Isis Counterattacks News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Sliver of land in eastern syria. ben wedeman reports from near the front lines. >> in it's dying days, isis fights to the bitter end. the small remote, otherwise unremarkable syrian town on the banks of the u frphrates river it a pinprick shadow of its former self. captured in this exclusive video shot by freelance cameramen. it's been hard going with repeated isis counterattacks using their usual tactics, booby traps, suicide car bombs and human shields.

Force into the mountains, binto captivity. what's clear as the fighting continues, it's about the highway that runs the distance mind. highway 47. it goes from raqqa in syria, the caliphate self-contained isis, to mosul in iraq. they feel if they can cut off that, they can cut off the ability to sell off oil in the region. it clearly shows a coalition aircraft come to get support of what may have been isis counterattacks to move back down the highways. the kurds are clear. they need to cut that road off. they say they've done it in certain parts. that's going to be in the hours ahead where the...

>> reporter: local time last night, that's when it began. the night sky lit up by a series of explosions part of days of efforts by coalition aircraft to soften up the town of sinjar isis defenders. it's symbolic because of what happened last year to the yazidis that live there. forced into the mountains. what's clear today, as the fighting continues, it's about the highway that runs a distance behind me here. highway 47. it goes from raqqa in syria, the caliphate self-secured hold in isis to iraq. they feel if they can get that, they can secure isis around the region. what we're hearing is in...