0's >> i'vi'm riche lle carey. >> president obama is considering limited military strikes against syria in response to new intelligence of weapons attack. assad remains defiant.

rich, >> the u.n. inspectors just arrived in the netherlands to analyze the samples they've collected from syria. the world is waiting to see how the u.s. and its allies will respond to last week's chemical attacks. here are the latest headlines we are watching. senior u.s. officials will hold conference calls with senators this afternoon. return vladimirussian presidentn calls the accusations nonsense. it seems that the response is a military response.

if that is the case what have you learned about the military capability of the u.s.? >> reporter: as you mentioned there are u.s. warships, there are six, a half dozen. five of them are guided missiles destroyers and armed with tomahawk missiles. there is now a marine troop carrier with hundreds of marines in the areas a support role. the president emphasized there would be no boots on the ground in the event of any attack. the marines troop carrier is there just as a precautionary measure. >> what role does it seem that ourallies will play in this? >> reporter: right now so far the only majorrall major rally g to support is france. they have short range missiles

able to strike syria in the event of any attack. >> it seems at this point the administration is in a convincing mode not only with ourallieour allies but also the. >> reporter: therthere will be a meeting today, and we are ajust learning tomorrow there is going to be another white house meeting, this one with members of the house. so very much in convincing mode. one item that is probably going to be on this agenda is questions about financing any attack and just a little nugget is that an one tomahawk missile costs a million dollars and an attack could involved as many as 200 tomahawks. the attack could cost

$200 million or more. >> russia is speaking out against possible military actions will in syria. >> common sense speaks for itself. the syrian government forces are advancing and in some region they've circled the rebels giving a call for military intervention is utter nonsense. it does not follow any logic, so i'm convinced it is just provocation by those who want to pull into the conflict. first of all the u.s. >> peter sharp has more on those comments by the russian president. >> reporter: this is the first time we've heard from president putin in many months. the last time we heard talks was in the g-summit in northern ireland when he met with president obama and the talks

were of possible peace talks in geneva. that is long gone and long past. president putin realizes this is the last chance he has to deliver his verdict on a possible strikes. hostilityies could begin at any time, so he took this opportunity to appeal to president obama, saying be careful, think twice before you commit forces to attacking syria. he said, i'm speaking to the president as a nobel peace price laureate and how many civilians would be killed if the strike went ahead. as far as putin is considered as far as the kremlin is considered this is about degrading the syrian military and securing victory for the rebels. >> it does not need any u.n.

approval for any action that it needs to take. we're now at the united nations. >> reporter: here at the united nations, ban ki-moon, secretary general, is meeting with leaders. diplomats hearsay it is color that the u.s. is not going to wait for that analysis, that the u.s. administration has already made it's mind up what that chemical analysis is going to say. they've not only decided there was a chemical attack. maybe they decided that the chemical attack was carried out by the assad regime. it's clear to diplomats here that there is no way that the u.s. will wait for the security council. they're never going to get russian approval, that's clear.

there is something on the calendar that will affect the timeline, world leaders are supposed to gather next week in st. petersburg in russia. president obama is supposed to be there. diplomats think the strikes will take place well before thursday. otherwise it could be a rather embarrassing and difficult meeting there in russia. >> david jackson joins us live on the border between lebanon and syria. david, what are people telling you about what is happening right now in syria? >> well, richelle, no doubt about it. there is increased tension, hot, dusty, busy day, a lot of traffic in both direction. a lot of people going out of syria, a lot of people going into syria, both. there has been tension, nerves being on edge. it's understandable. we've talked to people even from

the united nations coming out of the united nations mission in syria, and they waited for the very last moment to come out today. they were given the option of staying or leaving, and today is the last that they're getting a chance to get out. the traffic has diminished. you may see behind me, the border point is flatter now, it's 7:30 at night, so at night, dark, we don't have a whole lot of movement back and forth. but i would have to say that it is a tense environment because the people who are leaving and going out in lebanon are nervous and worried about what they are leaving behind. many syrians who decided to return home at the last minute equally tense a, wondering what they would face. >> is lebanon expecting a large number of people to cross the border once military strikes possibly begin?

>> reporter: well, they thought they would get that today, richelle, they thought they would get the large number coming across this being the last day. once the united nations inspectors were gone, they thought there would be an outpouring of people going into lebanon. it has not been terribly large. it's been 10,000 in one day. it's considerable but not record-breaking. i think wha the surprise is howy people are going back into syria. there were many who went into lebanon, thought twice about what they were doing about leaving the country, and decided, men, women and children, decided to go back into syria and take whatever comes their way, as they put it. >> very much looking forward to that report. david jackson on the border between lebanon and syria. thank you so much. do stay with al jazeera and www.aljazeera.com for cove covee of syria's war.

we'll have more including the response from london an. turning to the fire at yosemite national park, it is only about 35% contained. the labor day weekend is in full swing. >> meteorologist: in the northwest it's going to be absolutely beautiful. nice and comfortable for this time of year, 87 degrees. unfortunately for the yosemite national fire they're not going to get any rainfall as they track into this weekend. meanwhile, summer is concentrated in the midwest, minneapolis coming in at 89 degrees. typically this time of year they're at 79 and definitely into this evening we're going to

see damaging winds, hail greater than it was and a half inches in die matter and torrential rainfall. so anyone traveling along i-35 definitely want to use precaution on the roadways. >> thank you so much. the consequences of an attack on syria is still unclear. coming up we'll tell you about the cyberthreat that americans could be facing in response to a military attack. and a potential for a strike on syrian protest in a number of cities.

they presented the president with an autographed jersey, and obama shared a few praise. >> coach shula retired with more wins than any coach in history. each time that record has been challenged, team after team has fallin short. >> michael eaves joins us to talk more about that. the president was having a lot >> an interesting debate. coming up, a school where students don't read books. instead they use ipads almost >> welcome back. more than 5,000 firefighters have their target on the growing

rim fire. the fire has grown to become california's fifth largest fire in history and is threatening thousands of homes. eyes on syria, u.s. intelligence say that bashar al assad ordered the chemical weapons attack. 1400 have died from that attack and 400 of them were children. there have been organized a number of protesters in a number of cities around the world. in australia hundreds gathered in a rally in sydney. and hundreds carried signs supporting the assad president. saturday marks the sabbath in israel.

they have rest and warship. with the pending threat of strikes sense syria, israel's neighbor, many are fearing for the worse. jonathan betz now in israel. how are israelis coping with this potential threat, this potential attack possibly from syria? what are they going through? >> reporter: yes, richelle, we have seen a lot of israel these last couple of days. there is tension and fear in what could come in the next couple of days, but people are taking it in stride. this is a country that is not unfamiliar with violence and missile attacks, nevertheless, the country is preparing for war. gas masks have been handed out. israel has been deploying soldiers along the northern boarborder. the threats are not just from

syria but from hezbollah in lebanon. >> how are things today? well, you're right, a day off here in israel. very little activity, and most people, frankly, are just enjoying that time off before what could be a violent couple of days in the days ahead. keep in mind the high holy days coming up, rosh hashanah. there is not really widespread panic. people are enjoying time with their family and getting ready for what could be a disk next couple of days. >> difficult ways to have to live. thank you very much. >> about a sharbashar al-assad e country will defend itself

against any aggression. the assad regime is blaming the chemical attacks on rebels. the u.s. calling it fabrications ancall--theadministration is liy preparing for another type of attack as well. we'll discuss the threat of cyberattacks which many say have the ability to cripple american banks and other critical infrastructure. thank you so much for joining us. the last week, "the new york times" was attacked by the syrian electronic army. should the u.s. be concerned about cyberattacks should they launch a military attack? >> absolutely. there is concern for retaliati

retaliation. one of the things that makes this situation unique and different from the iraq intervention is the cyberattack. >> times have changed. >> we saw "the new york times" attacked last week and we've seen the syrian electronic army hack into twitter, which caused the dow to plunge, so financial affects and we'll see them ramp up. >> there are real consequences to hacking. >> absolutely. in terms of putting misinformation out domestically and internationally and in a worst-case scenario real consequences were to have affects on infrastructure or real work scenario loss of life fortunately the syrian electronic army does not have the capabilities to carry out a large scale cyberattack. however, i would like to caveat

that if they will to get state sponsorship, something to be cautious of. >> what is the u.s. doing. >> they're looking on the intel to see where target might be domestically. we've seen them go after media outlets. we've seen iranians go after financial targets, and also the united states probably will take some offensive action to try to take down some of their capabilities if they have spell against that they're launching some kind of war and attack. it's hard to know specifics but these are things that the u.s. government and intel officials are looking out for in the upcoming days and weeks. >> great information. i have something to tell you about, we're getting word that president obama will deliver a statement on syria from the white house at 1:15 this afternoon. 1:15 this afternoon.

so do keep it here enneagonal the latest. we'll bring that to you. several reports that nelson mandela went home from the hospital are not true. the a anti-apartheid hero has bn suffering from a persistent respiratory illness since june. >> children of unmark graves at a notorious boys school, may finally have their stories told, their long held stories. the supreme court on a contested civil rights. >> meteorologist: whether to the north central plains. we'll have all the details coming up in the show.

you are consuming them. that's next on "consider this." ]

>> this weekend forensic scientists will begin unearthing the bodies of dozens of boys in a notorious reform school in

florida. they were given permission to exhume the remains of the children. we went to florida for this story. >> reporter: there are bodies bury at a reform school. bodies buried for 60 years. >> something that the whole world needs to know. >> reporter: the campus opened in 1900. it was a place where the state placed kids who were in trouble. >> they felt the whole world deserted them. they would beat you into what they wanted you to be. >> reporter: they did backbreaking farm work. richard lost a toe in the field. they ended up what they called the white house. >> i would call it a torture chamber because here is where you got your mind right. if you didn't know how to pray,

you learned pretty fast. >> reporter: even though no one knows who is buried here or how they died, the state isn't launching a criminal investigation. only one staffer is still alive. too old to be questioned still forensic anthropologists could determine if a boy died of a gunshot or blunt force trauma. they have found 50 bodies so far and only just gun their work using radar, technology used to find mass graves in yugoslavia. they're hoping to find remains and finally tur return them to r loved ones. if they can't be identified they'll be buried in marked graves. >> there is a legal obligation to return toes remains to families for proper burial, and some would argue that the state has a moral obligation.

>> reporter: until then, huntley will have to speak for the dead. >> these forgotten graves. let our bones go home. >> reporter: al jazeera, florida. >> nearly 100 children died while at the school. many as a result of a tragic dormitory fire in 1914 and an flu epidemic in 1918. they hope that the boys' families can finally bury them. one of the defendant in a gang rape has been found guilty. he has been found guilty of rape and murder. the family of the victim has pleaded for a tougher sentence and say they're disappointed for the verdict. a sixth was found dead in his jail cell in march.

the pope has named a new secretary of state often called the deputy pope. he has been called to the position and will act as a pope prime minister and chief aid. he'll be involved with everything over 1. 4 countries. ruth maders gain gainsberg resided as justice in the marriage of her long time friends. >> meteorologist: it will be a gorgeous holiday weekend. some areas certainly need the rain we're going to be looking at beautiful bright sunny skies. it will be a hot day in redding, california, unfortunately, the

rim fire needs rain but they won't get any this weekend. we'll have heat, minneapolis today climbing to a high of 89 degrees. typically this time of year minutminneapolis is around 79. right now not a lot going on. we're looking at mostly cloudy, overcast skies. later on in the day we're going to see rainfall torrential rainfall along i-35 right around minneapolis. there is a lot of heat in the atmosphere and there is cooler air pushing over the north. when you get those friction that's when you see the severe weather. yesterday we had over 100 reports of damaging wind. close to a 100 reports of hail, in northwestern portion of

nebraska. we're going to want to use precaution out there today. severe weather will envelope the plains from the south into the east. in iowa they definitely need a bit of rainfall. northeast, take a look at new york, right now mostly cloudy overcast skies. we'll see a thunderstorm as we track through the evening and into tomorrow. the heaviest of the rainfall really expected to arrive as we track into tomorrow, and definitely on into labor day, the majority of the heavy rainfall will be atlanta and portions of new england. mostly cloudy and over cast skies into wednesday. we have a flash flood affect over portions of nevada into

utah, arizona and including phoenix back into vegas. you want to use precaution on the roadways. we're expecting to see more heavy rainfalls. we have a stationary frontal boundary and the southeast does not need any more rainfall. temperatures from jacksonville. >> tallahassee, use precautions if you're traveling on the roadways. we have rain for atlanta not just for today but labor day as well. look at how hot it is on labor day and we'll have plenty of humidity, richelle. >> thank you very much. looking ahead at 1:15 this afternoon eastern time president obama will be making a statement from the rose garden on what he expects, what he plans to do in syria. so we'll have much more clarity on that. keep it here on al jazeera. 1:15, a statement from the president. i'm richelle carey. keep it here. inside story.is next.

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