ah! you get more money. that's what you could get. h&r block with watson. get your taxes won. >> the chemical weapons were banned by the gene veneta connection in 1925. assad has ignored that period of at least four times. there's been no military response from the united states or the west until last night. president trump decided to respond it to the the errant chemical attack with a stark message. >> it is in this vital national security interest of the united states to prevent and deter the use of deadly chemical weapons. this is our live continuing coverage on the here and the fox nation will hello i am eric. and i am jack ibanez.

thank you for joining us. >> the surprise attack is a striking reversal for president trump who is a candidate warned against the u.s. being pulled into assad civil war. in 2013 he tweeted "stay out of syria. do not attack syria. if you do, many bad things will happen. there's no upside enter modest downside kits" during a scan is rich edson. >> secretary state rex tillerson and speaking of this issue spoke about this frequently and forcefully on any issue as secretary of state in the short time he has been secretary of state. the argument from secretary of state rex tillerson is that bashar al-assad has used chemical weapons and has done so repeatedly. he was normalizing that use and tonight's attack and last evening's attack was a response to that. he has also gotten more critical of russia and in holding russia accountable. remember a few years back with the obama administration, russia

brokered a deal with syria and that they would dispose of their chemical weapons and that russia would guarantee and destroy those weapons. secretary of state said clearly that didn't happen. russia has failed to deliver on that commitment. and that russia is either complicit or simply incompetent as a secretary of state continues his pressure all throughout the day on assad and russia. >> the syrian regime under president bashar al-assad are responsible for this attack. i think further it is very important that the russian government consider carefully their continued support for the assad regime. >> in that statement, he also said there is clearly no role for bashar al-assad at the leader of syria. that's much different, much different tone and much more aggressive than the secretary of state was just a week ago when he was in turkey and he said that it was up to the syrian people to decide the ultimate

fate and the long-term fates of bashar al-assad. he also was asked, will president trump organize an international coalition to remove assad? to that he said it, though steps are underway. state department officials said that was in relation to any new type of initiative that's ongoing. this is an international type of coalition that's been ongoing and discussing what would happen in syria and trying to negotiate a path forward in syria politically with you in partner countries in geneva. also, we need to hear what russia has to say about all of this. the associated press is reporting that the head of the of foreign affairs committee, the kremlin-controlled upper house in that country country says that because of last evening's attack, any prospective u.s.-russia antiterrorism coalition has been put to rest. we are still waiting to hear what the kremlin has to say about all of this. as a late of about midday yesterday, 2:00-3:00 afternoon,

senior state department officials were saying that they were continuing to planned for secretary of state rex tillerson to travel to moscow next week. these are negotiations that have been on the books for some time now. the secretary of state is, according to the state department officials, going to talk about areas where the united states and russia can partner, where that benefits the united states. one more thing on the future of bashar al-assad and this little reported early yesterday with the kremlin spokesman had to say about all this, he said i don't think it's correct to say that there's unconditional support for bashar al-assad, but unconditional support is not possible in the current role, although he did go on to say that we have to keep in mind that a assad and his army as a legitimate power in syria, as we all wait now. it's about morning time, seven hours ahead of moscow, what they are going to do and what russia is going to do in response to all this and whether the secretary of state will still be invited to head there next week. back to you. >> bashar al-assad may find himself all alone.

that's for sure. live from the state department this morning, rich edson. >> just after 9:00 a.m. in israel and they were quick to respond to that military strike in syria. they are stressing full support for president trump's decision. let's go back to john huddy. >> as you said, just past 9:00 a.m. and people are waking up to the news about the strikes in syria by president trump the overall reaction is supportive of president trump's decision. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu said he fully supports president trump's decision to attack and to strike syria. now i statement that i am going to read you back from the prime minister's office is "in both word and action, president trump sends a strong and clear message today that the use and spread of chemical weapons

now, israel hello's air strikes in syria against assad's regime and in particular on syrian arms, convoys destine to hezbollah. hezbollah is an ally of bashar al-assad regime. that has been a concert for israel along with hezbollah's arsenal of rockets. of course israel borders, not only lebanon to the north, but also syria. along with iran's involvement in syria and the support for the government, there are also concerns about chemical weapons and the potential for attacks on israeli citizens.

eric, of course and being allied with the united states, israel's defense forces, the idf and intelligence services are in close coordination with the united states, sharing intelligence information, and of course that continues to be the case now. more than ever. >> certainly, john on alert for any possibilities. john huddy live, early morning there, but earlier morning here in new york. thank you, john. jack a. >> secretary of state rex tillerson telling fox news channel that moscow is not informed of the strike earlier before or after the assault happen. however, there are deconfliction agreements between the united states and the russian military. the russians were informed of the strike through those channels. meantime, we've been told at the president trump told chinese president xi jinping about the strike just prior to making the announcement about the media. >> joining us now from our washington borough with the fast making developments as fox news

contributor judy miller. she's a per pulitzer prize winner. judy, let's start with one question. should this have been done five years ago? hillary clinton as secretary state which he of poorly pressed obama to bomb the runways from assad was barrel bombing his own people. she was on the air earlier yesterday saying that we should just do this, bomb the airfield to do exactly what president trump did. >> ps, we could have it. we should have. but the problems facing president obama when he decided to use diplomacy to try and remove peaceably, most of the chemical weapons out of syria was that he understood in his military people warned him that if they were anything other than a proportional strike on a military base and runways that a strike on the chemical facilities themselves what a

risk spreading deadly chemicals also over the country of syria, so we would wind up killing the people we are trying to save. there is an irony here, eric, that in effect, president trump's military strike was made possible by the fact that 98% or 99% of serious chemical arsenal was gotten out through diplomacy. no i think that the choices that donald trump made with the advice of mattis, who by the way general mattis was an on the planning for president obama's military strike back in 2013, the choice he made was to keep this very proportional. he did not go after command and control targets. he did not go after leadership targets. the way ronald reagan did and libya when he struck in 1986. he can find it to the airbases where the single air base where

the chemicals had been loaded. and that is a limited proportional strike, and i think it was a stroke of brilliance and a long overdue. in that sense, i agree with you, i agree with hillary clinton. you have to look what is he back at what is possible and i don't think we could have acted militarily until diplomacy had been tried. >> what do you think this will mean for diplomacy? we have the peace talks in geneva. does this give assad an opportunity to try and come to terms, or will russia then dump him but then you will get another assad in your in and rush is not getting up there in? >> russia is not going to give up any of that and russia can be a great spoiler. this is a moment where you could have a breakthrough diplomatically, but let's not forget the bigger picture here. we are still fighting a war against isis. isis is still the main enemy, and so you need a coherent government in damascus to

conduct the fight against isis. all of these people who are saying and analysts who are saying this is the moment to get rid of bashar al-assad, maybe. but maybe we do need him there, as trump said only a month ago, in order to fight isis, first things first, get rid of isis and now send a message to president bashar al-assad that that will not be tolerated. >> what you are saying is in a way do you think the message could be acceptable? even though it meant i like you? even though you don't use chemical weapons. >> exactly. i don't think that we know yet whether or not there's been a huge shift in policy toward syria. i don't think so. i think president trump's instincts are still not to get us involved and only to keep us involved diplomatically. he had to respond to this

flagrant flagrant violation of international law. i think right now drawing broader conclusions is risky because as you point out, we don't know how the russians will act, we don't know how the iranians will act appear to speak we have it now just breaking. let me read to you that the russians say it's an aggression against the sovereign nation member of the u.n. and it says a violation of international law. does that sound like someone is going to back out to you. what diplomatic lay does that mean was i going to do. they're going to be security council meeting by bolivia that will likely done this. how searcy from the kremlin who are criticizing this. >> the kremlin to his conflicted. on one hand, it wants a fair base in syria, he wants to keep its influence in the middle east. it doesn't want isis on its doorstep either. it too wants to remain focused on the fight against isis.

while protecting its clients bashar al-assad. if he now directs his bad behavior and stops using cw, i think we could have an opportunity to use forward in geneva weather hasn't been one before, precisely because the russians have been willing to do any heavy lifting on this. i think this is a moment of incredible potential, but i don't think the russians are going to totally overturn the applecart here. >> they backed assad constantly and consistently through multiple security council resolutions threatening that. it just hours before the air strikes occurred, the security council went home because russia said we are not going to deal with this issue. they are not going to change the behavior. they're not going to pull the switch. they are wedded to this guy. or are they wedded to a regime that's friendly to them? >> they are wedded to a regime

in syria that is friendly to them. that's their main objective. it is their base there, their presence and influence there. and remember, donald trump warned that through channels that we were going to do this, we are going to have this limited proportional strike. i understand that some buildings were not targeted because there was concern whether russians were in there. donald trump struck at 4:30 a.m., not during -- later on when you could have had russian shoulders wandering around. they were made many hence the russians that the united states and want not want to confrontation with them right now. we have to keep our eye on the main goal. defeating isis and then as fast as possible, resuming diplomatic talks that are going to lead to someplace and until bashar al-assad changes his behavior and russia's changed it but haber it was not possible.

>> how do you think this will play out in geneva? there is preparation with the russians. saying that we will do this, get your people out. the israelis are cooperating with russia. a lot of people don't know that. in terms of coordinating the military in lebanon and also in syria. there is international preparation but how do you take that from a military level and get your guys out to the broader geo political area that you're talking about? >> that's going to be donald trump's great challenge. rex tillerson's great challenge. we have seen now that they are willing to do something to send a very powerful message on wmd. let us see what they are willing to do with respect to negotiations. it's very hard to conduct negotiations when you still don't have your assistant secretaries, your deputy assistant secretary is in place.

the donald trump administration is still in formation, and we are now -- they are way behind. >> all you need is one guy. that's it. let's go down the list this week. he met with abdullah, he sitting dallas lcc. he's bringing them in like revolving door. >> you need a government. what about the pushback from congress you got democrats and some republicans like rand paul for example saying the strikes n authorized by congress, that congress needs to be in consultation with this. in their view, this is why president obama did not conduct these air strikes. he thought of it, but he pulled back because he did not get congressional authorization. >> i think donald trump is going to have to take rand paul out on the golf course again, another 18 holes and perhaps he will see the wisdom of this action. i think there will be a little

pushback in congress, but i think most congressmen and senators understand the need to send a very clear messages on wmd. that after all has been the great concern of all of us since 9/11. military group or a rogue state acquire and use a wmd against united states and its allies. that's the broader's to treated challenge that a trump administration now faces. >> very quickly, sarin gas in a toco system by the cult -- this air strike ironically happened april 6, the anniversary of america getting into the great war, world war i back in 1917, and we saw the hard result of a chemical weapon in flanders fields and what had happened. judy, we are still dealing with it today in the civilized -- supposedly civilized world. assad, supposedly had gave them all up and it's not supposed to have any.

that's what we are told by our government and by the world body. >> actually come of u.n. estimated in february that the syrians had removed approximately 98-99% of their cw. one of the things we don't know is whether or not what was used this past week against the syrian people was left over stockpiled that was hidden or whether or not the syrians had gone back into the wmd production business again. that's another question raised by what happened in that dreadful town. we don't know the answer to it yet, but we do know that 1,300 tons of these chemicals were gotten out of the country and the removal of those stockpiles made donald trump's military strike possible. in a sense, you can kind of look at what happened tonight or last night as a kind of continuation

of three presidents to try and see what the wmd problem post 9/11. >> it certainly horrendous. it still existing it is still used. judy miller, thank you. you will stay with us and will be on for another two hours here up until "fox & friends" on the fox news channel with our live coverage. we hope you stay with us as we cover the developments that are ongoing and hope all these questions site. >> don't be to back go anywhere. we will be right back.

>> good morning. is now two: 23 here on the east coast. russian reaction strongly to the u.s. missile strikes against syria. kremlin saying the aggression against the sovereign state is in violation of international. joining us on the phone is senior fellow managing director at the washington institute for near east policy. what you think about what's happening there right now. the latest and the kremlin? >> i think that the strength of the united states teams have a pretty clear and narrow purpose and that was to respond to those chemical weapon attacks by the assad regime and to impose a cost for the tax. i think that that in itself will shape the reaction about the

states. i think many states will welcome that. i think we are seeing protest from russia and this will make secretary of state tillerson's trip to russia next week and interesting visit, but it might also limit the amount of criticism or level the reaction of the russians because it was apparently a pretty narrowly targeted and one-off sort of strike. >> do you think secretary tillerson will continue to go there on wednesday? do you think this will be canceled? >> it's of course possible that it could be canceled but i would suspect there is more reason for it now than there ever was before. this does raise the question of what is american strategy in syria, or what is russia's reaction to the u.s. is doing, and there's really more, for this kind of deliberation. of course it's possible that the russians could cancel it in protest, but there isn't a really clear need for it so hopefully it will go for. >> this chemical attack happened

on monday and it did not take long for president trump to react to that and people have been saying, as we know, president trump is a soft spot for children. everyone i think you have a soft spot when they see those images. i know we have some of them. it's almost we hate to show those images because they are so graphic and so hard to look at, but it something that we need to see. it's the reality they are in syria unfortunately, there's this is not the first time it's happened. this has been going on for six years, it started in 2011 and from there we have seen the u.n. saying that syria, the syrian government, has had an chemical attack three times on the civilians and one chemical attack by isis. something's got to change. those are the images that i'm talking about. their heart wrenching. >> it is terrible. obviously there is many, many terrible things have happened in syria and this is a conflict that is claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, displaced millions of people. i think one could argue, and

many of us have argued, that the united states and the international community should have taken much firmer action earlier. i think that this action by the united states, its in reaction to a very terrible attack, but it's also serves a more geopolitical purpose as well and a sense. it's to reinforce what had been a taboo against the use of chemical weapons. that is something that i think a successive governments have tried to do and try it diminished a bit over the course of this syrian conflict because chemical weapons have been used with relative impunity. it may accomplish that to some extent, it may require further strikes and a future to firm that up. what it won't do though, to be clear, his end of the suffering in syria. that would really require a much broader strategy and much more involvement in the bay? that still -- what is the larger

strategy here? is as part of a larger strategy or is this a simply one-off? >> back in 2014, i believe that's when it was that syria was told by the u.n. that they had to get rid of all of their stockpile of any chemical weapons that they had. at that point it was told that they did. they were coming back and saying they didn't get rid of anything. they still have stuff there. what do we have done if i? i will point we should've stepped in back in 2011? >> i think that when president obama laid down that redline in 2012 about the use of chemical weapons and when that redline was crossed by the assad regime, president obama's right to use force really should have been carried through quickly and decisively. i think that's, in many -- in some ways it shapes president trump's actions today. the sense our deterrent was weakened by that sort of hesitation.

in the face of the crossing of the redline by president assad. in the sense, i think we acted more firmly than perhaps there wouldn't be this need to act no now. and many people would say, i would say, that in fact, the intervention intervention diplomatically to go in and send people to move chemical weapons, number one it wasn't successful odyssey, and number two, it obviously shorted up the assad regime and threw them a lifeline when it looked like they were in a pretty tight spot. i think the acting decisively in these cases, acting swiftly so that there's a clear connection to the transgression that you are responding to is important. >> i think that's one thing people really love about president trump is that he makes that decision and he follows through with it. it's also something that scares people. what are some of the repercussions we can have here in the u.s. because of it? 59 missiles hitting the syrian government. those muscles are told to be about 1,000 pounds each missile. that's about 59,000 pounds of

missiles there. what could be the repercussions for us? >> i think it's worth saying up front that one of the encouraging things about this episode, whether you ultimately agree with the objective or the action or not, is that it seems to be relatively carefully thought through, the weight of the national security advisor describe the process was one where they consider different options, they were asking in a sense, the right questions. and it was a methodical process. i think that's encouraging because there have been a lot of questions about what kind of prophecies weighed the trump administration follow. it seems like there was a deliberate effort to middle minimalize civilian casualties and so far from initial reports there are very few of those to certainly ensure that there was no rush and e-uppercase-letter's and no reports of those so far. some of the request question was but a some of the request question was word about was a russian casualties or or striking the

chemical weapons stores and things like that. it doesn't look like those because it does look like a good deal of care was put into this. what will russia's reaction be. will syria and it russian and iran now interfere with our efforts against isis? but i think that those have been minimized in a sense by the way this was carried out. >> michael live on the phone this point. we appreciate you being here with us. >> and we will have more on russia's and iran's actions to the missile strikes as our coverage continues overnight here on the fox news channel brian, i just need to know if the customer app will be live monday. can we at least analyze customer traffic? can we push the offer online? brian, i just had a quick question. brian? brian... legacy technology can handcuff any company.

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>> this is a fox alert. russia claiming the air strikes against syria were a against a fellow member of the security of the united nations and a violation of international law. russia has constantly protected its client state. the regime of bashar al-assad. iran too now weighing in. the foreign minister calls it "a unilateral action dangerous destructive and it violates the principles of international law." president trump said he took the

action of an -- because of the horror of chemical weapons that were up to play. joining is now at 2:30 a.m. in mar-a-lago at the trump camp matt compound is fox news correspondent kristian fisher who has been covering the president response and the meetings they're all through the evening. >> for a president who said his number one theme a number one priority is america first, it was very noteworthy that tonight when he stepped into the microphone and the very first thing that came out of his mouth was he made the case -- a humanitarian case for why he order the strike tonight on syria. he said president assad, the syrian president, had it choked the life out of innocent men, women, and children. and that tonight the initial reason for that strike was that he was targeting the airbase in syria were those chemical weapons were launched from.

only then did president trump dive into the what's in it for the united states and what he said there is its and its vital national security interest of the united states to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons. he then ended his remarks there about two and half minutes in length and deliver them at mar-a-lago. he ended his remarks by calling for a global coalition to come together to defeat what he describes as of this ongoing slaughter in syria. what we are seeing now is all these nations coming out, either in support or an opposition to the strike. we had israel as one of the first to come out saying that they really approved of the president strikes. we also just heard from iran and they came out very strong against it and so did russia. the question now though is how is syrian -- the syrian president bashar all a assad going to respond? and how's vladimir putin going

to respond whenever he delivers his first remarks on this remark? this could really jeopardize all of the goodwill that had seemingly been building up between president trump and president vladimir putin. one of the things that really led to the strike was, of course, all of the images that president trump had been seeing of the slaughtered babies and children, that apparently really got to him. the other thing was that president trump was growing increasingly frustrated that the russians wouldn't acknowledge that the syrian president was behind these chemical attacks. it's not, the other thing that was very noteworthy when secretary of state rex tillerson spoke here in palm beach, he came out very strong against palm back russia and went after what he promised to do back in , witches remove and destroy all the chemical weapons in syria. it's the secretary of state said that russia has been complicit or incompetent in its ability to deliver on that. as for the strike, we are talking about 60 tomahawk

missiles being dropped on a very small scary area -- a 60,000 pounds of munitions being dropped in just one spot. while it was a limited and targeted strike, he made a huge impact. initial reports that the airbase is almost completely destroyed. tonight, the secretary of state said that this shows that president trump is willing to act and willing to act decisively when government and other bad actors crossed the line. perhaps, a reference to what his predecessor, president barack obama, would not do. and you can't help but then think how is is all going to play into what's going to be happening tomorrow? tomorrow is the big meeting between president trump and president of china, xi jinping. they met today for dinner, in fact, they were acting or as the strikes were taking place. it was only after dinner that

right before president trump came out and announced that the strike had taken place that he inform the chinese president of exactly what had happened. just imagine, if you are the chinese president getting ready to sit down with president trump tomorrow knowing that he is capable of doing things that his predecessor did not do. that certainly has to play a big part in their negotiations tomorrow. >> can you imagine that conversation? they are both getting together and the president of united states and by the way i just -- we just launch these lists do back muscles because of a chemical attack. certainly because the president of china something to think about. as you noted with russia's, it's always the rebels they claim conducted these attacks and of course as you said criticizing tonight. we'll see what happens at the security council meeting. kristin, thank you so much. you'll be staying with us live from mar-a-lago. it's 2:38 eastern time. >> our continued coverage of the u.s. missile strikes in syria continues. this much more still to come on fox news channel. stay with us.

>> joining is now for more from our studio in palm springs, california. he is a former advisor to four of the ambassadors to the united nations and know the dynamics very well. it's very good to see you. one of the russians thinking right now? there quite debit security council meeting tomorrow in moscow is calling this a violation of international law. how seriously do we take that protest? is a typical diplomatic talk or what do they do? >> i think it's a harsh statement and reading that dmitry peskov who is president pollutants spokesman goes on to actually say that these chemical weapons are something that the syrian army does not have. he's really denying the fact that the syrians have these to

use. i think that's a real problem. he tries to show as proof that the u.n., specifically, had issued a report saying that the syrian army, the syrian military just doesn't have these chemical weapons. i think we are dealing with somebody who is not dealing in reality it and that's going to be a diplomatic challenge. rex tillerson is scheduled to go to russia. he scheduled to have some meetings. it's going to be very interesting to see if those meetings still take place, if the russians don't cancel those as kind of a protest. but even if he does go, what's actually going to be discussed? are we going to be able to say to the russians, you and i both know that the syrians had these chemical weapons, they use them. we are really going to have to push them on the fact. >> the russians have always protected assad. they have said the rebels have the chemical weapons.

it's not the government. how do you get them to change your mind? what are they publicly say one thing and privately with tillerson in an established sergey lavrov, do that kind of come out and strike a deal in advance of more geneva talks? >> i certainly think now is a time to strike a deal. the calculus is different. they see what president trump has done, they witnessed what president obama was unwilling to do. so i think that now, they are going to be a little more ready to make a deal and let's be very clear. in private, the russians have been saying recently that they are a little bit tired of what's going on inside syria. they are not going to be there forever. they are frustrated with assad. if you look at the reports that are coming out out of russia and inside syria, it is plainly clear that the russians are reaching their end. however, they still want to come out of syria was something. they want to have a base, they want to make sure that they

still have a client state, but the syrians have been moving away in terms of their missile technology away from some of the russians. they are now using chinese technology, they are using chinese satellite. >> what about that with the chinese president like today? >> he deftly should. i think you should take a picture of what actually happened inside syria, take a picture to the meeting with the chinese and say, take this back to your north korean friends. this there is a new sheriff in town and we said this earlier but nothing goes over better with our allies than a credible threat of military action. much as a threat of military action but when that military action is credible, when the threat is credible, that's when i think you will see allies and others recalculate their policies. that's what we have an

opportunity to go in with the new diplomatic effort. >> nikki haley, u.s. ambassador to the united nations, got up on wednesday and spoke to security council and held up three photos of the syrian children killed by that chemical attack. what kind of impact did that have? we've been talking about it a lot here. those images are so graphic. >> they are so graphic and from a personal standpoint, i saw the videos of the young boy grasping for air and the children lying on the ground. i don't think that you could be a human being and not have some sort of reaction. i think what she did and said the security council was brilliant. when she looked over at the russians. let's make no mistake, even when it comes to action here, we've got to be very measured. we have to learn the lessons of iraq. what donald trump is sending a very strong message of this targeted missile strike with

tomahawk missiles, not with manned airplanes, but with unmanned tomahawk with missiles. this is a moment where donald trump is saying i'm going to be strategic, i'm going to be calculated, he's not sending u.s. troops in, and i think that his supporters who if you look on twitter and other social media platforms, there is a split there. some people are very concerned that he is launching military strikes, and that they don't want to see it. those are hard-core trump supporters. i think what donald trump has done has been very good. it's been very calculated. as a shot across the bow. it's going to recalculate what's going on in the middle east from the russians, the turks from assad. i think now is the time to go on with diplomacy. we don't need to have u.s. troops on the ground immediately. i think what we need to do is let's give some diplomatic

muscle a chance. let's go back to all of our allies and a see if we can peacefully get assad to go. >> thank you so stay with us for more inside instant u.s. air strikes on syria. >> we will be right back as our special coverage continues all through the evening here on the fox news channel. you won't see these folks at the post office. they have businesses to run. they have passions to pursue.

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>> rick, democrats say that the president will need directional authorization. president obama did not order the strikes because he didn't get congressional authorization. wouldn't it say that president trump went ahead anyway? and what are the concerns by democrats especially about the fact that there is no congressional authorization on this air strikes? >> it's interesting that i've seen from republicans as well call for more congressional action. i think that's the rule. i think there are enough leaders that recognize that the resident of united states has to lead to foreign policy in the way that he or she sees fit. i think we will be able to get through this. the white house should be reaching out to the members of congress that have some concerns in sharing some of the intel to show them exactly what's going on. i also think there are some

individuals like senator rand paul who really do share some concerns about the lessons of iraq. i think there's a lot of individual individuals who voted for donald trump who want to see a migrated away from that type of action all the time. that role that senator paul played, i think it's an important one, and we need to listen to him. but we also have to remember that donald trump has a great responsibility, as the president of the united states, to take decisive action. there's no question that what's going on in the region, whether it's with isis or the other threats, hezbollah, the growth of radical islam throughout the middle east, that donald trump feels the weight of that responsibility to protect us. one thing that's being missed here is that the syrian military has one of the most robust

surface-to-air missile programs. that's a concern. we need to make sure that our allies, even the roughly 1,000 americans that are inside syria, that are working right now, u.s. military personnel, we need to make sure that they are protected. it's also obviously going to be a threat for israel and for others in the region. right now, diplomacy is key, rex tillerson needs to be leading an aggressive diplomatic effort, and i think that's what he's indicated he wants to. >> he will be down in moscow and we will see what comes out of that meeting. rick, good to see you. i know you will stay with us as our overnight coverage continues. it's been a little more than six hours since those cruise missiles, the tomahawk's, were launched from our ships at the airbase in syria with the chemical weapons, or suspected to have been launched. we have more coverage continued.

>> gas, our special standing coverage. the events will continue. we will be right back for coverage starting.

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>> shocking war crime in syria that has shaken the world, the u.s. has responded with missile strikes. now the question, how will assad respond? what are the wider invocations for the civil war in syria in the middle east and the relations with russia? russia calling the strikes of violation of international law, president trump sends a direct message on the deployment of chemical weapons. >> slow and brutal deaths for so many, even beautiful babies. were cruelly murdered in this ve b