CNN TV, 26 June 2014
Syria reported bombing border towns, Iran flying drones over Iraq, ISIS fighters on the march…and in the capital new word from Iraqi Prime Minister on forming a new, inclusive government: that word is no.
Nick Robertson, reporter from Baghdad:  Well 57 people dead, many more wounded, some of those dead women and children in three places mostly along the border with Syria. Al-Walid, al-Qaim, two of the places believed to be aircraft flying in the air. The Syrian government denies it. The Iraqi army spokesman says not at all. They’re monitoring their airspace, they say, that they can see nothing came into it. So they don’t believe, or at least they are saying they don’t believe, that it was Syrian aircraft. But those bombs, falling on a Sunni population, believe to be Syrian, causing a lot of outrage and heartbreak, women and children among the dead. Western officials saying that they believe these were indeed Syrian airplanes, they just don’t know how of a tie up there would have been between the Syrian government and the Iraqi government.

Anchorman: Iraq is now getting more than advice and training from Iran.
Barbara Star, reporter from Pentagon: Absolutely. A senior US official tells me that they now believe Iranian drones are flying over Iraq, gathering intelligence, gathering information to give to the Iraqi Shiite regime, and also Iranian al-Quds Force commanders, they are moving some of their commanders into Iraq to provide advice and perhaps more importantly, to mobilize Shiite militia and Shiite militia men in southern Iraq.

Anchorman: Kerry has left Iraq now, certainly doesn’t seem to have calmed down tensions at all. How is the administration reacting to the developments regarding Syria and Iran?
Reporter: What they are saying here at the Pentagon is that it just shows the complexity of the situation within a 24-48 hour period you have more Syrian military activity, you have more Iranian military activity, the US having perhaps 130 military advisors of its own on the ground, and as Nic points out much uncertainty because right now ISIS is stretched quite thin. Their lines are stretched over many, many miles, and the question is can the Iraqi forces take advantage of that and push back.
Anchorman: We have actually seen no evidence that Iraqi government are able to actually retake forces that ISIS have taken…Have you seen any evidence of Iraqi forces able to retake territory that they have already lost to ISIS, or to Baathists or to other Sunni groups?

Nic Robertson: No, I mean the short answer is we haven’t seen them able to do that.