Iraqis Halt Advance Into Fallujah
ROMANS: Now to the bloody struggle to liberate Fallujah. The Iraqi military releasing new video of air strikes pounding ISIS targets. But the ground offensive to retake the city has now been halted. More than 50,000 civilians caught in the crossfire. ISIS using many of them as human shields. Military officials in Iraq are struggling to come up with a plan that doesn't result in a massacre. CNN's Ben Wedeman tracking the latest developments live from Baghdad. And Ben, from the beginning we have been concerned about the civilians there. We have been concerned about ISIS using them as human shields. Some thousands of children there. And these reports that ISIS is threatening to execute men who don't fight for them.</s>BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Now we just got off the phone with an official from UNICEF show says that as many as for basically the last five days about 900 people have been coming out of Fallujah. Civilians also from the center of the city. They say that their condition is really terrible. They're described as exhausted, pale and dehydrated. Many of the children are suffering from malnutrition because of the lack of food within the city. And of course, the situation all the more complicated as the Iraqi army, it hasn't halted its military operations, it seems to have sort of halted on the edges of town. But they continue to bombard the city with artillery. There continue to be air strikes on ISIS targets within the city. But at this point it's not at all clear when they're going to go into Fallujah itself. They've already run into a lot of resistance from ISIS. ISIS of course has been in control of Fallujah now for two and a half years. The Iraqi army started deploying outside of Fallujah in September of last year. So ISIS has had plenty of time to dig trenches and tunnels, rig booby traps, roadside bombs, prepare for exactly this eventuality. Now the Iraqi army, when it began its operation, declared it was establishing humanitarian corridors for civilians to leave the city, but what we're hearing from the people who have been able to flee, ISIS has set up sniper areas. So this may -- just really a unilateral humanitarian corridor. ISIS is not respecting it. As you mentioned, they are executing those who are trying to flee. They are also trying to force some of the children, the teenagers, to fight on their behalf against the Iraqi army. So very difficult, delicate and unfortunately increasingly bloody situation.</s>ROMANS: And now a situation that's sort of on hold as authorities try to figure out how to proceed. Ben Wedeman, thank you for that.</s>MARQUEZ: Now they are bracing for the worst in France and Germany where deadly flood waters continue to rise after days of torrential rain. Thousands of people near Paris are being evacuated by boat. Workers at the Louvre are scrambling to move art work to higher ground. Look at that. It's unbelievable. At least 10 people are now dead, most of them in Germany. Forecasters expect downpours throughout the weekend. That's Paris. Unbelievable.</s>ROMANS: Honestly. Moving things from the Louvre to higher ground. Remarkable.</s>MARQUEZ: Incredible.</s>ROMANS: All right. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton attacking each other like we have not seen before in this 2016 race. A new Hillary Clinton potentially on the stump. Point by point tearing down Donald Trump. We've got that next.