on the ground when the chemical weapons attack happened the suspected attack happened and the rebels were in charge of the area and now the russian pull in military police has been deployed and russia and the syrian government insisting time and time again that they are not responsible for this attack in fact the russians even accuse the u.k. of staging this operation this chemical weapons attack so it is still not clear some believe that the o.p.c. w. is sending this mission was staving off the possibility of strikes but clearly that did not happen i was wondering just maybe finally what the reaction locally in the region is going to be or has been and we've seen anything coming out of the governments around here because president trump did say that he acted with the support of his allies he did specifically mention cancer and other countries. well yes at the end of the day people are worried the situation in syria could spiral out of control many many players involved in this conflict international regional

players each one of them stakeholders in this conflict and so there was a real big fear that this could lead to a wider confrontation you're talking about two alliances like you mentioned some arab countries allied with the united states and then you have the pro syrian government alliance the russians the iranians this is another alliance and there were threats really made by akbar velayati the top advisor to the iranian supreme leader he wasn't damascus just two days ago and he said first he promised a retaliation against the israeli airstrike that targeted the syrian air base and killed iranian personnel but he also issued a threat to the united states telling them that their troops in syria are considered occupying forces and that the next phase there will be a military operation east of the euphrates where these u.s. troops are based and we are going to kick out an expel these troops from the area so the iranians are also threatening the americans we also remember there are american troops in iraq as well and there is an uneasy relationship there in iraq so there could be an indirect confrontation between the iranian allies and the

united states in iraq so the iranian the pro iranian alliance if you like in the region have cars and its hand as well geopolitical around the fixations many thanks for explaining some of those bring us the view from coming back to shortly i'm sure . you know what saying all special extended rolling coverage of u.s. strikes in syria just about four hours ago now the united states france and the u.k. announce they've taken military action against syria in response to last saturday's alleged chemical attack and duma the targets president assad is president assad's chemical weapons production facilities now these strikes came at night while those in the syrian capital with plain alan fischer have more from washington d.c. a response had been promised predicted a no delivered my fellow americans 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 donald trump has argued be us how to take action to protect its national interest at the stop the assad regime use of chemical weapons the purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production spread and use of chemical weapons establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the united states and in this message for president assad's russian and the reigning alights 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. it's just over a year since a sarin gas attack in syria provoked an american military response this was a joint operation the french and the british joining the americans. tonight france the united kingdom and united states took decisive action to straight to syrian chemical weapons going for structure. clearly the astroid 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 i am confident the cherian 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 we don't legal power for want the attack here in the united states our constitution says without a break in now because we're going to straight to paris where we can have a defense minister and the foreign minister is making a statement you know offensive doing another offensive. it was in both a. fact and can be directly linked to the syrian regime that this attack created dozens of victims at least forty six according to medical sources all day on site in this attack created hundreds of wounded the red line fixed by the president of the republican the seventh of may has been stepped over we have said that this kind of transgressions would not. we would of course react we have taken action. security we have by trying to block.

with the security council so in common in conformity with our responsibility and with our words we have coordinated with our allies to attack assad's regime. has chosen deliberately to just step over the taboo of chemical weapons so for seven years he has he has not hesitated in flouting international laws. just the rules of law and of simple humanity the escalation of chemical weapon use in syria is not acceptable is not acceptable because chemical weapons constitute a violation of a fundamental law of international law and humanitarian law and the use of these weapons transgress our oldest treaties and confirm and conventions of the treaty of

one thousand nine hundred twenty five which prohibited the use of chemical weapons it violates the international chemical weapons. like. one thousand nine hundred ninety three the treaty of one thousand nine hundred three the creation and use of these weapons represent a threat to peace and international security which contravenes. and for all of us as a nation and the use of chemical weapons is not acceptable in syria because the syrian regime had undertaken. to destroy all of its chemical weapons in twenty thirty the security council had decided by its resolution twenty one. that syria must hold to not using chemical weapons. otherwise chapter seven of the united nations is that the right

to military strikes that those who you have those who threaten national international peace the use of chemical weapons in syria is not acceptable course and the president of the repub. has made just statement that. everybody must deal with the consequences of what the syrian regime has done the syrian regime knew very well what they were doing given all these previous agreements to deliberately use chemical weapons again and flout international law the action that has been led by the armed forces i want to say i want to honor them and say thank you and i want to recognize that coverage this this action will be detail to you will be described by the minister of the armed forces as badly

the action that we have taken is to stop. it is. very limited to very precise objectives to destroy the chemical weapon arsenal of syria to stop it to commit to more chemical carnage. and to continue its terror strategy against its own population this action is targeted and proportionate we are not trying to. we are trying we're not trying to hurt citizens we are trying to dissuade assad from this criminal activity the syrian regime must stop using chemical weapons for seven years the syrian conflict has been becoming worse and worse. it is directly affecting france and europe security leaks and within this context we have two priorities the fight against your hard disk groups in particular day

issue and the return to stability and the use of a political solution. which both would equate to peace for the syrian population but also for peace for the whole region and internationally that is why very quickly france will return to political initiatives we have three needs demand dismantling chemical weapons and in a way that it can be properly verified and irreversibly. a cease fire on the whole of the terror syrian territories so that he american humanitarian aid can come to the local populations and this will be done under international laws so. we must can we must do that finally and at the same time.

a way of coming out of the crisis and plan of action through a political solution and we are ready to start working on this with all countries that can contribute. ladies and gentleman this night at three am french time is it on the order of the president of the republic says french armed forces what godliness in strict planning with american and english forces led an operation in syria. this operation as it is targeted as his objective. the chemical weapons plan destroying chemical weapons program of syria so the main research center of this program and to in cotton production sites have been hit so hard that this is object during these objectives it is the capacity to develop and would bring

and produce chemical weapons is a part of this objective that we wanted to stop the there is a simple a more stop the red. to start again using chemical weapons concretely this operation combined naval and air forces if they get a multi-mission frigate is accompanied. by. some port and protection unit were in deployed in the mediterranean an aerial aerial raid began at the fall from several bases in france in order to come to the syrian coast or yeah these different means struck. in a very coordinated way crews met missiles on preplanned objectives very

closely synchronized with our american and british are lies. infrastructures that were targeted. or used to develop and produce substances used to kill men women and children syrian men women and children in total contempt of all international laws and of the laws of civilization we are not looking to for a confrontation we refuse we do not want to in their vitaly escalate the military. attack that is why with our allies yes we have on them we ensured that the russians were you don't notified before we gave them a clear communication on what we did. above was

beyond bad france is resolute in it and that's gauged and part of the international coordination against us for as long as this threat to continue i would like to thank our american and british allies. particularly my opposite jim mattis and david williamson with whom i spoke every night of this we get so that this operation could be led successfully i mean finally i would like to thank you thank and honor the profession and breaker and courage and the men and women of the french armed forces who have contributed to the correct and successful execution of this very complex operation thank you. and there we were hearing from the defense and foreign ministers of france keen to

say the reason these attacks happened is that chemical weapons cannot be used they were targeted limited strikes and that the russians were notified beforehand that they were not targeted in these strikes let's go to tasha butler she was listening in. give us just remind us of what florence poly the defense minister was saying there about the french involvement in these strikes yes she was giving a few more details about france's military involvement because up to now it was known exactly how france was a volved alongside the u.s. and the u.k. just that they did carry out air strikes now what she says is that french jets took off from france now france has two military bases in the region jordan a new e but the defense minister actually said that they didn't want to get any other countries involved and that is why those jets took off from france and would have

been refueled mid-flight she also said that a frigate have been deployed into the mediterranean sea in terms of the targets well it was very clear that the targets they chose with those that they believe the syrian regime is using to produce chemical weapons and she said the two very important targets were struck so that's pretty much what she said in terms of the military involvement of france she said it was very carefully coordinated alongside . alongside her partners from the united states and from the u.k. the targets of prepared and i should add importantly she said that the russians were told that this was going to happen yes so that everyone's been a great pains to say that the russians were told and it does seem that the de confliction mechanisms that rim place did work. yes that's right that's right i mean we also heard i should say from the french foreign minister and his message was very similar to the one that we've heard from the french president over the last few days in the message is really that france

felt that it simply had no choice that this use of chemical weapons that france says it has proof about was a red line that had been crossed and the france had said in the past it would retaliate the french president has made it clear that it would retaliate if chemical weapons were used in syria he says he has proof that chemical weapons were used and therefore france just simply felt that it had no choice or had to retaliate because this was the words used by the french foreign minister several times where it's simply not acceptable that there's been an escalation of the use of chemical weapons by the syrian regime he said over the past seven years and this is not acceptable and it is an international law and rights i should say had been violated and flouted and the regime should not be allowed to get away with it given that there was this sense of fashion of inevitability there in france that something would be done the french public of had some time to get their heads

around it are very supportive of president mark wrong move. well it is hard to say it's still very early here in france of course but i think over the past few days here in france we've been seeing the same images that have been shown around the world of children and civilians reportedly having been exposed to chemical weapons in dumas now the french president came out on thursday in a television interview saying that there had been a chemical weapon attack that he had proof of chlorine have been used and your proof that the syrian regime was behind that attack so in so far as that's the case i think many people in france who feel that the french president was justified in the gist of my is to carry out this attack is specially as he's been talking about france retaliate for any chemical weapon use in syria over the past few months but has yet to act so many would think ok the president has actually kept his word on

the other hand there are those in france who feel very cautious about the idea of being militarily involved in this way at all they already feel that back in twenty eleven when the french president then at the time nicolas sarkozy led french intervention in libya that that turned into a political mess and has created obviously many crises since and the french simply don't want to get bogged down in anything so i think what we'll see today is a french reaction a public reaction i should say what the public wants to know is is this the end of these airstrikes overnight going to be the end of this retaliation or are we going to see anything else and if we do see anything else what will that mean for france going forward absolutely me plenty more questions to be asked for a moment thanks very much for bringing us the view there from paris u.s. general joseph dunford spoke about what was specifically targeted in syria during this joint operation. the first target was a scientific research center located in the greater damascus area this military

facility was a syrian center for the research development production and testing of chemical and biological warfare technology the second target was a chemical weapons storage facility west of homes we assessed that this was the primary location of syrians sharon and precursor production equipment the third target which was in the vicinity of the second target contained both the chemical weapons equipment storage facility and an important command post. and those on there joins us now from washington d.c. of course gabriel this was a u.s. led coordinated action at the u.k. and france behind it we had the well the french involvement was and these strikes what we have from the pentagon about the u.s. involvement. there we did hear from the pentagon a couple hours ago and they were very clear about what you just heard there that this was an operation that was done and it's now over it was not an extended

operation and that they really hit those three key targets that you heard just there from dan forth and this is key because what they were basically saying is that they were not just going after a military base like they did a year ago those strikes air strikes a year ago this time they went after three different targets and what secretary of defense james mattis was indicating was is particularly is this one site outside of damascus being a scientific research center he said this is key because this is where the pentagon and the u.s. government alleges that the assad regime is creating. chemical weapons from this facility outside damascus so they say by taking this out it could set them back years in their production of chemical weapons and also takes out all of their in the words of the pentagon all their data so all of their knowledge of how to do this apparently so that's where this really differs from the strike from

a year from a year ago that was a year ago it was just one strike on one military institution this now military base this now of three different targets the key one being this one outside of damascus i case there's an escalation from last year but not too much of an escalation to be seen getting too involved in the conflict that's something that the white house is very keen to stress. yeah that's for sure i mean the pentagon did say that this this is a lot more force than it was a year ago and the way they did this is they they say that a year ago it was a unilateral operation just the united states on its own now they're talking very much about really talking up how this was the french and the u.k. is involved in this as well and madison danforth had on the podium with them. military attachés from france and the u.k. there to really give this symbol of this is more than a military strike that's is primarily what it is but also trying to give

a diplomatic cover as well on this now in terms of how much unishe ins were used by the americans specifically we don't know yet they didn't release that that will come early saturday morning when we get another briefing from the pentagon but clearly we did get a hint that this was a lot more because secretary of defense matt has said in the q. and a section part of the his briefing to the media he said there were more than double the amount of munitions used in this operation than what it was a year ago in that strike and a year ago it was more than fifty five fifty nine tomahawk cruise missiles so presumably this was well over one hundred but we'll get the details on that saturday morning when the brit pentagon does another another briefing on that but but clearly the they're really saying that this was very targeted three targets that they went after trying to avoid any civilian casualties as much as as much as

they could and ok. joining us now from washington thanks very much guy for the name and well in his address u.s. present donald trump spoke strongly against russia and iran for the support of the i thought government i also have a message tonight for the two governments most responsible for supporting equipping 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 and the russian ambassador to the u.s. has warned there will be consequences after the u.s.

led strikes on syria and italy on top of said in a statement the worst apprehensions have come true or warnings have been left on the predesigned scenario is being implemented again we're being threatened we warn that such actions will not be left without consequences or responsibility for them rests with washington london and paris or italians joins us now from moscow we've been getting quite a few lines there from the russians overnight what's the latest you're hearing from moscow. well you know we've heard from the foreign ministry as well marie is a quarter of a spokesperson for the russian foreign ministry has posted on facebook and she has basically said in a post there the you know the united states basically likes to proclaim its own exceptionalism she went on to say well it's exceptional the country that has been fighting against terrorism for many years now she means syria by that should be hit

by the united states just of the time when it's moving towards peace i think we're going to get plenty more information out of russia plenty more statements we're going to hear from the defense ministry quite soon they'll probably give us their assessments of what happened in syria overnight but generally i think the perspective in russia once you come through all the bluster and all the kind of moral outrage that is being expressed is that actually isn't too bad so you know essentially the fear is that russia had perhaps earlier on on in the week that the united states was getting ready for a major escalation of the syrian conflict that it would be targeting significance syrian military assets perhaps going off the ass of himself all this sort of thing well it didn't come to pass what we gots were. sort of perhaps cooler

heads in washington d.c. prevailing. pointing out to the president's that you couldn't just rein cruise missiles down on syria willy nilly you basically have to choose targets much more carefully and if you were hoping to dissuade the country and damascus from using chemical weapons in the future well you just have to go after the chemical weapons facilities themselves and that there are too many other actors russia and iran in syria to be just going hell for leather i think that's what we saw last night. a limited strike from the united states and one that russia will probably think is an acceptable cost ok now we know that these strikes didn't hit near russian bases that there was some correspondence between the u.s. and russia just give us an idea of what this day conflicts and mechanism is and how it works in this instance. i mean first we spoke about the

bases the the russians have a sophisticated number of air defense systems in operation in syria they've got the s four hundred which is the most modern one and they got the s. three hundred as well now the reason why they didn't deploy the s four hundred it's never been deployed in a proper combat situation so far is that they say the u.s. missiles didn't come close to the areas of where this defense system is operational which is around its naval facility and taught to use the air base in a moment but you know the conflict in law has been operational between the u.s. and russia militaries for for months now and it's the the mechanism they use to stop. basically planes flying into each other. incidents that could spiral out of control and turned into into a wider conflict and the u.s. said you know we heard from general dunford a few hours ago saying that they had been using this the confliction line to talk

to the russians they had given them specific targets and told them exactly where they were going to hit but they have said that they should have space clearance over syria for the for the for the night on mouse and in the hours when this strike was happening and these cruise missiles were coming in that of course would have killed and the russians a clue what was coming and of course the russians have been expecting something along these lines for days now they've been expecting it it wasn't as bad perhaps as they expected so expecting we expecting to see russia's involvement in the syria war to continue business as usual. yeah i think pretty much this will be business as usual the russians are saying that they want to call for meetings at the united nations for this strike to be condemned but i think if we do get those u.n.

meetings that will be business as usual again we've seen so many of them were over over recent weeks you know the united states and its allies france the u.k. other european powers essentially condemning russia for providing cover for bashar last. accusations that he's being indiscriminate in his use of chemical weapons against the chemical weapons convention that will continue and i think the conflict as we have seen it in syria over the past few months will continue as well and that basically means that bashar al assad and his allies russia and iran are going to continue their squeeze of the last pockets of rebel activity. the hot phase of the syrian war is perhaps close to coming to an end and what we're going to see after that well anyone's guess but it looks to me as if it's going to be a kind of dividing of syria into different spheres of influence with the u.s.

controlling their bits the kurds having the bit in the north the turks in africa and the russians and the syrian government in the coastal areas ok rory many thanks for bringing us the latest lines that from moscow just try mind any viewers who are just joining us you're watching our ongoing coverage of the u.s. military strikes in syria the u.s. carried out those strikes about four and a half hours ago in conjunction with british and french forces on targets associated with syria's suspected chemical weapons program the pentagon says the first target was a scientific research center in the great at damascus area two more took place west of homs in what the pentagon says a chemical weapons storage facilities syrian state media is reporting the military's add defense system shot down thirteen missiles in the case while areas south of damascus so in officials also say the talks inside were evacuated days ago thanks to a warning from russia. meanwhile russia's ambassador to the u.s.

is one that the actions would have consequences let's go to our guest ted hope he's a professor of international relations at national university of singapore and the expert on russia he joins us on skype from singapore to get a warning there from russia that these actions would have consequences on the other hand we've got suggestions that they'll be some relief in the kremlin that these strikes one broader yeah i think you're from moscow as a perfectly correct. the us france and the u.k. . shows very limited targets and a. possible it clashing with russian military forces. first the complexity of the military force it was very astutely done and of course by tweet about the state you know gave ample opportunity for serious themselves or the worst of the clashes

so the russia that is likely to call for another u.n. security council meeting has to look up many friends left at the council that. really i mean there's probably no credibility what the last five six years of activities for them around the world. are they're crazy almost maniacal to create a conspiracy theories for all actions by themselves in syria. pretty much dry. and when one does whether the attack will be the suspected that the poisoning which is suspected by russia. in the u.k. i mean that whether that pushed the u.k. to ease a mate to accept decisively and so quickly this infant in syria because she's lumping together any use of chemical weapons being a red line. no one foreigners both france and the u.k. want to make sure that they're convinced.