against Kurdish fighters in at the Tishrin dam in Aleppo province , which Kurds and Arab rebel groups captured in December . Warplanes also hit areas of western Syria on Friday , the Observatory said . An air raid by the government side killed at least five people in a rebel - held area of Aleppo .
The Obama administration was constantly weighing the value of surveillance against the issue of privacy , Holder explained . Still , the former top American law enforcement official added " We can certainly argue about the way in which Snowden did what he did , but I think that he actually performed a public service by raising the debate that we engaged in and by the changes that we made . " By leaking a flood of classified information to select news outlets in 2013 , Snowden revealed the extent to which the Obama administration was collecting personal data — far and above what took place under The Patriot Act following the 9/11 attackslife.injure.na. The revelations not only shocked the American public , but also international allies ( think Angela Merkel , whose personal cellphone was revealed to have been bugged ) . The crisis prompted President Barack Obama to convene a panel that criticized the National Security Agency 's domestic data collection — that is the bulk of metadata on Americans , which can show the most intimate details of an individual 's life .
The shocking footage shows a number of injured people being treated by paramedics at the scene of the incident . Terrified shoppers were seen running for their lives from the Munich Olympia Shopping Centre , in the district of Moosach , after hearing gunshots . Thamina Stoll , 22 , of Durham , North Carolina , who is in Munich on a summer internship , filmed people fleeing the shopping centre during the attackslife.injure.nafrom her grandmother 's apartment . She said some 50 terrified people ran towards her house , seeking shelter . A major police operation is ongoing in Munich , around the city 's Olympic Park , with the force warning people to stay in their homes and avoid public spaces Ms Stoll said had just visited the shopping centre with her grandmother and a cousin for an hour before the shooting started .