you're watching the w. news live from berlin and russia slams the u.s. britain and france for launching air strikes in 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. released these images purportedly showing the destruction the western allies say of the strikes are in response to the suspected poison gas attack by president assad's forces last week and the u.s. says it's ready to strike again if brother chemical attacks take place these are

not the actions of a man. they are crimes of a monster instead. president trump shown here denouncing assad and praising the u.s. military for what he calls a quote perfectly executed that tactic pleading mission accomplished. welcome to the program the u.n. security council has rejected a bid from russia to condemn the air strikes on syria carried out by the u.s. the u.k. and france russia called an emergency meeting of the council over the attack spots representatives voted against the resolution u.s. ambassador nikki haley told the meeting that the allies are ready to strike syria again if further chemical weapons attacks occur three. and rhetoric was fierce at the meeting in new york as russia slammed the u.s.

for its quote aggression on syria he made school going to zation for the prohibition of chemical weapons dispatched its experts to syria in order to investigate all the circumstances of a misnomer however in a sign of cynical the stay in a group of western countries decided to take military action without waiting for the results of the investigation russia condemns in the strongest possible terms the attack against syria where russian military personnel are assisting the legitimate government in its counterterrorism three uniforms through its actions the united states makes an already catastrophic humanitarian situation in syria even worse the united states of america will not allow the assad regime to continue to use chemical weapons last night we obliterated the major research facility that it used to assemble weapons of mass murder i spoke to the president this morning and he said if the syrian regime uses this poisonous gas again the

united states is a lot and loaded. when our president draws a red line our president enforces the red line for more on the story let's go to w.'s washington bureau chief oleksandr phenomena alexander we heard a very clear statement from u.s. ambassador nikki haley there is the u.s. confident that the strikes have achieved their goal. yes that's what she told the u.n. security council she described the strikes justified the just to make a proportionate and she sat at the very confident that it crippled assad's chemical weapons program and that is what we also heard from the pentagon the military leadership there is very very pleased with the outcome of the strikes saying that they targeted the heart of assad's chemical what kind of

weapons program and that they were successful nevertheless we have this clear warning the u.s. is locked and loaded the ambassador said it's meaning it is ready to strike again now as we've seen that russia has had a very strong response to this entire episode but does it look like moscow's response will be limited to just a diplomatic condemnation yes indeed it looks like that no one here expects the russians to use military force to retaliate and the speed and the tone of the russian reaction you know stressing that the attack have not led to a direct direct confrontation there and that it was rather limited it suggests a sort of relief on the part of the kremlin and no u.s. officials on a similar note have been saying that they identified the chemicals used in this alleged attack last week what do we know about that. well

they say they've been a belief that the nerve agent sarin in addition to chlorine was used in this attack in duma and they say that they came to this conclusion after analyzing images and witness accounts from the scene they point to the symptoms described in reports of media and n.g.o.s symptoms such as constricted pupils convulsions and disruptions to the central nervous system and they say that this these symptoms don't come from chlorine they come from nerve agents and aleksandr phenomena are d.c. bureau chief thank you 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 although to our laws expressed our full support for the last night's actions which wilson turned it to degrade the syrian

regime chemical weapons capability to deter further chemical weapons attacks against the people of syria nato strongly condemns the repeated use of chemical weapons by the syrian regime earlier president trump gives his reasoning for the joint strike he said that the strike was in response to last week's a legit gas attack in the syrian town of duma that assault left dozens of civilians dead within minutes of trump's announcement missiles began hitting targets in and around the cities of damascus and homes. after lighting up the night sky on bring to syria part of a wave of strikes by u.s. french and british forces they were aimed at facilities crucial to syria's alleged chemical weapons program in the capital damascus and in the western city of homs.

syrian state t.v. claims that one of those missiles had destroyed a cancer research center. the joint military action came a week after a gas attack on civilians thought to have been carried out by the syrian army. 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. it's the largest display of force by western nations against

the assad regime since the civil war began. the british prime minister insists it's not about toppling syria's president. this was specifically about the use of chemical weapons 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. this was the response from bashar al assad the president arriving for work this morning business as usual. but russia's foreign minister said the strikes were lawless and unacceptable he wanted to know why the u.s. and allies had preempted the official investigation into the gas attack. which will produce little seal on you of course everyone understands that it happened the day before the official chemical weapons inspectors were supposed to

travel to the place of the incident in order to confirm the presence or robs. of evidence of the use of chemical weapons there just being at the. school. arriving into mascot's on saturday ahead of a visit to the site of the gas attack the team of weapons inspectors came one step closer to the truth. of germany did not take part in the airstrikes but german officials are due to meet with representatives from france britain and the u. u.s. that meeting will take place in london on sunday to discuss what steps should be taken next german foreign minister heiko ma says berlin will help lead a new diplomatic push to end the war in syria. fight that storm the united nations must lead and carry the negotiation process. it's a problem but the u.n. needs are active engagement to give a new impetus to the discussions from. so we will work together with france to

create an international format of influential nations to give the political process new momentum to schwartz's right i'm joined now by d.w. political correspondent simon young to help us break this all down so the german foreign minister was talking about this international format what does that mean and what kind of role could germany play well i think germany like other players here is well aware that the only thing that will end the war is a compromise perhaps a diplomatic approach in the foreign minister also said that it germany continues to support the u.n. geneva process which has been going on for years to try and find a negotiated solution but the german government seems to think that there is perhaps an open opportunity here to go beyond that to breathe new life into efforts to in the syrian conflict as a whole and that of course means getting all the players around the table not just

syria but iran turkey russia united states and so on germany could be a broke up house in that process given that it hasn't been involved in military action here and like a loss seems to have a plan he was talking also today about a last thing ceasefire being that the first thing that's needed to allow humanitarian efforts to go on the destruction of chemical weapons under u.n. supervision and ultimately he said a transitional government and new elections in syria so there is a a sort of a plan forming got an outline and as you mentioned bringing all the players to the table in ma says especially said that it's essential to get russia on board for any sort of political process to succeed but what kind of leverage does berlin have to get russia to the table you know i think slightly less than has been the case in recent months because of the. russia is now embroiled in this brule hold sort of conflict with the west over its role in the nerve agent attack in the u.k.

its role in cyber attacks its alleged role in influencing or trying to influence elections and so on so that's why the foreign minister has also said in recent days that russia's actions are increasingly hostile he's indicating bowling will take a tougher line in the future and he's arguing for instance for sanctions economic sanctions against russia to stay in place and so on at the same time everyone here knows that russia has to be part of the solution and for instance the gem president by just on my ass said that until wash and america come together you know the chances of a solution to syria all pretty much zero now we know that germany did not participate in these these strikes but angela merkel has given her backing to them and she released a statement saying we support the fact that our u.s. british and french allies assumed their responsibility is the military intervention was necessary and appropriate so that's praise from merkel but why isn't berlin

then therefore playing a more active military role well germany has a visceral reluctance to be involved in military at action of any kind i think that's a response as well but it's especially true in the middle east and of course to her historical reasons for that so this is a traditional position nobody i think was expecting germany to get militarily involved and indeed ministers have been pointing out that nobody else than to get involved. but at the same time this is about full political support in his goal politically behind the other three countries and he's saying that everything needs to be done to send that message that the use of chemical weapons will not be tolerated is a very different position that germany has now from what was the case for instance two thousand and three in iraq in two thousand and eleven over libya where germany stood aside and opposed international military action now you've got germany really fully politically signed up to to the to the actions been taken that it did have

a political correspondent time and young thank you very much. now to some of the other stories making news around the world tens of thousands of hunger ariens have taken to the streets of central budapest to protest prime minister viktor orban as reelection they oppose the country's electoral rolls which gave oregon speed as party a two thirds majority in the parliament despite getting just fifty percent of the vote. a palestinian islam group says a bomb explosion killed four of its members in the gaza strip the blast struck near the border with israel close to a palestinian protest camp it's not yet clear what or who caused the explosion the israeli military said it was unaware of any activity in the area. in ecuador president leonine mourinho has confirmed that return a list kidnapped by militants have been killed relatives had held daily protests over their capture the journalists were investigating

a rise in drug fueled violence when former fark rebels seized the leaders of colombia and ecuador are now promising a military crackdown in the border area you're watching to w. news from berlin more coming up at the top of the hour don't forget you can get all the latest news and information around the clock on our website dot com thanks for joining us. to learn german we w. . any time any place. with jo-jo and her friends. i need to stop you can't believe. it's because she's.