First U.S. Member Killed in Syria; Trump Names Don McGahn as White House Counsel.
KEILAR: We have another transition alert to report. CNN has confirmed that Don McGahn will be named White House counsel. McGahn served as President-elect Trump's campaign lawyer. He is currently advising the transition team. He is the counsel on the transition team and he's going to face the complex task of keeping Donald Trump's business dealings separate from his presidency. In a statement, the president-elect said McGahn has, quote, "a brilliant legal mind and will play a critical role in the administration." We'll have more on that as we learn more. And for the last six weeks, this is story we've followed. Iraqi forces have been fighting to drive is out of Mosul. While the offensive made significant gains, it's come with a heavy price. CNN international correspondent Phil Black visited one neighborhood that was liberated from ISIS but residents are reminded daily militants are never far away. And we have to warn you, some of the scenes in the history are graphic.</s>PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These people have just lived through the horror of urban warfare. They cowered in their homes for days, prayers and white flags their only protection as Iraqi forces fought their way through the neighborhoods of eastern Mosul against fierce ISIS resistance. Now, there is little food, water, or medicine. No electricity. But there's much relief.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A dark thing on the chest.</s>BLACK (on camera): ISIS is like a dark thing on the chest.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.</s>BLACK: And it's gone now?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, Daesh, the dark thing is gone.</s>BLACK (voice-over): You could hear the fighting in the near distance.</s>BLACK: It's still dangerously close. ISIS is gone from the streets, but its ability to harm these people hasn't passed. Just 24 hours ago, we're told, a family was sitting here outside a home when a mortar struck a short distance away, and an 18-month-old girl was killed. Her name was Amira Ali (ph). Her father, Omar, is overwhelmed with grief. He cries, "What did she do wrong? She was just playing. She's gone from me, and she's my only one." Every day this makeshift clinic inside Mosul sees the terrible consequences of mortars fired into civilian areas. It's a bloody production line. The wounded are delivered, patched up quickly, and loaded into ambulances to transport to hospital. At times, it seems endless, as one ambulance pulls away, another military vehicle speeds in carrying more wounded civilians. They're unloaded with great care as the medics work to help the victims of yet another ISIS mortar attack. But they can't save everyone. This man's 21-year-old son was killed. He says, "A mortar just fell in front of the door, we came, and he was just a piece of meat. Four or five of my neighbors were standing with him, and they're all dead."</s>KEILAR: Right, U.S.-backed Iraqi forces have completely surrounded the city, meaning that ISIS fighters are trapped inside. They can not escape, they can not call for backup and they can not get new supplies. Let's discuss now with Colonel John Dorrian, spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve. Colonel, thanks for being with us. As we hear this, that Iraqi forces say they don't expect an imminent victory, what is your assessment on the battle for Mosul?</s>COL. JOHN DORRIAN, SPOKESMAN, OPERATION INHERENT RESOLVE: We've reached the toughest part of the battle. ISIL is desperate, they're using brutal tactics, they're taking it out on the civilians that are around them. These are the tactics that just make these people the worst in the world. The Iraqi security forces have conducted themselves in a manner that all Iraqis should be proud of. They fought very bravely and they are really working hard to protect civilian life. As you can see, though, very, very heart-wrenching situation, very difficult in Mosul right now.</s>KEILAR: And as we see, for instance, ISIS back on its feet in places like Mosul. We also saw this explosion, this bombing south of Baghdad that killed dozens of people yesterday so even as you see ISIS back on their feet, I think people wonder, "back on their feet" doesn't mean they aren't doing considerable damage, that aren't spurring on sectarian divides. How do you govern against that? Talk about that challenge.</s>DORRIAN: Well, one of the most difficult things about this enemy is they don't care anything about human life at all. So, what we expect to happen after their terrain that they've controlled for so long is taken away, they'll devolve back into a terrorist organization and conduct these types of spoiler attacks. It's an effort to maintain relevance. The Iraqi security forces are working very hard to prevent these types of attacks, but it's going to be a very difficult situation and what we've done is we've prepared the Iraqis and trained them and we continue to train them so that they will be able to create wide area security forces, the police forces that control these areas and try to reduce the amount of damage that ISIL can do.</s>KEILAR: What can you tell us about the American service member killed in Syria? First American service member killed in Syria. Important to note it's not the first U.S. service member killed in the theater. We've seen some special forces members killed in Iraq as well. We know there are about 300 Special Forces in Syria, a number of these are operators. A number of them are support staff. Can you shed any light on the identity of the service member?</s>DORRIAN: Well, we're not going to do that yet because we need to make sure that this hero's family has been notified, and given the proper amount of time to deal with the enormity of the loss. Our hearts and minds are with this member's family. His friends and his teammates because it's very, very tough fighting, this person volunteered for our defense of our nation and for all of us around the world, and he made the ultimate sacrifice. So, we're definitely going to honor that. It's very tough fighting. This happened in Syria and -- when the member's vehicle struck an improvised explosive device.</s>KEILAR: All right. We do appreciate that. As we were looking to confirm that as well, we know that it had something to do with an IED. We weren't sure if it was a vehicle and as you said, and we believe this, too, our hearts are certainly with the family as they've lost their loved one on Thanksgiving. Colonel Dorrian, thank you so much for an update on this story. We'll be checking back with you in the days to come. We'll be right back.