U.S. Special Ops Backing Push Against ISIS in Syria; Flight 804 Black Box Signals Detected?.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Right now the United States and its allies are stepping up the fight against ISIS. Militia groups backed by U.S. special ops have launched the push on the ground inside Syria. Our chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto is with me right now. What are you hearing, Jim?</s>JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, the effects of U.S. forces on the ground in Syria being felt very quickly. We've seen them very close to the ISIS capital of Raqqa along with Kurdish forces there and now with Syrian and Kurdish forces along the border with Turkey, arguably an equally important target, the main entry point for fighters into Syria for ISIS.</s>SCIUTTO (voice-over): These are U.S. backed Syrian forces taking on ISIS in a critical new offensive. The target, the area that of Manbij, ISIS' critical supply route to get arms and fighters into Syria and terrorists into Europe.</s>COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Once you cut off the supply line that ISIS has, you then make it very hard for ISIS to sustain its recruitment efforts, its current force levels, and its ability to carry out attacks.</s>SCIUTTO: Some 4,000 Kurdish and Arab forces are joining the fight, backed by U.S. special forces. The offensive is part of a larger strategy to isolate the terror group in preparation for retaking ISIS' capital in Raqqa. U.S. special forces, seen here in rare video, are now embedded with Kurdish forces on Raqqa's doorstep.</s>LEIGHTON: The special forces that are working with Kurdish and Free Syrian Army and the similar organizations are basically teaching them how to stand and fight as well as providing them with the tactical wherewithal and how to actually prosecute these kinds of counter insurgency campaigns.</s>SCIUTTO: ISIS is under attack in Iraq as well, where Iraqi forces are in the midst of a massive assault to re-take the city of Fallujah just west to the capital of Baghdad. The forces are potentially precarious combination of Iraqi military units, Shiite militias, U.S. air power and Iranian forces. With reports that the commander of Iran's Quds forces is on the ground near the front lines.</s>SCIUTTO: With this new operation along Syria's border with Turkey, one coalition partner extremely uncomfortable with it, and that is Turkey. Wolf, as you know, Turkey considers these Kurdish fighters terrorist organization tied to the PKK, terrorist organization inside of Turkey. Part of the deal with this offensive is that as soon as ISIS forces are cleared from this key border crossing, those Kurdish forces will leave that area. It's hard to see how that happens quickly. It creates a huge sensitivity with America's allies.</s>BLITZER: Yes. And with this Iranian leader, Qasem Soleimani, in Iraq right now, that's another serious issue that the U.S. has to obscure --</s>SCIUTTO: Strange bedfellows. Yes.</s>BLITZER: It certainly is. All right. Jim Sciutto, thanks very much. Faint signals from the depth of the Mediterranean are giving new hope right now to searchers desperately hunting for the black boxes from that downed EgyptAir flight. Our aviation correspondent Rene Marsh has been looking into all of this. Rene, dramatic developments. What's the latest?</s>RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, a critical break in the search for EgyptAir Flight 804. Investigators have confirmed they detected signals from the plane's black boxes. This potentially brings them one step closer to unraveling exactly what caused the crash.</s>MARSH (voice-over): Distinct sounds coming from the floor of the Mediterranean Sea could lead investigators to the first substantial clues to what happened to EgyptAir Flight 804. So far searchers have only retrieved scattered aircraft debris and human remains, not the main body of the plane. But a French naval ship with three underwater listening devices detected sounds investigators say belonged to the cockpit voice recorder or flight data recorder of the Airbus 320. That is a sample of what signals from black boxes sound like. Inside those boxes investigators hope to find answers to what brought down the plane.</s>SARAH MCCOMB, NTSB: So these are the four different channels from a cockpit voice recorder. First officer's mic and one from a -- potentially if there's a third crew member. And then we also have the cockpit area microphone.</s>MARSH: Sarah McComb runs the recorder lab at the NTSB. The agency is not a part of the investigation but is world renowned from its expertise in analyzing black boxes. This is the room where investigators listen to cockpit voice recorder audio.</s>MCCOMB: We certainly try to identify anybody who is speaking within the cockpit and whether or not that's another crew member from the back of the airplane who possibly comes in. And we all try and document any other sounds that the group can identify as part of normal cockpit operations.</s>MARSH: Other sounds like a potential explosion.</s>MCCOMB: And listen to the recordings and then with the group around the table be able to start typing as the group agrees on what they're hearing and factually type the transcript of the recording.</s>MARSH: That's one piece of the puzzle, the other is the data recorder which will detail the plane's altitude, speed, and how its systems were working. Together, the information is a huge part of the puzzle. EgyptAir Flight 804 from Paris to Cairo was at 37,000 feet when it lost contact above the Mediterranean early May 19th. Shortly before the aircraft was scheduled to exit Greek air space and enter Egyptian air space. It is still unknown whether a bomb or a catastrophic mechanical failure caused the plane to crash, killing all 66 people on board. To date, no terror group has claimed responsibility for bringing the plane down.</s>MARSH: And when the black boxes are retrieved, they'll be brought to Egypt. It is not sure if Egypt will ask another country for help in reading them out but the French aviation accident investigators say a specialized ship will be sent to the search zone next week with equipment to retrieve the black boxes. And Wolf, once they have them, it just takes a matter of days for them to download the information.</s>BLITZER: All right, Rene. Thank you. Coming up, court papers bring fresh scrutiny to Trump University which former staffers say was a fraudulent scheme to prey on the elderly and uneducated. Donald Trump shrugs off the lawsuit but Hillary Clinton says Trump is using the same approach to, quote, "scam America."