you're watching b.w. news live from berlin russia slams the united states britain and france for launching air strikes against syria moscow called an emergency meeting of the u.n. security council after the strikes targeted allegedly chemical weapons facilities overnight syrian state t.v. has released these images purportedly showing the destruction of western allies say they're responding to the suspected poison gas attack by president assad's forces last week. these are not the actions of a man. they are crimes of a monster instead u.s.

president trump denouncing assad and now praising the u.s. military for what he called a perfectly executed attack tweeting mission accomplished. because of awesome welcome to the program a u.n. security council meeting called by russia is now underway moscow is seeking a vote to condemn the united states and its allies for carrying out military strikes on syria russia is demanding that no further strikes will be launched but u.s. ambassador nikki haley told the meeting that the allies are quote locked and loaded just strike syria again if further chemical weapon attacks take place u.n. secretary general antonio terris has called for calm. and they are all members to

show restraint in these dangerous circumstances and to avoid any case that could escalate smetters and worsening the suffering of the syrian people as i did yesterday i stressed the need to avoid the situation from spiraling out of control for more on the story we go to our d w bureau chief in washington alexander phenomena and to russia where analyst constantine found agora joins us and he's been following the story alexandra we'll start with you the u.n. security council meeting has been ongoing now let's listen first to what the u.s. ambassador had to say we're here today because three permanent members of the united nations security council acted the united kingdom france and the united states acted not as revenge not as punishment not as a symbolic show of force we acted to deter the future use of chemical weapons by holding the syrian regime responsible for its atrocities against humanity.

alexandra it's a move to deter further use of chemical weapons but the u.s. is saying that it's ready to act again isn't it. yes you're right ambassador hailey was really clear about that she said that after talking to presidents trump she can only stress that the you asked as locked and loaded to strike again if the syrian government uses chemical weapons again and she also added that if this administration draws a red line that it's that it forces the red line so it was a very clear message experts say however that the risk is that the us could end up in a cycle of escalation that untangles the american forces more deeply in the syrian conflict that this administration actually intended hans and jean before we

come to you let's have a listen to what the russian ambassador had to say at that very same meeting. you're going to see action for the group mission of chemical weapons dispatching its experts to syria in order to investigate all the circumstances this was not good news to me however it is a sign of cynical disdain a group of western countries decided to take military action without waiting for the results of the concessions geishas russia condemns in the strongest possible terms the attack against syria where russian military personnel are assisting the legitimate government in its counter-terrorism through a rebuke from society through its actions united states makes an already catastrophic humanitarian situation in syria even worse. now russia is obviously denouncing the move and saying that it's a threat to the humanitarian situation there constantine how do these attack actually threaten russia. well i think that it's classic russian showboating in the u.s. and then shifting shifting the attention from what is actually happening in syria

and how russia has blocked. several you have and has allusions that would have probably provided for a more objective investigation to the strikes i think that this tactic or rather even the strategy will continue no don't throw think that russia will back down although at the same time i think to some extent to some extent love that putin can be pretty satisfied with today because the scale of military action by the allies was much smaller than it was expected then than it was predicted so he can now digital of the claim that it was he's threats to strike back at the u.s. forces that actually force. the united states britain and france to back down however i do think that's this is not the end of the story and i think that. in a sense what we've seen we've seen

a very significant shift in present trumps position of course alexander knows more about that but what i want to say is that definitely russia was not prepared to have an administration. soon washington that will be as ready to act as this one of course now probably quite a lot of people in in the kremlin and in the foreign ministry want to roll back time and hog barack obama but it's too late constantine mentioned president transpositions i'll go to alexandra alexandra president trump did not get approval from congress but what kind of support does he have for such a move not only within his own party but within the country. we have seen rather mixed reactions after the strike some lawmakers small through the republican sprays to the president's decision saying that there needed to be a strong response to the alleged to the us its regimes alleged use of

chemical weapons in syria but some of them are also concern for example senator making that the president does not have a coherent strategy on syria and that is something that many democrats seems seem to be concerned about as well oh we saw the democratic leadership chuck schumer and nancy pelosi saying that limited punitive action is appropriate but that it can be. it's used to a coherent strategy and there are some lawmakers from both parties who are concerned that the presidents decision could be on shaky legal grounds because the current legislation that gives the president. to use military force with those congress's approval has not been updated since two thousand and one. perhaps there is not a long term strategy right now but the u.s.

has said it's not going to has it changed to intervene further constantine will come to you now with the threat of further assault hanging in the air how could russia potentially respond. well i think that for now the response will be friend that really diplomatic plus russia will probably add a few paragraphs a few measures to the draft law that mr putin's pocket dumas parliament is discussing now or to punish and then recover for sanctions that were imposed on russian companies and individuals if you days ago militarily i still think it's if the united states continues to consistently strike syria then of course the the the balance is not in favor of russia which is militarily let's face it weaker but i think it is exactly the question of war the allies want to achieve it syria if they want to achieve the and to chemical attacks then possibly possibly only possibly

mr putin could assure them by talking to mr asa but if they want to achieve a wider solution then of course some kind of idea for that is needed to put it it's all very simple he has proclaimed himself the world's top most authority on countering regime change and as long as assad is an hour but he's that he's achieved his goal but then it is much more difficult but i don't think there's going to be in a minute the response from the russians and not as yet at least analysts constantine front agger and d.-w. bureau chief and washington alexandra phenomena thank you both very much meanwhile nato representatives have been meeting in the belgian capital brussels the military alliance says all twenty nine of its members are backing the airstrikes or nato allies expressed their full support for the last night's actions which was intended to degrade the syrian regime's chemical

weapons capability and to deter further chemical weapons attacks against the people of syria. nato strongly condemn the repeated use of chemical weapons by the syrian regime our correspondent gary mathis is standing by in brussels where nato representatives are having this meeting nato unified there on the legitimacy of the airstrikes how are they that short of the gas attack was carried out by the syrian regime could the airstrikes by western forces be seen as premature though or they have been presented with a large body of evidence and with rock solid intelligence at least that is what officials have told me basically that is what that what is what the u.s. the u.k. and france repeated over and over again now we haven't seen this evidence yet and

that is what particularly russians are pointing to and maybe we will never see that evidence i find it interesting though that only yesterday i was told even here in brussels by diplomats that they have also be already been presented with evidence from the organization of the prohibition of chemical weapons even though they haven't arrived at the scene yet so it's an interesting situation here the actual dilemma i think is rather the one that we have no legal foundation we have disunity in the only body that could result that conflict in the security council and so now three of the police officers in the security council have taken matters into their own hands and that can have repercussions for the entire international system and how conflicts and how international interventions how forced interventions are run and we were just talking about the long term plan in syria for the united states and alexandra mentioned that perhaps there isn't one as of right now or at least not one that we know is there

a common european strategy in place for the issue when it comes to syria. there's a key interest on the part of europeans be it in nato be it in the european union and that is to find a political solution there everyone here is on the same page when it comes to maybe a single military strike like this one will help to prevent the future use of only chemical weapons as such but we have sort of seen the carpet bombings we have seen the use of cluster bombs of barrel bombs and in order to find a solution to end this horrific wall there is now there may be the new impetus here on the part of european forces at least that is the effort we see in france but also by germany to bring life back into the geneva. peace talks into efforts to bring about a cease fire and it was also interesting to see that the nato secretary general called on russia on their exercise their responsibility to bring the syrian regime

back to the negotiating table. mathes in brussels thank you now earlier president trump said the joint strikes were in response to last week's alleged gas attack in the syrian town of duma which left dozens of civilians dead and sells began hitting targets in or around the city of damascus and homs within minutes of his announcement. he sells launched would syria from a u.s. navy ship part of a wave of strikes by the u.s. backed by french and british forces as. they were aiming to bomb targets related to syria's chemical weapons program in the capital damascus and in the western city of homs. syria state t.v. broadcast footage of the building it said was a research center hit by a mistrial the joint military action came a week after a gas attack on civilians which was thought to have been carried out by the forces

of syrian president bashar assad. we are prepared to sustain this response until the syrian regime stops or choose 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. this is the largest display of joint force by western nations against the assad regime and were significantly bigger than us strikes on syria a year ago. set up at us your visit is objective this operation and targeted objectives belonging to the clandestine chemical program of

syria plus the main at research center of this program and two important productions science has been struck. through these targets we have here the capacity of syria to develop and to produce chemical weapons metal poor the. design machine make do less siri get at don't. despite the strikes britain's prime minister made renewed calls for diplomacy. there is a wider question of the future political solution for syria and that is a matter that we will continue to pursue in diplomatic channels and diplomatic and political channels with our international partners and allies after the strikes some assad supporters hold noisy demonstrations of defiance in damascus meanwhile syria rebels fighting the assad regime in the western strikes were fast as long as assad.