Judy Woodruff:
The president responded, saying, “At some point, I will fight back, and it won’t be pretty.”
In turn, McCain said: “I have faced tougher opponents.”
In Afghanistan, bombings and shootings by the Taliban killed at least 74 people today. The worst was Paktika province in the east, where two car bomb explosions killed dozens, including the provincial police chief, and injured more than 100 others. Taliban militants also launched attacks in the south and west of the country.
In Syria, US-backed militia forces say they have regained control of the Islamic State’s de facto capital. Raqqa city has been under ISIS control since 2014. The battle to retake it began in June. Today, Kurdish-led fighters celebrated as they moved into the city centre. The US military said that 90 percent of the city of Raqqa had been controlled, with pockets of militants remaining.
There are reports that dozens of ISIS fighters were killed in US air strikes in Yemen on Monday. It appears that the strikes were carried out by drones. The Pentagon says the targets were training camps for recruits.
In northern Iraq, Kurdish forces withdrew from more territory today, as Iraqi government forces advanced. This came in the wake of the Kurds’ vote in favor of independence. Federal forces and allied militias had already forced the Kurds to leave the area in and around Kirkuk and its oil fields.
The Iraqi Prime Minister said this paves the way for talks.