breaking overnight. afghan special forces have reta retaken the city of kunduz. the operation launching late wednesday still ongoing. the cnn international editor nic robertson joins us now. what is keeping the afghans confident they will hold on? reporter: boris, the more information we get in today, the more we are learning about the situation on the ground. it still seems to be fluid. they believe that they can hold on at the moment because they come back into the city and they have reinforcements. they outnumber the taliban. the taliban has support in the town. that s why they were able to get in so quickly because people in the city are disgruntled if you will with the government.
police and potentially also we re hearing now as well maybe hundreds of sunni tribesmen could also be involved in this fighting too. now, the exact makeup of these forces is so key because of the sectarian divide in iraq the sunni-shia tensions that have always been here. fortunately now i think many observers are seeing the name of the this operation that the shia militia announced is called answering the call of hussein. that s very many are wondering perhaps the initial signals of this aren t particularly about embracing iraqi nationalism. but we have to see if this violence actually translates announcement translates into progress on the ground. we are hearing from those shia militia at this stage they don t think they need coalition assistance. they might be able to do it on their own. a tough fight ahead though michaela. certainly there will be. all right, nick thank you. this operation launching just as the u.s. and iraq get into a war of words over isis following harsh co
in isis. we are having a hard time establishing communication with nick. the important thing is the iraqi government trying to make the case it is on the offensive in anbar province after losing the city of ramadi one week ago to isis. we do not know if that is a substance operation from the iraqi government. we will check back in with nick. the american defense secretary said they lost the will to fight. the operation launching as officials in u.s. and iraq are sniping as each other over the fall of ramadi to isis. president obama used memorial day to talk about the sharp break from what ash carter told cnn about iraqis losing will to fight. and the deputy prime minister
book. also joining us is a professor middle east analyst at the university of maryland and the brookings institution. ari, you re worried it s about to escalade. this situation right now, aren t you? , absolutely. israel leads attacks in unprecedented way. it shows a lot of constraint but i m afraid if it goes on, the israeli cab cabinet might feel it has to strike. what would the mission be? right now israel is in the problem that it is perceived as weak because all the major cities are attacked. this is the equivalent al qaeda operation launching rockets from cuba, first florida, then at