Return to Transcripts main page

Connect the World

How ISIS Funds Activities; How ISIS Gained Ground, Arms, Strength; UK Father Begs Son to Return from Syria; Fighting Ebola; Parting Shots: Syrian Refugees Use Parkour to Cope; Spanish Nurse Becomes First Person Outside West Africa To Contract Ebola; Street-To-Street Fighting in Kobani; Vice President Biden Disrupts Delicate Balance In Coalition; One Square Meter: Ecorium

Aired October 07, 2014 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BECKY ANDERSON, HOST: The Syrian city of Kobani is on the brink of falling to ISIS, despite desperate efforts to save the strategic border

town.

This hour, we'll examine how the terror group has funded its growth into a global threat and how it's getting the better of some of the world's

most powerful nations.

Also ahead, the first case of Ebola contracted outside of West Africa. We're live for you tonight in Madrid.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is Connect the World with Becky Anderson.

ANDERSON: At 7:00 p.m. in the UAE. On the face of it, it is an uneven fight. On one side, the militant group ISIS, whose members, if you

believe most analysts, would struggle to fill a large football stadium, on the other, this coalition of countries, home to more than a billion people,

boasting some of the world's largest and most sophisticated militaries.

But if the battle is weighted in the latter's favor, well the so- called Islamic State's reign of terror on the ground in Iraq and Syria tells a different story.

So, too, does its ability to inspire extremist support from Africa to Southeast Asia.

This hour, we'll examine what's driving ISIS, where it gets its money and how it obtains its arms and why against the odds it's been able to take

so much territory.

Well, Phil Black is on the Turkish-Syrian border near Kobani where a human rights group says more than 400 people have been killed in fighting

over the past few weeks.

What's the story on the ground, Phil?

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, just a few moments ago, once again, we heard fast -- away fast moving aircraft, at

least overhead. And if you take a look on the horizon behind me, that's the hill above Kobani. And you can see a tower of smoke.

These are the things we've been hearing and seeing in very close succession through the course of the day.

Not constantly, not frequently, but regularly, the sound of aircraft and then big explosions around the perimeters of Kobani.

Those fighters, those Kurdish fighters inside the city believe that these are coalition airstrikes. And indeed the U.S. military has confirmed

there's been a number of them, at least five through the course of last night and this morning. We've seen one I think just in the last hour or

so, which we strongly suspect to be so.

And those fighters in the city are pretty thrilled about this. They believe that these are strikes that are making a difference, that are

hitting significant targets around the city and helping their fight in the city.

Because it is in the city itself that the situation is now so dire. That is where ISIS has now entered, where they are now fighting desperately

in the streets, street-to-street, building-to-building. We're hearing reports of very high casualties on both sides.

The Kurdish fighters believe they can hold out, at least a little longer, despite being outnumbered, out-gunned, despite ISIS being

resupplied, but they do not believe they can do so indefinitely. What they say is that really the only thing that can delay ISIS taking the city,

perhaps maybe just prevent that possibility, are the sorts of airstrikes we believe we've been seeing around the city today.

But they warn, those Kurdish fighters, that in the event that ISIS takes the city what will take place for those still there, the thousands of

fighters, some of the civilians remain. They say that, in that case, would be a massacre, Becky.

ANDERSON: Phil Black is on the Turkish side of the Syrian border just miles from Kobani.

Well, taking control of that town is a crucial component of ISIS's strategy. The area in red is controlled, or contested by ISIS. Scenes in

Kobani would create a straight path of control from the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa right into Turkey, about 100 kilometers away.

Iraqi army forces are also taking on ISIS near the Iraqi capital.

Ben Wedeman joins me now from Baghdad. And Ben, you've been with the Iraqi army as it battles ISIS. What did you learn?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, first let me give you some breaking news, Becky. Within the last hour, there's been yet

another car bomb here in Baghdad. It occurred in the Mushta (ph) neighborhood outside a large market there where we believe, according to

Iraqi security sources, at least a dozen people may have been killed, many more wounded. And this is exactly the nightmare scenario for Iraqi

security forces, that they have to deal with an enemy, ISIS, that's gaining ground elsewhere in Iraq, it is also a danger within the city of Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WEDEMAN: Riding to the front lines west of Baghdad, you quickly get an idea of what's been going on here over the last few months. It's hard

to make out through the Humvees thick cracked, dust encrusted bullet-proof windows, but all the homes here have been abandoned as the Iraqi army

battled ISIS for control of this area.

And where is ISIS? "That's Daish (ph) right over there," says Brigadier General Ali Abdel Hussein Kazem (ph). Using ISIS's Arabic

acronym. "But it's no man's land. We can hit them with our mortars and artillery."

The general is a 24 year veteran of the Iraqi army. Under Saddam Hussein, he fought the Americans twice, then fought on the side of the

Americans against an enemy now called ISIS.

But for occasional sniper fire, it's been quiet here on the front lines for several weeks. This outgoing fire more for the benefit of our

camera than intended to repel advancing militants.

This area the Iraqi army has managed to hold, and they say they've even pushed ISIS back, but there are other areas just up the Euphrates, for

instance in the town of Hit where they've lost ground and they seem to be losing ground on a daily basis.

In the last few days, ISIS took over that strategic town and is putting pressure on Ramadi. Only one major city, Haditha, remains under

government control in Iraq's vast Anbar Province.

At another location, we can see more abandoned homes from an Iraqi army machine gun position. The houses, says General Ali, are all booby-

trapped. Snipers fire every day, the soldiers told me, at 6:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m.

But during our visit, they were silent. Once again, however, our hosts insisted on opening fire.

For now, a handful of ISIS fighters harass the army, but at least here they haven't overrun their positions.

"They just want to prove they're here," says the general. "They can't come closer. Well, they've tried several times."

The real danger to the Iraqi capital, says Brigadier General Mohammed al-Oscary (ph) is from ISIS sympathizers in the city.

"They're a gang," he says. "They deploy amongst civilians. They disappear into the civilian population and camouflage themselves."

The enemy inside the gates, the enemy outside the gates where there's an uneasy quiet for now on Baghdad's western front.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Well, it sounds as if we've lost Ben Wedeman. But his report there giving you a real sense of what is going on on the ground

there just outside Baghdad.

We're going to move on. We're going to do more, though, on this top story a little bit later this hour.

In Spain, health authorities are monitoring what could be three new Ebola cases. On Monday, we learned that a nurse's assistant in Madrid has

tested positive for the virus, becoming the first person known to have contracted, actually contracted Ebola outside of Africa.

Now this woman helped treat a Spanish missionary and a priest, both of whom have contracted Ebola in Africa before returning to Spain for care.

The two later died.

Well, Spanish authorities say all the proper procedures were followed. The EU, though, says it wants answers.

Well, more than 20 people who had contact with the nurse's assistant are being monitored as well.

Al Goodman joins us from Madrid.

And firstly, what do we know about the current state of health of this woman?

AL GOODMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Becky.

She is a patient here at the Carlos III hospital, that's the leading in Madrid in the fight against infectious diseases. Authorities say she's

doing well, given her situation.

But it's not just about her. And remember, she used to work here on a medical team until recently with those other Ebola patients from Africa,

Spanish missionaries who were brought back here, one died in August, one in September. She got sick after that.

It's not just her, though, three other people that authorities say are now here as well at this hospital under a suspicion, under a sort of an

isolation that includes the husband of the nursing assistant, a man who just got to Spain from Africa and another nurse who was on that team.

But It's not just them. The 60 people -- the 30 people, excuse me, on the medical team were also under observation, not in hospital, but being

observed to see if they might develop the virus.

And it's not just them, as another health official explained this day, there are even more. Let's listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAFAEL SANTAMARIA, DIRECTOR, CARLOS III HOSPITAL (through translator): In this case, we have looked at all her contacts both at a familiar and

professional level at the hospital of El Carcon (ph) et cetera, et cetera.

And so far we detected 22 contacts outside the hospital that will be monitored continuously in case any issue arises.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOODMAN: If you add it all up, Becky, it's about 50 people under observation, a small number here in hospital, but clearly the authorities

trying to get containment of this problem -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Al, the Spanish authorities have said that all procedures were followed. What sort of precautions were taken, because the European

Union has said that it wants answers.

GOODMAN: Right, well the health minister at a very tense press conference that we attended last night insisted in that message. We've

heard that throughout the morning and throughout the day. But they haven't really explained what all those procedures were.

What we have heard, is from the other side, from medical workers, from unions representing medical workers who say that they have warned the

government here now for weeks that they really weren't fully that equipped to handle this kind of crisis and that perhaps the suits and the gloves

that the workers were wearing here in the hospital were not at the high standards, for instance, that they say that they have seen at the best of

the United States hospital.

So there is going to be a lot of -- a lot of questions right now on what went wrong. And really nobody seems to know at this point -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Keeping you up to date on the health of the nursing assistant, and indeed the questions that at least the European Union says

it wants answered.

Thank you, Al.

Ebola now a truly international concern, clearly.

Still ahead, we are live in the U.S. where President Obama is looking at new measures to screen arriving air passengers.

First, though, find out why some controversial remarks from a (inaudible) vice president could cause a rift in the international

coalition against ISIS. That, after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: You're with CNN and Connect the World with me Becky Anderson. Welcome back.

Much of our focus for the last couple of days has been on the Kurdish city of Kobani in Syria. ISIS sees the city as crucial in its strategy in

the country. And the ongoing battle there underscores the importance of putting together a viable coalition to take on the militants.

But some recent remarks from the U.S. Vice President Joe Biden threatened to derail that delicate task.

Firstly, this from Elise Labott.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELISE LABOTT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Obama administration is scrambling to hold together the coalition of Arab countries battling ISIS

after Vice President Biden was forced to apologize to two key allies for comments he made questioning their commitment to stop the terror group

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our allies in the region were our largest problem in Syria.

LABOTT: His critical comments about Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar came during a recent speech at Harvard.

BIDEN: They poured hundreds of millions of dollars and tens -- thousands of tons of weapons into anyone who would fight against Assad,

except that the people who were being -- who were being supplied were al Nusra and al Qaeda and the extremist elements of Jihadis coming from other

parts of the world.

LABOTT: The White House was asked about Biden's apologies to Turkey and the UAE today.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The fact that he called the leaders of those senior officials in both of those countries to

apologize is an indication that he himself wishes that he had said it a little bit differently.

LABOTT: Privately, however, officials admit that while Biden was undiplomatic, he wasn't entirely wrong. Sources say competing agendas

among allies in the volatile region has allowed money and weapons to end up in the hands of extremists.

Biden also gave voice to U.S. criticism, Turkey has allowed foreign fighters to cross the border into Syria to join ISIS.

BIDEN: And the Turks -- President Erdogan told me -- he's an old friend -- said you were right we let too many people through.

LABOTT: Depending on who you believe, that conversation with the Turkish president was either supposed to be private or it never happened.

But all of this is making the job of keeping a fragile coalition on message even harder for the State Department's top public diplomacy

official who just returned from the region.

RICHARD STENGEL, U.S. UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE: I think they regard it as a very minor distraction compared to this real challenge of

mobilizing all of our collective forces against this abhorrent organization.

LABOTT: While many officials say privately they agree with Vice President Biden's comments, they admit it's not exactly something you say

out loud when the U.S. needs Arab and Muslim nations to take the lead in the fight against ISIS.

Plus, the say, a lot of these actions happened a long time ago. They say Arab nations and Turkey are fully on board. So it seemed like an

unnecessary dig at key allies that the U.S. needs in the fight against ISIS.

Elise Labott, CNN, The State Department.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Well, Washington maybe downplaying this, but when the vice president of the United States has to make an official and very public

apology, it suggests a serious diplomatic faux pas. Ultimately, how damaging, then, could this episode be for the coalition?

Elizabeth Dickinson is a Gulf-based journalist who has written for journals, including Foreign Policy extensively, I have to say, and The New

Yorker. And she has authored a number of reports on Gulf financing for jihadi groups.

You, Elizabeth, described his comments as very disruptive. What sort of damage, if any, do you think he has done?

ELIZABETH DICKINSON, JOURNALIST: Well, certainly I think these are going to be patched over very quickly. We've already seen the very rapid

move for the vice president to call the leaders affected, to apologize. And there will be senior military officials and State department officials

traveling to Turkey this week in order to improve coordination.

Turkey, of course, being one of the countries that was most offended by Biden's statement.

ANDERSON: It's fair to say that the vice president has a habit of misspeaking, going rogue at times, and needing to be reigned in, perhaps.

But in an article in Foreign Policy magazine that you, yourself, write for Monday, the article said Biden's remarks, and I quote here, "may have been

impolitic and in some ways imprecise, but the substance of his remarks match up with what the U.S. intelligence community has known for some time

and is evenly publicly alluded to," particularly when it comes to Turkey and its porous border.

Isn't the fact that as one of your colleagues who wrote this article, suggests that Joe Biden actually is the only honest man in Washington?

DICKINSON: I think there are definitely shades of truth in what he said. And when we talk about the Turkey border situation, certainly

there's been a lot of blame on Turkey for letting a lot of illicit traffic over the border, whether that's people, whether that's arms, whether that's

humanitarian aid.

Of course the flip side of this situation is that Turkey has left the border open for more than 1.5 million refugees to come over the border. So

there are a lot of sensitivities when you bring up this issue.

ANDERSON: Elizabeth, you're going to be back with me at the bottom of this hour. You wrote a terrific article recently, exhaustive almost in

both reading and its research about financing of these jihadi groups and that is something I want to talk about at the bottom of this hour.

For the time being, thank you very much indeed.

Live from Abu Dhabi -- I need to take a break at this point -- on Connect the World I'm going to have the global headlines for you in a few

minutes as well. First, though, we're off to South Korea where a patch of land earmarked for factories is now looking forward to a much greener

future. One Square Meter is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN CORREPSONDENT: It's a piece of land that was headed for a different destiny. A little over two hours drive south of

Seoul, South Korea Suchon's (ph) county's future was going to be factories, or so many of its resident's thought.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Korean government had a different idea at the time.

DEFTERIOS: The idea, a government funded 998,000 square meter national institute of ecology.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've done enough of environmental destruction. Now is the time that we should think about protecting the environment.

DEFTERIOS: Freshly opened late last year, the institute's centerpiece, the $125 million Ecorium has already had more than a half

million visitors and boasts the 2013 Korea Green Building Award.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the first of its kind in the passive architecture in Korea. As you can see, it's nicely kind of fit with the

general environment, the lines of the mountain and the general atmosphere.

Inside, the atmosphere is one of excitement as streams of school kids dashed between the five featured climates from tropical to desert. And

older visitors take a more contemplative approach, study more than 2,000 plant species.

But beyond the exhibitions is the institute's real backbone: research.

CHA JIN YEOL (through translator): If Korea National Ecology Institute carries out strategic research and announces the research

results, this will help enhance career's ecology research position in the world.

It will be a great opportunity if international researchers will come to the National Ecology Institute to do the research together.

DEFTERIOS: Researchers are still being selected, but the dream is that once it all comes together South Korea will find its way back to its

roots.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you look at Asian philosophy, it's just really very basic concept is, you know, harmony with nature. But somehow in

recent years this sort of research has been done in the west. In the east, in comparison, we've been lagging behind. But now we need to look back and

regain that concept and philosophy, then we might actually, you know, be the model for other Asian countries to follow.

DEFTERIOS: John Defterios, CNN, Suchon County (ph), South Korea.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: This is Connect the World with me Becky Anderson. The top stories for you this hour.

Some news just coming in, British counter terror police have arrested four men in their early 20s in London suspected of planning a terror

attack. There are ongoing searches of vehicles and homes in connection with the investigation into Islamic related terrorism. You'll remember the

UK raised its terror threat level at the end of August. More on that as we get it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: This is CONNECT THE WORLD with me, Becky Anderson. The top stories for you this hour.

Some news just coming in: British counter-terror police have arrested four men in their early 20s in London suspected of planning a terror

attack. There are ongoing searches of vehicles and homes in connection with the investigation into Islamic-related terrorism. You'll remember the

UK raised its terror threat level at the end of August. More on that as we get it.

Spain monitoring three more people for signs of the deadly Ebola virus. One of the husband of the nurse's assistant who we learned on

Monday has tested positive for the virus. She is the first known person outside of Africa to contract the disease. Authorities are tracking down

22 people with whom she had contact.

A 6.0 magnitude earthquake has hit southern China's Yunnan province. That is according to the United States Geological Survey. It's estimated

some 65,000 people felt strong shaking. No word yet on any damage or casualties.

The crowds have thinned at protest sites in Hong Kong more than a week after the pro-democracy movement grabbed worldwide attention. Student

leaders have organized talks with government officials later in the week, but a core of demonstrators are still blocking parts of --

(AUDIO GAP)

ANDERSON: Evidence of the intense fighting in the northern Syrian city of Kobani can be seen in these plumes of smoke. A Syrian monitoring

group says more than 400 people, including ISIS militants and Kurdish fighters opposed to them, and civilians, have been killed in fighting in

Kobani since mid-September.

ISIS spending considerable sums of money to carry out its war, but it has no money raising funds. One US official told CNN that the Islamist

group probably raises about $1 million every day. Drew Griffin shows us how ISIS gets its money.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT (voice-over): This is the southern-most edge of Turkey. Just across those hills is the border

with Syria.

(EXPLOSION)

GRIFFIN: The area where extremist Islamic rebels known as ISIS are fighting to create an Islamic caliphate or Islamic state. It is also an

area in villages like this --

(AUDIO GAP)

GRIFFIN: -- can make money to fight --

(AUDIO GAP)

GRIFFIN: -- small oil smuggling operations, some estimate adding up to millions of barrels in the last few months, have been uncovered. The

oil comes from refineries ISIS has taken inside Iraq and Syria. Up until just last week, it was easy to smuggle into this part of Turkey.

Why? Smuggled, cheap oil is a much-prized commodity here, and it doesn't matter who's selling it, even if it's your energy.

GRIFFIN (on camera): Buy gas at any station just across the border here in Turkey and you'll see why it's so easy to overlook who is selling

what. Gas here in Hatay costs roughly $7.50 a gallon.

(GUNFIRE)

GRIFFIN (voice-over): US coalition forces just in the past week have destroyed, attacked, and bombed ISIS oil facilities precisely to cut off

the group's funding. But if you think just knocking out ISIS's oil will stop this radical Islamic army, you don't understand just how many ways

ISIS funds itself.

MATTHEW LEVITT, STEIN PROGRAM ON COUNTER-TERRORISM AND INTELLIGENCE, WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: We've described this as the

best-finance group we've ever seen.

GRIFFIN: Matthew Levitt is a student of terror financing, working previously for the US Treasury Department, the FBI, and now with the

Washington Institute for Near-East Policy. ISIS, he says, is different than any other traditional terrorist group and is funded like no other.

Yes, there is oil, yes there are charitable donations from wealthy sympathizers in countries including Qatar and Kuwait. But ISIS funds

itself mostly from within. Born among the crooks and thugs of Iraq, it is, at its roots, says Levitt, a criminal enterprise.

LEVITT: They were always primarily financed through domestic criminal activity within the borders of Iraq.

GRIFFIN (on camera): It's massive organized crime run amok with no cops.

LEVITT: Exactly.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Want to do business in ISIS-controlled territory? You pay a tax. Want to move a truck down a highway? You pay a

toll. Villagers in ISIS territory pay for just about everything.

LEVITT: There are reports that people in Mosul who want to take money out of their own bank accounts need to make a "voluntary," not-so-voluntary

donation to the Islamic State, to ISIS.

MOUAZ MOUSTAFA, SYRIAN EMERGENCY TASK FORCE: They're taxing the people, that's a huge revenue.

GRIFFIN: Mouaz Moustafa is the executive director of the Syrian Emergency task force in Washington, DC. He says ISIS literally formed in

the void --

(EXPLOSION)

GRIFFIN: -- made by the pull-out of US troops and the retreating Iraqi army. That kind of self-financing mob, he says, can't be destroyed

from airstrikes. You need to take back the territory and restore order. Fighters willing to do that are frustrated that the US so far won't help

them.

(GUNFIRE)

(SHOUTING)

GRIFFIN (on camera): It's a White House decision.

MOUSTAFA: It is a White House decision, and it always has been. And I think the White House is slowly moving in the right direction. I can

tell you that the policy that the White House has right now, if it had this policy three years ago, there would have never been an ISIS. We probably

would have gotten rid of Assad.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): US-led coalition airstrikes have now begun targeting ISIS locations, attacking the oil facilities, and even grain

silos. But as long as ISIS controls any ground where civilians can be taxed, extorted, and robbed, ISIS will remain self-financing.

Drew Griffin, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Well, we discussed earlier this hour the apology that the vice president of the US, Joe Biden, had to make to two countries, Turkey

and this country here, the UAE, who he name-checked as having helped seed the activities of ISIS, be it with fighters, porous border -- I'm alluding

there to Turkey -- or financing.

Let's explore this issue of ISIS funding and ISIS military might in more detail. I want to bring in journalist Elizabeth Dickinson once again.

She's Middle East correspondent and editor for "Monitor Global Outlook." Thanks for joining us.

I just want to read an extract from your article that you wrote recently, and I think it was published about a week ago, about Qatar's

relationship with terrorist group funding. "All of these fundraising activities were orchestrated by individuals -- not the government -- as

Qatar has noted in its defense in recent weeks. But this is also exactly the point," you say.

"By relying on middle men, Doha not only outsourced the work, but also the liability of meddling. And even where it wasn't involved directly,

Qatar is not unaware of what's going on in its network."

They refuge allegations entirely as a government of any funding of a terrorist organization, although they did go on on CNN to say, and I

paraphrase to a certain extent, one man's terrorist group is another man's freedom fighter, of course.

ELIZABETH DICKINSON, MIDDLE EAST EDITOR, "MONITOR GLOBAL OUTLOOK": Well, I think there is a lot of disagreement about who really is in the

opposition and who is an extremist group. We have to remember that the rebels fighting in Syria are really a spectrum of groups with different

ambitions.

Qatar was very involved in supporting the Syrian opposition, but the folks that they supported tended to lean more towards the extreme side than

perhaps the United States or other Western allies would have liked.

ANDERSON: Coming back to the UAE before we continue on with Qatar, an abject apology from Joe Biden, there was -- to the leadership here.

There has been much talk of original seed financing of groups who may or may not have gone on to become ISIS or whose participants then played a

role in what we now know to be this group known as the Islamic State. So, where do you see these Gulf nations, and who should apologize? And if so,

why?

DICKINSON: I think there are several different issues here. The first issue, private financing for the Syria conflict really has primarily

gone to more moderate forces, as well as to al Qaeda itself, not to ISIS.

However, a number of those forces who have been allied with al Qaeda have gone on to fight with ISIS, as you said. So there is certainly this

fine line between the two groups, and it's certainly not a clear distinction.

ISIS itself, however, I think it's best to think about it as a mafia, and the way that they're extracting rent is really internally -- extortion,

kidnapping, selling illicit oil, taxation. All of the ways that you can think about a mafia would raise money, this is how ISIS is raising their

funds.

ANDERSON: I have to go on with something that you said. Qatar funded just about everyone short of ISIS, you have said. The one linkage is

defections, individuals and brigades previously backed by Qatar have gone on to join ISIS, likely taking any arms and funding with them.

You have been exhaustive in your investigations into what is going on, so you can stand that up, correct?

DICKINSON: That's right. There are specific brigades that we can point to that were supported by the Free Syrian Army and, in fact, were

backed by not only Qatar, but the broader coalition of Western allies.

But then, in the midst of fighting on the ground in Syria, later defected to ISIS. So there's one very clear example from Deir ez-Zor where

we saw four battalions of a very powerful Free Syrian Army brigade very closely-linked to Qatar, went directly into ISIS, including their leader.

ANDERSON: Fascinating. All right, we're going to leave it there. We thank you very much, indeed, for joining us. Come again.

Many of the countries in the coalition are trying to keep their own citizens from joining ISIS and other militant groups. CNN's Karl Penhaul

spoke with a British father who has already lost one son and is pleading for his other sons to abandon their fight. Have a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ABUBAKER DEGHAYES, FATHER: We feel happy that he died a good death, if you like, as a Muslim martyr goes to Paradise. At the same time, we

feel sad for the loss. He was so young, so much in front of him.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One son already dead, two more still on Syria's front lines, Abubaker Deghayes

desperately wants them home.

DEGHAYES: This issue as a father, I'm very selfish. I think about my sons first, and I want them out of danger. That is the bottom line.

PENHAUL: Amer, British born and bred, was first to leave. He was 19. He took up arms a year ago with al-Nusra Front, an al Qaeda-linked faction

battling the Syrian regime, but also designated a terrorist group by the US.

Now in northwest Syria via Skype, I ask Amer what led him from his English seaside home to the battlefield.

AMER DEGHAYES, AL-NUSRA FRONT FIGHTER: To me, it doesn't make sense that more people are being attacked, and then you sit at home and do

nothing. Why is that considered to extreme for you to go and rescue your religion or you rescue your people and do your duty? Why is it seen as

extreme? Has a reached a point that the morals of life is to only care for yourself?

PENHAUL: At the start of this year, Abdullah and Jaffar, joined him on jihad. Deghayes had been to Syria himself doing aid work. He says he

tried unsuccessfully to persuade his sons to focus only on the humanitarian effort.

In April, the news this father had been dreading: one of his three jihadi sons was killed.

ABUBAKER DEGHAYES: Abdullah advanced into the territory of the Syrian army, and then a sniper shot him in his chest, I think. And he fell on his

back, looked at the sky and laughed, and then died. That's how his brother described it.

(MISSILE LAUNCHING)

PENHAUL: Since the launch of US airstrikes in Syria, Deghayes knows the danger is growing for his two surviving sons. The US contends it's

primarily targeting ISIS, not al-Nusra, but Amer told CNN al-Nusra units close to his base were also bombed last week. Amer says al-Nusra may now

cut a deal with onetime rivals, ISIS, to confront the American-led offensive.

AMER DEGHAYES: The scholars of Islam have come together to work towards a peace treaty between all of the groups as they see it's more

beneficial and all for facing this coalition. But still, we have our Islamic differences.

PENHAUL: On the home front, Deghayes wants a different kind of deal: a British government amnesty that would allow foreign jihadis like his sons

to come home.

ABUBAKER DEGHAYES: If you tell people you're already a terrorist, you are going to be imprisoned if you come back. You've going to be punished,

you're going to be -- so what you're saying is not come back. So, I think there should be an exit strategy for those who went.

PENHAUL: As the Skype signal fades, no hint Amer is looking for the off-ramp. He has a message for his family.

AMER DEGHAYES: I just advise them to be patient and to earn the rewards with me by being patient and to wish for me to be steadfast.

PENHAUL: Leaving his father clinging only to snapshots of a summer long gone.

Karl Penhaul, CNN, Saltdean, England.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Live from Abu Dhabi, it is 7:43. Coming up, the US president calls Ebola a top national security priority. I'm going to tell

you why he is calling for something to help stop the spread. That coming up after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: A nurse's assistant is being treated for Ebola in Spain. More on that as we get it. Meantime, in the US, a Liberian national with

Ebola remains in critical condition at a hospital in Dallas. Health officials say he is receiving an experimental anti-viral drug.

Well, our senior medical correspondent joining me now from Dallas. And Elizabeth, the president has in no uncertain terms described how

important he thinks this is, and he is now, I know, suggesting ways in which he might protect the American people going forward.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, Becky. They're talking about increased screenings at US airports. As I found out

when I left Liberia, there is lots of screening at that airport, but really pretty much no screening that I could see at airports in the United States.

So right now, the president and others are reviewing what steps could they take to have better screening at US airports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I consider this a top national security priority.

COHEN (voice-over): US efforts to keep Ebola out of the country now ramping up, with President Obama announcing the development of new

screenings at US airports to detect those who may be carrying the virus.

OBAMA: The procedures and protocols that are put in place must be followed.

COHEN: What those protocols are, yet to be determined. A federal official tells CNN it could include temperature readings for passengers

arriving from affected countries, something that takes place now as passengers leave those countries.

This amid a frightening new development: a Spanish nurse's assistant becomes the person to contract Ebola outside of Africa in this outbreak.

The woman helped treat a Spanish missionary and priest, both contracting Ebola in West Africa and dying after returning to Spain. An investigation

now underway to find everyone the assistant came into contact with while contagious.

This as Thomas Eric Duncan, the Ebola patient seen here when he arrived in Dallas on September 20th, is now being given an experimental

drug called brincidofovir, originally developed to treat viruses like smallpox. Duncan couldn't be given ZMapp, another drug used on two Emory

University patients who survived.

Duncan remains in critical condition, but his family hopes for the best.

WILFRED SMALLWOOD, HALF BROTHER OF THOMAS DUNCAN: We know he's going to be OK. When they are treating him with drugs, he'll be fine.

COHEN: The fifth American to contract Ebola, NBC cameraman Ashoka Mukpo, strong enough to walk off a plane Monday in Omaha from Liberia.

Health officials at the Nebraska Medical Center, where he's being treated, say they're preparing for the worst as the disease runs its course.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In most cases, the symptoms tend to progress over a period of time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: About nine days since dozens of people, Elizabeth, had contact with Duncan, are those who had contact with him out of the woods

yet?

COHEN: You know what, Becky? They're not completely out of the woods, but we have reached a really important time. On average, it takes

about nine days to get sick from the time you have contact with an infected person until the time you yourself get sick.

So, the fact that nine days later, we don't have a single one of his contacts ill, that is definitely -- that's definitely a good sigh. They're

really getting into this window now.

Now, they will be following these folks for 21 days because they want to be safe and sure. But once they get past this 10-day mark, which they

almost are, that's certainly a reason to be a little bit optimistic.

ANDERSON: Meantime, in Spain, I'll just take you across the pond, the EU wanting answers on whether Spain followed procedure, whether it did the

right thing when these missionaries came back from Africa who, sadly, since have died, leaving an infected nurse's assistant. What do we know out of

Spain at this point?

COHEN: What we're told by Spanish authorities is that they did do everything exactly right, followed the protocol correctly. But I will tell

you, having spoken to people who've been in and out of these so-called space suits, it is difficult to do this perfectly. You have to put it on

perfectly, and even more importantly, Becky, you have to take it off properly.

So, when you're taking it off, you're taking off infectious materials, because bodily fluids from the patients may have splashed onto you. So, it

has to be done right, you have to have a buddy who helps you do it and who watches you to make sure that you're doing it right.

So, we don't know what went wrong here. We don't know what wrong with actually hundreds of health care workers who managed to get infected. We

just don't know the answer. But it would be great if there were some kind of an investigation or a review to figure out what's gone wrong so many

different times.

ANDERSON: Yes. Elizabeth Cohen on the story for you. Elizabeth, thank you.

Live from Abu Dhabi, this is CONNECT THE WORLD with me, Becky Anderson. I'm going to take a very short break. We are back as Syrian

refugees try to make Turkey feel more like home by practicing parkour. Their story up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: In Jordan, a group of Syrian refugees is using sport to escape the reality of what's happening back home. In tonight's Parting

Shots, Jomana Karadsheh shows us how teenagers are practicing -- well, it's one sport. Let me take you to their city and show you how they're using

their city as their gym.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Far from the bloodshed at home, these young Syrians find an escape in the art

of parkour. For them, it's more than just a sport and a disciplined routine. Twelve-year-old Moayyad's family left Damascus a year ago. Every

day, he misses home, he says.

Last month, he met a group of Syrian friends training at this Amman park and joined them. "We play, we have fun, we train, and I forget what's

upsetting me," Moayyad says.

For twin brothers Abdelrahman and Yahya, it's about remembering a life they once had. "We miss Damascus so much, we want to go back. But we

realized it's impossible. This sport is the only thing that reminds us of how we used to live and train with our friends who are still there,"

Abdelrahman says.

The Moghrabi brothers first saw parkour in YouTube videos, and in 2009, they started training. But in 2011, as Syria's uprising began, they

were forced to stop and stay home.

After two year's in Jordan, they decided to start training again now and teach other Syrian friends. "It's a mental release. You release all

your worries and energy and focus on something nice. It feels like you are flying," Yahya says.

The can't afford renting a training space, so they meet in public areas and parks. They hope one day they will be good enough to make it

internationally. They want to do it for Syria, they say. "No matter how far you are from home, it remains in our hearts, and what we do will be for

our country. We were forced to leave it, but we love Syria."

Some define parkour as an art of moving forward and overcoming obstacles. For these Syrians, it's also about looking back to the place

they still call home.

Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, Amman.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: I'm Becky Anderson, that was CONNECT THE WORLD out of the UAE this evening. Thank you for watching, see you tomorrow.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END