New Video of Raid on ISIS Prison in Iraq.
ROMANS: Riveting new video this morning of the raid in northern Iraq that cost a member of the U.S. Army's elite Delta Force his life. That video released by the Kurdistan Regional Government captures the rescue of about 70 hostages from an ISIS controlled prison. The Pentagon says those hostages were facing imminent mass execution. They were going to be killed -- their graves have been dug. Let's get the latest from CNN senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh who is live from Turkey this morning. And Nick, you know, this video, watching this video of this event that resulted in the death of the first, you know, American service member in four years in Iraq. Really just telling the story of the dangerous situation.</s>NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it actually shows you a glimpse into the secret of what American special forces have been doing in Iraq or particularly were doing in that raid. Now it's rare that you see American commandos in action. This is captured on a Kurdish soldier's helmet camera, right to the very front of the action. It's pretty clear when you see what's going on here that the American commandos are right at the front much of the way, they're often shooting at the enemy, it seems. And the normal idea of the advice and assist mission you often see with the American Special Forces, they tend to hold back. They're not necessarily right to the front. They're kind of giving advice and instructions from behind. Clearly in this case, which led to the death of Master Sergeant Joshua Wheeler, 39-year-old from Oklahoma, a veteran of 14 tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. The commanding officer on the ground decided they needed to get more into the fight. Now they may have been assisting on the ground, or it may have been a part of their broader rules of engagement but it has opened a window on to quite how much boots on the ground American commandos were in that case and perhaps have been before but just not publicly acknowledged in the fight in Iraq. That's a significant change in America's involvement. Secretary of Defense, Ashton Carter, saying, look, they're going to be in harm's way and we're going to see more of this. And perhaps that's a reflection of the constant criticism of the White House, they're not really serious about tackling ISIS, that there need to be people on the ground, taking the fight to the leadership. But in this video, you see just how intense that combat is, just how close to the front those Americans were, and how they partner along with their Kurdish special force counterparts. But it's frankly, when you listen to this, the Americans just seemed in control -- Christine.</s>ROMANS: Yes, they do. What can you tell us about, Nick, about the hostages? Who were those people who the Americans and the Kurds were able to free?</s>WALSH: Well, that's sort of bit a mystery about this really. I mean, U.S. officials said initially they were aiming at Kurdish captives in there, which explains why the Peshmerga Kurdish Special Forces put themselves in that mix and perhaps why they got partnership for the Americans to do that. It turns out that was wrong. They got there. Found captured Iraqi soldiers, Iraqi civilians, and perhaps two, perhaps some ISIS members who've been considered spies by ISIS who are being held captive. Now quite how that intelligence failure came about, we don't know. Quite if we're hearing the whole picture we don't know either because we just have American and Kurdish officials' word for what was going on there. But still, a stark bold raid there and one that frankly publicly has changed the perception of what American soldiers are doing in Iraq in the fight against ISIS -- Christine.</s>ROMANS: All right. Nick Paton Walsh for us this morning. Thank you.</s>BERMAN: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says his top priority is to defeat terrorists before holding presidential and parliamentary elections. But the embattled leader claimed he is ready to hold those elections sooner if necessary. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called for new elections in Syria over the weekend. The Russian insists Assad is prepared for a broad dialogue with all responsible political forces operating within Syria.</s>ROMANS: European leaders have agreed to work together to manage tens of thousands of migrants crossing the Balkans. The leaders of 11 nations meeting over the weekend in Brussels, they came up with a 17- point action plan that includes aid from the U.N. to accommodate 100,000 people, half of them in Greece. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel calling on Europe to be a continent of, quote, "values and solidarity."</s>BERMAN: All right. A former television comedian with no political experience is going to be the new president of Guatemala. And Jimmy Morales won by a landslide Sunday, defeating former first lady, Sandra Torres. Brought at 72 percent of the vote. A corruption scandal brought down the last administration. The 46-year-old Morales campaigned on a promise of clean government and is promising to hand out smartphones to kids and tag teachers with GPS devices to make sure they show up for class.</s>ROMANS: All right. Breaking overnight, at least five people killed when their whale watching boat capsizes. Details next.