sure with the news live from berlin the u.s. britain and france launched military strikes on syria explosions rocked the capital damascus as missiles head syrian chemical weapons so it's become a response to suspected poison gas attacks that present from almost the crimes of a monster he's warned russia and iran to cut their ties to president bashar al song .

i'm dr thomas thanks so much for being with us the united states and its allies britain france have carried out airstrikes on suspected chemical weapons facilities in syria now these strikes are in response to last week's alleged gas attack in the syrian town of duma which left dozens of civilians dead the german chancellor on the macro has joined other western leaders in voicing support for the strikes calling them necessary and appropriate huge blasts were reported around damascus moments after the operation was announced apart from the capital as far as targeted sites near homs which the u.s. are linked to chemical weapons production syria says about one hundred twenty missiles had been fired at its territory and that it had intercepted many of them the pentagon says the strikes were a one time shot and that no further attacks are planned. now this is the biggest intervention by western powers against the assad government since the start of

syria's civil war president trump announced the operation in a televised address 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. a combined operation with the armed forces of france and the united kingdom is now underway we thank them both ok let's get the very latest now from washington we're joined by did abuse claire richardson here in the studio we have analysts and journalists yakob oh i see morning to both of you thanks for being with us i clarify can start with you president from said earlier that the u.s. was prepared to continue strikes and toll syria as he put it stopped its use of chemical weapons but the fence secretary james mattis is saying this could be yet let's give

a listen to what he said. that will depend on mr assad pretty decide to use more chemical weapons in the future but right now this is a one time shot and i believe that it sent a very strong message to dissuade him to deter him from doing this again ok clear of what's the strategy here is the intention to keep damascus and moscow guessing about what washington's intentions are. hi brian well the immediate goal is to punish assad for these chemical weapons attacks and to send a strong message that the international community will not stand by as a government gases its own people it's not clear however what the long term strategy here really is and it's certainly not regime trained and it seems like these strikes are unlikely to change the balance of power or the situation on the ground in syria remember this is a deeply complicated proxy war we heard a trumpet there speaking about backing from russia and iran for the assad

government and ad hoc strikes do not appear to be part of a coherent long term strategy in this regard what's more even a week ago we heard a very different trumpet singing a very different tune about syria he was saying he would like the military to withdraw all two thousand u.s. troops that are there and it's also important to mention that the airstrikes we saw of this nature of the last year that were meant to be a deterrence against using chemical weapons appear not to have had that function since we have seen this attack again ok hala let me ask you this question is pick up with what claire just said there is this having a deterrent effect in damascus will this get president assad to scale back as the americans brits and the french are saying his chemical weapons programs most likely low not as you heard defense minister matthew say this would be a one time it could be healed the third him so i mean the only thing left is for these to pick up before the dust has said is it ok to do it you know i mean this is

not a serious attack that would harm assad's elite forces that i know you could police majority base that this post going forward but the crackdown of the uprising and then the one pin destruction of the civilian population ok so for a deterrence to happen you think there should have been a broader and more intensive attack against assad's ass and that's the only thing more thought get to. his prestige at least for a few the slap on the face wasn't even a slap on the face ok not even a slap on the face clare what's the pentagon saying about the effectiveness of these strikes. well the pentagon has said so far no reports of any losses in the strikes they say that they fired more than a thousand more than one hundred missiles excuse me and that they hit three of syria's main weapons facilities ok what about the public support for this in the united states for this time of military intervention does the public is have troops

back on us well there's certainly no appetite for a protracted middle of military intervention in the middle east in the way we saw with afghanistan or iraq in terms of support at home it's largely split down partisan lines we've seen republicans come out in support of the president and these strikes and we've seen democrats come out and say that these could in fact be illegal they are certainly reckless and they are asking if the president can bomb syria unilaterally what's to stop them from bombing iran or north korea ok when you look at these strikes and what they targeted and the russian response what do you see being the american strategy towards syria very limited options both the u.s. is like an emperor with dogs who would see that choice food in a way it want to attack. but not in a way that could create

a confrontation with russia so they are very limited in what they can do with bt ok so given the limitations though was this a an attack that could nonetheless have an effect on the relationship between moscow and damascus. to because i don't think maybe most school i mean it's the big one with the most when you ischemic it opens that order the order they sanctioned it but they have to stand by their title lead your group wise syria now listen journals thanks very much and claire richardson of for us in washington thanks useful. well the united states had strong backing and help from a number of its european allies for the strikes for more on that let's bring in gary in brussels what role did did britain and france play in the starts let's turn first to the operational side brian here and of course there were a number of tornado fighter jets from the u.k.

involved starting from their cyprus air base in the mediterranean and then from france twelve missiles we just learned were fired from both france and from locations in the mediterranean but another crucial aspect on the other describes the role of these two two key allies of all of the u.s. is of course the strategic part and so it appears that key information about who was behind this chemical attack also came from these partners with a report about route that talks about reliable intelligence on the french part that has just been published and declassified intelligence that came from france that sees a clear syrian involvement of the regime behind these attacks against the british prime minister theresa may has just been speaking about the deployment let's take a listen and on each occasion when we have seen every sign of chemical weapons

being used any attempt to hold to the purpose it is to account has been blocked by russia at the u.n. security council with six such vetoes since the start of two thousand and seventeen just this week the russians vetoed a draft resolution that would have established an independent investigation into this latest attack even making the grotesque and absurd claim that it was staged by person so we have no choice but to conclude that diplomatic action will not be any more effective in the future than it has been in the past. no her teeth are firmly at russia for britain this is not just about syria's chemical weapons as she was asked that question a number of times brian a full that followed the full press conference there she emphasized about five times that this is directed at syria it is a means this this of these operational strikes are meant to deter the syrian regime

from using those chemical weapons again to destroy their capabilities to use these weapons but then came an interesting sentence and i took that down and that is where may said that the strike send also a message to anyone who uses chemical weapons now in the aftermath of the salisbury north agent attack that of course can be seen as a hint towards russia ok now in the in the run up to these attacks germany said it would not be playing any military role briefly if you could what's what's berlin's position of ireland's position is clearly that they do not want to be involved in the military only part of that but german chancellor angela merkel just gave a statement where she backed the attacks basically calling the necessary an appropriate military intervention she said we support the fact that our u.s. british and french allies assume their responsibilities so strong support from

germany for this action thanks very much for that from brussels ok let's take the russian poles now russia says that syrian forces successfully intercepted most of the missiles fired the russians have been supporting the syrians or russian military officials of the coalition strikes were designed to prevent international inspectors from reaching the site of the alleged chemical weapons attack in duma. if the folk are going to go seriously so this american aggression is about the us seeking to undermine an objective investigation into the ledge to attack its goal is to destroy the peace process in syria and destabilize the situation across the middle east and rage and. let's go straight to moscow now our correspondent your shadow or your you can you fill us in on some more of what moscow has been saying about the strikes

oh yes russian president putin denounced the strikes as aggression that would make the humanitarian crisis in syria even worse and he called for an emergency meeting of the united nations security council but it also sat that this strike had a destructive influence on the entire system of international relations he once again the reaffirmed russia's view that an alleged chemical attack in syria last saturday was a fake he said that russian military experts who inspected to do the syrian c.d.o. do not had found no evidence of the attack just nowhere spock's a man of the russian minister of defense missile him he. sat that russian air defense forces where now in standby mode fighter aircraft is in the air asked to inspect the station but still none of the missiles in the zone of russian defense weapons wasn't included moscow believes that this strike was not an answer to an

alleged chemical attack but every action to the successes of the syrian armed forces in this struggle to free their territory from international terrorism with the help of the russian army ok now should the united states and its allies conduct any additional strikes how would russia respond to that. well i think the most important fact brian is that russian air defense systems located in syrian territory have not been used to counter the missile strikes that is what is the russian minister of defense pointed out and this fact particular seems to be very important for moscow as well as difficulties between moscow and washington are still on the rhetoric level moscow has very well listen to what the u.s. president tom passed to say had to say in his televised address mr trump accused russian president vladimir putin personally of failing to avoid that the syrian president assad to use to use chemical weapons as a kremlin see this as a personal insult to the russian president which russia russia contacts cept the

russians have a relatively large military base in the syrian city of hama mean if the americans attack mean then a military conflict between the two former cold war enemy is us and russia can obviously not only be avoided but so far there is no direct danger of it i think yuri versatile thanks very much your for that from moscow. ok let's bring you up to date on this story at this hour the united states together with britain and france has carried out air strikes on multiple government targets in syria the u.s. says the attacks are a response to a chemical weapons right allegedly carried out by syrian forces in the city of duma last week. now the pentagon says explosions have the capital damascus and two locations near the city of homs syria's main ally as we heard there from yuri russia has warned that these strikes will not be without consequence so. find out more about this story at our web site that's e.w.

dot com don't forget to follow us on twitter about this as well work go to workers now though for me brian thomas the entire news team thanks so much to. make your smart t.v. even smarter with the dollars for small. what you want when you want it. up to date. extraordinary. you decide what's on. sunday d.w. just for.