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U.S. Hits Terror Cell; Alleged Bomb Plot; Cell Posted Threat

Aired September 23, 2014 - 14:00   ET

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

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good afternoon. I'm Anderson Cooper. This is CNN's special coverage of a dramatic turn in America's war against ISIS.

U.S. tomahawk missiles launched from aircraft carriers, war planes and fighter jets raining down bombs across Syria.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REAR ADM. JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: It's our initial indication is that these strikes were very successful. Second, while it's not our policy to discuss future operations, I can tell you that last night's strikes were only the beginning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Only the beginning of a new war in a country that was, until now, untouched by the United States. We're talking about 200 pieces of explosives falling on targets inside Syria. And today we learned some of what they took out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GEN. WILLIAM MAYVILLE JR., PENTAGON DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS: It was engaged with tomahawk cruise missiles fired from the USS Philippine C. Now the intended target was the communications array on the roof of the building. The tomahawk cruise missiles detonated as air bursts with the effects focusing on the communications array.

The flight of the F-22s delivered GPS-guided munitions, precision munitions, targeting, again, only the right side of the building. You can see on the left hand side the before shot and then you can see, as you look at it on the right hand side, the after shot.

This was a residential area that had been used for training site and for logistic site for ISIL fighters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: These were the ISIS targets. But we now know that a separate set of air strikes also took place aimed at eliminating an al Qaeda terror cell apparently on the verge of executing an attack on western targets and potentially even the United States. President Obama getting to speak at the global - at the Clinton Global Initiative, but earlier he spoke about the threat of this group.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Last night, we also took strikes to disrupt plotting against the United States and our allies by seasoned al Qaeda operatives in Syria who were known as the Khorasan group. Once again, it must be clear to anyone who would plot against America and try to do Americans harm, that we will not tolerate safe havens for terrorists who threaten our people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, the strikes against the terror cell happening near the Syrian city of Aleppo, but only the U.S. was involved in those strikes. The strikes against ISIS, though, were carried out by a coalition, according to the government, of the U.S. and five Arab allies. Joining me now is CNN's Jim Sciutto, chief national security correspondent.

Are we getting indication of how many ISIS fighters were actually killed here and when this bombing campaign will resume?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Not from the U.S. or the coalition at this point. The Pentagon saying they are just beginning their bomb damage assessments, their so-called BDAs, although, they do consider the strike a success -- the strikes a success. The only information we're getting on casualties are coming from Syrian activist groups on the ground. Their estimate is 70 ISIS fighters killed, some 300 wounded. And by their assessment, that there will be more dead because so many of the wounded were severely wounded. But again, that's coming from an activist group on the ground. The Pentagon not making its own body count, as it were. And it's normally very reluctant to do so.

COOPER: And, Jim, just briefly, the - this coalition, do we know exactly who was involved in the air strikes in terms of who actually had aircraft in the air?

SCIUTTO: We do now. The Pentagon had told us, and now those countries have publicly acknowledged it. The four Arab countries that took part in so-called kinetic activity, air strikes, that means dropping bombs on target, are Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. Qatar also taking part in the air campaign, though not in the kinetic role, which means they might have flown support missions, provide surveillance, et cetera.

But, again, those five partners, four of them taking part in offensive military action, is really a remarkable coalition in this region, particularly for them to publicly acknowledge taking military action alongside the U.S. Anderson, you know well the very mixed feelings that many people in the region have about American military involvement, particularly after an 11-year war in Iraq. So that's quite a diplomatic achievement to get that sort of regional team together for this military operation.

COOPER: Particularly to see Sunni countries attacking a Sunni extremist group.

Jim Sciutto, thanks very much.

The U.S. attack was against a group of veteran al Qaeda operatives called the Khorasan, as you heard from the president. A national security official publicly acknowledged the group really just for the first time last week. And now we're learning new details about the group's plots against the west. Joining me now, national correspondent Deborah Feyerick.

So what do we know about this group, Khorasan, because really until very recently, the name wasn't out there.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's exactly right. And what makes the Khorasan group so dangerous, Anderson, is they have one objective and one objective only, and that is to carry out a major terror attack in the west against the United States. This is a very small, hard core group of veteran al Qaeda operatives. The leader, Muhsin al-Fadhli, part of the 9/11 planning. He knew of the hijackers. He knew of the plot to fly planes into building. He knows all things al Qaeda.

Now, the Khorasans, they're about a few dozen tops. They have bomb makers, but they also have western recruits. People who are in Syria. They have U.S. and European passports. That's what also makes them so lethal. We're really talking about a new generation of potential bombs, including clothing dipped in explosives, as well as a type of shoe bomb device according to experts.

Now, an intelligence source tells me that within the last week, information did come to light that the group was ready to activate, to become operational is what they say. The possible plot included involving -- included a clothing that was dipped in explosive materials. Some type of nonmetallic device. It could have also included toiletries, a toothpaste tube, for example. We saw the clothing bomb similar to an underwear bomb that was used in the Detroit, the Christmas case, also a cartridge bomb later, more clothing was used, turned into essentially a bomb.

Now, the Khorasans, a U.S. official tells CNN's Pamela Brown, basically the plan involved large, sophisticated attacks, but also smaller, less sophisticated attacks. The group has the capability, according to one official. They were much further along than anyone was really comfortable with. And a senior administration official says, yes, planes have always been a target for this group. CNN's Evan Perez also was told by another official that the militants had obtained the materials.

What is unclear, however, is the timing. Whether -- how imminent this threat was. Whether they were ready to go. It does not appear that they had actually picked their target or picked a time, a place or a date.

Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Deb Feyerick, thanks very much.

For more on this, we want to turn on the Khorasan hit in the area west of the city -- the Syrian city of Aleppo. Take a look.

Well, this amateur video purportedly shows the attack. The Pentagon says it's been watching the al Qaeda splinter group for some time. And unlike ISIS, which posed a potential threat to the U.S., military leaders say the threat from Khorasan was in its final stages, as Deb Feyerick was just reporting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GEN. WILLIAM MAYVILLE JR., JOINT STAFF DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS, PENTAGON: We've been watching this group closely for some time. We believe the Khorasan group is -- was nearing the execution phase of an attack, either in Europe or the homeland. We know that the Khorasan group has attempted to recruit westerners to serve as operatives or to infiltrate back into their homelands. The Khorasan group is clearly not focused on either the Assad regime or the Syrian people. They are establishing roots in Syria in order to advance attacks against the west and the homeland.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Joining me now is CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem and senior international correspondent Nic Robertson.

So, Nic, the U.S. believes one member of this group Khorasan was one of the few al Qaeda operatives who actually had advance notice of 9/11. That he apparently was just a teenager at that point, correct?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Muhsin al Fadhli, 33 years old now and believed, as well, to have been an al Qaeda financier behind an attack on a French oil tanker, the MV Limburg, October 2002 off the coast of Yemen. So this is somebody with a long time al Qaeda experience. Somebody who's known the way they operate and is connected to some of their better fighters, if you will.

What he has done is take a leaf out of al Qaeda's old playbook. Back in the day, when fighters -- would be fighters would go from places like Britain to Pakistan to then join up and fight the United States in Afghanistan, there were al Qaeda recruiters in Pakistan who would spot these guys, see them as an opportunity to perpetrate attacks back in their home countries. This happened in Britain in 2005, the attacks on the bus and the underground network then. They were doing - al Fadhli was doing the same thing. He was looking for would be operatives to train them in potentially bomb making, fighting skills, to send them back to the United States or to Europe.

So you have a scenario here where there's this operative with al Qaeda experience who can pull in well-trained al Qaeda -- al Qaeda people to then train up these young people coming from Europe and the United States, Anderson.

COOPER: Juliette, you know, the U.S. said that they believed an attack was imminent. Usually when you hear that term imminent, you think that the U.S. knows of a specific time, a specific place. That does not appear to be the case here. JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: That's right. The word

-- the language being used has sort of shifted from imminent to potentially imminent. My guess is that we probably had intelligence assets close to the organization that we're hearing about serious planning. In other words, things had been weaponized, but they hadn't chosen a target. And they may be that the target was western airlines or airlines that would impact the United States so that they went in now.

And I think the most amazing thing about - or amazing things about the last 24 hours is not simply going after them this soon, but also the silence, unless I've missed something in the last hour, of Syria, of Iran, of Russia, of what's happened over the last 24 hours. And these organizations have now, let's just say, they are welcoming with a wink and a nod as coming into disrupt both ISIS and internal threats like al Qaeda and its splinter groups.

COOPER: You know, Nic, it's interesting, and we have heard so much focus on ISIS in the last several weeks and in the media, certainly, almost a hysteria about ISIS and their direct threats to the United States. It certainly seems that the Khorasan group at least is much more operational and much more capable of actually carrying out an attack, at least in the immediate term, than ISIS is.

ROBERTSON: Yes. They've both had different goals here. I mean we've known that ISIS' goal is to build this caliphate, this Islamic state, that straddles the border of Iraq and Syria. So all these rural (ph) recruits that they've been getting, they've been throwing into that fight and it's a labor-intensive fight. It's over a massive area. Al Qaeda's got these old-type (ph) of strategies if you will. They've also been sort of knocked off the jihadi leader board, if you will, by ISIS that really dominates everything now. This is al Qaeda going back, if you will, to its roots. It's perhaps trying to sort of burnish its own image here, as well.

When we talk about al Qaeda now, it's not just al Qaeda, Afghanistan, Pakistan, but look at Yemen, where they have that skilled bomb maker, Ibrahim al Asiri. He's been at it for a number of years. He made the underpants bomb. He made the printer bombs. They were all on -- put on planes to target the United States. It seems realistic for counterterrorism officials now that he would have trained other operatives. If al Qaeda's sort of older figures, like al Fadhli, are now gathering people up like that and putting them now, targeting - targeting young war recruits in Syria, ignoring what ISIS is doing, but going on its own track to try to create its own spectacular fight in the west again, this is the potential that they have. Masses of war recruits, but operatives in al Qaeda with the skill to pass on the techniques that they will required to go back and perpetrate attacks, Anderson.

COOPER: Nic Robertson, I appreciate it. Juliette Kayyem, good to see you, as well. Thank you very much.

Up next, the Pentagon's candid revelations about which targets were hit. Even showing before and after pictures. A retired general breaks it down for us. Plus, we'll discuss how these two terror groups may retaliate in

response to American air strikes. This is CNN's special live coverage. We'll be back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: President Obama is speaking to Clinton Global Initiative here in New York. Let's listen to him.

BARACK OBAMA, 44TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now, in agreeing to come, I had an asked as well. I think one of the best decisions I ever made as president, was to asked Hillary Clinton to serve as our nation's Secretary of State.

So, she just welcomed me backstage. I'll always be grateful for her extraordinary leadership representing our nation around the world. And I still have a lot of debt to pay though because the two of them were separated far to often, Hillary put in a lot of miles during her 10-year Secretary of State. She looks -- she has been posted menstruation glow right now. She is -- less much, much more aggressive.

So it's wonderful to be back at GCI, I cannot imagine a more fitting audience with whom to discuss the work that brings me here today. And that is our obligation as free peoples, as free nations to stand with the courageous citizens and brave civil society groups who are working for a quality, an opportunity, and justice, and human dignity all over the world. And I'm especially pleased that we're joined today by our many partners in this work, governments, civil--

COOPER: We also want to bring you to the U.N. where John Kerry is speaking right now about the situation in Syria. Let's listen.

JOHN KERRY, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: -- coalition, more than 50 countries have now agreed to join this effort to combat ISIL including the Arab Countries that joined us last night in taking military action in Syria.

The overall effort is going to take time. There are challenges ahead but we are going to do what is necessary to take the fight to ISIL, to begin to make it clear that terrorism, extremism does not have a place in the building of civilized society, and we work with our friends from Iraq in order to make certain that their choice to move forward in a democratic and viable way will bear fruit and be supported by the international community. Thank you.

(OFF-MIKE)

KERRY: Look. We don't have time for question.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: John Kerry speaking very briefly there with representatives from Iraq. The Pentagon spokesman describes the military airstrikes against ISIS targets as very successful and says it's only the beginning. Now I'm joined right now by Retired Army Major General James "Spider" Marks is a CNN military analyst. How would you assess the first day of this operation in terms of what kind of targets they went after?

GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, U.S. ARMY-RET. & CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Anderson, what the coalition has done on this very first day has gone after static targets, stationary targets that are very strategic and will degrade ISIS's ability to execute further operations. That is to say they're going to after commander control capabilities, headquarters capabilities, logistics and infrastructure. So they can't move and they cannot further their operations deeper into Iraq or elsewhere in Syria.

COOPER: I mean this is both a terror group. There is a conventional force on the ground fighting in both Syria -- and insurgent force in both Syria and Iraq. But when we talk about, you know, attacking commander control facilities, it's not like in the early days of the war in -- of the bombing campaign in Iraq, you know, years ago going after Saddam's commander control facilities, these are not -- it's not that centralized, is it?

MARKS: Well, its not that centralized but bear in mind that ISIS has as its key leadership former military leaders that were a part of Saddam's military. These were just in franchise, who needs, who upon the invasion in 2003, many were arrested were put in jail, they were released subsequently. So they're aggrieved, obviously, and they've latched on to ISIS and they now are taking that military training that they've received in terms of the hierarchical structure of a military organization and how it shoots, it maneuvers, it communicates in battle, and they've brought that to ISIS.

So we see a very conventional arm of ISIS. Clearly, there are elements of ISIS that are not so conventional but we're going after those that will allow them to sustained operations very broadly in the region.

COOPER: I'm wondering long term, how many kinds of targets there are like this? Because I mean I would think this is a relatively decentralized operation that they have giving the amount of territory that they have and a relatively low number of, you know, active capable person now.

MARKS: Yeah, very, very good point. The target list is going to adjust and modify over the course of days and weeks. And we have to hope that this continues a really clip paste (ph), very aggressive, kind of like a thunderstorm, an oppressive violent attack against ISIS targets.

So it will adjust overtime, clearly, what ISIS has done is they've abandoned a number of their fixed facilities. They're now dispersed which means they've lack or they've lost now a capability to execute some concentrated and very controlled activities, but we have to go after them where they exist. Our intelligence is persistent, and we'll be able to continue to track them down. But they are continued targets that must be address their fixed facilities that really eliminates any ability of ISIS to kind of regroup and then watch new attacks.

COOPER: All right. General Spider Marks, I appreciated it. Thanks very much. Up next, if U.S. didn't get permit from the strikes inside Syria, how will Bashar al-Assad respond? I'll speak live with someone who has met with the dictator many times. And new videos services (ph) of ISIS terrorist training for war, back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: The U.S. warned Syria in advance, the airstrikes were coming. Officials, U.S. officials have been quick to say that there was no coordination with the Syrian government. They didn't ask permission. They said U.S. did not ask, as I said for permission to strike inside the country. Let's get some insight into what's going on inside the Syrian government. Right now, David Lesch is a professor of Middle East History, Trinity University.

David, you've met Bashar al-Assad multiple times since 2004, 2009. Today, Assad is really a man under siege. He's been fighting ISIS. He's fighting rebel groups trying to overthrow his regime. And the U.S. obviously wants him out as well. Can we assume Assad is glad that U.S. is launching airstrikes against better -- really his enemies?

DAVID LESCH, PROFESSOR OF MIDDLE EAST HISTORY, TRINITY UNIVERSITY: Yeah, I think so, I think in the near term, he's very happy about this and he's going to position his government as much as possible as kind of quasi-ally, the coalition which is why some of the news coming out in statements from Syrian officials, you know, are informing the world that, in fact, the U.S. did contact them to try to position themselves in this manner.

But I think in the long term, it can be both the blessing and a curse in the sense that ISIS was putting as much pressure on the non-ISIS Syrian opposition groups as they were in the regime. So, if ISIS is consistently degraded and contained, it actually might free up some of this non-ISIS Syrian opposition groups particularly those that, perhaps, are being supported and trained now more vigorously by the United States to move against the regime. So I think from Assad's point of view, he's going to keep a close eye on this.

COOPER: That is one of the things, you know, from some of this, so- called moderate rebel groups, first the U.S. is hoping to support. I mean their first priority and we've heard this from many of them is to overthrow the government of Bashar al-Assad.

Well, the U.S. right now, their first priority is to have these groups go after ISIS forces. So there's a conflict there?

LESCH: Yeah, absolutely, there's an inconsistency, and frankly speaking, I don't know how you're going to convince many of these opposition groups to turn their guns and point them at ISIS, rather than the Assad regime. This is why I thank the consistent degrading of ISIS in Syria will allow these groups to move more openly against the Assad regime perhaps. We'll have to see how this progresses because, ISIS is also, you know, they have their strategy and they're not only fighting the regime, but they're fighting to take around, particularly around the Aleppo. And I think that's going to be a critical face of the war we enter now to see where Aleppo goes because you have ISIS, you have a Syrian opposition, and you have the regime, all three of them fighting for this critically important city.

COOPER: In fact in many ways, ISIS and the groups, I've got news for funds. In some ways, help the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad because all along, Assad has claimed that those who have reasoned up against are terrorist, he's called them terrorist from the very beginning even when the demonstrators in Daraa (ph) and other places we're even calling for the overthrow of the regime, they were simply demonstrating against abuses of power against the arrest of children against the torturing and illegal holding of people.

So, I mean in some ways, a groups like ISIS actually help Assad, even though they are opposed to him.

LESCH: Yeah, absolutely, and I hate to attribute to Assad such ability to manipulate the events to turn out to fit the narrative. He's been betraying all along that he's protecting a secular way of life that his regime is fighting Islamic extremism all along. He helped to initiate policies which again helped create this reality that now fits the narrative he had--

COOPER: Right.

LESCH: -- from the beginning. But you have to be careful what you wish for. Because ISIS I think turned out to be a greater threat that he had envisioned and certainly in the confrontations that Syrian forces have had with ISIS, they haven't fair (ph) to well. So, in the near term, I think he's very relieved that the U.S. is entering the conflict in this fashion.

And the Syrian opposition forces are pleased that the U.S. has entered in the conflict, any sort of U.S. involvement against anybody really, except for this being non-ISIS Syrian opposition forces is welcome to buy them because, hopefully, from their perspective it will lead to more and more U.S. involvement even on the ground at some point.

COOPER: David Lesch, appreciate you being on. Thank you very much.

Well, up next, Iran's president calls U.S. air strikes illegal. We're live with Christiane Amanpour.

Plus, why is Qatar helping with air strikes but Britain is not? Will the United Kingdom join the U.S. in Syria? That's next.

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