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hello again i'm martin dennis in doha and these are the top stories here at out his era u.s. president donald trump is expected to address the nation on syria shortly as the u.s. and its allies are considering military action in response to last saturday's alleged chemical attack in duma. the leaders of france and the u.k. have agreed to work closely on the international response while in washington the u.s. state department says it has evidence that links bashar al assad's government to the attack and we can say that the syrian government was behind this attack we talked about this the other day the white house says address this as well. we know that this was a chemical weapon that was used in syria the exact kind or the mix that we are still looking into there are some television shows out there in the united states that have started to ask well why aren't we releasing all this intelligence

information right now a lot of the stuff is classified at this point so those things we're going to hold pretty close to the vast. right let's go live now to our correspondent alan fischer who's awaiting with the rest of the world no doubt to hear what the president has to say well we're expecting him to walk into the diplomatic room in the white house to address the nation in less than sixty seconds we know that the national security council met at the white house just a few hours ago we know that nikki haley who is the union buster who also sits in the n.s.c. left the white house a couple of hours ago there was a long debate as the has been over the past week with we understand james mattis the defense secretary expressing caution and others suggesting that they really had to make syria appear price for what the americans say they have extensive intelligence shows that would be were behind the gas attack in ghouta and so we're expecting the president to unknowns that he has ordered strike and strikes either

taking place at the moment or have taken place but we cannot cross to the diplomatic room so i ordered the united states armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of syrian dictator bashar al assad and. a combined operation with the armed forces of france and the united kingdom. is now underway 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 fifty eight missile strikes that destroyed twenty percent of the syrian air force less outed the assad regime again

deployed chemical weapons to slaughter 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 attacked left mothers and fathers infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air these are not the actions of a man they are crimes of a monster instead following the horrors of world war one a century ago civilized nations joined together to ban chemical warfare chemical weapons are uniquely dangerous not only because they inflict gruesome suffering but because even small amounts can unleash widespread

devastation. the purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production spread and use of chemical weapons establishing this to turnt is a vital national security interest of the united states that combined american british and french response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power military economic and diplomatic we are prepared to sustain this response until the syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents i also have a message tonight for the two governments most responsible for supporting equipping and financing the criminal assad regime 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. the nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep no nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states brutal tyrants and murderous dictators in two thousand and thirteen president putin and his government promised the world that they would guarantee the elimination of syria's chemical weapons assad's recent attack and today's response are the direct result of russia's failure to keep that promise russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace hopefully some day we'll get along with russia

and maybe even iran but maybe not i will say this the united states has a lot to offer with the greatest and most powerful economy in the history of the world in syria the united states with but a small force being used to eliminate what is left of isis is doing what is necessary to protect the american people over the last year nearly one hundred percent of the territory once controlled by the so-called isis caliphate in syria and iraq has been liberated and eliminated the united states has also rebuilt our friendships across the middle east we have asked our partners to take greater responsibility for securing their home region including contributing

large amounts of money for the resources equipment and all of the isis effort. increased engagement from our friends including saudi arabia the united arab emirates qatar egypt and others can ensure that iran does not profit from the eradication of isis america does not seek an indefinite presence in syria under no circumstances as other nations step up their contributions we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home and great warriors they are looking around a very troubled world americans have no illusions we cannot purge the world of evil or act everywhere there is tyranny no amount of american blood or treasure can

produce lasting peace and security in the middle east it's a troubled place we will try to make it better but it is a troubled place the united states will be a partner and a friend but the fate of the region lies in the hands of its own people in the last century we look straight into the darkest places of the human soul we saw the anguish that can be unleashed and the evil that can take hold by the end of world war one more than one million people had been killed or injured by chemical weapons we never want to see that ghastly specter returned. so today the nations of britain france and the

united states of america have martial their righteous power against barbarism and brutality tonight a ask all americans to say a prayer for our noble warriors and their allies as they carry out their missions we pray that god will bring comfort to those suffering in syria we pray that god will guide the whole region toward a future of dignity and of peace and we pray that god will continue to watch over and bless the united states of america thank you and good night thank you. the president of the united states donald trump there announcing that military action is underway alan fischer our correspondent listening to the president started off by talking about precision strikes at the aim of this minute reaction to be a deterrent from using chemical weapons. and making the point too that this

isn't just the united states acting on its own like it did a year ago is acting in concert with the french and the british we know that over the last week there have been a number of phone calls between the president and president mccollum prime minister to resign me we know that the national security council met just a couple of hours ago to essentially finalize details of how this strike would be carried out exactly what has been hit we're not entirely sure we know that a year ago when the trumpet ministration went after syria because of a similar chemical attack the to a large chunk of the syrian air force twenty percent in fact is what donald trump said with fifty eight cruise missile strikes so we can expect something similar this evening it was interesting as well i thought that towards the end of the speech not only did he say look at some point we can maybe get on with russia and iran that is perhaps the warmest these ever spoken about iran that any point and

then said maybe some maybe not but he also said very clearly the united states does not seek a permanent presence in syria that has been a concern of the assad government certainly been something that the russians have flagged up over the last few months that there is this u.s. presence in syria that they have talked about establishing a base there and they have given no time scale for getting out of syria we know that the president himself has talked about pulling everyone out in fact just two weeks ago at a campaign event in ohio he suggested that they were going to get out of there very soon this is not something obviously that is in the calculus it was interesting that he didn't surround himself with advisors we know that mike pence who's currently in south america was suddenly walking out of the hall at the conference that he is attending well ahead of that was because he'd been given an indication that the white house was about to make a statement and we know that in the n.a.c.

james matter. as has been our jeanne caution in fact just yesterday he was speaking on capitol hill and he was seeing that you have to be careful with making sure that there is attempt effect for any u.s. military action and with that against possibly extending this conflict one interesting thing that will come up over the next couple of days is that a number of lawmakers said look the president really should be seeking congressional approval that is in the constitution if the president wants to wage war he's got to go to congress for approval he can't do this on his own their own and they asked james mattis do you think he has this approval james mattis said i'd have to check with my lawyer there will be people in the next few days who will see that what donald trump has done is wrong because he should have gone to congress in the first place to seek approval but what we do know is that these operations are no underway as we suspected just before we said that donald trump was about to address the nation from the diplomatic room of the white house all right allan

thank you very much indeed for that for now and we'll come back to allan in just a while but now let's go to another via correspondence to some of the injured aid he's in gaziantep in southern turkey very close to the syrian border and osama we're already hearing of there being a large explosions being heard around the area of the syrian capital damascus. yes martin according to reports that we've been hearing syrian air defenses have come into action finally after days of saber rattling and rhetoric us president don't trump has announced that his forces as well as the forces of britain and france are carrying out precision strikes over syria they are targeting president bashar al assad's chemical weapons arsenal what we've learned so far from the statement is that he's willing to sustain this operation until president bush out

of the stops it does put the united states in a position in a very complex warfare inside syria this is a country where not just u.s. britain and france have now been involved but also. on the ground a russian air force has been active for a number of years turkey has been operating in the air space as well and of course there was a more than sixty member alliance led by the united states against iceland which is continuing to operate although the footprint of it is the largest footprint of the united states with more than twenty five hundred soldiers on the ground inside syria. we'll wait to see what more we know from the ground as syrian media reports are coming in about defenses being activated we've also been hearing from these military sources and syrian state media that of the bashar assad government airplanes and helicopters have been moved elsewhere rather than being

in places in places where they were would have been without russian so they have moved closer to russia according to the de confliction agreement between the united states and russia it is expected that the united states would have given prior warning to russia informing them about which areas and which bases it would be hitting the facilities it would be targeting but so far. those details have not emerged we don't know whether they were there were prior warnings to the russian forces whether it was the same modus operandi as we saw in two thousand and seventeen because this isn't the first time you have to remember that the united states is carrying out strikes over syria if you remember in honshu april two thousand and seventeen when another chemical attack happened president trump who was recently who recently had come into power announced fifty nine tomahawk cruise missiles but at that point of time he did inform the russians the russians and

there were accusations by u.s. allies that the russians informed by extension the assad government and there was only minimal damage and indeed some what do we know then about the mission of the the anti chemical weapons watchdog the a.p.c. w.t. which we believe to be in in damascus and they were hoping to visit the sites where this alleged chemical attack happened started to start their work on saturday few hours from now. well russia had been warning that first russia said that no such incident took place and then russia said that if the united states carries out strikes it might destroy whatever evidence would have been remaining inside this area where the alleged chemical attack in duma happened we know the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons has sent in its inspectors the first batch has arrived after they arrived in the lebanese capital beirut yesterday on friday they moved into syria they are present in the capital

damascus and they were supposed to begin their work as you said on saturday it was not clear how much access would they be allowed because this area. is still contested the rebel sources have been seeing there are few rebel fighters who are still in duma whereas the syrian government has been insisting that it is in full control of duma but it is going to complicate matters further because the o.p.c. w. and the russians have been insisting that the opi c.w. should be allowed to complete its mission should be allowed to investigate and the u.s. should refrain from carrying out any action in this clear that that advice has not been heeded we heard very. very vibrant comments coming from united states france and great britain at the united nations security council on friday evening when there was a special session called by russia where they said that if such an action is taken

it will be to protect the norms of the civilized world to try and target chemical weapons facilities which the world has of quite a few years ago has said no to and it big cannot allow this to continue for long all right asama thank you for that osama bin jade's reporting there live from gaza and type in southern turkey very close to the border with syria now we can speak to douglas ollivant who was the director for iraq national security council under base president george w. bush and president obama he's joining us live from washington d.c. as the president says that the action is under way in the game the objective of this action is to be a deterrent to prevent syria from using chemical weapons again will it work. well the you just never know you never know if someone is deterrable now the language in the president's speech tonight implied that these strikes will make it work he said and he said words to the effect of until these attacks no longer

continue or the regime can no longer do this or words to that effect giving the implication that were there to be further attacks that there would be a further u.s. presumably u.k. and french for response that would then just automatically trigger and given that what do you think would be the specific targets of these strikes and what kind of holland where is being used. i suspect there will be a mix of airplanes and missiles that will come from a variety of platforms it could be more tomahawks it could be. plane launch bombs a wide variety of munitions the targets will be the presumably the possibilities that manufacture store and then deliver these weapons and not i'm not sure that this will interfere with the o.p.c. that you work presumably they're going where the weapons were deployed no one's going to be interested in bombing where the weapons were deployed they're going to

be interesting where the weapons were made and stored when one does if it's worth even doing given that the the decision has been taken in the actions under way i mean the a p c w seems to be no the taken really by friends. but does seem to be the case although you know you might want to have the more authority authoritative version of the facts for the record but certainly in terms of well there will be punishment dealt out that certainly seems to be a fait accompli now president trump made took pains to emphasize the fact that these are what he called precision strikes and of course one of the great fears one of the great concerns about this action is the possibility of mistakes being made and that u.s. ally strikes could inadvertently hit russian personnel russian materiel on the ground. absolutely so he did emphasize the precision nature presumably there is

a great deal of coordination going on with the russians i frankly doubt the president cares very much if iranian forces are hit by those bombs but certainly great care will be taken to avoid the russian forces that are intermingled with the syrian forces on the ground although the president did not hesitate to use diplomatic words as we saw against the russians and the iranians asking them why they'd want to be associated with the regime so all the weapons are very strictly focused on the chemical weapons production his words were not. all right for now douglas ollivant thank you very much indeed this time really for us to listen again to the words these important was that have been ousted by president twenty minutes also to go let's listen to exactly what he had to say. a short time ago i ordered the united states armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of syrian dictator

bashar al assad. a combined operation with the armed forces of france and the united kingdom. is now underway we thank them both all right let's bring in our senior political analyst. joining us on the line from london. you're in london where to reason may has been addressing the country and explaining why she's decided to join this action along with president tom and president macro and she said this is not about intervening in a civil war it's not about regime change. or to leaders especially american leaders have gone out of their way in order to size it just has to do simply upholding the parent on the use of chemical weapons there's no doubt fears among western powers both chemical rick latins had to use

once and again syria turkey wasn't passed that talked about sixty times the chemical weapons that he used syria they've also been used in other places allegedly like in london and parents. can spy was ours to get her moving forward and but yes it was you know using chemical weapons there is a living by thirst in some as we just heard you know on a gesture of of this operation to be about the use of chemical weapons. well the element of surprise is certainly been taken away doesn't it i mean given that president trump what almost five days ago trumpeted the fact forgive the pound trumpet the fact that he was prepared to take action and he was in fact quite boastful as this is as is his wont about the nature of the kinds of weapons that he

was going to rain down on syria so do you think the syrians have actually used this intervening period to to tuck away much of the much of the relevant hardware away from prying eyes of u.s. and allied missiles. of course there is a very big possibility to begin. with you were saying about surprises and so on so forth his track of understanding. or corporations of this nature but typically these operations lead to things one of course. the ones that the united states and france. and the other. intelligence. agencies. around and certainly. do have.

dyslexia and my guess want to. ration swarms are very beginning to be directed. me. privacy regimes but what we've been looking for more than anything else. on the. field. of republican guards. as we think of the guards and the special forces probably. those who. are going on the. two thousand and seven.

right ok thank you marwan bashara that correspondent senior political analyst reporting to us live from london. well as we've already mentioned the british prime minister trees i'm a she's addressed the country she has said that the decision to use force is specifically to deter the syrian regime a summer binge of a dreadful sound the last seven years of the war and how limited strikes have not been able to stop chemical weapons attacks and the warning that something is may find some of these images disturbing. another batch of syrians forced to leave their homes. these are nearly four thousand people displaced from doumani of the syrian capital damascus with the latest suspected chemical attack happened. we lived in bad days in history especially in the last three days with the original

creation in juba which used resulting in suffocation cases among the civilians was i. but forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of people in chemical attacks were unthinkable for these protesters in two thousand and twelve in the beginning really mobile videos used to capture a peaceful syrian uprising against bashar al assad. then the syrian government began its brutal crackdown with the arrests torture and killings the opposition also picked up weapons and radical groups such as ice and took advantage that was the first event for the assad government which insisted it was fighting what it called terrorists. just a major syrian chemical attack in who to change things in two thousand and thirteen and the threat of u.s. action inside syria remains that a threat to the international community is credibility is on the line and

america and congress his credibility is on the line because we give lip service to the notion that these international norms are important we have to act because if we don't we are effectively saying that even though we may condemn it and. issue resolutions and so forth and so on. somebody who is not shamed by resolutions can continue to act with impunity. and that impunity continue despite the u.n. chemical weapons watchdog destroying the syrian government's declared arsenal. the trumpet ministration responded in two thousand and seventeen the missile strikes inside syria but also gave prior warning to russia president assad. as with previous incidents there's been international outrage failed un resolutions and u.s. missile strikes in syria seven year war the international community has been outraged

multiple times and at times limited action but all that has failed to stop attacks on civilians who calls president assad. hundreds of thousands of been subjected to the tactic of starvation and the or die thousand spritely escape in many died on the way in the world has effectively shut down the borders around syria so people can watch. some of the job it others hear a little too. all right let's just take a moment to have a look at these pictures these are pictures are coming in from cyprus the. u.k. base there that's where britain retains an air base and you can see more planes taking off from cyprus which of course is very close to the targets in syria so those are the latest pictures and to come from britain's base in akrotiri cyprus right let's get to phyllis bennis now she's in washington d.c. she's a fellow at the institute for policy studies where she researches the middle east

and the united nations and phyllis i thank you for joining us and i've just been very quickly skimming an article that you have for you've written recently and i'm taking that you thought really disapprove of this action. absolutely first of all we don't have confirmation of what chemicals if any were actually used who was responsible is certainly not known assertions have been made and left unchallenged and now we're seeing a military response this is also a situation perhaps more importantly this is a classic even if situation even if we had confirmation which we don't of chemical weapons that were illegal being used that they were used by the syrian regime even if those things may be true but we do not have confirmation of it yet the team from the organization for the prevention of chemical weapons is only expected to arrive tomorrow and do mother have not been able to do their work this is also illegal

even if we knew those pieces of information and even if it pointed to the regime there is no authorization either in u.s. law or international law for the united states or for the u.s. with the brits and the french to engage in this kind of unilateral military assault it's a violation of the u.n. charter it's a violation of the us constitution it's a violation of the war powers act and it's really an obligation right now of members of congress who i hope are moving to call an emergency session of congress to say wait a minute this is not authorized by any existing authority ok the authorization issued by congress last time. but i just wanted to raise the fact with you that the state department and the white house both of them confirmed that they had to they didn't reveal the evidence but they they both said that they had in controversial evidence that linked what happened today in

a chemical weapons attack they confirmed that and they knew that it was carried out by the syrian regime of bashar al. they say that the russians say there was no attack or that it was created by another government i frankly don't believe any of these sources at this stage and the notion that there would be a military assault which again even if we had that information and it has not been made available i think because it's not sufficient for the international community there is only one agency i think that has international credibility and that's the organization for the prevention of chemical weapons they have not even arrived on the ground the idea that we are going in this kind of precipitous move and it's only the united states and its two allies it's not the united nations it's not with any kind of legitimacy or any authority 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 congress has not been consulted there's been no move to to get any kind of authorization when the authority was passed in two thousand and one just hours after the horrific attacks of nine eleven it was a very narrowly drawn authorization that authorized the use of u.s. force to go after those who had carried out the attacks of nine eleven meaning al qaeda and those who who supported them and sponsored them which was meant the taliban government in afghanistan period full stop that's now been used to justify us interventions around the middle east across africa in the philippines and elsewhere around the world something that was never authorized by the united states congress now to say that it also authorizes the u.s. to attack the government of another country when there has not been any attack on

the united states when the united nations has not said this is an issue of self-defense when there has not been a decision collectively by the international commune. thirty to punish a government for using illegal weapons and yes there should be there must be accountability but accountability is completely undermined by this kind of unilateral military a right so you don't really know how many casualties there may be no say fellas you don't but you don't believe that this. this the nature of this attack because described by the president is one of precision and it is a mde. reducing or eliminating the capability of the syrian government to use chemical weapons ever again you don't believe that that is a worthy of one of the coals no first of all i don't believe almost any excuse for this kind of military strike when we've been hearing about it for so long this is a president who has talked about wanting to go to war against iran wanting to go to

war against north korea this is this is not a this is a political judgment number two we know that according to the new york times that in certain periods these supposedly targeted weapons supposedly percentage and weapons have created thirty one times as many civilian casualties as the u.s. and the coalition have ever acknowledged thirty one times i'm in no position to judge that it's going to be any better on this round than it was in syria than it was earlier in in in iraq than it was in yemen ok all of these situations and so i understand i understand humans are being killed i understand your concerns but what about the fact that the argument that this is a regime that is being diplomatically shielded a militarily protected by another big power namely russia and allowing it to act with impunity and that's. the president was was that if you could further exactly

the severing that russia is responsible and complicit in this. yes yes there is a level of responsibility for great powers who provide impunity and support and protection to smaller powers when they violate international law it's exactly the problem the united states faces with israel when israel has used sharpshooters against civilian protesters on armed protesters in gaza killing more today there are close to a thousand more who were injured today and one more killed it's now up to thirty three i think who have been killed in these unarmed protests and the united states make sure that israel is is not ever held accountable russia may be well be in that same position visa v. the regime in syria again we don't know if the regime was responsible for this particular atrocity it has been responsible for plenty of atrocities as have the

russians as have the iranians ads had the saudis and the united states and others across syria syrians have only been doing the dying as these great powers and regional powers fight out their wars in syria or isis attack is not going to make syrians less likely to be attacked in the future in fact the president did not even say this was to make it impossible he said this was for deterrence and given what you just said about russia's protection it's not clear that this kind of deterrence is actually going to work all right phyllis bennis always good to q thank you very much indeed well let's here again the policy is the speech that the president made reference to russia because he had some quite strong language when it came to russia and iran for that matter and the support for the assad regime i also have a message tonight for the two governments most responsible for supporting equipping

and financing criminal regime. 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 the nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep no nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states brutal tyrants and murderous dictators so that was president strum speaking in just over thirty minutes ago now we can talk to not me is director of the center for middle east that is at the university of denver but he's joining us via skype from toronto in canada thank you for joining us and can i just run these lines by you because they're dropping on the wires as we're speaking and that is the french president emanuel mccraw has announced that the military operation that he's

involved with along with britain and of course the united states is targeting quote clandestine chemical arsenal the clandestine chemical arsenal do you think that this is. a military action the will succeed in deterring a preventing president assad from using chemical weapons again. well we don't know i mean i think time will fundamentally tell recall that we had a very similar situation roughly a year ago when bashar al assad used sarin gas on civilians in it look province. donald trump launched you know cruise missiles to prevent that from happening again but. bashar assad has continued as you know to use chemical weapons against his own civilians now the it seems like what's happening here is that this is a much more extensive robust and sustained

a set of operations geared toward preventing or deterring bashar al assad from using chemical weapons whether he'll get that message or not whether they'll be able to whether these airstrikes will actually be able to significantly damage the ability to produce and use these types of weapons on syrian civilians also is unknown so we'll have to wait and see time will tell how confident are you that this operation will be able to limit itself to the taking out of the facilities that enable the regime to make and use chemical weapons to resume a was at pains to say when she announced to the british public her involvement in the operation that this is not about regime change this is not about tilting the balance in terms of the civil war in syria how far can they insulate themselves from the rest of the conflict in the country. well i think you know they've been

doing a pretty good job of insulating themselves from this conflict the underlying roots of the conflict in syria for the last seven years. that's effectively been the policy of all major western powers they don't want to get involved in syria. they're not interested in dealing with the underlying roots of the conflict in syria which is the rule of the house of assad for almost fifty years and the mayhem that he has created over the last seven years in terms of the atrocities that he is a largely responsible for so it seems like if you want to interpret this particular airstrike against the backdrop of western policy in syria over the last seven years it seems like the west is sending a message the only thing we care about in syria is chemical weapons and isis what bashar al assad chooses to do to his own civilians using conventional weapons is of no concern to the great powers and if you look at the numbers i think that's

that that's sort of i think confirms what i'm saying roughly maybe at most two thousand people have been killed by chemical weapons used by the assad regime half a million people have died in this war as a result of conventional weapons and so that seems to be the message that you know the west is sending to bashar asad you can continue with your mayhem you can continue with your maps politicized as long as you just don't use chemical weapons then we're not going to get involved and so i think that's a very disturbing message to stand to the people of syria and to other dictators around the world absolutely so the syrian people will feel that their lives. not valued quite so much if they are decimated by a barrel bomb for instance. exactly now i think some syrians today because they've been so disappointed by the international community and so decimated well i think

for a moment to feel some sense of elation that the brutal dictator that has been oppressing them for the last you know at least for the last fifty years but at least in very significant ways in the last seven years is finally receiving some punishment but i think the reality that the next morning when people wake up they'll see that the united states and its allies have no interest in changing the fundamental course of the war. the united states in its ally and its allies really going back to the top of barack obama basically you know sent a message to russia and iran that they can control the course of events in syria and no one is going to stop them no one in the west has the political will or the interest of the appetite to really change the fundamental underlying problems that got us to this point the only problem for the west right now is the use of chemical weapons in upholding an international norm and so from bashar al assad his perspective all he has to do is just not use those weapons continue using

conventional weapons and continue to reign chaos and mayhem a process and could see it continue to consolidate the land that he has lost over the last seven years so that's a very i think disappointing message and i think many syrians when they wake up tomorrow morning are going to sort of see that the hopes that they have the perhaps this would be a game changer that this would perhaps weakens the assad regime those hopes and wishes are not going to come to fruition what do you think what do you think of the notion itself of west and military intervention yes again in the middle east the last two times of course have resulted in in chaos and and dreadful miss fulton for the for the populations who were left behind to see i'm referring to libya and iraq. well i mean you know western policy in the middle east has been a disaster you know going back right from the beginning so there's not

a very you know pretty track record here than one can point to one sort of hope that with respect to the use of mass atrocities and approached the level of genocide or at least crimes against humanity that there might be some attempt to sort of justify an intervention rooted in upholding international law and upholding certain universal principles that the demby you know justified as a way of limiting and preventing a brutal dictator for pressing his own people but it's pretty clear right from the beginning that both under president barack obama and under president trump that there is you know very little interest in getting involved in syria because as you know was as was clearly stated during the obama administration there is a sense that there is no direct threat to american national interests in syria you know five hundred thousand people killed is not a u.s.

national interest isis was a problem and so when you know when president obama decided to intervene in syria is very limited to depression of you know removing isis from from the political scene now that that's you know almost accomplished as president trump knowledge just you know a week ago he wanted to pull out and had no interest in in getting involved in in the region so yes western intervention in the middle east is historically a huge problem and then we're seeing it again today that the intervention that's taking place as we speak is not an intervention that is geared toward improving the human rights situation in the middle east supporting you know the prospects for creating better conditions for the emergence of democracy in civil society it's a very limited to a series of calculations that really. you know don't benefit i think the people of the region in any significant way and i think that's going to be the usual history when this particular moment is written about or i'd not me thank you very much

indeed talking to us live from toronto where well just to recap then this. latest news the president of the united states donald trump has announced precision strikes those were his words he said they're under way in syria in response to last saturday's suspected chemical weapons attack in the town of duma the president said the strikes are being carried out with the support of britain and france he also said the strikes were a direct result of russia and iran's failure to keep the syrian president bashar assad from using chemical weapons let's go live now to a summer binge of a correspondent who is in gaziantep that's in southern turkey very close to the border with syria and ossama we're getting a bit more information as to the targets syrian state t.v. reporting that the scientific research center which is widely believed to be the the laboratory where the chemical weapons are actually made all the gases made

is being targeted this just outside of damascus. absolutely buress actually video in the city of damascus sits close to the besieged once besieged neighborhood of eastern lota and there have been several rockets that previously landed in tibet and so it is within reach of the city this week of a facility that has been targeted is believed to be have been not just preparing chemical weapons but also there are reports in various media outlets inside syria that there has been some sort of rainy and involvement there as well and that is that iran has sent experts who have been working on scientific research that is we don't know for sure whether this was the facility indeed which is we can add that has been manufacturing the chemical weapons and it is worth remembering that the

organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons announced two years ago that it has destroyed all of the declared chemical weapons that were under the use of president bashar al assad but that the key word there was declared chemical weapons and they were the suspicion was that there was a lot more that wasn't declared and president bashar assad's forces has certainly been using that in the last two years or so the u.s. . ambassador to the united nations saying that at least fifty attacks have been carried out by the president bashar al assad regime against civilians inside syria and estimates of by local n.g.o.s and medics and which include attacks by other parties as well say there have been as many as two hundred incidents of the use of chemical weapons we're also getting more reports about the details of this joint coalition which is carrying out this operation at the moment inside syria the u.k. prime minister to resign me saying that he has not taken this to his decision

lightly we're also hearing reports from the french president and manual mccraw who has just said that he. couldn't tolerate the normalization of chemical weapons use inside syria and that's why france was part of this coalition earlier but also heard that germany might also be involved but despite the support that chancellor angela merkel said that she would provide to this coalition germany has so far not taken part in the military action that is currently being taken in syria we're also hearing reports of some rockets landing around the demand air base around damascus and a syrian state media has been showing pictures as well as information about how syrian air defense missiles systems have been activated several rockets they say have been shot down according to sources from the u.s. government and the u.s. military tomahawk missiles are being used at the u.k. defense ministry saying that at least for the royal air force tornadoes have also

taken part in this operation which is currently under way details are continuing to emerge about which areas are being targeted but we suspect that there are multiple facilities where of which were pointed out earlier by military experts closer to the capital damascus some out and there is or there are some facilities near the problems of homs where there are there are also some in northern aleppo as well where the government is suspected to not just keep assets on the ground which has its military hardware but also some sort of supplies of samarra on civilians it is also worth noting that the chemical and let me jump in there because we've now got a statement the statement made by the british prime minister to resign may. we have sought to use every possible diplomatic channel to achieve this but our efforts have been repeatedly for change even this week the russians featured

a resolution at the u.n. security council which would have a stoppage to an independent investigation into the duma attack. so there is no practicable alternative to the use of force to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons by the syrian regime this is not about intervening in a civil war it is not about regime change it is about a limited and targeted strike that does not further escalate tensions in the region and that does everything possible to vent civilian casualties and while this action is specifically about deterring the syrian regime it will also send a clear signal to anyone else who believes they can use chemical weapons with impunity at this time my thoughts are with our brave british

servicemen and women and our french and american partners who are carrying out their duty with the greatest professionalism the speed with which we are acting is essential in cooperating with our partners to alleviate further humanitarian suffering and to maintain the vital security of our operations this is the first time as prime minister that i have had to take the decision to commit our armed forces in combat and it is not a decision i have taken lightly i have done so because i judge this action to be in britain's national interest we cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalized within syria on the streets of the u.k. or anywhere else in our world we would have preferred an alternative path

but on this occasion there is none history teaches us that the international community must defend the global rules and standards that keep us all safe that is what our country has always done. and what we will continue to do to reason may the british prime minister explaining to the british public exactly what her reasoning was before committing british armed forces to this effort which is joining up with the united states and france to position strike as they're saying chemical weapons facilities so to grade and deter the syrian government from its ability and inclination to use this kind of weapon now we can he called the suspected chemical

weapons attack of of last saturday he called it he said it was an attack by the syrian regime and described it as the crimes of a month or. this massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime the evil and the despicable attacked left mothers and fathers infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air these are not the actions of a man they are crimes of a monster instead all right let's talk to chemical weapons expert now charles due for who's in camden maine in the u.s. he's joining us via skype he's a former advisor to the director of central intelligence for iraq w m d you'll say served as deputy executive chairman of the u.n. special commission on iraq thank you for joining us what are your observations

about the operation that's been announced by the united states and britain and france. well first of all it's a coalition of the the attack that the united states connect ducted unilaterally year ago was only one nation and obviously it wasn't quite sure bosher all assad from from using chemical weapons again so it's been broadened in terms of the scope of the people involved it's also being broadened in terms of the targets not just one your base from which the attacks were were originated but they're also trying to include chemical weapons facilities of various sorts and presumably other air bases from which the aircraft or helicopters were deployed are you surprised at what appears to be a substantial stockpile of chemical weapons the coalition saying that they are targeting these facilities where the stockpile is being kept particularly in the science research facility which is in damascus.

well that that facility has been associated with the syrian chemical weapons research and development quite some time but it's worth recalling back in two thousand and thirteen when president obama you know drew this famous red line about the use of chemical munitions and bottles like you are asked after which the russians really put the screws to bashar al assad they said listen you know your regime depends on you you know satisfying dishes is issue in a different way and the russians really pushed to have arms control disarm and inspectors you know take it take a handle at the at the syrian capacity which was very extensive and you know largely the work of this organization o.p.c. w. was quite successful things could be much worse right now if they had not gone after the large stocks that the syrians had what seems to have happened or was as

fleischer all assad has become more confident in his own survival he's also become you know less constrained about using these weapons bear in mind you know he signed an international treaty thing he would get rid of and not use chemical munitions is now violated actually so you know he's he's not without a lot of blame in this and it's been the subtext of president trumps and now some months the fact that he president assad of syria has been provided with the opportunity if you like to regroup and and to rearm himself provide he's been provided with cover by by the russian managed. well that's the case i mean you know bashar al assad you know probably wouldn't be alive today if weren't for the russians you know that he is very much dependent on the russians and seems to me it's incumbent upon the russians to solve this problem whereas so far they haven't in the security council they have not supported strong measures to constrain basra assad back to the you know the thing i would point out is you know

sadly for the syrians these issues are only about syria for the syrians everyone else has a much broader perspective from the perspective of washington they've also got their eye on the nuclear issues having to do with both north korea and iran so what if kim young is watching what's going on here if nothing happens to bashar al assad washington's got a great concern that he's going to get the wrong message and if if the president sees him in next month that's a big issue likewise there's a big issue with the iran nuclear deal where there's a critical review in washington and so president shown so far has said he's willing to walk away from the nuclear deal with iran so there's a there's a lot of complexities here and if the united states and its allies let bashar al assad off the hook on this it there's a lot of common concert.