binns we're not going to get involved 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 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 he's finally receiving some punishment but i think the reality next in 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 and its allies and its allies really going back to the top of barack obama have 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 and 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 rossy urrea and consider it continue to consolidate the land that he has lost over the last seven years so that's a very i think disappointing message. welcome to al jazeera and our extended rolling coverage of the u.s. strikes in syria ninety six hours ago the u.s. struck three locations in syria and you know what you are extended coverage as we analyze exactly what happened with our correspondents around the world now. it is of course the largest intervention by western powers since against syria's government since the war began nearly seven years ago now the us britain and france

have it really hit regime change targets with a barrel of strikes from ships and fighter jets in response to a suspected poison gas attack last week the u.s. president donald trump announced the operation explosions were heard in syria's capital damascus the government's key allies have responded with anger russia has warned that there will be consequences iran says it's a clear violation of international law as dawn broke in damascus regime supporters gathered to cheer for president bashar al assad syrian officials have described the military action as brutal american british french aggression. now all of the strikes were aimed at degrading syria's chemical weapons capabilities the first target was a scientific research center in the greater damascus area the pentagon says it was used for the production and testing of chemical and biological warfare technology to more sites were targeted west of homs both work hemel weapons storage facilities

according to the pentagon one of them was also a military command center well we're tracking reaction from around the world to our correspondents in washington d.c. moscow beirut london paris and live all of them in a little while after alan fischer wraps up everything we know so far no response had been promised predicted and no delivered my fellow americans a short time ago i ordered the united states armed forces to launch precision strikes certain targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of syrian dictator bashar. 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 had this message for president assad's russian an iranian allies what kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men 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 the signing 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 the united states took decisive action to strake the syrian chemical weapons infrastructure. clearly the astride regime did not get the message last year u.s.

defense secretary says he was convinced of syrian involvement in the suspected chemical attack just hours before the operation was given the go ahead but i am confident the 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 it's going to trump address the country there were some questioning if you believe all power towards the attack here in the united states our constitution says without any equivocation it's up to congress not the president not the executive branch to declare a war to say when we're going to go to war the president then executes that decision the russians had warned of consequences if the u.s. launched this attack because of its close ties to the syrian government the air strikes may be over this new middle east crisis isn't alan fischer al-jazeera

washington well here's some more reaction from the syrian government and state media operations says it's an aggression against syria and the result of the west's failure of an anti syria project it says the strikes are aimed at obstructing investigations of the international fact finding team currently in duma where the suspected chemical attack took place last weekend syria has called on the international community to condemn the aggression saying it's meant to fuel tension threaten international peace and security in one yet that the last. we stress that this kind of aggression will not stop our army our alliance will continue targeting terrorist groups across the country this will strengthen us and we will continue to defend our sovereignty and our homeland and people security. joins us now from the pentagon in arlington virginia of course we're getting more clarification exactly what missiles and military. support was

actually used in those attacks across syria. a little bit but not a complete picture yet from the pentagon the pentagon was pretty clear on when they struck and where they struck and what targets were hit but in terms of the full analysis from the pentagon on what damage was done at least from their perspective that will be released saturday in a early briefing but when we did hear from joseph dunford chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and the secretary of defense james mattis they were very clear that these were. what they view to persist in strikes on key infrastructure capabilities by the syrian government to produce chemical weapons is particularly interesting was how they pointed out this scientific research center outside damascus which the pentagon says very clearly was used by syrian government

scientists to come up with the formulas in create the chemical weapons that the u.s. says that they then deployed so they said that the pentagon said that this strike against this particular facility should set them back years in their capability to produce more chemical weapons but in terms of how all of the strikes panned out from the pentagon's perspective that will be in a briefing on saturday morning because this particular military action was very different to what we saw in terms of the. locations to a year ago when we saw a similar. killed dozens of civilians. yeah it was very different let me explain how it was in april two thousand and seven that strike was a unilateral strike done by the americans against one target one syrian

military base this is much different it was a unilateral operation. with the united states france and the u.k. as we've been saying and it targeted more than one location it targeted three as we've been saying and so the americans are very. clear to point that out and they actually had military attaché is from both the u.k. and france at the podium standing next to. secretary of defense matters at the pentagon at their briefing earlier to give a real sense that this was a multilateral operation done with two other countries and that was very key very different in terms of the amount of munitions that were used we don't have a complete picture yet at least not from the pentagon but matt is did say that it was a double the amount of munitions used than what was used a year ago a year ago it was fifty nine tomahawk cruise missiles so presumably of course this

would be well over more than one hundred so it was very different in that regard in terms of the targets that were hit and also. the alliance so to speak that took part in this that was a key difference clearly of what was most apparent really was how quickly the president and the defense secretary took to the way to see the reassure certainly inform the american people as to what was being done and why. yeah they did and it was a little interesting because nine o'clock sharp east coast time here in washington d.c. time is when president donald trump addressed the nation with that address where he said this is a operation that is starting now and trump seemed to indicate that it could carry on as long as necessary until the assad regime stopped allegedly using chemical weapons. but then we heard from the pentagon an hour later and they really put the

brakes on any idea that this was going to be an ongoing mission this was just secretary of defense mattis very clearly said in his words this is a quote unquote one time shot and there are no additional attacks planned so this was a one off if you will from the pentagon's perspective go in hit these three targets get out and be done with it and that's clearly what happened and i think they really wanted to come out and stress that from the beginning because this is a very very dangerous territory as we're talking about with both iran the russians and syrians all there and potentially could escalate very quickly and i think that from the pentagon's perspective they did not want that to happen in terms of what incoming fire the americans took all the pentagon would say as they did take surface to ground missile defense from missiles from the syrians but beyond that it seems like there was nothing from the russians or the iranians or anyone else for

them to get relieved that come back to you in a little while. now the russian ambassador to washington has warned there will be consequences after the u.s. led strikes on syria bacilli ben zygier said in a statement a pre designed scenario is being implemented again we are being threatened and we warned that such actions will not be left without consequences or responsibility for them rests with washington london and paris chalons joins me now from moscow certainly harsh words from the russian ambassador there to the security council to the u.n. what can russia do next. well russia is going to be looking at what was struck by the united states and its allies overnight and basically sort of working out whether there is any cause to push back against the united states in syria or in the united nations we're already hearing

from the russian duma the parliament the they want the u.n. security council they want the u.n. general assembly to meet to condemn these attacks basically. of course the ultimate decision is taken by vladimir putin so i think he's going to be looking through the options at the moment but i think broadly the russians are probably looking at what happened overnight and thinking that wasn't so bad was it because you know going back a few days to the beginning of the week when the rhetoric was very hot indeed you know we had the russian ambassador celebratin saying that if the u.s. struck there russia would blow the message missiles out of the sky and also strike back against the platforms that those missiles came from now that would be hitting u.s. warships and choosing u.s. planes out of the sky then we had donald trump's tweets talking about all these missiles could get ready russia these missiles are coming so for this attack to

actually pan out is three rather limited strikes against. strikes against three different facilities and not anything that would put russian military lives in danger puts the lives of iranian personnel or hezbollah personnel on the ground in danger i think the russians would accept this as a cost that is worth bearing considering the trajectory of the conflict in general is going in their direction surely really there are two perhaps avenues of thought here as to perhaps why russia perhaps might not be as angry as it sounds that in diplomatically one is this de confliction line which is a communication line between d.c. moscow and then also the general comments being made on twitter by president trump which would have indicated to the russians that we're going to do something. yes it was tweeting this was going to be

a serious event. perhaps the russians took away from from what trump was saying earlier in the week that this was going to be an escalation that would dramatically increase the u.s. presence in syria the they would be hitting targets very close to the syrian regime perhaps going after assad himself. there of course i think was a pushback from people within the u.s. defense establishment talking to donald trump and saying it hold on a second we can't really do this without risking a massive clash with the russians or the iranians and we don't really want that to happen at the moment is it really worth going to war with the russians over syria and so you know that's where this de confliction line kind of comes in at a lower level because it allows the u.s. and the russian military is to talk to each other in syria and basically avoids the

kind of clashes the mites inflame the situation out of control so yeah they talk to each other we know from what's. mattis and dunford was saying in their press conference a few hours ago that this this hotline was being used we seem to have lost a robbery that targets what was going to be hit but they but they were talking to the russians and saying we would we need. clearance these kind of hours over this part of syria which of course i think would have given the russians the idea if they didn't have it already that something was coming indeed in a row you lost you for a little bit there but we're just one final question though is about sort of the defense system that the russians have been talking about this s four hundred missile defense system mean it wasn't used why would the russians have been quite relieved that they didn't have to use it. yeah i think they might well have done

and you know this is this is the the most sophisticated air defense system that russia currently has it's selling it around the world bots it hasn't been tested yet in combat despite you know the possibilities over the last sort of year or so to do so. it could have been tested when the israelis have gone into syrian airspace it could have been tested when the americans of the brits and the french were going into syrian airspace. the reason why the russians say they didn't use the f. four hundred is because it is at the moment guarding two sites is guarding the top to use naval facility on the syrian coast and it's guarding the home a meme base that russia uses for most of its air sorties and russia says that none of the u.s. french british cruise missiles went anywhere near either of those facilities so it

didn't have to put the s four hundred into use but yeah i think it would of course be embarrassing for the russians if it was tested properly in combat situations and found one thing but of course there's a flip side to that if it was found to be very successful and blasted all of these cruise missiles out of the sky then that would be a serious problem for the u.s. and its much vaunted cruise missile tomahawk systems for the moment to relieve that come back to you of course through the day. you are watching al-jazeera and our ongoing coverage of the u.s. military strikes in syria a reminder of the key point so far the u.s. has carried out strikes 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 greater damascus area two more took place west of homs in what the pentagon says were chemical weapons storage facilities syrian

state media is reporting the military's air defense system shot down thirteen missiles in the area south of damascus syrian officials also say the targeted sites were evacuated days ago thanks to a warning from russia meanwhile russia's ambassador to the u.s. warned the actions would have consequences well iran has strongly condemned the overnight us attack on syria and its foreign ministry says the attack is a blatant violation of international laws as well as ignoring the sovereignty and territorial integrity of syria zain okada is our correspondent in beirut and has been following events for us from there strong words from the a rainy and they have a vested interest in syria they're deployed across the country through various forces and of course they have a great deal of influence where you are as well. yes the iranian foreign

ministry denouncing what it is calling an aggression not just think iranian foreign ministry you have the revolutionary guards as well as well as the iranian backed lebanese group has valar hezbollah even saying that this what it's calling an aggression is a continuation of quote the recent zionist aggression in syria a reference to the israeli air strike on monday that targeted a syrian army airbase that left seven ukrainian revolutionary guards dead acknowledging that it lost those men warning of a response a retaliation iran sending its top advisor to the supreme leader. to damascus in a very strong show of support to the syrian government as the u.s. was debating on what action to take and in the syrian capital issuing two threats one threat to the israeli government saying that iran will retaliate for that attack on the t. for air base and at the same time

a warning to the united states telling them that their troops in syria are considered occupying forces the americans have two thousand approximately two thousand troops in the north east of the country in the kurdish region and will lay it to saying that a military operation will be launched in that area to quote liberated and expel the u.s. forces so iran really raising the stakes because iran feels it is the target they were afraid that this will not be a limited action that just targeted the syrian government's chemical weapons infrastructure there were a lot of reports that the possibility of iranian troops and bases in syria will be targeted as well as hezbollah that clearly did not happen it's not clear whether behind the scenes negotiations it's because a behind the scenes the bush ations or whether or not iran does have cards on the table cards that it can use to prevent this from happening but it knows iran is a very well aware that there will be future action against it if. not from the

united states definitely from israel. here in dyer had my one car been speaking to me about the scenario of what was going on he his theory is that the americans really were trying to also target strongly as you suggest the iranians to to curtail their influence in the region you know we have this potential for the iranian nuclear deal to be torn up by the u.s. and certainly neighboring countries including saudi arabia having very long discussions with the us about how to deal with the rainy an influence in the region and of course in yemen as well. yes and some diplomatic sources here have told me that they believe that's why we saw the french president he was reluctant at the beginning because he did not want to join any effort or any operation that will involve targeting iran in syria so that's why there were behind the scenes contacts and almost daily conversations between the u.s. president and the french president so the iranians know that they are they are the they could be targeted next now the syrian government really showing defiance even

on the president sees twitter account they uploaded video of president bashar assad entering the palace you know carrying his briefcase looking very calm and people taking to the streets and celebrating saying you know actually mocking the american operation yes they're calling it a tripartite aggression but mocking this operation because clearly it does doesn't really hurt the syrian government it doesn't hurt it militarily or weaken it militarily but then again this was never about regime change this was never about toppling the syrian government but people were expecting much more and that's why there is this sense of relief on the part of the syrian government's allies russia and iran russia because none of its personnel were hurt which doesn't really put it in the situation where it would have to retaliate and then there would be a risk of confrontation between moscow and washington of course much of the conversation around chemical weapons and syria why the regime in damascus is using

such munitions if you can call them that is because they don't really have the manpower on the ground to actually win the war so chemical weapons or a valuable tool as far as they're concerned in the fight against what they call rebels. well the syrian government and the russian government are denying that they say that there is no need for us to have used chemical weapons we were winning we had the upper hand in eastern it was a question of you know it was just a matter of time before the rebels were going to surrender the rebel group which controls duma it's very hard to say but there is no doubt that they have used chemical weapons and especially chlorine chlorine gas they tend to use that when their forces are advancing they've been accused of using that because it's scares people it doesn't cause casualties but people panic and they get scared and then they move back and it is easier for advancing forces to progress that are on the ground but definitely more people have died as a result of airstrikes and bombing and shelling. if you compare the numbers of

course and this is what the opposition is saying you know what have you done here do tearing the government from using chemical but weapons but what have you done to stop this war to stop the killing of innocent people and just two days ago we heard we lay it to the iranian and boy in damascus say that we are going to launch an attack against it live the rebel controlled province of it live in the north in north west of the country and this really is raising a lot of alarm bells because there are approximately a million i.d.p.'s in this province so you know iran saying that this move their military operations on the ground are going to continue despite all these threats of airstrikes for the moment we will leave it there and come back to of course as it develops let's head over to europe now where british prime minister trees m a says there was no alternative way to stop the assad government from using chemical weapons we are together with american and french. the

syrian regime has a history of using chemical weapons against its own people in the most crude way. and a significant body of information including intelligence indicates the syrian regime is responsible for this latest attack this persistent pattern of behavior must be stopped well again barbara joins us now on the dmso which are coming through on the wires but certainly the british prime minister very clear on her direction and the reasoning for why she joined in this allied attack against syria. that's right she was clear in that video recorded video statement in the early hours of saturday to disappoint out that this this action was coordinated with the u.s.

and france but to to highlight that it was specific in its intention and that was to stop the continued use of chemical weapons by the government of bashar assad to resume a saying that the evidence as you heard him saying just then clearly points to the regime being behind what happened in do my niece in the hotel a week ago. now in the last half well in the last hour or so the defense secretary here in britain gavin williamson has been all on radio national radio. admitting that that relations with russia. are at a low point so that's crucial here because in to resume a statement she did say that britain wants to make it clear that the use of chemical weapons either in syria or on the streets of the u.k. or anywhere else must not become normalized streets of the u.k.

that's a reference to salzburg in the southwest of england where sergei scruple and his daughter mr scrip of former russian spy were poisoned allegedly by a nerve agent and britain has pointed the finger directly at moscow for that attack has also said that the air strikes in syria were highly successful we know that four tornado jets took off from cyprus in the early hours of saturday local time and struck a site west of homs in syria where the ministry of defense here in britain say the government of syria was stockpiling precursors of chemical weapons and materials that could be used for. the alleged attacks like the alleged one in duma of course the syrian state media saying that that many of those missiles were actually deflected it but if mr williamson is right and they were highly successful

this will strengthen treason made hand in saying look this will have a practical outcome because critics are saying this is going to be cosmetic again and that perhaps in the long run which are will be able to use prohibited weapons once again of course we just touched on the fact about the maze critic she may have got the backing of her cabinet earlier in the week but we can only assume that as well saturday dorms across the united kingdom they'll be great political debate as to the methodology or even the wisdom in actually this coalition strike on syria yes i think there are two points there are there will be there will be discussion on on the the wisdom of joining in these airstrikes and also the legality of that decision. the leader of the opposition labor party

has clearly said in the last few days that parliament must be recalled for a vote before any military action he also said that there should be a u.n. investigation actually on the ground in syria before any strikes happened. the defense spokesman of the the scottish nationalist party another opposition party in the british parliament has reacted already saying that to resume a has basically followed would follow what president donald trump has asked her to do reacting to tweets by the us president and without a long term plan this is a criticism also from labor that the u.k. does not need to get involved in a u.s. led operation without a clear exit strategy many people will remember what happened in twenty thirty when david cameron was prime minister he went to parliament to try to get approval for

joining president barack obama in airstrikes retaliating against the use of chemical weapons now the parliament then voted no and that retaliation never happened so there's still a lot of debate as to what was under the british constitution what to recently has the right to do most experts say she can act in a limited manner without parliament but if this extends into a continued operation then there will need to be involvement by our elected representatives for the moment he will leave it there and of course join us later. you're watching al jazeera and our ongoing coverage of the u.s. military strikes in syria a reminder of the key points the u.s. has carried out strikes in conjunction with british and french forces on targets associated with syria's suspected chemical weapons program now the pentagon says the first target was a scientific research center in the greater damascus area to war took place west of

homs in what the pentagon says were chemical weapons storage facilities syrian state media is reporting the military's air defense system shut down thirteen missiles in the case while area south of damascus syria officials also say the targeted sites were evacuated days ago thanks to a warning from russia meanwhile russia's ambassador to the united states warned of the actions would have consequences while answering these strikes president trying to describe the suspected chemical weapons attack by the syrian government as the crime of a monster 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. the french foreign minister even said there had to be consequences for the suspected chemical attack in syria last weekend. the action we have taken has very limited and very precise objectives to destroy the chemical weapons arsenal of syria to stop a committee more chemical carnage and continue its terrorist strategy towards its own population we're not trying to hurt citizens we're trying to dissuade assad from these criminal activity. and joins us now from paris natasha before we talk about what the french have been saying just a comment coming out from the iranians here the supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei saying the u.s. allies were looking.