-- where, i should. se -- where, i should. so it last year. —— where, i should. so it isa last year. —— where, i should. so it is a little bit more robust. we have heard that roughly twice the number of weapons were used today as last year, so i think this is significant. michael, please don't 90, significant. michael, please don't go, stay with us, we will come back to you shortly. let's go straight to seth douan, the damascus correspondent for the american network cbs. we have had the political experts and the defence secretary and the joint chiefs political experts and the defence secretary and thejoint chiefs of staff talking, but what is going on in damascus where you are? very different sound here in damascus. what we are hearing here is the sound ofair what we are hearing here is the sound of air strikes, almost rumbling sort of sounds which sound like thunder in the distance. we we re like thunder in the distance. we were here on this balcony which faces south—east over damascus. we we re faces south—east over damascus. we were listening to president trump speak about four o'clock local time early this morning, and while the president was speaking we were

hearing those are strikes. we were also starting to see behind us, over the balcony here, we saw streaking through the skies flares lighting up the night sky. we were also seeing and hearing some anti—aircraft fire, and hearing some anti—aircraft fire, and syrian state tv was reporting that 13, according to them, 13 missiles had been shot out of the sky, it indeed that proves to be true that would certainly be a badge of honourfor true that would certainly be a badge of honour for the syrians, who said that there anti—aircraft defences we re that there anti—aircraft defences were working on overdrive early this morning, and certainly standing here, we could hear that. we're just looking at some of the syrian state tv comments, us attacks on syria and its allies with missiles. while there do you have a sense people saw it coming all were expecting it all were preparing for

it? -- or. they've been following the news and it's interesting, we have been talking to people in damascus. friday was the holy day, a quiet day of rest, and there was this real ease through the city and the places where we were. it was a beautiful sunny day and we went to a part, an amusement park, and watched a mum photographing her child and brother on a ride. —— to a park. there was a sense donald trump wouldn't follow through on the threats he made via a tweet. earlier in the week there was a sense among the civilian population that the targets, as it turned out, according to the pentagon, they were not civilian targets, they were carefully selected military targets according to the us pentagon, but there was a sense among the civilian population that they were not in danger. there was also a weariness

here. this is a population that has entered its eighth year of struggling through war. we were here in damascus a couple of months ago and we were hearing those same sounds of airstrikes, that rumbling, that thunder, it's this very deep sound that almost, kind of, emanates from these horizons. we were hearing some of that as the bombardment took place in eastern ghouta as president bashar al—assad and the forces loyal to him, mainly the russians, were striking that part of that suburb of the city. we were hearing similar sounds and much louder sounds of curse earlier this morning. life is much different, seth, in central damascus in those eastern england is of douma and ghouta etc? absolutely. it's hard to described —— eastern

enclaves. it feels like a parallel world here. there's a sense that even though this is a country at war there a desire to move with life as possible —— to describe. we are here on official visas via the syrian government. we are seeing the people who feel as though bashar al—assad has supported them and protected them and we are often in neighbourhoods where the problem there is rebel mortarfire, which has been continuing through the yea rs has been continuing through the years here and has really been stepped up in this latest assault against eastern ghouta. of course, the rebels, as they were trapped there were firing back into here, central damascus. in one way or another seemingly everyone is touched by this war. but there's a parallel world here of relative safety. it is surprisingly at times to think that you are in damascus,

you're walking on the street on a beautiful day and people are offering new tea or coffee or ice cream and you can't quite believe you are this close to the front lines. regardless of whether you are a syrian supporting the regime or one of the rebel groups, the last thing you need is more airstrikes. absolutely. there's a realfear thing you need is more airstrikes. absolutely. there's a real fear here ofan absolutely. there's a real fear here of an escalation. we heard from the pentagon briefing, which i'm sure you heard parts of, the us government... the us military was saying they were very careful in their targeting, they were looking to target the production and development capabilities for possible chemical weapons here in syria. we're also hearing reports that many of those targets, airbases and military installations that were hit early this morning had been evacuated. personnel had left. they

have the time to leave. there's a question here, you have so many different countries that are involved in one way or another in a sort of proxy war on the ground here in syria. of course, the strongest allies of syrian president bashar al—assad are iran and hezbollah, but the very strongest of course being russia. there's a real question, will this coalition, this french, uk and american led strike tonight, will these strikes escalate things on the ground here? after this war has gone into its eighth year, there's a real fear of that. seth, from the network cbs, in damascus, thanks forjoining us. let's bring you pictures which we have received from syrian state television. the broadcaster says that they showed defensive missiles being fired against those being fired by the us, britain and france. they say 13

attacking missiles have been shot down. this has not been confirmed. let's return to michael carpenter, who was with us earlier, a former deputy assistant secretary of defence and served as foreign policy adviser to the former vice president joe biden and now at the atlantic council. thanks for staying with us, i'm sure you heard seth. ontario is about something jim mattis said, saying that in a sense this attack was a form of self defence. —— on to somethingjim was a form of self defence. —— on to something jim matias said. would you agree with that? they want to deter future use of chemical weapons, that is the real goal, that's why the chemical weapons programme was targeted but what's interesting about the strikes today is the russian factor, mentioned earlier. clearly the targets were chosen because they were part of the

chemical weapons programme so i presume that means there was less likelihood of russian advisers or zero schumer officers being at that location. we heard on the pentagon briefing that the us notified russia through its the complexion channel, and ongoing 24/7 communications channel, that in fact the us would be operating in syria —— de—confliction channel. at that same breeding there was an pre— notification of targets but the risk of escalation with russia was one of the key factors. it's very interesting how this has been carried out. i miss characterised general mattis's statement, he said that it was us vital interests to destroy these syrian assets. how confident are you that this doesn't

get... that this doesn't escalate further, especially with the way the russians might react. it's interesting, nothing can be taken for granted and this is a sticky and tricky situation but so far even if one takes the reports from the syrian state media, which always have to be taken with a grain of salt, because there is undoubtedly a large element of propaganda there, but even if we assume 13 us incoming missiles were taken down and, as general dunford said in the briefing, approximately 120 missiles we re briefing, approximately 120 missiles were fired, that's a pretty low proportion. that means the us was able to get through both the syrian and russian air defence systems, the sophisticated surface—to—air missile systems there on the ground. i think that signifies to me that the russians are probably unwilling to ta ke russians are probably unwilling to take on the us with their aircraft and their sophisticated air defence systems and that means they are much less likely to see escalation in the

future if there are more strikes in the coming days. do you think bashar al—assad cares that his military assets are being targeted in this way? certainly he cares because his assets are being degraded. whether this serves as being these strong deterrent to prevent future use of chemical weapons, again, if there's any self—governance motive here then it's the principle that chemical weapons or weapons of mass destruction act should never be used on the battlefield under any circumstances and that's a strong us, french and us motive —— weapons of mass destruction act. saying he may not be deterred at all, he may continue in the future. that remains to be seen. michael, want to bring you a statement from anatoly

antonov, who is the russian politician, you know him currently as the us ambassador to the... the russian ambassador to the united states. he has said in a statement on these airstrikes that russian warned that such actions will not be left without consequences, i'm looking here, this is from the reuters news agency. that is significant. is that the kind of thing which would have worried you when you were in the white house? it's very non—specific. to me it sounds like blaster. you have the russian ambassador to lebanon saying if the us fired missiles at the syrian regime that russia would not only target those missiles but russia would target the aircraft and naval vessels from which they came ash blaster. that was a very strong statement. —— bluster. it was intended to serve as blaster.

frankly i think airstrikes are largely over tonight. i don't know that there will be consequences for the us military. russia may look to asymmetric tactics to impose some sort of restrictions on us businesses in russia, which they are contemplating, but they will have more of an impact on the russian economy than the us economy. michael carpenter, thanks very much, a former defence... deputy assistant secretary of defence and served in the white house foreign policy adviser to vice presidentjoe biden. the us, britain and france have carried out missile strikes against chemical weapons sites in syria. american secretary of stems general mattis said the three sites had been hit, one near damascus and two near the city of homs. —— american secretary of defence. theresa may

said she agreed because the world cannot allow the normalisation of the use of chemical weapons. several large explosions have been heard in damascus and the syrian observatory for human rights has reported a scientific research facility has been struck. they report the syrian army public and guard and fourth division, the elite units of the syrian military, have been attacked. syrian military, have been attacked. syrian state tv said the syrian military was confronting the airstrikes with anti—aircraft weapons and claim 13 missiles have been shot down in south damascus. us military sources are porting tomahawk cruise missiles are being deployed against multiple targets —— are reporting. jim matters at a pentagon meeting confirmed the strikes were over. vasjim matters. steve fish is a policy adviser —— jim matias. thank you so much for being patient and sticking with us

this past half an hour you have been there. steve, this is pretty significant. would it be fair to describe it as the most significant escalation in the middle east since the start of the war in syria?” don't think so, not necessarily. i really think none of the major actors in this really want an escalation beyond what's happened today. i think this mightjust be... putin certainly does not want a showdown with the united states. trump does not want one with putin, in fact trump does not want one with putin, infact trump trump does not want one with putin, in fact trump wants to get out syria. the british and french wanted to make their displeasure clear with the use of chemical weapons, they have done that. this is largely a symbolic act. if it escalates from here we will look back and say this is the beginning of something big but i don't think anyone has an in pushing it further right now. trump had to say he was tough and after his hasty tweet a few days ago when

he said, hang on, russians, we're coming, he had to take some action and this will probably satisfy. steve, a re and this will probably satisfy. steve, are some symbolic acts enough to deter the assad regime from these sorts of chemical weapons attacks... alleged chemical weapons attacks in future? no, they're not. the important thing to remember is even if he doesn't use chemical weapons he is still engaged in a terrifically brutal campaign against his own population. the use of chemical weapons isjust his own population. the use of chemical weapons is just a tiny part of that of what goes on everyday in syria. what happens everyday far outstrips the chemical weapons use on his population. i don't think this will be deterred, this will be seen this will be deterred, this will be seen symbolically all—round. this will be deterred, this will be seen symbolically all-round. in a sense, at least for those who still support the syrian regime, they paint him as the victim, being attacked by the powerful west? yes, in some sense it can, but from