by the way, we're there fighting isis, so is bashar al assad. it's not like he and isis are on the same side. there's so many conflicting sides here. he's fighting insurgency. how do we communicate all of this? it seems so contradictory without a secretary of state. >> we don't. actually that's a big part of the problem is that there is no diplomatic effort on going. prior in the obama administration, we had a diplomatic effort that was supposed to be going alongside the threat of military intervention. which is generally you have a tactical military strike and your dip mats come in after the pressure has been put on the enemy your dip mats come in to try to figure out what's going to move forward. so, if you're going to have a military strike, you have to think about what else other than asat if asat goes, what ask the. you have to figure out what a post assad government could look like. >> right. >> those negotiations are not happening right now because we have a president who thinks that negotiation alone is a sign of weakness. he is not usin

. —— assad. the 70 nations in the defeat isis coalition remained committed to defeating isis in syria. the strike tonight superliga mate —— demonstrates —— separately demonstrates —— separately demonstrates international resolve to prevent chemical weapons being used on anyone, under any circumstances, in contravention of international law. i want to emphasise these strikes are directed at the syrian regime, and in conducting the strikes we have gone to great lengths to avoid civilian and foreign casualties. but it is a time for all civilised nations to urgently unites in ending the syrian civil war by supporting the united nations backed geneva peace process. in accordance with the chemical weapons convention prohibiting the use of such weapons, we urge responsible nations to condemn the assad regime and join us in ourfirm resolve to prevent chemical weapons from being used again. that was james mattis. the french presidency hasissued james mattis. the french presidency has issued a

well i'm not sure i mean i think that the assad government in syria the russians and the iranians have been extraordinarily effective in terms of using conventional was weapons to keep the assad government in power and to push isis out of syria. where i see the concern coming is not immediately or places around damascus where i see the next battlefield in a sense in terms of chemical weapons coming potentially is it live and i think that could be a tremendous crisis with even far more casualties than we've seen in duma but that's not something that's going to happen tomorrow and i think for president trump as long as it happens after the november midterm elections here in the united states he can handle it again the critical thing for his reelection is that he annihilated isis these things on along the way as as cruel and callous as this may sound these are just bumps in the road in terms of his campaign pitch to claim that he annihilated isis because it is a nice distraction for trump isnt it. in some ways it is certainly the former f.b.i. director call me has an explosive new book co

>> it's up to assad. if assad acts again with chemical weapons, withere will a response from this pentagon and this administration. the line we hear here, sustained, legitimate and proportional. >> bill, your thoughts on this very concept of one-off being sustained and the perception from the middle east? >> reporter: well, as hans was saying, all the allies are singing from the same hymn sheet. the french foreign minister said exactly the same thing today, that if he uses chemical weapons again, then we will take -- we reserve the right to take military action again. the one thing that isn't quite clear is what is the red line? what kind of poison gas? is it any kind of poison gas? is it just sarin? is it chlorine? we're not clear on that but i think locked and loaded from nikki haley tells us all we need to know. >> i'm joined by the best in the business. thank you all three. so now that the strikes have been carried out, the question that is being asked, what is next. coming up, the president's strateg

assad got reckless and used it in a way that was far more aggressive. we have to be very conscious of the fact that we can't allow even the smallest use of chemical weapons, that's why you saw the president strike this past weekend, that's why you saw him expel 60 russian spies after the attack in salsbury, this easily could happen in the united states if we are not smart and if we are not conscious of what's happening and so this was a message sent to assad, we will see how smart he is. chris: but to press my point, if i may, are you saying that going forward there's zero tolerance of any use of chemical weapons will trigger military response? >> i don't think there's any way that i can answer that. we don't know what he's going to do, the level of what he's going to do or anything else. i will tell you that the president is watching and the national security team is ready, so basically we will watch his actions. he now dictates his life and he dictates what happens between the united states, our allies and his regime and so hopefully he's gotten the m

i asked if they want to invest in assad, and neither country likes assad. his not a his father, not a visionary, whether you like his vision or not. this is a guy with an opt moll is -- ophthalmologist, not a big thinker and is just trying to survive. so, this is a factor i think that is tremendously important and we don't invest enough time it because the opposition has been effect, divided, ego tis stick cal egotistical and if the a dictator can hold 30% of a population, he has enough to stab -- staff his police and civil sars and military that's all day need to survive. this kurds are the only people who have provide evidence, whether the military force or leadership, and the kurds are separate entity, always have been to the arabs in syria and they're not an alternative. >> one more for you. how does syria play in iranian internal politics? during recent protests -- i could never really understand whether or not this notion that you, the regime, are squandering our resources and our assets on foreign military ventures. does that resonate and does it mat

assad. should he decide to use more chemical weapons in the future, and of course the powers that have signed the chemical weapons prohibition, have every reason assad should he choose to violate that. now, i believe it has sent a strong message to deter him from doing this again. >> we will brief on that in the morning. right now, we have no reports of losses. >> thank you for doing that. have you seen any retaliation from the russians are a rainy or iranians? how long do you think this operation could last? is a matter of hours or days or could it go longer than that? >> we did have some additional surface to air activity from the syrian regime. that is the only retaliatory action we are aware of at the time. the nature of the operation was have completed the targets assigned to the central command. those operations are complete. >> general dunford, could you talk about your concern that you expressed earlier in the week about russian escalation. general dunford, were you able to talk to y

the assad regime using chemical weapons promptingtous react. this is a red line, any time this regime would use it we react at some point. my question is regarding forces of the northeast of syria, i have an expectation or projection that the iranians and hezbollah and other malicious are now targeting the area, they will not respond to us but cannot do it directly. the russians are not going clash directly with the united states in that part of the world or other part because of the nuclear issue. in syria we need to be proactive, making sure that the iranians won't have upper hand. heather: general, was it correct for president trump to tweet out basically mission accomplished here like he did, we know that the pentagon says that 105 missiles all hit respective targets destroying three of assad's chemical weapon's facilities an you have moscow saying that 71 of 103 missiles were shot down by russian weapons. you know, heather what we are seeing the information at play, president trump said we accomplished what we said out to do to attack thre

that present from calls the crimes of a monster is warning russia and iran to cut their ties to the assad regime. i'm brian thomas thanks so much for being with us the united states and its allies britain and france have carried out air strikes on suspected chemical weapons facilities in syria now these strikes are in response to last week's alleged gas attack in the syrian town of duma which left dozens of civilians dead western leaders say they have proof that the syrian regime was responsible huge plus were reported around the capital damascus moments after the operation was announced syria's main ally russia says more than one hundred missiles were fired but that many of them were intercepted by syrian air defenses the pentagon says the strikes were a one time shot and that no further attacks are planned. now this is the biggest intervention by western powers against the assad government since the start of syria's civil war present doll trump announced the operation in a televised address. americans a short time ago i ordered the united states armed forces to launch precision strikes

bashar al—assad has consolidated his power. most countries nearby believe that assad has one. it didn't stop assad attacking his own people with chemical weapons. so what are the objectives of another us military strike regardless of its scope? it is nothing short of threatening the assad regime itself, and most people think the united states is not interested in a full—fledged war against the assad and then russia, what is the objective of the mission? a lot of the observers are concerned about that policy. how do you think a new national security adviser factors into all that? you think a new national security adviser factors into all that7m you think a new national security adviser factors into all that? it is certainly concerning. secretary bolton is known to quite hardline statements. i think the likelihood of response would be high but i think that probably just of response would be high but i think that probablyjust ensures that it think that probablyjust ensures thatitis think that probablyjust ensures that it is likely the trump administration will feel the need to

now chemical weapons were used in these chlorine and that they've been used by the regime of bashar assad in the visual field we're looking very very seriously very closely at the whole situation in. which you have these folks who if you what happens if. you have the world groups of those in a position like george anthony would germany were known to dissipate and either muscle military action but i want to stress again that you know decision has been made on this that we acknowledge and support that everything has to be done to signal that this use of chemical weapons is unacceptable mr. nick door no one authorized western leaders to take the role of the world's police and at the same time investigators prosecutors judges into execution is already here. so we begin the day with a crisis over syria u.s. president donald trump or so far held off on his threat to bomb the assad regime after last weekend's suspected poison gas attack but his allies do seem to be rallying round after an emergency cabinet meeting britain's prime minister theresa may said her government agreed on the need to tak

regime just in the western strikes were a fast as long as assad stayed in power. meanwhile a team of international chemical weapons inspectors have as arrived in the syrian capital damascus to begin its probe into the allegedly do my gas attack of prompted saturday's airstrikes the team from the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons arrived just hours after the u.s. france and britain targeted syrian facilities the alleged gas attack a week ago is thought to have killed at least forty civilians. to discuss this further we're joined by for a freelance journalist in beirut what will the inspectors from the o.p.c. w. be doing in syria exactly. well there would be going to dora and there they would be meeting the people who've been affected according to the syrian american medical society which is a group of medics and white helmets which is an anti that are active this group of five hundred people were affected and more than forty were killed so some of them should be there if least we've tried to connect with sam's ourselves and have found only one pe

we made a statement that assad should step down. we've tried to do what we can to assist the rebels. we obviously have aimed our effort at isis and working with the kurds and isis, but, very frankly, we've never had an overarching policy about where are we headed in syria. for that reason, we continue to pay a price. the hope that somehow we can just walk away from that situation and it won't affect our national security is a serious mistake. the reality is what happens in syria, whether we like it or not, is going to affect national security interests. so we are going to have to take steps there. we can't just back away. wean'tust walk away. we're gng to have to build a coalition, working with our allies, working with france, working with great britain, working with the u.n., to continue to pursue some kind of strategy here that will ultimately result in assad stepping down. because we can never have a stable syria as long as assad is still there. 400,000 people killed. 5.6 million displaced. no, we can't allow assad to remain in p

president assad, time and again in recent yea rs, president assad, time and again in recent years, has been defiant, vowing, even against their wishes at times of his ally russia, in saying that he will take back every inch of syrian territory. he has been saying that again today, saying that these airstrikes make him even more determined to crush his opponents. they are saying tonight that all of eastern ghouta, that last suburb on the edge of damascus that was under rebel control, is now back in the hands of the syrian army and government agencies. the next target, widely expected, will be the province in northern syria that is largely under rebel control, and thatis largely under rebel control, and that is idlib. so there are still areas controlled by the syrian opposition but they have no kind of territorial foothold to be able to challenge president assad's rule. the big question is, when do you say, to use the phrase that you and many others have used, when is the war over? there is a great fear that when this war begins to draw to a close, at least in terms of the territorial ba

my friend, my friend, my friend, this is not the government of bashar al—assad, this is not the assad regime. stop demonising, stop using the same tactics used in iraq and libya. we are sick of this tactic. come up with a new tactic, please. this is the country of syria, we are defending ourselves. when 2 million people, when 500,000 refugees from eastern aleppo live in our neighbourhoods... and you call... but you are interrupting me. you are interrupting me. you are missing my point. i am not. we are not defending the president. 11 million people at least from your country, pretty much half your country's population has had to flee its home so when you say to me, this isn't about bashar al—assad, it is about the syrian people defending themselves, half of the syrian people have been forced to flee their homes. your country is ruined. ask the ones, listen to me, ask the ones who left, why did they leave? more than 90% of them left because they wanted to escape from terrorism that nato supports. please, when you have the saudis and the qataris, the most backward fanatical regimes in

this really isn't just about assad, it is about who is backing assad. that is one of the things that we need to ta ke one of the things that we need to take from this. we should also be clear that the west has fallen down when it comes to syria. resident trump authorises the strikes back then prevents syrian refugees from coming to the us. you can't say we are very sympathetic to the syrian people and then not take a whole list and strategy in how we are going to approach this conflict. we have ta ken a going to approach this conflict. we have taken a policy of simply ignoring it and hoping it resolves itself and that is not an effective approach or strategy. it was a question, something a lot of people are asking, are we heading into world war iii? are we heading into conflict with russia? are we heading into a cold war or are we going to see a continuation of very angry words? that is that it will be seen to be seen today from russia.” think we're headed into a new cold war. it is not going to be the same as the cold war of the past but i've been we

assad defiant after the attack. "the washington post" reports after the strike, a twitter account maintained by assad's department says it honorable cannot be humiliated. to go deeper, i was to bring in the author of "the future is history." she is a known expert to our office as a putin explainer, even if you are more than that and that's not the only thing you want to do with your life. gives you plenty of fodder. you are an interesting thinker, independent thinker. you don't play for a team, so you bedevil people. you are critical of vladimir putin, but disagree with some of the american presumptions about him and what's going on. let's begin with the conventional wisdom that putin controls trump. that's what many people think, right or not, and that trump can't stand-up to putin, which i was discussing with other experts, which seems to be, to some degree detonated by him standing up to putin this weekend. how do you explain it? >> i don't actually think it requires an explanation. we have seen russian-american

well no it certainly wasn't the mission as stated by dollar trump was to ensure that assad regime does not alter conduct any chemical attacks ever again and that mission has certainly not been accomplished it's of course a political statement for dollar trump to me but if he has accomplished that mission as he says he has and certainly explained how saw three sites have been attacked allegedly these sites were. holding chemical stockpiles there's no evidence of that that's been provided let's for a moment believe that is true it is very easy still for the assad regime if indeed this history making chemical weapons to continue to make them remember in two thousand and thirteen russia and the united states had an understanding that assad is going to give up all of the chemical stockpiles of the chemical attacks have continued and the strike yesterday has been quite limited if you see the reaction that has come our demands and in many ways the strike is not being as huge as was promised by dollar drum but he says that if there are more attacks the united states is locked and loaded so the

they're not going to stop assad. the only way this is going to happen is if you go after the russians and iran, which we're not going to do. also, this is is in the middle of a war that syria has about won. we kicked isis' ass out of syria, but the war in syria has been won by syria. the context is interesting. as good an operation as it was, it's going to have an effect of stopping chemical attacks. neil: the president seemed to telegraph as much last week before when he hinted just get out of syria. what do you make of that and what our position should be now going forward, especially after in? >> again, in context, as you know, we helped start this thing during the last administration. with the saudis, intel stuff, we began to try to get assad out of there and it went upsidedown on us, and everybody else fast. this is now, has been won by russia and iran and syria. the russians got a port that they've always wanted. iran's got influence. this is a bad situation, we cannot get back in the middle of because again, 1

that a syria in which assad remains as leader, this regime is not a assad which we would predict to be meaningfully secure or stable or not a source of generation of violent extremism under whatever name in the future. it's why we have strongly supported a political process led by the un, unfortunately that political process has been blocked and the parties responsible for blocking it are quite clear . the syrian regime and the russians who through their absence of pressure on the regime in damascus contributes to enable this freezing of a geneva process which virtually the entire international community supports. >> and through their veto in the united nations. >> exactly sir. >> is the state department satisfied with the current communication channels in place with russia to the conflict issues in syria? since russia became militarily engaged they relied extensively on the supply by air. these flights both military and charter flights,plus airspace , many of our partners in georgia and iraq, what discussions have the us had with our partners about closing their respective airspace to

of assad. it detailed these end scenarios all that were based on preventing iranian prevention in syria. that speech didn't focus so much on russia. i think it may have mentioned russia but not really as a central focus. and that's very -- it shows. i mean it's demonstrative of where the administration is coming at this from. >> a counter-factual to close. ambassador wendy sherman was on and talked about the deal she helped negotiate with russia to get chemical weapons out of syria. looking back on that, what went wrong? was it duplicitousness by the syrian regime that led to nott working the way it was supposed to work? did we place too much faith on that deal being broken by the russians. the simple answer is yes we put too much faith in. those of us experts on syria who know how the regime functions thought this would be the outcome of the 2013 attack. instead of military force it turned into this deal. a lot of people like to espouse the success of that, syria had so many chemical weapons.

as said assad said they we re example? . as said assad said they were destroyed. the chemical weaponses we re were destroyed. the chemical weaponses were destroyed. why don't weaponses were destroyed. why don't we take the russian word seriously? because it isn't what appears to be happening on the ground. we have you know many, many reports of those who we re know many, many reports of those who were trying and including photograph ands blood samples of those rescuing people say people seem to have died from chlorine and a nerve agent. there is no proof. the footage of those victims in douma, i have spoke on the chemical expert, they say it is an obvious fake. all the rules with engagement with chemical weapons is broken. there is no reason to fake it. there is a big reason to fake it. there is a big reason to fake it. there is a big reason to fake it. excuse me, there isa reason to fake it. excuse me, there is a reason to fake it. when trump said we are pulling out. we have discussed that. bari you talked of talking to assad, ok who, brokers that, how does that

the assad regime realizes this. they know we are going to be proportional and they have protection of the russians. we effectively blew up three buildings that buy a lot of reports had claimed much of the stuff out from. if you're going to deliver a message to someone as brutal as bashar al-assad, doesn't inherently have to be disproportional? >> well, the united states isn't going to ignore the law of armed conflict. we are going to continue to abide by principles -- leland: when you're attacking a sovereign nation as we did, how do we not already violated the rules of armed conflict? i am confused here. other parts of the syrian air force would've violated the rules of armed conflict? >> first off, i would say serious subscribed to the chemical convention. then reported what was supposed to be all of their chemical weapons. turns out obviously they didn't do that. what we saw last weekend with urea with a willingness and following through again with the murdering young children and being suffocated to death. lelan

regime and to join us condemn the assad regime and to join us in ourfirm resolve condemn the assad regime and to join us in our firm resolve to prevent chemical weapons from being used again. we want our provider military update. good evening, i amjoined by brigadier general montague, and our british tache. secretary mattis has just outlined the policy and legal framework was knights strike in syria. at 9pm eastern standard time french and the british and us forces struck targets in syria in support of president's trump objected to deter the future use of chemical weapons. our forces are integrated throughout the planning and execution of the operation. the targets that were struck and destroyed were specifically associated with the syrian regime's chemical weapons programme. we also selected targets that would minimise the risk to innocent civilians. the first target was a scientific research centre located in the greater the mascot area. this military facility was a syrian ce ntre military facility was a syrian centre for the research, development, production and testing of chemical and

assad is at it again. they see our determination to stay in syria waning. >> sandra: connor powell is live in jerusalem with the latest. >> since the start of the syrian civil war eight years ago, israeli government has launched dozens of air strikes in syria trying to target hezbollah and transfer of advanced weapons to militant groups like bad actors in syria. the israeli government, though, is not commenting on this latest air strike but russia is pointing the finger squairl at israel saying they conducted the latest air strike. a few weeks ago an iranian drone flew into israeli air base. the t-4 air base is strategically important because it houses both russian and syrian aircraft but reports coming out of syria say among the 14 dead are also iranian troops and militia fighters as well. the israeli strike comes just hours after the assad regime was accused of using poisonous gas on a town outside of damascus. families suffocating with white foam coming from their mouths. other video shows dead families

he made a point and hopefully assad gets it. if assad doesn't get it, it's gonna hurt. what general mattis was saying the strike happened responding to their continued use of chemical weapons. but of course if assad continues to go forward, there will be more and it will hurt and i think that he has a lot to think about. >> chris: i want to pick up on that because there are certainly indications since the first strike in april of last year that assad had used chemical weapons and there was no u.s. response. this particular case last weekend was especially egregious and horrific. are you saying that going forward any use of chemical weapons by assad will trigger an immediate u.s. response? >> well, i think first of all you said it. this last one was egregious, barbaric and discussing. there was a cumulative wave of constant use of chemical weapons. assad new russia had its back and cover for him at the united nations and he got reckless and used it more aggressively. we have to be conscious that we can't allow the smallest use of chemical weapons and why you saw the pres

hopes the assad government got the message that its actions will not go unpunished was. the dawn on syrian state media was that of defiance in the face of what they called tripartite aggression. we did not sleep at the right honestly we went to the streets to support the army and the air force struck down the missiles. was syria's war has divided opinion in the middle east people came out in solidarity with the assad government in sitting there their support for iran and hezbollah or their is high and the u.s. sentiment to the relief of the syrian government and its allies the operation was limited instead of a much discussed sustained attack the syrian government thanks its russian partners for the warning about the much anticipated strikes after days of tough rhetoric between u.s. and russia the syrian government had already evacuated military installations and cleared potential targets and allies of bashar al assad have been unequivocal in their support louis. he shared last night's strike that happened at dawn against syria is a crime by clearly announce that the us

assad is just a butcher and a murderer. and it just breaks my heart that we didn't offer support to the syrian people when they needed it the most. "the wall street journal" reported this week that the administration was looking to set up an arab force to take the place of u.s. troops in syria. so let me ask either of you some questions. who would contribute to this force, how would the transition take place, who will train the fighters, will the united states continue to have a holding force, to what extent is this feasible considering how the region is, would egypt send fighters to syrian areas not controlled by assad, will the united states continue to provide air cover, how effective will these fighters be considering we haven't seen these forces be effective in yemen or the sinai. those are just some questions about this. can either one of you tell me about this arab force and how much have we thought this out? >> ranking member engel, the president has made clear, he wishes to see the u.s. continue and complete the ca

that he's chlorine and that they've been used one by the regime of bashar assad in the better it will be very very seriously very close to the whole situation. to see what happens for those who feel happy to. have the whole world producers in a position doing good shelter with germany when you don't you know just sit back and i think awful military action but i want to stress again that no decision has been made on this that we acknowledge and support that everything has to be done to signal that this use of chemical weapons is an acceptable mr. nuked or no one authorized western leaders to take the role of the world's police and at the same time investigators prosecutors judges into execution and storage. so we begin the day with a crisis over syria u.s. president donald trump or so far held off on his threat to bomb the assad regime after last weekend's suspected poison gas attack but his allies do seem to be rallying round after an emergency cabinet meeting britain's prime minister theresa may said her government agreed on the need to take action to deter the further use of chemica

why would assad act in this way? we have our leaders on the record saying they're convinced it was him, that he acted. france and the uk are saying the same. >> and let me give president trump credit where it's due. on the one hand, he's constantly being beat up for being soft on russia. this doesn't look soft on russia to me. syria and assad is absolutely 100% a client state, a surrogate of russia. they are armed by the russians. they've russian equipment. they are trained by the russians. if putin wanted to stop this today, he could do so. so the president is rightly calling the russians out for this atrocity. he also gets beat up in the media and other places for not being a humanitarian and not caring about humanity. and by all reports, multiple reports, he was incredibly emotionally moved by what was going on with this chemical attacks and the brutal suffering that people undergo, women and children. and yet the previous administration, obama did nothing. and then the third criticism you hear is that he doesn't

position that much and puts assad on notice. >> what about what assad could be thinking as far as we saw the statement from senator mccain, right, president trump last week signalled to the world the u.s. would prematurely withdraw from syria. emboldened by american inaction, assad has reportedly launched another chemical attack. it goes on. how do you think, andrew, how does assad see these recent comments? do you think at all green lit this attack? >> yeah, it's a good question. it seems to me in president trump's mind the issue of staying in eastern syria and fighting with the kurdish-backed forces there and the chemical weapons red line are two different issues. whether president assad understands that or not is a good question. it's all part of his calculus to hold on to power, and assad is in quite a precarious military situation. he's very strong and heavy with russian and iranian support. but on his own he's very fragile and susceptible to u.s. strikes. we'll have to see what the president decides in the coming days and what the outcome will be. >> why are syria's chemical we

since 2011 and the demonstrations and assad firing on his own people. he slaughtered tens and thousands of people. he's incarcerated, in one prison alone, amnesty international said 13,000 men were tortured to death. he's killed children. so, the kind of -- we come awake when we hear chemical weapons. >> yes. >> and there's a kind of moral imperative to impose -- >> which is not wrong. >> which is not wrong and should be done but i think we should not forget that shouldn't be a red line drawn. you can't use poison gas but you can do everything else. you can commit every heinous war crime as long agency you don't use chemical weapons. we forgot what is happening to syria and the syrian population and the suffering they've undergone for seven years. why should we care, because to have a failed state is not in our political interest. >> right, and there are examples of that in syria, lebanon, india, every time there's a failed state in the world, there are lots of people willing to gill that gap. in syria, we have not only the islamists prepared to fill th

there is very little invested in bashar assad. there is a lot invested in syria as a property of the iranians. and that's why they will invest so much. now one of the things they do share with russia is that syria is the only arab ally , long-standing arab ally that they really have. russia's diversified. since the end of the cold war, the end of the soviet union. iran has not for a lot of obvious reasons. this was all reinforced, of course, by the presence of isis. and isis on iran's border came within five miles. -- within 25 miles. and so this again accentuated the same phenomenon, the ottoman empire. you have the encroaching sunni caliphate threatening their security and of course, isis also went into the calamine mountain of lebanon, whether it was across syria and iraq come -- on the iranian border, or threatening the shiites in lebanon, there was a sense that this was a strategic threat, and it exacerbated unjustified iran's intervention in syria. in the same way, you see isis on -- they look at the taliban as a threat. the

it's used by bashar assad's republican guard. president trump talked about presentation air strikes. it would seem from what we're hearing from trusted sources in damascus that those are indeed precision strikes on significant chemical weapons facilities and on air bases. but, of course, rachel, you know one question is, how long these strikes will last and it would seem that there are waves of air strikes. we've about nearly an hour of air strikes one was reported just about five minutes ago. you know, in the long-term, this doesn't really change the calculus or the course of the war. after these air strikes, president assad will still be in power, the war will be as complicated, obviously, if not more complicated, than it was. so for president trump, the question is, you know, air strikes do not mean -- do not equal a strategy. so what comes next? will he follow through with what he hinted a while back that he will pull those 2,000 u.s. troops out of eastern syria or is he here for the medium or the long haul. that is the strat

to pissure prdent assad. and the united states has onalso sanc russia, and, of course, that hasn't led to a change in its behavior on othe so there's a real problem of how do you change thiserrible stalemate on the ground that has so far, in a war, killed something like a half million people, that has led to the dilacement-- over half ofthe country's 23 million people-- and has led the majity to be dependent on international aid for their daily bread. >> sreenivasan: andhort of this particular response, it's gone relatively unchecked, aninghat there hasn't anyone exwn military aggression from an outside foe based on any actions that bashar al-assad has taken. >> that's right. and in the year since the united states last struc syria-- again, because of chemical weapons -- the regime has repeatedly used chemical weapons, the white house admitted today. and the facis the military strike does dnot eliminate there enange of facilities, chemical stockpiles, commad posts used for chemical weapons in syria. they did

assad has had to duck, so have the russians. they've sent airplanes-- and come on though, the message to the rushes shuns was, if the russians threaten us and our red lines, you can't hit anything with our people around. we didn't. we didn't take out syria command and control, we didn't take out any of the units involved in this attack. how is this other than a slap on the wrist. >> the ability to use chlorine weapons and sarin weapons, we've degraded their capability. they'll have that cap built. but it shows there's a cost. the president is adamant that we do know the do another iraq in syria, that we do not do regime change when we don't know what the outcome will and we don't want to weaken, frankly, assad so much, gone on for years, and 700,000 people dead and maybe a point where we should say no more. leland: our gillian turner was able to confirm, at least by the u.s.'s standards, both a chlorine and a sarin attack and they seem to think they have that nailed down. we have not seen any evidence and so far basically from t

. capabilities of syrian dictator bashar al-assad. a combined operation with the armed forces of france and the united kingdom, is now under way. we thank them both. tonight i want to speak with you about why we have taken this action. one year ago assad launched a savage chemical weapons attack against his own innocent people. the united states responded with 58 missile strikes that destroyed 20% of the syrian airforce. strikes that destroyed 20% of the syrian air force. last saturday the assad regime again deployed chemical weapons to slaughter innocent civilians, this town —— —— this time in the town of douma near the syrian capital of damascus. this massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime. the evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gus being the air. —— gasping for air. these are not the actions of a man, they are crimes of a monster in stead. following the horrors of world war i, as century ago,

it could go after russia's support for assad. you can put more sanctions on russia, you can shame them at the united nations, but is there any action that's large enough that would make a difference against russia that president trump would be willing to support, i'm not necessarily sure, but that's something they'll be talking about tomorrow. >> josh, we have seen strong language from both the u.s. and russia, trump saying big price to pay, russia threatening most serious consequences. you seem to think that this is all a lot of talk and no real action is going to come from it? >> well, president trump said last week, let others have handle it, we're getting out of syria, a month ago standing alongside the -- i take president trumped a his word that he believes that these are horrible atrocities and he believes it's not america's job to solve it. and that can only lead you to one conclusion is that today's bluster leads to his stance that american intervention ask not the solution to this problem is how he feels. we have seen ov

they mean if assad uses chemical weapons again, they will hit him again. secretary mad is says this is a one-time shot. this is over. we do not expect anymore strikes again unless assad uses chemical weapons again. they only used about 120 cruise missiles in this attack. the 59 tomahawk missiles last year hit the airfield and the airfield was up and running in days. this was a quick coordinated strike with the french and british and u.s. the russians were not given a target list. they were last year. they were warned what would be hit, but there was some deconfliction going on. the u.s. did communicate with the russians what airspace they would be using, so they did have a hint. byron? >> i want to bring in retired marine colonel steve ganniert. this time we're learning there were multiple targets. can you tell us specifically what was said and what was the scope of the attack? >> the tarlgts were similar. they were all chemical weapons, either production facilities, places where they stored chemical weapons. although the target set was very much like last

regime condemned the western strikes as a fuss as long as assad stays in power. let's get an assessment now what happened overnight i'm joined in the studio by the aspen institute tyson barker writes about american politics and by york of a weiss writer and journalist on the middle east thanks to both of you for coming in if we could start with you we've been seeing crowds celebrating on the streets of damascus and other cities in syria what are they celebrating do a bit of that this is a place where you cannot go as an independent journalist i'm not sure exactly what the sort of breakthrough celebrating the state the poet and this is because not the thought in this the adaptation of a set foot being at the who do you think the sites that have been hit have been a setback for him militarily i don't that the olympic committee that it could be but he of the fuses mean tactic in this it is human to me that they will show which is the discriminant bodman of civilian areas so in this medium it is with it by chemical weapons or by conventional weapons and tyson what ki

and of course, the russians have generally protected assad. i don't think the russians are particularly in love with assad. they just want the regime to survive. assad is not that easy a client. i think he's refusing to go. there's a lot of people in the regime, people of his family, as well. he's not that easy to control. ruia and iran have saved him and his government. usually people are exhausted, war's end when a general direction is clear, here also a general direction is clear. there's a pressure from the europeans, from many people, now, to try to institute a long-lasting decent cease-fire while xwoenegotiations go on. that would only happen because assad feels he's in control of the biggest part of syria. >> steven, as always, thank you for your input. we appreciate you joining us. >> thank you. >>> more on the strikes in syria later this hour. a bit on u.s. politics. the feud between the former director and the fbi and the u.s. president heats up again, as james comey promotes his new book. now, he's explaining his mindset and the run

if assad uses chemical weapons again, the u.s. will act. >> i spoke to the president this morning and he said if the syrian regime uses this poisonous gas again, the united states is locked and loaded. when our president draws a red line, our president enforces the red line. >> our live, special coverage continues with our team of reporters covering every angel. hans nichols live and jeff bennet from the white house. hans, this has been a period of sustained pressure on president trump this week. he turns here to the most solemn obligation any president has and according to u.s. authorities as i mentioned to some of what we are hearing around the world, this action went as planned. what else can you tell us? >> officials here are, i think they hit the sweet spot. they didn't have ambitious military goals on this, they are fairly limited, they kept it to three strikes. yes, they did take out both research and development and storage and supply of chemical weapons. they think they have reestablished the notion there's a credible det

clearly the assad regime did not get the message last year u.s. defense secretary says he was convinced of syrian involvement in the suspected chemical attack just hours before the operation was given the go ahead but i am confident the sherry in regime conducted a chemical attack on innocent people. in this last last week yes absolutely confident of it and we have the intelligence level of confidence that we needed to conduct the attack. but as donald trump addressed the country there were some questioning if you believe all power to launch the attack here in the united states our constitution says without any equivocation it's up to congress not the president not the executive branch to declare a war to say when we're going to go to war the president then executes that decision the russians had warned of consequences if the u.s. launched this attack because of its close ties to the syrian government the airstrikes may be over this new middle east crisis isn't alan fischer al-jazeera washington. ok gabriel is under joins us now live from washingt

that ended up giving -- appeared to give a green light to assad, and you saw how assad took that green loit and ran with it in terms of gassing innocents including women and children. >> reporter: the other question how to handle syria's two biggest backers, russia and iran. >> to iran and to russia i ask what kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children? >> reporter: vice president pence continued that tough talk at the summit of the americas in peru. >> our message to russia is you're on the wrong side of history. >> reporter: president trump will face more of these questions about syria next week when he meet with japanese prime minister shinzo abe down at mar-a-lago. the president will be splitting his time discussing the fa another rogue nation with weapons of mass destruction, that is north korea. jim acosta, cnn the white house. >> let's get some perspective now on mr. trump's comments and what they might be. we're joined by the professor of international politics at the university of london. thanks for being with us, sir. curi

w and the un investigation commission harvey year to come out with the facts that the assad regime was responsible for that and by that time nobody cared about it everybody was waiting for evidence and six months later nobody cared about it so actually the message to president assad house he looks at it is that he has a green light it's in keep on fighting people with conventional weapons unless he does not use chemical weapons he's free to use whatever he wants to keep on fighting the rebels and to reconquer the country as he wishes to do so at the end of the day on the ground it probably does not indeed make a difference if anything it might in fact just empower assad or embolden have yes actually he feels very much reassured by what happened because he can you know. he makes himself look like a victim of western aggression and that makes him very popular inside in the meantime i want to talk about the rhetoric the managing of the message because every time you have a claim here and you mentioned that you know all the facts seem to point in the direction of indeed a nerve agent being

but assad's actions were beyond. again, we will do -- we will 100%, and we are supporting envoy demistera. we will continue to do that because we want a diplomatic, political resolution to the syrian conflict. but civilized nations can't let what's happened in syria stand. so with that, i'm going to -- >> general. >> sorry. go ahead. >> you asked about deconfliction. probably the best way to understand it is this. the russians don't have a veto on anything we do. and that's probably the best way to describe it. we're not kwaup racooperating w in syria. we don't want to get into a fight with them. the best way is to share certain information about what you're doing. carefully metered out by us. but we're not kwaup rawa cooperating with them. we'll assess the environment in which we're going to fight. the deconfliction mechanisms allow us to do that. i can't help you with what the syrians are saying or not saying. what i'm telling you is what actually happened. >> on that point, as secretary mattis said last night, the

well people in the mask even those who perhaps reluctantly support bashar al assad are not supported in more because now there is a nationalist fervor in the air because america has attacked an arab country so they are supporting marcellus are been gotten to the streets and their cars is in the so in flag and or sloganeering for bashar al assad those who are refugees and all rebel like in the area on the syria turkey border are have their own dislike and there are unhappy with it as well because they don't just want bashar al assad regime as a legit to stop using chemical weapons but also to stop and bombing areas which are under control and also for us to go and that's been the demand because they want political change in syria and all the united states and the you can say that that is not their agenda and that is not what they're seeking in syria and for talking to us there from various thank you. i'm moving on to brazil now where thousands have turned in rio de janeiro demanding answers in the slaying of city councilwoman mariani franco she was shot dead a month ago after an event

president trump denouncing assad and now praising the u.s. military for what he called a perfectly executed attack tweeting mission accomplished. because of awesome welcome to the program a u.n. security council meeting called by russia is now underway moscow is seeking a vote to condemn the united states and its allies for carrying out military strikes on syria russia is demanding that no further strikes will be launched but u.s. ambassador nikki haley told the meeting that the allies are quote locked and loaded just strike syria again if further chemical weapon attacks take place u.n. secretary general antonio terris has called for calm. and they are all members to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances and to avoid any case that could escalate smetters and worsening the suffering of the syrian people as i did yesterday i stressed the need to avoid the situation from spiraling out of control for more on the story we go to our d w bureau chief in washington alexander phenomena and to russia where analyst constantine found agora join

president trump denouncing assad and now praising the u.s. military for what he calls a perfectly executed attack tweeting mission accomplished. and residents take to the streets of damascus in a show of defiance as syria's president says the strikes will only increase his resolve we'll go live to the syrian capital for the latest. and welcome to the program the united states and its allies britain and france have carried out airstrikes on suspected chemical weapons facilities in syria president trump says they were in response to last week's alleged gas attack in the syrian town of duma which left dozens of civilians debt missiles began hitting targets in and around the cities of damascus and homs within minutes of its announcement. lights flare over the syrian capital damascus as western missiles fall. in a wave of strikes launched from naval vessels and the year the u.s. banks my french and british forces bomb syria. they were aiming to knock out three targets related to syria's chemical weapons program. two facilities in the capital damas