Flee. President obama reiterated today in his weekly address, american combat troops will not be returning to fight in iraq. Victor said, we expect to hear from him in 20 minutes and will take you there live when it happens. Aides say hes monitoring the situation, potential for more air strikes as he leaves today for vacation in Marthas Vineyard. Here add cnn covering all angles of the develops story with ivan watson there in erbil in the kurdish area of iraq. A former u. S. Ambassador to creak, Christopher Hill and cnn military anne lift Major General spider marks. Thanks for joining us. Start with ivan. I want to get reaction there from the ground. What are iraqis saying about this round of u. S. Air strikes . Reporter i think the kurds are very much relieved, victor. Some of those air strikes were hitting just about 20 minutes drive west of erbil, the capital of the kurdistan region where im standing just past the kurdishheld town which gives a sense of how close the isis militants had gotten to the kurdish safe haven, not only a place hundreds of thousands of iraqis have fled to within the last three days, also home to some 1 millionplus kurds who would presumably also join a mass exodus of people fleeing if isis was able to reach this place. So senior kurdish officials very grateful that the u. S. Has stepped in. Take a listen. Thats why we are most grateful and express our gratitude and deep, deep appreciation. For president obama and the u. S. Administration, and for the courageous u. S. Army and airmen who are now patrolling the skies of iraq and iraqi kurdistan. Of course, victor and christi, this isnt the first time its helped protect kurds of Northern Iraq pap nofly zone led by u. S. Air power for more than a decade lead ing up to th u. S. Invasion of iraq hedging protect this area from saddam hussein, and then the kurds worked closely with u. S. Special force, and air strikes when the u. S. Invasion began to push back the Iraqi Government forces that were facing this area. So were seeing a new version of that unfolding as we speak. Victor and christi . Ivan, now that the air strikes have been there, has that given the Kurdish Peshmerga a chance to kind of reformulate and get itself together . How equipped are they moving forward from your Vantage Point . Reporter well, its a good question. Heres what one senior kurdish official told me. When Kurdish Peshmerga try to shoot at the armored humvees that the isis militants captured from the iraqi army two months ago, their bullets literally bounce all of those vehicles. Those are vehicles that came from the u. S. Military arsenal provided to the iraqi army, which collapsed en masse and those weapons were then seized by the isis militants and now being used against the Kurdish Peshmerga very effectively, and at pinpoint locations along a front line that runs for some 900 miles. That gives you a sense how stretched thin the Kurdish Peshmerga are and why they need, they say they need, the u. S. Air power to help defend their front lines against those isis militants. Ivan watson, thank you so much. We appreciate that. Lets talk more about the u. S. Air strikes and military strategy in iraq. Wow, what a statement to realize that the u. S. Is dropping air strikes now on isis who have some of the u. S. Artillery and equipment in its own hands and using it against us. Beg as question, to the general. General, as we move forward here, i guess there has to be some hesitancy to even arm the kurds. Youve got to support them in a way that we dont see anymore of u. S. Resources getting into the hands of isis, beyond the air strikes. Whats the plan . Well, you know, victor, its almost like, where do we start in this conversation, visavis isis in iraq. There are so many levels to this challenge we have and it truly starts with a lack of strategy, but to your very question, clearly, the United States is going to back up the Iraqi Military, the kurds and peshmerga are an extremely competent fighting force, have been for years very reliable. Indicating to you and should indicate to anybody else that isis is immensely talented in terms of the training they have, the equipment that theyve been able to get from supporters as well as what theyve been able to steal from the Iraqi Security forces. So this is a very conventions military, not subscribing to any kinds of policy bounds or rules of engagement. So the United States is going to continue to engage to make sure they can achieve some space and some time so iraq can get its act together and try to go after isis. Right now we are looking at simply a matter of preservation. We cant afford to let maliki fall, if he goes in exile, ends up in tehran, well have total ungoved space in iraq and thats not an outcome any of us want. Ambassador hill, weve been hearing all morning isis was moving closer to erbil, even before that report there from ivan. Wondering, knowing there are several hundred u. S. Military and diplomatic personnel in erbil, are you leaning at all towards an evacuation for them . No. Im pretty confident, actually, that the peshmerga certainly combined with these u. S. Air strikes will be able to defend erbil. Theres a broader issue here at work. The kurds have for many years signaled their preference for independence and frankly the only reason they have not declared independence is that the United States has told them, we dont want them to do that. We want to keep iraq together. I think the consequence of not helping kurdistan in their true hour of need i think would be to change the equation for them, and where they decide, in fact, the u. S. Opinion in this matter shouldnt count as much as theyve counted it in the past. Its been very important for us to be engaged. As for evacuating u. S. Personnel, i mean, obviously, these are decisions that need to be made on the ground, but i do believe that with these air strikes and with, as general marks said, a very highly competent albeit lightly armed peshmerga, they should be able to defend kurdish lands. I think its important to understand that the withdrawal of Peshmerga Forces from around the dam and these other areas was not the same as the route of iraqi forces a few weeks ago. So im confident that if we stay with this, and if as general marks says we have a broader strategy, an understanding that this isis group got their training, they are battleready and got all of that from syria. Theres no solution to this problem without a solution in syria. Mr. Ambassador, i want to stay with you for a moment. Since the u. S. Withdrawal, there has been, on different levels, continued fighting between the suni and the shia there. Sunis from what we understand, killing more shia and in syria, add the alowits fighting between muslims, but not until hundreds of thousands of christians were under siege did we see air strikes from the u. S. And some military involvement. Is there any correlation here between now christians are being persecuted, snis when the u. S. Gets in . Essentially would the u. S. Be involved in this was still muslims coming muslims . I think kurdistan caused the u. S. To get engaged. Im pleased we stepped in with humanitarian assistance. Your observation has been noted in baghdad especially among the shia. They dont believe this is all about whether maliki engaged in enough suni outreach. The shia believe this is about a suni war against the shia. By the way, they have a lot of evidence for this over the years and before our invasion as well. So the shia look at this and sort of wonder why does the u. S. Only engage when there are christians at stake . So i think we need to bear that in mind, especially Going Forward on governance issues in baghdad. The issue is not just to find someone whos pleasing to the sunis. The issue frankly is, an understanding that malikis time has passed. But the shia need to be able to come up with a strong leader of their own, and frankly, every time theyve come up with a leader not named maliki, the sunis have accused that person of somehow being an iranian stooge. All right. Ambassador chris hill and general spider marks, so grateful for both of you gentlemen, and for your perspectives this morning. Thank you. Thanks, christi. Sure. A reminder, president obama set to speak in about 15 minutes fro from now. Expected to make a statement on this issue on iraq. Well bring you that live as soon as he steps up to the podium. Peace talks crumbled friday and gaza again become a bloody war zone. The other big story following in the middle east. Reports of five People Killed already this morning in rocket attacks. Headed to jerusalem for the latest. Man [ laughs ] those look like baby steps now. But they were some pretty good moves. And the best move of all . Having the right partner at my side. Its so much better that way. [ male announcer ] have the right partner at your side. Consider an aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. Go long. Insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. Good to you have back with us. Reminder in about ten minutes president obama is scheduled to speak about the situation in iraq there from the south lawn of the white house. Before e had leaves for his twoweek vacation in Marthas Vineyard. I will stand by for the comments and bring them to you live. Meanwhile, looking at more death and destruction in gaza in the wake of peace talks once again that fell apart in a day since the latest shortlived truce came to an end, ten palestinians have been killed. Three apparently died this morning when israeli rockets destroyed a mosque, two others killed in a separate strike. The Israeli Military went after a total of 30 targets in gaza today and say five rockets were fired from gaza into israel. For the latest we want to go to cnn jake tapper live in jerusalem. Jake, is there any more clarity on who was firing those rockets into israel as we know hamas denied doing so. Well, the Israeli Government says that regardless of who is firing these rockets from gaza, into israel, hamas since they control the west bank, control gaza, having been elected to do so in 2006, is responsible, it seems possible, if not likely, other groups in gaza are the ones firing rockets, whether the mujahadin brigades or Palestinian Islamic jihad or some other group, its not clear. But as far as the Israeli Government is concerned, hamas since they run gaza is primarily responsible. Israel says they wont even entertain any discussions in cairo. Those discussions about a ceasefire and perhaps a Peace Process beyond that, being run by the egyptian government. Israel wont entertain participating in them until the rocket attacks stop. We heard, of course, from the palestinians, primarily being led by hamas in the call for the israeli blockade against gaza to be lifted before any ceasefire talks commence or continue. So right now thats where we are. Two sides not blinking. The palestinians for now presenting a publicly unified front, even if behind the scenes different factions are pushing for a ceasefire, unconditionally. So we have actually a fairly quiet night from roughly 10 00 local until dawn, no palestinian rockets, no israeli air strikes, but then the sun rose and palestinian rockets began, and israel started hitting them again, and now we have more death on the palestinian side. Now lets go to my colleague, john vause, who is in gaza right now. John . Reporter hey, jake. It does seem to be as if were entering kind of a deescalation here if you like. The israeli air strikes continue but appear to be much more targeted attacks that hit that moscow area today. Three people died there including at least a member of hamas. A fighter with hamas. Whether or not a senior military commander is yet to be confirmed. Also that strike on militants riding motor bikes. So far today five people have been killed and the idea continues to hit targets around gaza. Not just here in gaza city as well. You mentions the rocket fire continues but at a much lower intensity than before the ceasefire. Certainly a lot lower intense think than at the height of the fighting. About half a dozen rockets i think have been fired into israel. Maybe one or two more in the last hour or so and were seeing that the rockets which are being fired are in fact the sort of locally made versions of these rockets. Less sophisticated, a shorter range, only going as far as southern israel. Seems militants here are either preserving their arsenal, or longer range 34i678s or rockets which can reach tel aviv or haifa and this is islamic jihad, a militant group taking responsibility for all of the rocket fire. We did hear a short time ago a lot of talk maybe the israelis were heading back to cairo once the jewish sabbath were over. Maybe the ceasefire negotiations would resume there. Israelis saying that will not happen. As for the palestinians they are staying to their core demand. They want this economic blockade lifted. Jake, talked about the political pressure, which Benjamin Netanyahu is facing in israel to continue with this military campaign. Well, it seems theres political pressure too, here for hamas. Set such a high bar for this military campaign that for their attacks on israel that they now need something to show for it. Back to you guys. All right. Jake there in jerusalem and john to you in gaza, thank you very much to both of you. Thank you both. Well, the president s decision to launch air strikes over iraq has drawn mixed reactions. Lets say that, back home. Americans who fought in the iraq war are sounding off on the new mission to bomb militants and were moments away. Just about six minutes now, from the scheduled time that president obama is expected to come out to the south lawn and make a few comments about the situation in iraq. Well have those for you live. Keep it here. So glad to you have with us here at new day. Any minute were expecting to hear from president obama on the situation in iraq. A live look at the white house. Expected to be on the south lawn shortly. Leaven for a twoweek stay at Martha Vineyard later this morning. At the white house now, erin, obviously hell speak about the situation in iraq. 23 any indication from the white house what we should expect to hear . Reporter we did hear from him in terms of his weekly address rationalizing the decision for food drops as well as the air strikes. So i expect we will hear from him about how those twopronged missions are going so far. But we also heard from josh earnest, the press secretary as well, he said there is no specific end date for when this mission will end. So we dont know how long it will go on and what it will look like. Maybe we get more of an indication on that from the president here shortly. I would think perhaps wed also get a gauge of just how successful or unsuccessful the strikes thus far have been. Yes . Reporter thats absolutely right, christi. We have been hearing a little bit from the pentagon so far on how this mission is going, but, yes, we do expect we will hear more from the president. Hes supposed to be giving a bit of a longer statement before he gets ready to go on vacation, but i should also point out that he will be returning to the white house next sunday, and he will be here for another couple of days before he then goes back on vacation later the following week, christi. Obviously, something the white house is very focused on right now. We have, erin, thank very much. We have Justice Department correspondent evan perez with us as well. Evan, give us the perspective from where you are, because weve heard from senator diane sign fe dianne feinstein, once they have areas not taken over in iraq, the necessary present danger, im parp ra phraaphrasie u. S. . Reporter yes. It controls territory in iraq and parts of syria. The concern from the u. S. National Security Apparatus is whether or not this is an area where people can come and get training, and then perhaps turn against u. S. Allies in the region, against european allies and eventually against the u. S. Remember, theres over 100 americans that have gone over there to the syrian war to join militant groups. Its not clear where they are exactly. Thats part of what scares american authorities, victor and christi. All right. Thank you. Well take a quick break as we watch the happenings in iraq and wait to hear from president obama. He should step up to the podium shortly. Well bring it to you live when it happens. Stay close. vo ours is a world of passengers. The redeyes. daughter im really tired. vo the transfers. Well, thats kid number three. vo the copilots. All sitting. Trusting. Waiting. For a safe arrival. Introducing the allnew subaru legacy. Designed to help the driver in you. Care for the passenger in them. The subaru legacy. Its not just a sedan. Its a subaru. Ugh. Heartburn. Did someone say burn . Try alka seltzer reliefchews. They work just as fast and are proven to taste better than tums smoothies assorted fruit. Mmm. Amazing. Yeah, i get that a lot. Alka seltzer heartburn reliefchews. Enjoy the relief. The u. S. And joining us, viewers from around the world. The lawn of the white house, marine one, president obama flying off to Andrews Air Force base and then beginning his vacation in Marthas Vineyard. The podium in the foreground, president obama first, expecting to hear comments on the situation in iraq. And how much more the u. S. May engage there. We do have with us erin mcpike, phil mudd, cnn counterterrorism a cia, and the president is walking up to the podium hopefully getting a gauge, we will, of what the two rounds of air strikes have already done to the isis militants there in iraq. And perhaps in the humanitarian efforts as well. The thousands of things that have been dropped on the mountain. Good morning. Over the past two days american pilots and crews have served with courage and skill in the skies over iraq. First American Forces have conducted targeted air strikes against terrorists forces outside the city of erbil, to prevent them from advanci