you're watching t 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 a legend chemical weapons facilities overnight syrian state t.v. has released these images reportedly showing the destruction the western allies say the strikes are in response to the suspected poison gas attack by president assad's forces last week the u.s. says it's a ready just trying to get if further chemical attacks take place is off the

actions of the man. they are crimes of a monster instead president from shown here denouncing assad and praising the u.s. military for what he calls a quote perfectly executed attack tweeting mission accomplished. by maya schwager 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 attacks but 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 we're here today and rhetoric was fierce at the meeting in new york as russia slammed the u.s.

for its quote aggression on syria. the organization 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 distain 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 year from society 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 and forces the red line are more on the story let's go to g.w. is washington bureau chief nominee 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 indeed that's what she told the u.n. security council she described the strikes as justified of the do to make a proportionate and she sat that the u.s. is very confident that it has crippled its 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 you ass is locked and loaded the ambassador said it's meaning it is ready to strike again though as we've seen 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 believe 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 these these symptoms don't come from chlorine they come from nerve agents right 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 march actions which will soon turned out to degrade the sushi

in 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 gave his reasoning for the joint strike he said that they were in response to last week's alleged 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 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 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 what we see him going of course everyone understands that what 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 absence of

evidence of the use of chemical weapons there. will be at the. school. arriving in damascus on saturday ahead of a visit to the site of the gas attack that team of weapons inspectors came one step closer to the tree. in germany did not take part in the airstrikes but german officials are due to meet with representatives from france britain and the u.s. i mean it will take place in london on sunday to discuss what steps should be taken next german foreign minister who says berlin well help lead a new diplomatic push to end the war in syria. this is a fight that stormed the united nations must lead and carry the negotiation process . it's a problem but the un needs our 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 reports. for them all right i'm joined now by g.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 preference of diplomatic approach in the foreign minister also said there that 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 heiko moss seems to have a plan and he was talking also today about a last thing ceasefire being the 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 and 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 a leverage does. berlin have to get russia to the table yeah i think slightly less than has been the case in recent months because of course 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 just on my has said that until washoe and america come together you know the chances of a solution to syria are all pretty much zero now we know that germany did not participate in these these strikes but machall has given her backing to them and she released a statement saying we support the fact that our u.s. british and french allies assume their responsibilities the military intervention was necessary and appropriate so that's praise from merkel but why isn't berlin then therefore planck was response as well but it's especially true in the middle

east and of course that her historic role 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 off them 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 in two thousand and three and iraq of 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 or had to 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 in central budapest to protest prime minister viktor orban reelection. they oppose the country's electoral rules which gave oregon's fetus party two thirds majority in the parliament despite getting just fifty percent of the vote. a palestinian islam ist militant 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 who or what caused the explosion israeli military says it was unaware of any activity in the area. in ecuador president lenina modano has confirmed that three journalists kidnapped by militants have been killed relatives have held daily protest over their capture the journalists were investigating a rise in drug fueled violence when former fark rebels seized the leaders of colombia in ecuador are now promising a military crackdown in the border area. you're watching news from berlin more

coming up at the top of the hour the bundesliga follows after the break with all of saturday's polls and don't forget you can get all the latest news and information around the clock on our website g.w. dot com thanks for watching. take it personally you went with wonderful people winston. and some special. treat. for. more than football on line.