good to be with you this morning. i'm frances rivera in new york. >> and i'm david goodright. breaking news this morning out of syria following retaliatory strikes led by the u.s. military. >> we are prepared to sustain this response until the syrian

regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents. >> we'll have more on the extent of the damage and what president trump plans to do next. we begin with the latest on syria. new today, a russian president vladimir putin has condemned missile strikes taken by the u.s., britain and france. putin called the military action an act of aggression, saying he will ask for an emergency meeting of the u.n. security council. russian officials claim that soviet-made air defense systems intercepted 71 cruise missiles launched in last night's strikes. the u.s., britain and france fired off a series on of missiles around 9:00 p.m. eastern time last night, that's 4:00 a.m. syrian time. the strikes were supported by nato. u.s. officials say they carefully targeted syrian president assad's chemical weapons facilities. >> they will had lose years of research and development data, specialized equipment and expensive chemical weapons precursors.

the strike was not only a strong message to the regime that their actions were inexcusable, but it inflicted maximum damage without unnecessary risk to innocent civilians. >> right now, this is a one-time shot and i believe that it has sent a very strong message to dissuade him, to deter him from doing this again. >> the syrian government released video a short time thing ago of destruction at what they say was a scientific research center used for educational purposes. >> covering the story for us, han nichols at the pentagon, jonathan allen with nbc news. hans, what's the latest from the defense department sdmp officials here are stressing these strikes were targeted, they were limited and they were in direct response to syria's use the regime's chemical weapons just last week.

talking to officials and listening to that briefing last night, they're providing the legal justification for why they went in. they want to make sure they stress the fact that allies were there. they haven't given us a battle assessment for how successful those strikes were. secretary dunnford did acknowledge that they faced some surface to air encounters. how successful is key here. the bombers returned to bases safely. we do still have the united states still does have 2,000 u.s. troops in eastern syria. and when i pressed secretary dunnford on this on what they're going to do for their force protection, he was very clear they will be altering their force protection. they're very clear on how they communicated with the russians. they did it through the normal deconfliction channels. this is the hot line. they speak on this almost every day. what they did is they told the russians the air space they

would be operating in. they didn't give them the targets. when they struck at that base last year, there were russians at that base. in had this way withes, last year's strike was riskier, posed more potential for conflict with russia. this time they hit three syrian targets related to the disruption and the dissemination of chemical weapons. david. >> hans, thank you very much. now we want to turn to the white house and nbc's jeff bennet. what is the reaction coming out of the white house this morning? >> good morning, francis. in explaining to americans why he ordered u.s. strikes in syria, we heard president trump make an argument that there are certain acts, such as the use of chemical weapons against civilians that are so heinous, that so offend western values that it is incumbent on the u.s. to act. so president trump is framing the strikes as an effort to to deter assad from using chemical weapons against his own people, saying it's an open-ended -- saying it's not, rather, an open ended military engagement.

so he blasted iran and russia for supporting iran's regime, particularly in the wake of the chemical attack. and he also said britain and france join the u.s. as part of what he called the coordinated operation that's intended to show western resolve in the face of what is viewed as assad's persistent violations of international law. the events in syria certainly complicate the president's plans for the region. before reports of the attack there, he said the u.s. military would withdraw from syria very soon following the defeat of islamic state militants and last weekend, that all changed. he condemned the chemical attack in a series of tweets and he warned there would be a big price on to pay. the other thing we're tracking this morning is reaction to all of this from lawmakers which so far seems to be split for the most part among party lines. most republicans are backing the president without reservation but some are criticizing the president for failing to get congressional authorization for this missile strike.

both democratic and republican lawmakers say they want the administration to explain its strategy for the months ahead. >> and looking forward to hearing from that, as well. i want to bring in now journal jack jacobs. colonel jack, with always good to have you with your perspective here at these times. we know the syrian government is saying it intercepted most of those missiles sent by the u.s. and its allies. there's that video claiming to show its success. but when it comes to the united states and france and britain firing over 100 missiles at those three syrian targets, we know the goal was to degrade and also deter the operations here. how effective was this intervention in the near and also far term? >> well, we send a lot of missiles to one target. these are three times as many targets and lots more missiles pa because some of them might not survive to get to the target. they may get intercepted, may get jammed. but also, we need lots of

missiles because we need to be able to penetrate the target itself. certainly that many missiles at three targets probably has a high on degree of confidence that the targets were destroyed. with respect to getting rid of his capability to wage chemical war, we went after the precursors that is the chemicals that he used to produce the noxious chemicals, but he's got lots of it. he's stockpiled lots of these chemicals and precursors in a wide variety of locations. so he still has the capability of using chemical weapons against his own people. and you can look, therefore, at this strike more as punishment and is a sly degradation of his capability rather than eliminating assad's capability to wage chemical war, francis. >> and as far as being more aggressive, colonel jacobs, in going after assets like the helicopters that carry these chemical weapons, is this what

the administration, the president had to struggle with knowing that russia is on the side, that iran is on this side, as well? yes, it is. and actually, it will be interesting to see whether or not any delivery means that his helicopters were struck, but i am surprised that they were not struck since that's the way that they prompt -- by and large, they get chemical weapons to targets. this indicates, again, that we're after punishment and we're not going to be able to deter him from future use. one interesting thing to keep in mind is that this chemical attack was on an area that was probably the last bastion of rebel strength anywhere near damascus and by and large assad, along with the russians and iran has managed to pretty much destroy the -- any opposition to him. so it's not clear why he would bother to use chemical weapons in the first place and it may

very well be that he's not going to use them any more ever again in any case. >> let me ask you about this report in the "wall street journal" that president trump was in favor of a larger scale attack, he was walked back by that by some of his have i had advisers, including secretary of defense james mattis. what's your sense of whether or not they got the bat right here. this is being described as a narrow attack, a finally tailored attack. there's been some rhetoric from iran and russia. >> well, we gave iran and russia plenty of time to move all their assets plenty of time to move their assets out of dangerous areas. they're collocated with syrians inlty of locations. so we gave them plenty of time to move off. the second thing to keep in mind is that this attack was very narrowly drawn and it was, i think, both not only the way we talked about it, but in actual fact was dedicated to destroying chemical capability and no other capability. a lot of people were talking,

including us, were talking about the possibility of attacking command and control nodes and that would be very much more provocative. and we really narrowly defined this attack. so this was an extremely restrained attack. i think you will continue to hear a lot of bilicose noise from the iranians and from russia, but by and large, they were not at risk and they knew they were not at risk. the other thing to keep in mind is that we gave them plenty of time and gave them plenty of warning, including clearing the air space. the fact that we used normal means to clear the air space may not necessarily have been anything -- we wanted to clear the air space, but it also was an additional note to russia that we were going to be in the area. so they knew we were coming. >> well, we did hear from secretary mattis who said there's currently no more planned military efforts unless the syrian regime, again uses

chemical weapons. let's bring you up to date on what he said last night at the pentagon. >> right now, this is a one-time shot and i believe that it's sent a very strong message to dissuade him, to deter him from doing this again. >> right. so we have the president, and new national security adviser john boltenon both calling for more military intervention here. will secretary mattis be able to have that moderation and be able to moderate either tone in how the u.s. moves forward? >> well, one hopes so. i think mattis obviously takes -- brings many, with many decades of military experience to bear on his position and he knows what he's talking about when he talks about the use of the military instrument of power. he's a student historically of the military use of power. there are people, of course, with as you mentioned in the white house who have no experience in the use of the military instrument. and so far, those are experience including general mattis have been able to hold sway.

i think he will be able to continue to hold sway at a time when it's extremely difficult to do so when you have some -- a certain measure of erratic behavior and speech coming out of the west wing. at the end of the day, i think the president relies on this steadfastness of general mattis and the other generals who were at the forefront of using the military power. i think it's interesting to to note that the president yesterday brought up two words that you wouldn't have heard in the use of the military instrument. he said we're going to use economic and diplomatic instruments, too. that may not just be rhetoric. >> that's colonel jack jacobs. thank you very much for joining us. now i want to bring in kevin cerelli. john than allenen is a political reporter for nbc news digital. jonathan, let me start with you and get your sense about the timing that led to these strikes last night. there was this warning, this salvo from the president on

twitter earlier in the week that it was going to happen within 24/48 hours, that ended up taking place last night. help had us understand the back and forth that took place here within the white house and the national security apparatus. >> for a president who is often accused of having a hair trigger certainly on twitter and people have said that that is a reason to think that he would have a hair trigger going to war, there was a deliberative process here. there were several national security council meetings surrounding it. if you go back into the history of this, you see this isn't just the trump administration, also the obama administration. serious debates about what to do in the wake of syrian uses of chemical weapons. and so there's a continuity to that over time. the use on of chemical weapons was seen as a red line by president obama. he ended up going to congress rather than striking, but his secretary of state, john kerry, made a passionate and public argument for the case basically for doing this type of thing. now you're seeing with president trump not only an attempt to punish assad for the chemical

weapons used now, but also to send a warning to other people around the world that the united states is not going to tolerate that and, of course, the british and french joining in that coalition. >> we certainly heard the words from the president talking about that and the language he used, the tone in addressing iran and russia singling them out. let's take a quick listen to the president's words last night and talk about it on the other side. >> 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? >> when it comes to russia and provocation there escalating tensions or avoiding that, what do you suppose the calculations were in avoiding angering vladimir putin? >> well, i think a couple of

things. first and foremost, if you think back to just a couple of weeks ago and the administration has issued sanctions against russia as well as that closing of the base out on the west coast. i think that that is a concession of sorts that the aggression of russia is something that needs the to be dealt with. with regards to this specific syrian missile strike, that is what makes this so volatile in the sense that the russians have entities within the region. i can tell you i spoke with senator lindsey graham from south carolina just a few days ago on capitol hill as the president was weighing this decision. and he told me that this is really a quote/unquote defining moment for this presidency. and he noted that if this was just a one-time type of missile strike, that it would be a missed opportunity. there are republicans within the president's own party who are hoping this administration will ar the particular ewe late a clear strategy for how to

address syria. and we should note the political implications with regards to democrats. i spoke with the senators mark warner from virginia as well as richard blumenthal from connecticut, two democrats who said they would support some type of missile strike against syria. but the question becomes -- and this is where the criticism is about whether or not to get that congressional approval. all of that said, democrats do support, for the large part, the missile strike. just not the lack of congressional approval. and this was done in close consultation with european allies, obviously, the uk and france. >> i just want to ask both of you for some context before we let you go. a few fridays that felt longer than yesterday did in terms of news, news about james comey, his new book, news about michael cohen being under criminal investigation. jonathan, put this into some broad er context. this happened shortly after 9:00, but it was a very long day. >> it was a very long day. and, you know, i guess the world

never stops and none of the hot spots stop. you know, i talked to a former obama administration national security officials last night who were supportive of this strike who did not express reservation. they, like everybody else, democrats and republicans alike want to see some sort of articulated strategy for syria for the long-term but were supportive of this. you know, the president, as all presidents, is under a lot of pressure to deal with a variety of crises around the world and domestically and this president in particular has more domestic crises and personal crysys than any in memory. >> certainly that is the case, it will be following him. and back to those headlines, kevin, your take. >> look, there's no question that yesterday president trump during that televised comments addressing iran and also russia. and just the -- if back on the campaign trail, that level of unpredictability where he would

criticize why other folks would note the timing, the type of attacks. we saw in realtime this week how he tried to convey that level of unpredictability with regard to the missile strike. but with regards to anything, i think the folks who had the longest day yesterday are the brave men and women serving the country as well as their families and that's something that can't be lost anytime we do this missile strike. >> that's kevin cirilli, bloomberg tv. jonathan allenen, wi, as well. still to come, the missile strikes and the signs that both sides are trying to avoid escalation.

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back with our breaking news here on ms nbc, condemnation from russia. vladimir putin has called military action by the u.s., uk and france an act of aggression. soviet-made defense systems intercepted 71 cruise missiles launched last night. the pentagon is expected to provide details of the military operation later this morning. bill neely brings us the latest from lebanon. good morning. >> yeah, good morning, francis. 50 miles from here, syrian commanders are assessing the damage from last night's attack. limited air strikes that the

u.s.-led coalition says was a success. that ri that russia says was an act of depression. the barrage of missiles came from ships and planes in the night. american, british and these french war planes firing over a hundred missiles at three main targets in syria. in the kachtal da mat cuss, syrian air defenses tried to shoot them down, claiming to have hit 13. massive explosions lighting up the night sky. as they fell, the president addressed the nation. >> the purpose of our actions on tonight is strong deterrence for the use and spread of chemical

weapons. >> syria confirming damage to two chemical weapons site necessary h on oms. within an hour, it was over. >> this is a one-time shot. >> u.s. defense officials said care was taken to avoid civilian casualties. loyal supporters protesting outside as russia and iran condemned the attacks, britain defending them. >> this was not about interfering in a civil war and it was not about regime change. >> the u.s. says no additional air strikes are planned, no u.s.

or allied losses reported. russia says it didn't use its air defense systems, it didn't try to protect president assad. the u.s. says it didn't target russians. so both sides are trying to avoid any escalation. president assad still has moren than 250 war planes and he can use those to continue his had conventional bombing campaign. and perhaps kill tens on of thousands of people. as for his chemical weapons, with france has threatenened this morning that if he uses them again, there will be more ache strikes. david, francis. >> we'll see what the response will be from the united states and our allies. now the response to syria, we heard president trump talk about these precision strikes.

obviously, a lot of investigation under way on the u.s.'s behalf trying to gauge the efficacy of these strikes. what has the syrian government, the syrian media said about these attacks? >> it will be interesting to see how effective those strikes were. as you alluded to, the syrians have this amazing ability to spin things and put out propaganda starting with that video of the syrian president casually walking into the presidential palace as if nothing happened. clearly staged. most people didn't lose power. president assad still is in power. the other thing you're seeing there are these, what the syrian government would like you to believe these are spontaneous demonstrations. this is a civil war that has cost the lives of 500,000

people. the reality is most of those people were displaced by conventional weapons. >> let's talk about the targets here, what the missiles hit when it comes to the research facilities, when it comes to the health and chemical weapons, as well, and also what was not hit, specifically russian and iranian assets, too. >> right. both the russians and iranians have condemned the attack. they're following that syrian line in the attack. three chemical sites in a country where there are dozens of sites, dozens of chemical attacks. president trump is able to say he did what he said he was going to do. the russian s are able to stand

strong and retaliate or.perhaps threaten to retaliate and the syrian government is able to reassert their position. >> cal, thank you very much. coming up, military analysis, next. napoleon is duping us! all around louisiana... you're a nincompoop! (phone ping) gentlemen, i have just received word! the louisiana purchase, is complete! instant purchase notifications from capital one. so you won't miss a purchase large, small, or very large.

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