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Operation to Liberate Fallujah; Taliban Leader Was Planning New Attacks on US Targets Before Airstrike Killed Him; Latest in EgyptAir Investigation; President Obama Meets with Civil Society Leaders in Vietnam; Filipino President to Establish Stricter Family Planning; Bombings in Syria Detailed; US Rushing to Train Syrians for Radda Fight Against ISIS; Two Climbers Missing on Mt Everest. Aired Midnight-1a ET

Aired May 24, 2016 - 00:00   ET

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

[00:00:10] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is "CNN Newsroom" live from Los Angeles, ahead this hour:

ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: Fierce fighting in Fallujah as Iraqi troops try to retake the battle-weary city from ISIS.

VAUSE: Secret soldiers; in a TV exclusive, CNN goes into Syria to report on U.S. troops training militia fighters.

SESAY: And, a Trump ad targets Hillary Clinton by going after Bill Clinton's infidelities as Trump pulls even with Hillary in the polls.

VAUSE: Hello, everybody. Great to have you with us. We'd like to welcome our viewers all around the world. I'm John Vause.

SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay; Newsroom L.A. starts right now.

VAUSE: The push is on to liberate Fallujah, which has been under ISIS control for two years now. The military operation could be complicated by the Shi'ite militias which are backing Iraqi National Forces.

[Footage of soldiers firing]

SESAY: CNN obtained this exclusive footage of Iraqi units battling ISIS south of the city. A victory here would be a big symbolic boost for Iraq because Fallujah was the first Iraqi city ISIS captured.

VAUSE: ISIS, though, just released this propaganda video as proof its forces are fighting back, but Iraq's Defense Minister says he's confident ISIS will be pushed out of the city, about 60 kilometers west of the capital.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAHLED AL-OBAIDI, DEFENSE MINISTER, IRAQ via translator: The operations is going very well, more than expected. The enemy is completely collapsing. Our troops' spirits are very high because of their victories, and due to all of that, we think the battle of Fallujah will be sealed soon. (END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: The Iraqi offensive on Fallujah is backed by U.S. air strikes. Thousands of civilians remain trapped inside the city even though the Iraqi government has urged them to try to leave. For more, we are joined now, from Denver, by the Former U.S. Ambassador in Baghdad, Christopher Hill, and in Washington, Michael Pregent, Mideast Analyst and former Intelligence Advisor to U.S. General David Petraeus.

Ambassador Hill, first to you. There's about 50,000 civilians inside Fallujah right now, no more than 1,000 ISIS fighters. How does this military operation not end in a blood bath of collateral damage?

CHRISTOPHER HILL, FORMER AMBASSADOR TO BAGHDAD, via satellite: Well, I think that probably has something to do with the fact we have U.S. air strikes rather than Iraqi airstrikes, and I think the U.S. is far more capable of engaging in much more targeted activity. That said, your point is well taken. I think Fallujah has always presented itself, in a tough way, especially as some of the civilians have been supportive of ISIS. So this is it a very tough mission; but if it's successful, it may open the way to Mosul and it will really help this very embattled prime minister.

VAUSE: Well the Iraqi Prime Minister, he says the goal here is to try and minimize civilian casualties. He's advised residents there to try to flee if they can. This is some of what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAIDER AL-ABADI, PRIME MINISTER, IRAQ via translator: We have instructed citizens and civilians of Fallujah and other areas to go to safe corridors, and we hope that they will be able to reach these corridors. If they could not, they can stay in their houses and stick to their houses.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Michael, to you, the reality of actually getting out of Fallujah would seem to be next to impossible at this stage, and it seems just as dangerous to stay.

MICHAEL PREGENT, CNN MIDEAST ANALYST: You have to remember Fallujah has been under ISIS control for two years now. For two years, Shi'a militias have been rocketing and shelling Fallujah. They've been conducting indiscriminate targeting of innocent civilians. Over these two years, the United States and the government of Iraq have not started a recruiting effort to recruit Sunnis back into the Iraqi army, the same ones that were purged by al-Maliki.

This offensive is basically a raid to appease the Shi'a population centers that have been attacked by ISIS in recent days. The Mosul operation is pushed back. Shi'a population centers are demanding protection and are demanding retribution for ISIS attacks and Fallujah is right there. It's an easy target. It's going to be shelled by Hezbollah rocket positions. And the Iraqi army is basically going to punish a city of 50,000 Sunni's to rid it of 600 guys. We have to remember, Ramadi was levelled. 80-percent of the buildings

have been destroyed. We can't call it effective counter-insurgency when we're simply rubbling cities to rid it of 600 to 1,000 ISIS fighters.

VAUSE: Ambassador Hill, can I get you to pick up on that? Do you believe that's the case, that this is simply payback?

HILL: Well I think it's more than that. I don't deny that that's part of [00:05:01] it. I mean, the Shi'a cities have taken a lot of attacks in recent months that have essentially gone unanswered by their government. Haider al-Abadi is really embattled, not only because he's not providing services to his people. He is not apparently taking the fight to the people who have been attacking them. So there's no question there's an element of that.

On the other hand, though, I can't see al-Abadi continuing in office if he can't start taking the fight to ISIS. What is particularly regretful is that unfortunately, he continues to rely on these Shi'a militia groups, many of which are armed and, frankly, loyal to various Iranian extremists. So this has been a very tough mission for a very -- a government that has really not been able to prove its mettle. I think the U.S. needs to be a part of it. So I support what they're doing, because I think the more the U.S. can be a part of it, the more they can avoid the potential that this could be a terrible civilian blood bath.

VAUSE: Okay. The British Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, he is confident the Iraqi forces can go in there and they can win this battle. This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILIP HAMMOND, FOREIGN SECRETARY, BRITAIN: Yes, we're seeing an increase in the capability of the Iraqi army and a growing self- confidence, as they have had success after success and they are clearing Daesh out of the Euphrates Valley, as well as preparing for the longer term goal of an assault on Mosul.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: He mentioned the longer term goal here, eventually taking Mosul. Michael, to you, is it too soon to start asking the question then what should they effectively liberate Mosul, the fighting against (inaudible)? Is the government, the Iraqi government capable of keeping the country together?

PREGENT: See, I would argue that no force has been built to retake Mosul. No force was built to clear and hold Ramadi, and the force that they're using to go into Fallujah is one that will be rejected by the Sunni population.

I'm not confident that the Iraqi army - - I'm confident the Iraqi army could do this and do this right, if allowed to, but Shi'a militia primacy in these operations and, you know, U.S. lack of advisers on the ground with the Iraqi army, you know, air strikes are one thing; but unless you are on the ground, you can't stop Shi'a militia rocket barrages and artillery barrages on these cities.

ISIS effectively pushed Mosul back to 2017. The Iraqi army is not ready for Mosul and is looking for a PR victory, and Fallujah is an easy target, an easy place to punish.

VAUSE: Ambassador, I'll give you the last word on all this. I guess, -- and can you can give us the bigger picture, the long-term prospects for the Iraqi government, to try and keep this country together?

HILL: Well, I think clearly Haider al-Abadi is a weak and weakened prime minister. He is having great troubles keeping even the Shi'a together, let alone across the Shi'a/Sunni divide. He is under pressure to show some success and he is not going to take Mosul; and it's correct it has been put back a year or so, but he has to show something. He is really not looking like he's going to succeed as prime minister. The longer this goes on with him, the reduced prospect of this country ever kind of stitching itself together.

So I think it's a big gamble. I think there's a lot of danger in this, but I think the Iraqis, or the Iraqi's even with Shi'a militia groups, this is something they have to do. I hope we can support them and I hope we can help shape what is coming in this battle.

VAUSE: Christopher Hill, former U.S. Ambassador in Baghdad, and Michael Pregent, former Intelligence Advisor to the U.S. General, David Petraeus, thanks to you both for being with us.

PREGENT: Thank you, John.

VAUSE: Appreciate it. Thanks.

SESAY: Very interesting; the stakes are so high in Iraq. You can't overstate that.

VAUSE: Well, and the problem is with the loyalties it of Shi'a militia, where do those loyalties lie? Is it with the government, is it with Iran? What happens once they liberate the city?

SESAY: Great conversation. Now, U.S. officials say a Taliban leader say Mullah Mansour was planning new attacks on U.S. targets before his death Saturday. He was killed by U.S. air strikes in Pakistan near the Afghan border. The Taliban were reportedly going to hit U.S. and coalition forces in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

VAUSE: It's the first time officials have sited new threats to American personnel in the city for a while. Media reports and sources close to the Taliban say the leader of an al-Qaeda affiliate will likely replace Mansour.

Now, to the search for EgyptAir 804. Authorities have asked for records of the flights departure from Paris, and transcripts of air traffic control calls from Greece.

SESAY: France is also providing equipment in the search for the so- called "black boxes". Nic Robertson reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: The Egyptian authorities [00:10:02] now have two submarines at their disposal. They have their own one that can reach a depth of about 3,000 meters, and French officials say they now have a patrol boat out there helping Egyptian authorities; onboard, they say, two specialist divers, a submarine that can go to a depth of 1,000 meters and an acoustic detecting device.

Now these acoustic detecting devices are very helpful because they -- the French officials say they can be used to help find the black boxes. the black boxes have transmitters attached to them. When the black boxes hit the water, the transmitters start sending out pings. The acoustic detectors can listen out for those pings. However, what the French authorities here are guiding is they are not able to use their submarine and the acoustic detectors yet. Why? Because they say they still have to narrow and refine the area of search.

They are still looking for debris. Once they have done that, then they can deploy the submarine. Then they can deploy the acoustic detectors. This really gives us an indication, according to the French, that the search here could take days now, or even weeks is what they are warning about.

Not quite clear how the Egyptian authorities are using the submarine at this time because the depth of the sea out there, 5,000 meters in some of the deepest places, way beyond the scope of either of these submarines. Egyptian authorities saying absolutely important, recover the bodies as soon as possible, find the black boxes. That is their priority at the moment, help give some solace to all the grieving families waiting for whatever information the authorities here can give them.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Alexandria, Egypt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: U.S. President Barak Obama is meeting with civil society members in Hanoi, Vietnam, his last event before departing for Ho Chi Minh City. In a sign of strengthening ties between the two countries, he announced Monday that the U.S. will fully lift a decades old ban on the sale of weapons to Vietnam.

VAUSE: Mr. Obama says the move is not based on China's growing influence in the region. He emphasizes weapon sales will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

SESAY: Well, CNN's Athena Jones joins us now from Hanoi. Athena, good to have you with us. Obviously the big headline from the trip so far, the end of the arms embargo. How is the Obama administration justifying that decision, when for years Washington had said the ban wouldn't be lifted until Vietnam took concrete steps to improve its human rights record?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT, via satellite: Hi, Isha. Well, for one thing, as you mentioned, Congress will have to approve each sale on a case-by-case basis. This is to make sure that these weapons, these arms, are not used against Vietnam's own citizens. We know that Vietnam has a long way to go when it comes to protecting and advancing human rights. The courts aren't independent. They are often used as political tools against critics of the government. Independent political parties and human rights organizations are banned. Independent writers and bloggers and activists are often harassed and assaulted and detained. So there is a long way to go.

But, from the U.S. standpoint, this is about balancing the U.S. interests in a stronger and closer relationship with Vietnam, partly to counter China, which, of course, has a huge influence, is a huge power in the region, and also the need to continue to try to advance human rights. The President, in making this announcement yesterday, said that, look, the U.S. is removing lingering vestige of the Cold War, and underscoring its commitment to a closer relationship with Vietnam; but he also said that conversations and a constructive and open dialogue about issues of human rights, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly and that sort of thing will continue. So this is about balancing both of those competing interests. Isha?

SESAY: Yes; indeed. As you mentioned, China looming large over this decision on the part of the U.S. Government. China's response so far to the ending of the arms embargo has been subdued, but are there concerns within the administration about what this could mean for U.S./China relations down the line?

JONES: Well if there are concerns, they are not really apparent at this moment. As you mentioned, China, in responding to this, was somewhat subdued. We heard from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokeswoman yesterday who, in talking about the announcement of the arms embargo lift, said the "arms ban was a product of the Cold War and should no longer exist. We hope the lifting of all such bans will benefit regional peace and development and, we are happy to see the United States and Vietnam develop normal, cooperative relations."

Now, that might not be the kind of statement you would expect to hear from China, but that is what they are saying, at least officially, in response to this embargo. We will see how things work out in a more practical and operational sense once we start seeing some of the arms sales happening. Maybe China won't be as happy as they sound in the statement. Isha?

SESAY: Yes, indeed. One last thing before we let you go; we know that the President has been slurping noodles with our very own Anthony Bourdain. [00:15:02] Let's put up a photo of the two. Anthony Bourdain posted this, this image, with the caption, "The President's chopstick skills are on point." Peculiar. Do we know what they talked about over those noodles?

JONES: Well, it's interesting. What's interesting about that photo is that I don't - it doesn't show the President actually using chopsticks.

SESAY: I know. JONES: So we don't get a chance, as viewers, to decide whether we agree that his chopstick skills are on point. Bourdain also tweeted that the entire cost of that meal that he shared with the President was $6. So that tells you a little bit something about the cost of things here.

We don't know exactly what they talked about, but we will find out, we imagine, in an episode, pretty soon, on Anthony Bourdain's show, "Parts Unknown." So we'll be watching for that certainly. Isha?

SESAY: Yes, we definitely will. With a $6 price tag, some would say the president say cheap date, that's what some would say. Athena Jones joining us from Vietnam. Appreciate it; thank you.

JONES: Thanks.

VAUSE: $6 goes a long way in Vietnam. That could be a very expensive meal.

SESAY: I expect you to spend more on me for a meal.

VAUSE: A short break. Donald Trump going after Hillary Clinton, big time, in new ads, targeting her husband's past infidelities but futures may, in fact, be even nastier from both sides.

SESAY: Plus, the next leader of the Philippines is making new controversial comments, this time aimed at the Catholic Church.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ("WORLD SPORT HEADLINES)

SESAY: Welcome back, everyone. Democrat Bernie Sanders is wooing voters here in Southern California with two weeks before the state's presidential primary. The Vermont Senator just wrapped up a rally in Santa Monica, where he proclaimed his campaign would win the Golden State come June 7th.

VAUSE: Sanders has vowed to stay in the race for the Democratic nomination despite lagging far behind Hillary Clinton in pledged delegates and wins and a lot of the votes, pretty much everything. A new poll shows the 2016 race for the White House is a statistical dead heat. The NBC News/"Wall Street Journal" survey has Hillary Clinton on 46-percent, Donald Trump on 43-percent. We should note that is within the margin of error.

SESAY: Well since April the poll also shows that more than half of America's voters have an unfavorable view of both candidates.

VAUSE: Polls more than six months out from an election usually have questionable value, but these latest numbers seem to show what could be a problem for Democrats. CNN's Senior Washington Correspondent, Jeff Zeleny, is with us now from the L.A. Newsroom.

Jeff, take a look at the trend. There's a trend-line here, which a lot people are looking at it. It shows Trump doing better, Clinton doing worse. Is this because Trump, he's hit a high point after getting the nomination. He's uniting republicans and Hillary Clinton, she's really still struggling to (inaudible) off Bernie Sanders?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: John, that's a big part of it; no doubt. The bigger thing is the independent voters, those voters who don't necessarily align themselves with either side are going to Donald Trump, at least in the short term here. That's one of the advantages he has of wrapping up his nominating contest early. That's the only thing that's really changed in the last few weeks or so. That's the difference in these polls over a month or so ago.

He is consolidating the support of some of those voters, right down the middle there, who weren't sure about him before and it is one of the worries the Clinton campaign has, that they are losing time here. Democrats believe they are losing time because they are still focusing on Bernie Sanders, of course; and Donald Trump has unified them. But those independent voters in the middle, who will can change from back and forth, and they swing all around, that is what really speaks to why Donald Trump has closed this gap here in the last month or so. John?

As you say, Bernie Sanders, he's still out there campaigning. He still in this race. He was holding a series of rallies in Los Angeles. He is clearly encouraged by a surge of new voters ahead of the California primary next month. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT) DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There has been an incredible, as I understand it, unprecedented, surge in voter registration here in California. The final statistics are not in. I think today is actually the last day that people can register but we think there may well be maybe as many as a million and a half new folks who are registering as Democrats or as non-affiliated who had can vote in the Democratic primary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Okay. So Sanders, he obviously has a lot of enthusiasm. He is getting a lot of new voters coming in. He's pushing on. So at this point, is there anything the Clinton campaign can offer Bernie Sanders to convince him to get out of the race?

ZELENY: John, I think the short answer is no, there's nothing that they can offer him or surely they would have already.

There is something the Democratic National Committee is offering Bernie Sanders, and that happened earlier today. That was that they gave him a third of all the seats on the Party's Platform Committee. This was behind the scenes meetings they'll be having at this summer's convention. Bernie Sanders he will be able to appoint five people on that Platform Committee. Very important here, at least in terms of pushing his issues forward.

Now that is nothing that is going to get him out of the race at all, but it's one of those many olive branches that we're going to see coming his direction, his way in the next few weeks or so. That is one of the reasons that he is focusing his ire, his anger at the Democratic Party leadership, like Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chairwoman of the party and not necessarily at Hillary Clinton herself. He has ratcheted back some of his rhetoric. Sometimes it flares up again.

There's nothing the Clinton campaign can offer him, but the Party is beginning to open its doors up, at least a little bit, to some of Bernie Sanders' demands. Those are going to grow, John, should he win the California primary. 475 delegates at stake here. Of course, he will get a decent share either way, because Democrats split them proportionally. Should he win California, that will give him more say. He will have more demands at this party's nominating convention this summer, in Philadelphia.

[00:25:01] VAUSE: Yes, the delegates equal leverage. Hillary Clinton, she continues to fight this war on two fronts. The Trump campaign turned up the attacks today, focusing again on past allegations of sexual misconduct by Bill Clinton, implying Hillary Clinton's involvement. Listen to this.

[Donald Trump Election Ad plays]

VAUSE: And keep in mind, this is only May. This will not be the shining light on hill campaign. Hillary Clinton today also going after Donald Trump about his past bankruptcies.

[Hillary Clinton Election Ad plays]

VAUSE: Jeff, are these negative ads and these attacks, is this a sign from both these candidates, they kind of know they can't win so they are going to make the other one lose?

ZELENY: I think that's exactly right. I mean, this is a race to the bottom, if you will. This is an election, in many respects, that you will -- some voters will be deciding the lesser of two evils, but this is where the potential of sort of different messaging comes in. The candidates will go after themselves, after each other, no doubt.

You saw that ad that you played just at the beginning there, the Instagram video. You wonder why Donald Trump is doing that. It's those independent voters we talked about earlier, those moderate voters, who don't want to re-litigate all the trials and tribulations from the Clinton era, a quarter century ago. They are looking for something new. That's why he is doing it. I mean, as much as we hate this negativism, it actually works. So this will be a -- not exactly an optimistic election by any means. It will be a scorched earth election.

This is a divided country, 50/50. We knew this race was going to be tight until the end. These candidates have so many negatives here, but, you are right, John, it's only May. I mean, who knows what's going to be coming down the pike here but certainly not a sunshine and light election.

VAUSER: Yes, no rainbows and lollipops. Jeff, great to speak with you. Thanks so much. ZELENY: John, thank you.

SESAY: None indeed; all right, well, the controversial president- elect of the Philippines says he will defy the Catholic Church and impose stricter family planning when he takes office. Rodrigo Duterte says he's a Christian, but wants only three children per family to deal with overpopulation. The country is largely Catholic with strong opposition to abortion and contraception.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RODRIGO DUTERTE, PRESIDENT-ELECT, PHILIPPINES: Family control, everything that is needed to control a family. You do not follow your natural because your natural stymies the biological function of the man. If you want to do it, but you can't because the scripture tells you not to, that's crazy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well Duterte's comments come a day after he criticized the Church as hypocritical.

VAUSE: A short break here. When we come back, the death toll continues to rise, well over 100 now, as ISIS strikes two Syrian government held cities with a string of bomb attacks.

SESAY: Plus, a CNN exclusive. We will take you to a secret location inside Syria where U.S. troops are training fighters to take on ISIS.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:31:59] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. You are watching "CNN Newsroom" live from Los Angeles; I'm John Vause.

ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Isha Sesay; the headlines this hour: U.S. President Obama is meeting with civil society members in Hanoi before traveling to Ho Chi Minh City. On Monday he lifted a decades old ban

on sale of weapons to Vietnam. He says the move is meant to help strengthen ties between the two countries, and it's not based on China's growing influence in the region.

VAUSE: Iraqi forces are battling ISIS militants on the outskirts of Fallujah. They're backed by U.S. Coalition air strikes. The Iraqi Air Force dropped thousands of leaflets urging civilians to flee, but ISIS is reportedly preventing many from leaving.

SESAY: U.S. officials say the Taliban was planning new attacks on U.S. forces at the time of the leader's Mullah Mansour's death. Mansour was killed by U.S. airstrike on Saturday. The terror group was reportedly going to hit targets in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

VAUSE: ISIS is claiming responsibility for two attacks on military personnel in Yemen. A suicide bomber targeted newly trained soldiers in downtown Aden and a car-bomb hit a recruiting center near a military base. Security officials put the death toll at 43. In Syria, a series of powerful and deadly bomb blasts have struck coastal cities of Tartous and Jableh, a stronghold for President Bashar al-Assad. As many as nine bombs exploded Monday despite a heavy military and intelligence presence.

SESAY: (Inaudible) say nearly 150 people were killed and that number will likely rise. The World Health Organization says more than 40 of the casualties were patients at a hospital and their family members. ISIS is claiming responsibility.

VAUSE: In a secret location in northern Syria, the U.S. is quietly training Syrian democratic forces to fight ISIS. The commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, General Joseph Votel, slipped into the country this weekend to see firsthand how that effort is going.

SESAY: CNN's Pentagon Correspondent, Barbara Starr, went along to bring us an exclusive report.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: These are the first images ever shown publically from a U.S. Special Operations Training Camp in northern Syria. From here and other secret nearby locations, the U.S. military is racing time to train enough local Syrian forces so they can push south towards Raqqah, ISIS's declared capital.

CNN was the only television network with General Joseph Votel on his secret day-long trip to Syria. Votel oversees the war against ISIS.

GEN. JOSEPH VOTEL, COMMANDER, CENTCOM: My principal purpose was to meet with some of the Syrian Democratic Force Leadership, in multiple locations, and also to meet with our adviser teams.

STARR: General Votel has come to northern Syria under extraordinary security conditions. In fact, we have been asked not to reveal a number of

details on how we all got here; but Votel considers this part of the war a top priority. He is here to meet with the U.S. military advisers that are helping some of [00:35:03] these local troops, that you see, work to defeat ISIS.

Votel went to multiple locations we've been asked not to disclose, meeting with key local leaders in the Syrian Democratic Forces, an umbrella organization overseeing many of these young Arab fighters the U.S. is training. A spokesman for the Arab Forces being trained here is critical of U.S. efforts. He says his group urgently hey need more ammunition and weapons, beyond the few ammunition supplies is he says the U.S. has delivered.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, via translator: We have been given a limited number of old rifles.

STARR: Due to security concerns, we are not allowed to show details of the base. Our cameras are restricted. Security is so high here, the U.S. advisers want their faces shielded but they do want to talk about the training. You are a military adviser here. What do you guys do here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are here training the Syrian Democratic Forces. Now, when I say training, generally, that's consisting of basic level weapons training, shooting AK-47s and shooting larger machine guns.

STARR: Their four-star general taking an extraordinary step to see it all firsthand.

VOTEL: I have responsibility for this mission. I have responsibility for the people that we put here. So it's imperative for me to come and see what they are dealing with, to share the risk that they are absorbing on a day-to-day basis.

STARR: Even as the Arab fighters here patrol the surrounding fields and stand watch, getting ready for whatever their future holds.

Barbara Starr, CNN, in Northern Syria.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well forensic examiners are beginning the grim task of digging up at least 100 bodies from a mass grave in Mexico's Morelos State. The dead are believed to be victims of drug cartel and gang violence between 2010 and 2013.

VAUSE: Officials are taking DNA samples to help identify the victims. The area has one of the highest kidnapping rates in the country. Residents say the dead deserve a proper burial.

SESAY: Still to come here on Newsroom L.A., families are grieving the loss of their children after fire ripped through an elementary school dormitory in Thailand.

VAUSE: Also ahead, four people have died in as many days on the world's highest peak. The rescue efforts on Mt. Everest are not done yet.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Hello, everyone. Authorities are trying to figure out what caused a deadly fire at an elementary school in Thailand which killed 18 young girls.

VAUSE: Our Michael Holmes has the latest on what happened.

[00:40:02] MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The fire tore through a girls' school dormitory in the Northern Thai province of Chiang Rai on Sunday night, as children lay sleeping inside. The dormitory, home to 38 girls between the ages of 5 and 12, many of them from poor, hill tribe families; nearly half of them were killed. One, an 8-year-old girl who had been at the school just two weeks.

JARAKET PADAN, FATHER OF FIRE VICTIM, via translator: We got information directly from the hospital that many people died in the incident and there are many injuries. Many died in the fire. We already accepted 50-percent that our daughter didn't make it because the fire was so strong. Now my daughter is already dead. I wish her to stay in the good place, in the place that fulfills her hope.

HOLMES: The tragedy weighing heavily on all the families of children who called that school home.

MEE PADAN, MOTHER OF FIRE VICTIM, via translator: I'm very sad that we are the parents but couldn't help our children because we live so far away from them. My daughter is still young so she couldn't help her friends, who all sleep next to her. I'm suffering very much for them.

HOLMES: Forensic teams work to identify victims remains and determine what caused the blaze. So far, more questions than answers.

Michael Holmes, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well, rescuers are searching for two Indian climbers missing on Mt. Everest.

VAUSE: It comes after a deadly weekend on the world's highest peak. Sumnima Udas has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUMNIMA UDAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's the ultimate achievement, scaling the top of the world, Mt. Everest, at 8,848 meters, almost 30,000 feet; but the deaths of four climbers in as many days has shaken the mountaineering community.

Phurba Sherpa fell to his death while fixing the route, just a few meters from the summit. Dutch climber, Eric Arnold, a triathlete, died from a suspected heart attack. He was on his way down after successful summit. Australian national Maria Strydom, died from altitude sickness at Base Camp Four, the final stop before the summit. On Sunday, Indian climber, Subash Paul, also died.

Danger is inherent here. More than 250 mountaineers have died since Tenzing Norgay and Edmond Hillary made the first official ascent in 1953. But, still, every year, hundreds are drawn to it, willing to take the risk.

The air is so thin the oxygen level is a third of what's available at sea level. The wind is vicious; the weather erratic; the terrain, deadly. Kenton Cool is a guide has climbed Everest 12 times.

KENTON COOL, MOUNTAIN CLIMBER, MT. EVEREST: The winds are very brutal on Everest and they can make what would be a relatively amenable summit day into something quite the opposite.

UDAS: climbing had been halted for the past two years, after a deadly avalanche in 2014 that killed 16 Sherpas and a devastating earthquake that struck Nepal in 2015. A lot was riding on this year's climbing season. The Nepali Government hoping to revive tourism, in a country reeling from the earthquake. Authorities say some 400 climbers summited Everest this year, but this is a tragic end to yet another climbing season.

COOL: It's not considerable dangers. It is very, very dangerous. You do need a depth of experience. You do need the understanding and the skill set to be able to operate and even survive at such altitudes.

UDAS: A reminder how dangerous scaling the highest mountain in the world can be.

Sumnima Udas, CNN.

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"World Sport" is up next. we're on standby waiting for a news conference from U.S. President Barak Obama in Hanoi. in the meantime, you are watching CNN.

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