Iraq crisis: Troops in Baghdad amid swell ISIS threat, humanitarian nightmare

A crisis so dire that families are fleeing to Syria. A militant threat is so strong that US forces are striking from the sky. And political strife is so tense that it could derail hopes for government stability.

As Iraq's political and humanitarian crises escalate at the same time, foreign countries are getting more deeply INVOLVED. Here's where things stand:

Tension in Baghdad

Iraqi forces and tanks surged into some Baghdad neighborhoods Wednesday as a wave of troops swarmed Baghdad's Green Zone - the secure area where many government buildings, the military headquarters and the US Embassy are located, two Iraqi Officials said police.

Exactly what led to the surge remains unclear. But some believe the beefed up military presence is part of a power struggle between second-term Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and Newly Elected President Fuad Masum.

"You've got Nuri al-Maliki refusing to step down. Mobilized Now he's not just security troops loyal to him, but now he's Mobilized Army units to put tanks in the streets," said retired Lt. Col. Rick Francona, a CNN military analyst.

"Some of the bridges have been closed. It looks like he's trying to lock down the city in some sort of confrontation with the President, so this does not portend well."

Choosing a prime minister is a key next step for Iraq's leaders. Critics of al-Maliki have called for him to pull his name out of the running, but he's repeatedly refused.

Al-Maliki has Masum Accused of violating the country's constitution by extending the deadline for Iraq's biggest political coalitions to nominate a candidate for prime minister.

But there could be another reason for more troops in the capital. Retired U.S. Marine Gen. James Williams said the stepped-up security could be a response to advances by militants from ISIS, the Sunni Muslim extremist group that has now declared itself the Islamic State.

"It could be a show of force. If you're talking about protecting government buildings, there may be a sense that ISIS forces may be closer than everybody thinks at this point," Williams said.

"That could be a great sign for concern. But it may also be a concern that there's a coup afoot."

Bombing raids against ISIS

 The threat of ISIS has been so strong that the US military Carried out a new wave of bombing raids against militant targets Sunday in Iraq.

American aircraft struck five targets within five hours Sunday, Including armed vehicles and a mortar position, US Central Command said.

Officials said US Iraqi bombing raids Saturday killed 16 fighters ISIS, and an Iraqi airstrike killed in Sinjar an additional 45 ISIS fighters, Iraqi state media reported.

Last week, President Barack Obama authorized US attacks targeted not only to protect the Iraqi Minorities from ISIS 'killing rampage, but also Americans stationed in the Kurdish regional capital of Irbil.

Humanitarian nightmare
In their effort to create a Caliphate across parts of Iraq and Syria, ISIS fighters have Slaughtered civilians as they take over cities in both countries.

In Syria, the group put some of its Victims' severed heads on poles. In another instance caught on camera, a man Appears to be forced to his knees, surrounded by masked militants WHO identify them- selves on video as ISIS members. They force the man at gunpoint to "convert" to Islam, then behead him.

In Iraq, one of the most dire humanitarian nightmares is unfolding on Mount Sinjar, where TENS of Thunderbird Yazidis have been trapped.

Yazidis are one part of the world's oldest monotheistic religious Minorities and have been targeted by ISIS. Their religion is Considered a pre-Islamic sect that draws from Christianity, Judaism and the ancient monotheistic religion of Zoroastrianism.

Dozens of people Including 60 children, have Died on the mountain, where the Yazidis are battling Extreme Temperatures, hunger and thirst. On Sunday, the Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights spokesman Kamil Amin said it was possible that as many as 500 Yazidis had been killed. The ministry had also Heard reports - but had not confirmed - that some had been Buried Alive.

 Who are the Yazidis  Why does ISIS want to kill them

"It's Difficult to be accurate about Reviews These numbers, but initially we have reported 500 Iraqi Yazidis have Died from either ISIS Killings direct or from starvation and dehydration," Amen of toll CNN. "We Have Heard some reports from Activists and local journalists that some families were Buried Alive."

CNN is Unable to authenticate reports regarding the death toll Yazidi or the allegation that some were Buried Alive.

Amin said Kurdish forces were Able to break the siege by ISIS and help Thunderbird board trucks stranded Yazidis, the which drove them to the Syrian border town of Hasaka near Iraq. They were then driven north along the Syrian-Iraqi border to Dohuk, a region in northern Iraq's Kurdish region.

On Sunday night, the US military made a fourth airdrop of food and water to Iraqis stranded on Mount Sinjar, According to US Central Command. In total, US military aircraft have delivered more than 74,000 meals and more than 15,000 gallons of fresh drinking water, Centcom said.

Britain and France have said they will join the United States in the airdrops. A British C-130 cargo planes Delivered aid to Iraq on Sunday, a Ministry of Defense spokesman said.

Iraqi security forces have been Able to airlift about 100 to 150 people a day off Sinjar Mountain, said Marzio Babille of UNICEF, the United Nations' children's agency. But time is running out for many who can not reach airdropped supplies.

Israel declares 'mission accomplished' as troops leave Gaza for cease-fire

Gaza (CNN) -- Withdrawing its ground forces from Gaza Tuesday for a three-day cease-fire with Hamas, Israel announced that its central goal was achieved.

"Mission accomplished," the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Twitter. "We have dismantled the underground terror network built by Hamas to infiltrate and attack Israel." The military said 32 tunnels were destroyed in the four-week conflict.

The declaration came amid suspicions on both sides over whether the 72-hour humanitarian cease-fire will hold.

More than 1,800 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza during the conflict, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. It's unclear how many were militants. The United Nations estimates that about 70% of the dead were civilians. But the IDF says about 900 militants were killed. It did not provide a breakdown of the victims by age or gender.

Israeli officials have said 64 Israeli soldiers and three civilians in Israel have died.

Israel is implementing the Egyptian-brokered truce, which took effect Tuesday morning, while maintaining "defensive positions" outside Gaza, the IDF said.

"We have no forces within Gaza," IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner told CNN Tuesday.

About 20 rockets were fired from Gaza toward Israel minutes before the cease-fire went into effect Tuesday at 8 a.m. (1 a.m. ET) , an IDF spokesman said. Six were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome defense system and at least one was reported to have hit a Palestinian town in the West Bank without causing any injuries.

Hamas' military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, said it launched "a barrage of rockets" at Israeli cities as a response to "Israeli crimes."

The official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that several Israeli strikes took place across Gaza before the beginning of the cease-fire. A CNN team witnessed one strike on a southern area of Gaza City and heard several others.

Officials from the United Nations and United States, who have been pushing for a cease-fire for weeks, hope that the three-day pause will allow negotiations to take place for a more lasting peace.

Why are so many civilians dying in Hamas-Israel war?

Israeli guard stabbed in West Bank

In the West Bank, a security guard outside the settlement of Ma'ale Adumim was stabbed Tuesday, Israeli police said.

The suspect, an Arab, fled back into a Palestinian neighborhood, according to witnesses, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

Israeli police are searching for the suspect and calling the incident terrorism, Rosenfeld said.

The guard is in moderate condition.

'Peace? What peace?'

The Gaza truce enables the 1.8 million residents to go out into the streets to pick up supplies and check on abandoned homes.

The conflict has displaced more than 200,000 people across the densely populated territory.

For the first time Tuesday, the number of people packed into U.N. shelters decreased, said U.N. official Chris Gunness in Gaza.

After the cease-fire began, residents trickled into Shujaya, an area near Gaza City that experienced some of the most destructive violence of the conflict.

They found craters and ruins where homes and shops once stood.

People scaled crumbled concrete and twisted metal to rummage for any belongings left in the rubble.

Residents were stunned as they returned to their neighborhoods for the first time since being displaced by the fighting.

One man who had been living at a U.N. shelter walked down his street, Hill Street, saying he felt like he was in a dream.

The man said he couldn't understand what he was seeing -- the home his family invested $100,000 in, now destroyed.

No insurance company will give him money to rebuild, he told a CNN crew in Gaza.

The man said he's glad the shooting has stopped, but the problems are just beginning.

In this war, there are no winners, he said.

Residents are coming back to similar sights in Gaza -- rubble, ruins, buildings pockmarked by shrapnel.

A white-haired man, Hany Mahmoud el Harezen, stood on the roof of his collapsed two-story home.

"I am a wedding photographer, I have nothing to do with this war," he said. "Maybe if we had gotten some concessions, it would be worth it. But we got nothing."

Nal Mohammed, a Ph.D. student whose family home was demolished, was also pessimistic about the situation.

"Peace? What peace? We have no home, no water, no power," he said. "There is no peace here."

Israel released a map noting numerous sites it targeted in Shujaya, which it said "Hamas used for military purposes." The map cited locations of alleged tunnels, hideouts, rocket firings and launchings, and more.

Israel: 'The onus is on Hamas'

Israel repeatedly accepted an Egyptian cease-fire proposal during the conflict, which Hamas rejected. Temporary humanitarian cease-fires repeatedly crumbled, with each side blaming the other.

"The onus is on Hamas," Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev told CNN of the 72-hour truce.

"We are entering this with our eyes open," he said. "We have been burnt more than once."

The sentiment was similar from Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan, who told CNN that as long as Israel honors the agreement, so will the Palestinians.

"We hope they can take it and be committed to a cease-fire," he said.

While Egypt has not released details of the truce, Regev suggested it was the same agreement that Israel has accepted all along.

Egyptian and Palestinian negotiators had already arrived in Cairo for talks, and Regev said he expects "our people to be in Cairo in the framework of the 72-hour period."

Key to any negotiations, he said, is that Hamas must disarm.

Hamas leaders say that they want to negotiate an end to the Israeli blockade of Gaza, or at least a body other than the Israelis controlling the borders.

Regev claimed that Hamas seeks the opening in order to amass weapons.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that the removal of the tunnel threat didn't guarantee an end to the campaign against Hamas.

"This operation will end only when quiet and security are restored to the citizens of Israel for a lengthy period," he said. "We struck a very severe blow at Hamas and the other terrorist organizations."

The United States urged both sides to honor the cease-fire agreement.

"The United States has been steadfast in our insistence on an end to rocket and tunnel attacks against Israel and an end to the suffering of the people of Gaza," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "urges the parties to commence, as soon as possible, talks in Cairo on a durable ceasefire and the underlying issues," his office said in a statement.

Regev said Tuesday that Israel will send a delegation to Cairo if the current cease-fire holds.

A Palestinian delegation was in Cairo over the weekend, the Egyptian state media reported. The group included representatives of Fatah and Palestinian intelligence, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the Egyptian report said.

British minister resigns over Gaza

In the latest example of the ripples the conflict has sent around the globe, a British government minister said she was resigning over her country's policy on Gaza.

"With deep regret I have this morning written to the Prime Minister & tendered my resignation. I can no longer support Govt policy on Gaza," Sayeeda Warsi, senior minister of state at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, wrote on Twitter.

Warsi, a member of the House of Lords and the first Muslim in a British Cabinet, posted a photo of her resignation letter on Twitter.

U.S. officials stepped up calls in recent days for Israel to do more to avoid civilian casualties. An Israeli strike near a U.N. shelter over the weekend drew particularly strong words from the U.S. State Department.

On Monday, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius slammed the "carnage in Gaza." He also said Israel has a right to total security.

The U.S. and French governments have also both condemned Hamas for its role in the conflict.