has the red line he has the red line be drawn in draw. has the red line be drawn in the wrong place? i think so. if you we re the wrong place? i think so. if you were still there as syrian country director, what would you be advising the department of state? director, what would you be advising the department of state ?|i director, what would you be advising the department of state? i would be advising to do more to stop syrian civilians from being completely displaced and from living through the horrors that they have been living through in the last few yea rs. living through in the last few years. what more could be done?... i was not arguing everfor a ground invasion or any presence on the ground. what i was trying to say yea rs if ground. what i was trying to say years if you are going to conduct strikes, maybe expand the target list little bit rather than just striking chemical weapons facilities. why don't you strike airfield is where aeroplanes are taking off and bombing ambulances as they are going to the scene of an attack. striking ambulances and striking hospitals, that is considered a war crime or released a very least a crime against humanity

save why are we not stopping that? you still have contacts in washington. what's holding the process back? from what you told me ofair, process back? from what you told me of air, president trump was determined to stage an almighty series of strikes, but he was pulled back. why? president trump is in a tough spot because he campaigned on an america first platform. he said we would not get involved in the middle east, we would focus on america, but he is a man of action are not a man of words. when he conducted... when the chemical attacks happen, he was emotional and wa nted attacks happen, he was emotional and wanted to do something right away and we wanted to do something big. the next few things were spent trying to walking back from

something he wanted to do that would have dragged us into conflict with the russians and the iranians. let's briefly go back. if your analysis is right, if damascus is not that concerned about what happens and feels it has got off, for the moment, will they be concerned about president trump talking about not just military pressure, but economic pressure. is there much america can do? there is not much we can do. the acid—macro regime has the support of the iranians and russians. they know they have the international community in a place where they had to choose between the acid—macro regime and chaos. over the next few yea rs regime and chaos. over the next few years we will talk about reconstruction in syria. —— assad.

when president obama drew his red line and he did not hit back of the chemical weapons were used, that damaged us credibility in the region, but did what happened a few hours ago damage us' reputation? angry words are being thrown out, but behind the scenes they think america has blinked. but behind the scenes they think america has blinkedlj but behind the scenes they think america has blinked. i don't think it has damaged america's ability. president trump said he would act and he did, so for now, everyone is fine. he did not go so far as provoking russians into retaliatory strikes. for now, everyone wins because president trump did something, the syrians can say they survived. everyone wins, apart from

the syrian people. militarily, do you think that is it for now? i do. thank you very much forjoining us here on this hot afternoon in beirut as the call to pray wafts across the city. just picture here, it doesn't feel like a city or a country that is on edge. there will be those people who were thinking as jasmine was indicating that possibly there could be some kind of wider conflict. for now certainly from the mood music on the ground in the middle east and from the mood music coming out of the capital is we have spoken to in the last half an hour oi’ spoken to in the last half an hour orso, it spoken to in the last half an hour or so, it does not feel like that at the moment. back to you. that is matthew price in beirut. we will

hear more from him later today. president trump made the announcement in a live broadcast from the white house atjust after two o'clock this morning british time: my my fellow americans, a combined operation with the armed forces of france and the united kingdom is now under way. we thank them both. tonight i want to speak with you about why we have taken this action. one yearago, 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 58 missile strikes that destroyed 20% of the syrian air force. last saturday the assad regime are deployed chemical weapons to slaughter innocent civilians, this time in the town of douma, near the syrian capital of damascus. this massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime. the evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infa nts attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and grasping for air. these are not the actions of a man, they are crimes of a monster instead. following the horrors of world war i

a century ago, civilised nations join 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 deterrent is of vital national security interests for the united states. the combined british, american and french response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power. militarily, 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 bejudged children? the nations of the world can be judged by children? the nations of the world can bejudged by the 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 2013, president putin and his government promised the world that they would guarantee the elimination of syria's mccall 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. path or if it willjoin with civilised nations as a force for stability and peace. hopefully someday we will 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 100% 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 , large amounts of money for the resources, equipment and all of the anti—isis asset. increased engagement from ourfriends, including saudi arabia, the united arab emirates, qatar and others will make sure iran does not profit from the eradication of isis. america does not cease and indefinite presence in syria, under no circumstances. as other nations step

up 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 i we re very warriors they are. looking around i were very troubled world, americans have no illusions. we cannot purge the world of evil or act everywhere there is tyramine. no amount of american blood or treasure can produce lasting peace and security in the middle east. —— tyranny. it isa in the middle east. —— tyranny. it is a trouble placed. 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 its own people. in the last century we looked 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 i, more than 1 million people have been killed or injured by chemical weapons. we never want to see that ghastly spectacle return. so today, the nations of britain, france and the united states of america has marshalled their righteous power against barbarism and brutality. tonight i ask all americans to say a prayerfor tonight i ask all americans to say a prayer for our tonight i ask all americans to say a prayerfor our noble tonight i ask all americans to say a prayer for our noble warriors and our 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 towards a future of dignity and of peas, and we pray that god will continue to watch over and bless the united states of america. thank you and good night. i'm joined now by

the evening standard's defence editor, robert fox, who's been watching events unfold. let's pick up on the decision to ta ke let's pick up on the decision to take this action. we now hear that britain, france and the united states will brief nato at the brussels headquarters later today. what will be their defence for taking this action, given that it was not authorised by the un security council and wasn't done within nato. they will make their case and you're absolutely right. international law is utterly hopeless on this because of course it is not within international law, but it could not be, the way the world is. it should be the way the world is. it should be the way the world should be, but because to have an international mandate, it would

have to go to the un, it would have to go to the security council and we have already had within the last week on an impartial un inspection a russian veto, and so it will continue. what they will explain is two things. this is within the convention of international law and practice and there are all kinds of principles obtained, but the most important one is proportionality. it's very interesting listening to the marvellous global coverage from the marvellous global coverage from the bbc this morning and watching it, on the one hand, is a pinprick and it's illegal, the other is that it's proportional to the act of the breach and it's a continuum. remember, 2013, syria agreed to give up remember, 2013, syria agreed to give up chemical weapons and abide by the convention against chemical weapons.

we were told under supervision of the op cw after a deal between the united states russia, but never happened. it all went wrong and it has continued. the human rights watch organisations, two or three of them, have cropped up that in the seven yea rs of have cropped up that in the seven years of war in syria that they have been about 50 uses of chemical to some degree. very quickly, window of opportunity. they had to beat now and it would not be sunday night or monday morning. and that raises an important question in terms of british politics. theresa may has been challenge constantly. she was

asked by you could not wait until parliament returned on monday to give its approval for this action to be taken? so much has been moving around in syria. we know the iranians have been pulling people out, they have been hiding weaponry, there seems to be quite a bit of concealing. there is anecdotal evidence of chemical weapon capability and there's a that the war, that we haven't heard too much about, the war between israel and iran, the airspace. the last round we iran, the airspace. the last round we managed to get down the israeli territory in february was what nice.

it had the full potential to attack. all this is going on and they had to contain it. that is an awful lot of stuff out there that could do an awful lot of damage. we have heard much about the defence capabilities of the russian fleet, which is quite strong. taking all of the points you are making them and distilling that is, in essence, your impression is that this is, to use the phrase used by the pentagon, a one—time shot. there's no desire to see that and everything has been done, presumably telling the russians it's coming, so it doesn't provoke a counterreaction. proportional, practical application, and it had to be now because the fear is that it could proliferate. if they had got the wayward douma, then it probably would have done. it could be the last battlefront for

the assad regime? yes, but they won't take over the whole of syria. there was an attempt at the end of the 19th century to stop the use of chemical weapons. here is what theresa may told journalists in downing street. a significant body of information including intelligence indicates the syrian regime is responsible for this latest attack. i can't tell you everything, but let me give an example of some of the evidence that

leads us to this conclusion. open source accounts alleged a barrel bomb was used to deliver the chemicals. multiple open source reports claim that a regime helicopter was observed above the city of douma on the evening of the 7th of april. the opposition does not operate helicopters or use barrel bombs. and reliable intelligence indicates that syrian military officials coordinated what appears to be the use of chlorine in douma on the 7th of april. no other group could have carried out this attack. daesh does not even have a presence in douma, and the fact of this attack should surprise no one. we note that the syrian regime has an utterly abhorrent record of using chemical weapons against its own people. on the 21st of august 2013, over people. on the 21st of august 2013, over 800 people were killed and thousands more injured in a chemical

attack also include tar. they were 13 smaller chemical attacks prior to that summer. sarin was used by the regime against its own people. based on the regime's persistent pattern of behaviour and the cumulative analysis of specific incidents, we judge it highly likely both that the syrian regime has continued to use chemical weapons since then and will continue to do so. this must be stopped. so will the strikes have stopped the syrian regime's ability to use chemical weapons, and what were the risks of hitting the sites? joining me now from chennai,

is hamish de bretton gordon who is a former british army officer and chemical weapons expert. we have an inspection due. will be possible to establish what took place? it will be difficult for them. i have been talking to hospital staff, a medical charity that i support. there are a lot of russian and syrian police in douma at the moment and people are terrified to do anything or to try and get samples out or anything like that. chlorine has been confirmed, as the prime minister said there is strong evidence that the nerve agent sarin was used. both of those are not persistent agents and by the

time the opcw gets there are lot of the evidence will probably have been gone. having said that, samples will find their way and the american and french government concerns that they have had samples that have proved positive for chlorine and unnerve agent. i'm convinced that is right and there is a strong possibility that the nerve agent sarin was used as well. people may be surprised to hear about this, not least because syria, under a deal had destroyed his chemical weapons. some were destroyed, for example by the us navy after they were taken out of the country. that is right. they destroyed all their declared chemical weapons. certainly myself and a lot of other experts at the time believed that the regime had under declared. a lot of us believe

that there were 200 tonnes of precursor agents that could have been used. they have limitless amounts of chlorine and we have seen them being used frequently. we have seen one of these large cylinders dropped on douma last week which created so many of the casualties we heard about. thank you forjoining us. let's return to the question of accountability. in britain the prime minister stressed that she had acted when she did because of the urgency of the situation. let's say what opposition politicians think of that. thank you forjoining us. it's

clear what the government says and indeed i understand they were briefed last night as a courtesy. they had to be a signal to the syrians that you can't use chemical weapons syrians that you can't use chemical weapons and get away with it because otherwise everyone will start using chemical weapons against. there was no disagreement from the snp that the use of chemical weapons is a borrowed an illegal under international law. it can't go unpunished. the question is how should the prime minister respond. we don't think this response was the correct one on a number of grounds. one, it's not entirely clear that it will diminish the capability to use chemical weapons again in the future. there were air strikes carried out by the us administration last year and here we are again, so i'm not convinced that a fresh wave

of the same thing is actually what is needed here. even though they said they hit a site where some of the weapon technology is developed? they hit a storage site. they would argue it's a very targeted a proportional response. i think it focused on the chemicals and the production facilities. it is targeted response, i'm not questioning that part of it, but what i am questioning is whether this will do what we wanted to do, which is prohibit the use of chemical weapons in the future. i'm not convinced. if there is no diplomatic process because every time this is raised at the un, the russians veto it, what's the alternative? you mentioned the production. syrian scientific studies and research centres have been targeted. the european union

and by extension the uk government has very limited sanctions against individuals involved in that. by comparison, the us has hundreds and hundreds... so take a more aggressive approach to sanctions? what about the central question, going ahead without parliament approving action? militarily, you have to strike quickly. you need the element of surprise and therefore waiting until politicians could have the debate would defeat the object? i disagree with that. there was no intelligence and there is no suggestion of any intelligence that another attack was imminent. the rush is misguided and certainly when we return on monday the snp will be exploring options for a vote of some kind. stuart mcdonald, thank you for joining us. this is bbc news from london. we have been reporting on

those air strikes against targets in syria aimed at preventing the use again of chemical weapons. more from us after this. things looking brighter and warmer. rain, so make the most of the start of the weekend. the wind will pick up of the weekend. the wind will pick up and wetter weather returns, but it is dry for most of us for the rest of today. not clear blue skies, often a lot of clout, but there will be some sunny spells coming through. an improvement on the last few days, especially around the north coast. the grand national at aintree, a top temperature of 1a, 15 degrees and

some prior to break is coming through the cloudy skies at times. there's a chance for a late day shower across southern england into wales and east anglia overnight. as the night goes on, when will push towards northern ireland and south—west england. north is england is close to freezing. for patches could develop into parts of eastern england as sunday begins. for part two of the weekend, low pressure coming our way two of the weekend, low pressure coming ourway and two of the weekend, low pressure coming our way and that will bring this rain bearing weatherfront coming our way and that will bring this rain bearing weather front with a strengthening winds, especially in the west. a breezy picture on sunday, windier the more west you are. behind the rain will see brighter skies, but in northern ireland, wales and south—west england, but maybe a few further showers with a rumble of thunder. temperatures will be lower, but as

we go through the week ahead, temperatures will be higher, particularly from midweek. some areas could see 2a degrees. even in scotla nd areas could see 2a degrees. even in scotland we will see temperatures reaching above 20 celsius. monday it will be still cloudy and windy in western parts and monday night into tuesday, another area of rainfall will move into northern ireland and scotland. that is your latest forecasts, enjoy your weekend. scotland. that is your latest forecasts, enjoy yourweekend. —— forecast. this is bbc news.

i'm matthew price live in beirut. just a few hours ago, american, british and french missiles hit several different target in sight syria. the targets were outside damascus and in and around the capital of syria. they were all so in and around the city of hommes. three alleged chemical sites were targeted in an overnight operation. the biggest show of force against the men donald trump described as a monster.