. But that hasn't happened. So, we're looking to see if there has been some claim of responsibility by Hamas.

Here on Thursday, there was a rally across Gaza. There was a small one here in Gaza city. Hamas leaders did say then that the talks in Cairo were not going well. Although we're in not getting what they wanted, they did warn the Palestinians here that if they lost the political battle in their words in Cairo, then the military battle would be back on. The al-Qassam brigades did put out a saying their fingers are still on the trigger. But they did say once the cease- fire was over, if there had been no political gains in Cairo in terms of their demands, lifting the blockades, opening the borders, that's when the fighting would resume.

So it does seem to be surprising that these rockets have been fired hours before the expiration of the cease-fire which does raise the possibility I think Jake was talking about it just a few moments ago that perhaps this is another militant group which is responsible. We know that Islamic jihad, for instance have, been firing rockets into Israel over the last couple of weeks as well.

And as Jake did say, that is irrelevant as far as the Israelis are concerned. They say Hamas is in control of Gaza. Anything that comes out of Gaza into Israel is Hamas' responsibility. And so therefore Hamas has violated the cease-fire.

So again, we're looking to see who in fact is responsible for firing these rockets. But from an Israeli point of view, it's probably irrelevant, Wolf.

BLITZER: Well, let's see if it is, John, because we still have a couple of hours, as you point out. If there are no more rockets or missiles, and if there is a statement coming from the Palestinian delegation in Cairo to the Egyptian government to convey, they're willing to try another 72 hours or another week or whatever the Israelis have already said they're willing to go along with the extension of the cease-fire. These next two hours will be critical. We will stay on top of it with you and Gaza.

Jake Tapper in Jerusalem. But let's go back to Alisyn, because the other breaking news is very, very significant, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: It sure is, Wolf.

So let's turn to our other breaking news out of Iraq. President Obama tonight authorized air strikes on is.

So joining me now to talk about all that is CNN's Dana Bash, Jim Sciutto, Elise Labott and Jake Tapper.

Jim, let me start with you. In this late night presidential announcement, the president came out and said he would be OK with using air strikes to stop is' convoys from reaching Erbil. Did that come as a surprise to the community?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, there were two parts of this. We were expecting an announcement about humanitarian air drops to those stranded Yazidis. The air strike something of a surprise. The president announcing he had authorized them. And then defining under what circumstances he would use them.

One, as you mentioned, Alisyn, as ISIS advances towards Erbil where the U.S. has hundreds of consulate workers and a consulate in Erbil but also more than a hundreds of military adviser there's to protect American personnel in Erbil. But he said not just Erbil, anywhere in the country including Baghdad where the U.S. has a very large embassy.

He said he has authorized the U.S. to use air strikes against is if those Americans come under threat. But not just there. He also said that in order to break the siege of these Yazidi people, this religious minority now surrounded by ISIS close to Erbil between Erbil and Mosul, he would also use air strikes if necessary to break that siege.

So two circumstances where he would go forward with that. But even as he was saying this, Alisyn, he made it very clear. He knows there are many Americans who are war weary after the long war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Listen to how he addressed Americans who are concerned that this might mean America has been dragged back into the Iraq war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I know that many of you are rightly concerned about any American military action in Iraq. Even limited strikes like these. I understand that. I ran for this office in part to end our war in Iraq and welcome our troops home. And that's what we've done. As commander in-chief, he will not allow the United States to be dragged into fighting another war in Iraq. And so even as we support Iraqis as they take the fight to these terrorists, American combat troops will not be returning to fight in Iraq. Because there is no American military solution to the larger crisis in Iraq. The only lasting solution is reconciliation among Iraqi communities and stronger Iraqi security forces.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Now to be clear, Alisyn, there are others, even members of the president's own party who are not concerned about military action. They want more military action to confront the threat from is. I was speaking with Tulsi Gabbard. She is the Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii and member of the armed services committee, she said this. Air strikes, they cannot be small strikes. They have to be massive, overwhelming, a direct blow to ISIS. She is also a veteran of the Iraq war herself. And you hear this from other Democrats and Republicans as well. There is school of thought there in Washington, Alisyn, that there needs to be more, not less military U.S. military action to counter the ISIS threat that so far the Iraqi forces have not been able to hold back.

CAMEROTA: Jim, thank you.

And Wolf, isn't it interesting how different what the president said tonight than two months ago in June when he talked about how we would not be, you know, contributing any sorts of military aid to what was going on in Iraq, particularly because he didn't want to get involved in this internecine fighting back then two months ago he said. BLITZER: Well, he says now that the U.S. is dropping supplies, food,

water, medicine to save the lives of about 40,000 minorities, minority members, the Yazidis, some of whom are stuck on top of a mountain, they have no food, water, and they believe that the is troops will try to commit genocide against these Yazidis.

There are tens of thousands of Christians who are endangered right now. So the president wants to help them with humanitarian supplies. But it's interesting, Alisyn. And he says the U.S. will launch air strikes only if the Americans in Erbil, whether a few dozen military personnel or some U.S. diplomatic consular officials are endangered, then the U.S. would authorize airstrikes.

Let's bring in Dana Bash, our chief congressional correspondent.

Dana, I carefully read the statement, the joint statement released by John McCain and Lindsey Graham. One of the lines that jumped out at me is if ever there were a time to reevaluate our disaster policy in the Middle East, this is it. They're not very happy with any of the president's policies in the Middle East.

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No. And that probably is not a new headline, as you know. But they certainly are happy that he is at least taking this step. You're absolutely right. Following their sort of quiet applause of the president's action tonight, they went on to make clear that everything else he is doing is not up to par. They want to keep the pressure on him.

And as Jim was saying, what is interesting and is different about this particular mission is he is getting some robust support from fellow Democrats who historically have been more reluctant to go in, particularly when you're talking about the war in Iraq.

Adam Smith, who was the ranking Democrat in the house armed services committee, I spoke to him earlier. And he said he would even be for arming the Kurds. He wants to be very tough when it comes to this particular situation. The problem is a couple of things. Number one is you have a very different kind of Congress than you've had in the past. You have even Republicans who are more traditionally for the kind of approach that Lindsey Graham and John McCain are taking pretty split. And you have a lot of people who weren't even in Congress during the Iraq war. And they're hearing from their constituents enough already. This might be a very different and limited situation. But there -- it has the ability to mushroom there is no question about that.

So it is different. And you're probably going to have people who are members of Congress who are back home who are going to hear from their constituents. OK, if we're doing this and the president said this is so important for humanitarian reasons, for these particular sect in Iraq, what about Syria? What about the continent of Africa? I mean, you can go down the list of people who are in dire need of U.S. assistance. Why aren't they getting it?

BLITZER: Yes. And why didn't the president launch airstrikes against ISIS in Syria when they threatened to do so. BASH: Exactly.

BLITZER: But that obviously did not happen. Dana, stand by.

You know, Alisyn, one of the great tragedies of all of this, over the past decade or so, going back to 2003 when the U.S. moved in to Iraq to get rid of Saddam Hussein, American blood and treasure was enormous, 4500 U.S. troops killed, 20,000 if not more wounded, coming home without arms or legs. They spent a trillion dollars basically in Iraq trying to create an Iraqi military, built up an Iraqi military of a few 100,000 troops. The first sign of trouble from some ISIS forces coming in, the Iraqi troops bolt. They don't even participate. They run away. They leave behind tons and tons and tons of American equipment that the ISIS forces now have. And let's not forget. The maybe 100,000 civilian casualties that occurred in Iraq over the past decade as well.

So the fact that it's such a disaster right now is so painful to so many people who invested so much in Iraq. And now they see everything the U.S. tried to do there simply fading away.

CAMEROTA: It is breathtakingly tragic, Wolf. You're right.

I want to bring in Elise Labott to talk about. Elise, you know, the president tried to clarify when we use military power and when we don't. So let's listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've said before, the United States cannot and should not intervene every time there is a crisis in the world. So let me be clear about why we must act and act now. When we face a situation like we do on that mountain with innocent people facing the prospect of violence on a horrific scale, when we have a mandate to help in this case, a request from the Iraqi government, and when we have the unique capabilities to help avert a massacre, then I believe the United States of America cannot turn a blind eye. We can act, carefully and responsibly to prevent a potential act of genocide. That's what we're doing on that mountain.

I've therefore authorized targeted air strikes if necessary to help forces in Iraq as they fight to break the siege of mount Sinjar and protect the civilians trapped there. Already American aircraft have begun conducting humanitarian air drops of food and water to help these desperate men, women and children survive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: So Elise, he is saying when we can stop genocide, we must. But of course that has been somewhat selective in the past.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER: It has. And Alisyn, it's kind of the quick, decisive action that is really not a hallmark of this president and this administration, whether it be in Iraq or particularly in Syria, where some 170,000 people have died, and a lot of people think there were massacre there's, and the president was under an intense amount of pressure to launch some type of military action. But it was this 140,000 people almost massacred now. That's what he is afraid of. I think over three years you saw 170,000. The numbers of casualties in one fell swoop is something the administration could not ignore. But I do think that the president has been holding off for some type of military action in Iraq until this Iraqi government stood up.

We know, Alisyn, that's taking a very long time there has been some progress in Iraq. They do have a president. They have a speaker of parliament. They don't have a prime minister. The last time the Iraqis went through this, it took upwards of a year to get their act together and their government together.

This president does not have this kind of time there. And secretary Kerry in a statement, in addition to what the president was saying, saying the only way to stop ISIS is for Iraqi leaders to unite and form a government immediately. The president did leave the door open for more robust military action if and when this government gets its act together. Because the feeling is if a government could be inclusive and unite politically, that could isolate is. And then the administration could help in that regard.

So this is a very small limited, targeted operation for humanitarian reasons. Perhaps to protect U.S. personnel. But I do think that once you see the Iraqi government perhaps stand up, and we don't know when that will be, you could see the door open for more U.S. military involvement.

CAMEROTA: And Wolf, maybe that is the difference. That went into the president's calculus exactly what Elise just said. This is supposedly going to be targeted, just as those convoys of ISIS fighters and not as complicated as something that would have happened in Syria, say.

BLITZER: This is going to be very complicated. Those Isis fighters, Alisyn, they are determined. And they think they have got on their side or they're determined to create this caliphate. They think they're winning in Syria and Iraq. And they've got their ambition beyond that to Jordan and other places as well.

Jake Tapper, you're with us from Jerusalem tonight. I know you're watching this very shaky cease-fire over there. But, you know, you and have I have spent some quality time in Iraq over the years.

Joe Biden years ago when he was a United States senator, you know, we both remember, he thought it might be a good idea to acknowledge what is historic fact. Iraq is a country of various groups, Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds, and maybe it was never meant to be a united Iraq. Saddam Hussein united it. But only because he was such a brutal dictator.

TAPPER: That's right. And I remember asking vice president Biden about that a few years ago. And he said he was not calling for a strict partition between Sunni Shia and Kurd, although he did think that it was not a horrible idea to acknowledge the differences and acknowledge how giving autonomy to different groups in different parts of Iraq might make sense. But for a second, if I could, Wolf, I'd like to talk about two evolutions.

One is the evolution of the threat of is, and the other is the evolution of President Obama when it comes to his desire, his willingness to use force. First of all, on ISIS, it wasn't long ago. It was just in January when President Obama asked by the New Yorkers David Remnick about the threat of ISIS said something along the lines of just because a JV team puts on Lakers uniforms doesn't mean they're Kobe Bryant. He was saying that just because a group acts like it is as horrific as Al Qaeda, that does not mean that it poses the kind of threat that Al Qaeda in the past has posed. Now we see that those who were sounding the alarm back in January and even before that, President Obama has come around to their way of thinking as ISIS has made huge gains in the region, not just in Syria, but also in Iraq.

It's quite stark. That just in the matter of seven or eight months that President Obama would go from comparing them, comparing ISIS to a JV team to actually ordering potential air strikes on them by the United States air force. So that's one point I wanted to make.

The second point, Wolf and Alisyn is the idea -- and Alisyn, you were touching on this just a second ago of how President Obama has come to approve the using of force. And it really is in a distinct and discreet way. He came to office as somebody with not a huge amount of foreign policy experience, although he had sat on the Foreign Relations Committee in the Senate for a few years. He had basically the proposition that President Bush had done things the wrong way. He wanted to engage more. He is willing now after years of seeing the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan as they come to use, he has seen that he wants to use force in a very small way as in Libya and of course now we see in Iraq.

BLITZER: Jake, stand by. Alisyn, stand by. The president of the United States, we all remember ran for reelection in 2012 after all U.S. troops were pulled out of Iraq with the words "the war in Iraq is over." Well, that may have been premature statement when the president went on television and announced that the U.S. may, may begin airstrikes against ISIS terrorist targets inside Iraq. It hasn't started yet. But he has authorized those air strikes if necessary to protect U.S. diplomatic and military personnel in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil. We're going to have much more on the breaking news coming up tonight. The president authorizing these airstrikes.

Meanwhile, the IDF, the Israel defense forces says Hamas has broken the cease-fire in Gaza.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Cease-fire seems to be broken tonight. That according to the IDF, which says rockets from Gaza, two rockets from Gaza hit southern Israel just a little while ago. So what happens next?

Let's discuss with our national security analyst Fran Townsend and Jim Sciutto is our national security correspondent.

Jim, the IDF spokesperson tweeted a little while ago. Two rockets hit southern Israel. Terrorists have violated the cease-fire. As far as we know, that's it. No more rockets have come in. Only those two. The cease-fire supposed to be up in an hour and a half from now. What is your analysis? Is this some random incident or is Hamas deliberately wanting to break the cease-fire and make a statement?

SCIUTTO: Well, there has been no claim of responsibility as our John Vause on the ground in Gaza who are saying earlier typically there is a claim of responsibility from Hamas or Islamic jihad when the rockets go off. And there are a lot of splinter groups there. So, it is possible one of them fired these off as just a sign of strength.

But there also may be groups there that don't want the cease-fire to happen. The question is what does Israel want here there may be a temptation to retaliate. But does Israel want here really want a full resumption of the offensive that was under way until a couple of days ago? I think that's an open question as well. If it's just two rockets, maybe that's not enough to end the cease-fire. But we'll have to see how aggressively Israel feels forced to react to this.

BLITZER: I agree. And let's see if it's just two. That maybe the Israelis will say let's see if they can continue this cease-fire. You know what is interesting, Fran, is that the Egyptians who are organizing these negotiations, there is a high level Palestinian delegation, including the Palestinian authority, including Hamas, including Islamic jihad, all the various factions of the Palestinian community in Gaza and in the West Bank.

The Israelis are there as well. You would think that what would be the downside of at least trying a few more days to stop the fighting, stop the killing. Let the negotiations continue in Cairo. You're not going to resolve all these issues in three days.

FRAN TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR: That's right, Wolf. And frankly, the Egyptians have got a history of being very successful at mediating, brokering the cease-fires as we know. You know, I think we've got a -- when you look at this violation, if you will, this early violation of the cease-fire, I expect Israel will take a much more strategic approach. Yes, it's two rockets. But the question for Israel is did they accomplish what they sought to accomplish in terms of the destruction of the tunnels? And if they did, Israel regrettably often sees these rockets come in. That's why they've got the iron dome and we provided funding. I don't think the two rockets are going to be what determines Israel's response. They're likely to take a far more strategic approach at this point.

BLITZER: Yes. The IDF says they have completed the mission of destroying the 32 tunnels that they discovered. There may be some others, they say, but they haven't seen them. And they've been looking. They've had thousands of ground troops on the ground in Gaza. They're all pulled out for now. But they could easily be redeployed, the Israelis say into Gaza if necessary. Let's hope the cease-fire can last, despite the two rockets.

Stand by, guys, when we come back, the other breaking news we're following. The president of the United States authorizing airstrikes. Can anything really stop is? The is reign of terror in Iraq? (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Will the threat of American air strikes on ISIS stop their advance in Iraq, or will their rampage just become more bloody?

Joining me now to discuss is CNN military analyst lieutenant colonel Rick Francona and Paul Cruickshank, CNN terrorism analyst. Gentlemen, thank you so much for being here.

Paul, I want to start with you. We have heard many times it's hard to believe, but that ISIS is more brutal and barbaric than Al Qaeda. What can you tell us about them?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, that's absolutely right. This is a group even more brutal than Al Qaeda. And in fact Al Qaeda have fallen out with ISIS because of that brutal tactics in Iraq and Syria. Al Qaeda feel that ISIS are giving global jihad a bad name. And one hope there is that ISIS is going to kind of burn out in Iraq and Syria, that there is going to be a big backlash against them from the local population like we saw in Anbar in 2006 and 2007. There are already some signs of this in Syria. But this backlash isn't powerful enough yet to really threaten is yet, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Yes. Colonel, they don't seem to be burning out. They seem to be marching on.

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: No. And that's a good point. We are seeing little bit of cracks in this cohesiveness.

CAMEROTA: But how so? What does that mean? That they are splintering?

FRANCONA: Well, a lot of the people that are joining ISIS to fight are these Sunnis who were part of the Iraqi army, part of the Iraqi government years ago. This is a marriage of convenience. They're joining with ISIS to be anti-Shia, not that they really are true believers in the ISIS theology. But at some point as with any marriage of convenience, there is going to be a divorce. And that's what we're hoping for, but it's taking a long time.

CAMEROTA: Paul, how did they gain this much control of Iraq?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, the story is all about Syria. They were weakened in Iraq, and then they went across to Syria. They became a big player in the Syrian civil war. And they were then able to surge back into Iraq and take control in Mosul and other cities based on their strength back in Syria, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Colonel, they want to establish an Islamic caliphate from Syria through Iraq. At one point a few months ago that sounded to us a pipe dream, is that possible?

FRANCONA: Well, they look like they're doing it. They have also taken one little province of Lebanon that they've incorporated into the Islamic state. And they are setting it up as a de facto country. They're issuing license plates. They have a social system. They set up courts. They're trying to function like a real state.

CAMEROTA: Paul, of course, the fear is that they will export their terror to Europe and then to the United States. How likely really is that?

FRANCONA: Well, for the time being, is haven't really got involved in terrorist plots against the west. That's been a very low priority for them. Their focus has been building the Islamic state in Iraq and Syria. But one concern with the potential U.S. strikes is that is could lash out back against the west, especially in Europe. They're up to about a thousand European recruits in this organization. They could train these individuals, and they could send them back to Europe. So concern about that tonight, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Colonel, you're nodding?

FRANCONA: That's exactly right. And the big threat is the European passport, the American passport. Because with one of those, that's the gold standard. You can walk right through customs. And you can come back to wherever you're from or go to another country that is part of the agreement allows you to travel without visas and you're there.

CAMEROTA: Colonel, I don't know if you were listening an hour ago to our military smog alerts who said air strikes are not going to solve the problem of is. In fact you have to army the Peshmerga, the Kurdish fighters. We have to arm them with weapons.

FRANCONA: Yes, we do. The Peshmerga as individual fighting are probably some of the fine nest the world. But they don't have anything to fight with. They're basically light infantry. And now they're facing almost a conventionally armored force that are moving with tanks, artillery. The only thing they don't have is air support. And they're going up against the Kurds who are outgunned and outmanned and are not getting any supplies from anyone. And if we want this to work out, we need to get in and provide. We could do this by providing arms, training and assistance to the Kurds.

CAMEROTA: I was interested to hear that you trained the Kurdish fighters in 1995 and 1996. What was that experience like?

FRANCONA: Well, I don't know who learn more, them or me. I don't know who was training whom. But we worked very closely with them. We were trying to provide them the wherewithal to eventually overthrow the government of Saddam Hussein. It didn't work, but I think we gained valuable experience working with each other. And at that time, of course, we had the no-fly zone, which they appreciated. And I think that that really made us a great combination.

CAMEROTA: Colonel, thank you. Paul Cruickshank, thanks so much to you as well.

When we come back, we're going to have an update from Gaza.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: Welcome back to the IDF, the Israel defense forces says two rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel, breaking the cease- fire.

Let's go to John Vause. He is in Gaza. He's got new developments on what is going on. Tell what's you're learning, John.

VAUSE: Wolf, just a short time ago, there was a message put out by Hamas coming from the spokesperson. A very short, brief text message saying what is being broadcast about rockets fired at Israel, Israeli reports aim at confusing the situation.

So in other words, Hamas now denying that they in fact fired those two rockets into Israel just a few hours ago. Also, at this point, there has been no claim of responsibility either from Islamic jihad, another militant group that has been firing rockets into Israel. So at this early stage Hamas is saying we didn't do it.

BLITZER: And it's approaching what, 7:00 a.m. over where you are. The cease-fire is supposed to last until 8:00 a.m. So a little bit more than an hour or so from now. Is Hamas saying like the Israelis, like the Egyptians, like the Palestinian authority that they want the cease-fire to be extended beyond the additional 72 hours?

VAUSE: No. They're saying quite adamantly that if there is no progress on the (INAUDIBLE) which ending the economic blockade, building seaport, opening the borders, that the fight willing resume. In fact, they've been quite adamant about this. There was a very big rally here, a fairly big rally here in fact on Thursday with Hamas leaders saying that telling the Palestinian people here that get ready for a long battle. We will go back to fighting Israel unless they're willing to give into those demands. And those demands they say are nonnegotiable.

Again, they want the economic blockade lifted, the borders to be reopened. They want a seaport. And they say these demands are not open for negotiations because they're basic human rights. There was a statement also put out by the al-Qassam wing saying which is the military wing of Hamas saying that essentially they stand ready to resume the fight with Israel. And they were not prepared to extend this unconditional cease-fire for more than the 72 hour period unless there was progress towards meeting those demands. And what they're saying is that in Cairo over the last day or so, there has been no progress towards that. They accuse the Israelis of procrastinating. And so, that is why they had warned the Palestinians here. Get ready. It could start again, Wolf.

BLITZER: An hour and 15 minutes from now, that cease-fire is supposed to end. The Israelis say quiet will be met by quiet. But if rockets and missiles start coming in, the Israelis will respond. John, stand by. We'll get back to you.

In the meantime, Alisyn, we've got two huge stories we're following here on CNN tonight.

CAMEROTA: We sure do. Let's go to our other big story, Wolf. President Obama authorizes air strikes in Iraq. But will that stop

is? So back with me is CNN military analyst lieutenant colonel Rick Francona and Jessica Lewis. She is the research director at the institute for the study of war. Jessica was stationed in Iraq for 15 months as a U.S. army intelligence officer on ISIS.

But first, we want to go to CNN's Jim Sciutto. He has some new information about U.S. military assistance to the Kurds and Iraqis. What have you got, Jim?

SCIUTTO: That's right, Alisyn. Senior administration officials telling short reporters a short time ago that the U.S. in addition to authorizing air strikes against ISIS and these humanitarian air drops is going to expedite arms to the Kurdish fighters, the Kurdish militias, the so-called Peshmerga in the Kurdish controlled areas in the north. This is in addition to arms that the U.S. is giving to Iraqi forces, including hell fire missiles, ammunition, et cetera. As our own Ivan Watson had revealed had made the point earlier in the evening, one problem one problem that the Kurdish fighters are facing is they're well out armed by ISIS who stole weapons supplied by the U.S. and this will be one way that the U.S. is attempting to right that balance.

CAMEROTA: Colonel, that must come as a relief.

FRANCONA: Yes, the hell fire missiles are a good thing. The Iraqis already have them, but the stocks are running low. They fired this from the outfitted Cessnas that we have provided. Earlier the Kurds were complaining that they didn't have anything to stop the up armored humvees. This will stop the up armed humvees. This will give -- this will allow the Iraqi air force to get in there and at least blunt the ISIS advance. And of course if the U.S. provides airstrikes, they'll also have that same kind of weaponry. So they could turn this.

CAMEROTA: Jessica, I want to bring in Jessica Lewis now. Jessica, one big concern tonight is that somehow ISIS will gain control of the Mosul dam. Tell us why that would be so catastrophic.

JESSICA LEWIS, RESEARCH DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF WAR: Well, the Mosul dam is one of the critical pieces of the Iraqi state infrastructure. It holds back the Tigris from flooding major cities to include Mosul. But actually all the way down to Baghdad. And this infrastructure is actually quite old and frail. And it takes a tremendous amount just to sustain it so that the dam doesn't break naturally.

So my concern is that if ISIS is able to take control of that dam from the Peshmerga who currently control it to my understanding, that ISIS will not succeed in maintaining it. And regardless of what they intend to do that, the dam could be in jeopardy.

Colonel, ISIS claims on their Web site that they do have control of the Mosul dam.

FRANCONA: Right. We've seen these conflicts claims over the past week or so. So it's probably still in conflict. It's really hard to say who owns what.

CAMEROTA: But what will they do with it?

FRANCONA: Well, As she said, it controls -- it's a vital piece of the infrastructure. Not only does it hold back the Tigris, it generates electricity. And it provides the power for Mosul.

CAMEROTA: So they want to control it because they want to control the power, or they would blow it up and do something really catastrophic like flood much of Iraq?

FRANCONA: You know, I've seen people argue that that might be what they want to do. I just don't see them doing that because it would flood the areas they're trying to turn into a state. They need power. They need power generation. And if they're trying to set up the trappings of a state, they need the infrastructure that guess along with that.

CAMEROTA: And Jessica, what about that? I mean, they are terrorists. They don't often use practical logic. Sometimes they do things just to terrorize people.

LEWIS: Well, this is a terrorist group. But this one actually does want to control terrain. It does wish to control urban centers and to run those urban centers to be viable cities within their emerging caliphate. They have demonstrated the intent to generate electricity from hydroelectric power plants and dams in Syria. They have demonstrated that they have levels of urban control and sustainment. They have for many months. So this terrorist group is actually rather remarkable in the terms of what it is that they are attempting to do and in terms of governance and in terms of military strategy. What I hope that we'll be able to discern is how to counter those strategies such that they are not successful.

CAMEROTA: Go ahead, Colonel.

FRANCONA: And to piggyback on that, you can see, if you look at how ISIS has moved down the Tigris valley, they're going for the dams because it controls the power.

CAMEROTA: Colonel, great to have you with us and your St. Peter tease. Jessica Lewis, thanks so much for all that.

Next, we will go back to Jerusalem. Can the peace process get back on track?

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BLITZER: Welcome back. The question tonight, right now where does the peace process stand? What about the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. Jake Tapper is joining us from Jerusalem. A little more than an hour or so from now, the cease-fire, the 72-hour cease-fire, Jake, is supposed to end. The Israelis say two rockets came in a couple of hours or so ago from Gaza into Israel. They say that was a violation of the cease-fire. Now Hamas, you just heard John Vause in Gaza city saying they didn't send those rockets in. What do you make of that? TAPPER: Well, I think as John also noted, the Israeli government does

not say that Hamas has to fire the rockets in order for Hamas to be responsible for the rockets fired. Hamas was elected. Hamas runs Gaza. And so as far as the Israeli defense forces and the Israeli government is concerned, Hamas is responsible if rockets are fired into Israel from Gaza, whether the militants firing the rockets are with Hamas or Palestinian Islamic jihad, or they're just rogue operators. They are responsible. The big question, of course, is whether this will play a factor, Hamas' denial that they were specifically responsible. Whether that will be a factor when Israel decides how to respond, if they want to continue this cease-fire as the Israeli government says, it wants to do, does that mean it is willing to in this case, because the two rockets fired did not cause any damages, did not cause any casualties, do they pretend it didn't happen? I can't speak to what Islamic jihad or Hamas actually knew about those rockets.

But if Israel is willing to believe Hamas, which it's not prone to do, and believe that they did not have responsibility on the ground for those rockets, are they willing to hold off on responding militarily? That remains to be seen. But for all intents and purposes, Wolf, the cease-fire is over. Hamas has already said they don't want it extended. And it's over in an hour. And of course, we had this violation. And according to the rule book, Hamas is responsible for rockets fired, whether their own fighters did it or not, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Jake. Stand by. We're going to have much more on this breaking news story. Also what is going on in Iraq. We'll take a quick break. We'll be right back.

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BLITZER: Watching two breaking stories on CNN. The president of the United States has authorized air strikes if necessary against is targets in Iraq and that very, very tenuous cease-fire between Israel and Hamas could end in one hour from Alisyn. These are major, major breaking story.

CAMEROTA: Indeed they are, Wolf. And our coverage of both the crisis in Iraq and in Israel and Gaza continues now with Erin Burnett and Rosemarie Church at the CNN center in Atlanta.