i. actually expected the coast of. america the u.k. and france to bomb targets in syria after u.s. president trump order strikes against assad forces in response to an alleged chemical attack. the strikes take place before investigators from the international chemical weapons watchdog the o.p.c. w start their probe into the alleged poison gas attack in dumont last week that experts are due to arrive at the scene on saturday. russia says it's confidence the assad government was behind the chemical attack in duma and the evidence comes from the various media outlets and n.g.o.s we take a closer look at those sort of. very

warm welcome you're watching r.t. international with me nicky aaron and jacqueline food bringing you continuing coverage of our breaking news the syrian capital damascus has been hit by missiles fired in a u.s. led operation against the assad government the pentagon said it also targeted two locations near the city of homs. president trump announced the military action and a friday evening t.v. address it comes in response to an alleged chemical attack in the syrian town of duma a week ago. reports. but we heard an announcement from u.s. president donald trump about the pending strike against the syrian government in coordination with the u.k. and france now he used the phrase strong deterrence to describe his motivation said he wanted to deter the syrian government from carrying out future chemical attacks

he called out iran and russia saying what kind of nation would want to be aligned with a mass murderer and from there he used some rather inflammatory language that's kind of almost trademark language of u.s. president donald trump but let's take a listen to how he how he justified in that the kind of rhetoric he used to spell out his intent to attack the syrian government very terrible regime these are not the actions of a man. they are crimes of a monster instead so today the nations of britain france and the united states of america have martial their righteous power against barbarism and brutality. now after that we got a military update we heard from general joseph dunford as well as u.s. secretary of defense james mattis they spoke to the u.s. media and to the world basically giving the lowdown on what had happened now at

that point the striking had already stopped they said it was fifteen minutes of sustained airstrikes against the syrian government now it's they also indicated they said this is a one time event however we're seeing elsewhere being described as saying he would sustain these kind of actions if the syrian government were not to cease carrying out such chemical attacks furthermore it's important to note that when james mattis was speaking not only after the attacks but also earlier in the week he wasn't willing to go into detail about the attack and was rather vague about the kind of information that he actually had i am confident the syrian regime conducted a chemical attack on innocent people. we are very confident that chlorine was used we are not ruling out sharon right now we have the intelligence level of competence that we needed to conduct the attack. i believe there was

a chemical attack and we're looking for the actual evidence the o.p.c. w this you're going to station for the chemical weapons convention and we're trying to get those inspectors in if we get them in and we will not know who did it they can only say that they found evidence or did not broader in the international community there is simply not consensus about what actually happened in the syrian town of duma we've seen the u.n. security council meetings. and we've seen a big disagreement between countries russia's representative has come forward before the u.n. security council and said that they have sent russian experts and russia chemical experts to duma and in duma they have not found any traces of chemicals they have not found any victims who have come forward and said they witnessed or that they themselves are victims of chemical attacks no one in hospitals being treated and we then heard nikki haley the representative of the united states before the u.n.

security council we heard her coming out and saying in the aftermath of this this allegation of an attack without any investigation having been done saying what she believes had taken place did a chemical weapons attack happen yet the u.s. has analyzed yes it has happened the u.k. has analyzed it guessed it it happened france has been analyzed yes it happened three separate analysis all coming back with the same thing there is proof that this happened. it's pretty clear that there is not a consensus around the world about this chemical attack and who's responsible and there certainly was not agreement with with trump's actions though he did it in alliance with the u.k. and france we know germany well it was not an approval it was not cooperating other countries that have been aligned with the usa did not approve of this action so we're still waiting for a broader reaction to this this airstrike people are waiting to see what will happen next i know people were anticipating this strike because of donald trump's tweet saying telling russia to get ready for the missiles you know insulting the

syrian president with certain language people are kind of anticipating something taking place there was a lot of predictions of confusions as of now we understood that there were there was fifty minutes of airstrikes against the syrian arab republic by the united states we're waiting to see what the next move is and what will happen next in the international community trust me seem to have rushed in but it wasn't always like that back in two thousand and thirteen he was highly critical of then president barack obama's approach on syria saying bad things will happen if washington launches an attack but after becoming president trump dropped tomahawk missiles on thera and is now and has now taken action but there may be one possible explanation for such a change of tune. i give thanks and increased popular support of the president during war accompanied by reduced criticism of governmental policies. any nuclear missile launched from cuba against any nation in the western hemisphere as an

attack by the soviet union on the united states. progress is now being made towards the restoration of peace in the caribbean. the use of terrorism and its holding hostages. political demands. to continue along with other nations and with. the resolution of the crisis. i have therefore directed to reject the iraqi army from kuwait. is president i can report to the nation aggression is defeated the war is over. american and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm iraq to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger.

united states and around. have prevailed. and i ordered a target. for you if you. i think. became president of the united states i think this was actually a big moment. ok we can now show you live pictures from the syrian capital damascus where you can see people that are gathering on the streets to denounce the u.s. led military action on their country as you can see there waving flags. in support of the syrian government earlier we spoke to local journalist as the hadar who even damascus he described events there for. the russians started at four am

time lasted about fifteen minutes but we kept hearing the launching of. the aircraft near the center that was hit in. his dentures area we kept hearing until five fifteen launching of. rockets but the atmosphere is it's quite normal life is this is again normal this has been going on for seven years that in a way people are used to. the atmosphere of war to sarcastic that the americans the french and the british didn't really need to prove the way. to actually have the evidence before you know for the usual procedure to happen. so let's bring in our guests now on cross live to political analyst on board cost and paul i welcome to the program it's a pleasure to have you with us now i think the most curious thing about these strikes is the toyman isn't it it comes just hours before those o.p.c.

w exposé due to enter syria to carry out their investigations into that alleged chemical attack in dubai last weekend what do you make of the timing. really. you know what your goal here international law is international. mediation the united nations charter. and i think. the fact finding mission. here. this time. anything at. all in our carriage that. there is going to be.

no but i mean. do you. i mean is there. any impact on this in the middle east and all hold in the world and. even the president. can never become the most of. the people who. were listening. to this one and this is taxpayer money. this is the money that is coming out from the pocket something you know i'll tell you something this is not our money. which is going. to strike in the war. the urgency of all of these strikes on syria to get us to strike

a lot of people is quite curious thought they especially because there's a p c w investigation is very important it's important that we get to the bottom of who conducted this alleged chemical attack if chemical weapons were used do you think that these strikes. last night are going through beck the mission of the i.p.c. wu experts do you think it's going to hamper the investigation at all. or some. investigations. of this fact finding mission and doing the purpose of. destroying this is not going to because it's the for the rich and there's nothing really. planned and. there is no or are not coming to america but. i'm problems you. really. are and you are in. iraq in the name of the record of the mass destruction

but it does. then you will create hundreds of thousands of people and you destroy their countries they're going to sort of empty. boxes from what work political analyst and broadcaster malik thank you for joining us on r.t. we appreciate it the u.s. has launched strikes alongside its european allies the u.k. and france this evening i have authorized british armed forces to conduct coordinated and targeted strikes to degrade the syrian regime's chemical weapons capability and to deter use actors in accordance with our responsibility but the use of chemical weapons in syria is an acceptable because it's a violation of international law and basic human rights. british and french fighter jets could be seen taking off and landing from their bases in the region initially

france stressed it would not allow an escalation and britain's prime minister gave a green light to the u.s. led strikes without a vote in parliament opposition party leader jeremy corbyn earlier said an intervention would only complicate the current situation in syria russia america the european union all the neighboring countries iran saudi arabia have got to be involved each show you there is a real she's trying on the political question that does give hope to the people who see the future more bombing more clearly more war will not save lives will just take more lives to school in the war i think military strikes in syria will help solve anything so no i don't see how best at the moment well up with very anxious about any kind of military essentially what would you choose she really disagree with military action against anything happening in this syria there's already enough fighting going on that. there's

a real danger of war escalating way beyond what we expect the scenario and the way to target them to send an important signal you. push up you know the basic military intervention develops i think i think we have that and five to two where these countries have these problems have these civil wars and we try and go to fix it but we had our civil war when the americans had their civil war nobody went and bought us we got the side we have now they need to go through this on their oh well a blast from the past now the man who led his own country into a war and a questionable circumstances tony blair has also weighed in if a syria as well and i think he still believes that military interventions are a good idea this would be action in support of of military intervention by the us if you don't. to this to to the use of chemical weapons against civilians then

obviously you know we're ignoring what the international community has said which is that this is unacceptable and those that use such measures that should be held to account i gave the order for british forces to take part in military action in iraq this threat is real growing and of the entirely different nature to any conventional threat to our security that britain has faced before. the program in the form that we thought it was did not exist in the way that we thought so i could apologize for that i could also apologized by the way for some of the mistakes in planning and certainly our mistake in that in our understanding of what would happen once you remove the regime. for all of this. i express more. sorrow regret. and apology that you may never know. or can believe or just to remind you the iraq

inquiry known as the chilcot report was published in two thousand and sixteen and uncovered mistakes in the u.k. this six year long campaign in iraq it revealed there was no imminent threat to the u.k. from saddam hussein it also highlighted that blair's certainty that iraq was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction including chemical and biological agents was unjustified. earlier angle of merkel said germany of germany will not be involved in any military strike in syria the german chancellor made berlin's position clear as other countries continue to move forward marcus from meyer from germany's alternative for germany party told us why he thinks his country is not eager for military action against the assad government goes to church people against conflict or to continue to conflict in syria because you cannot explain the truman mother was for example truman soldier dying for american interests syria we have no

interest to continue this confrontation in syria i guess until america. will continue to conflict in syria that would mean that a lot of reference she would continue to come to germany and. you know the people in sherman just suffer because of the situation it's not easy for us to handle it we're close to have social conflicts because of that. some reaction to the strikes is coming in from syria's neighboring countries iran's foreign ministry has warned of consequences in the region while israel is yet to comment our correspondent also here has the latest still very early here in the region so we still waiting for the initial official response is to come now we are hearing from israeli sources but these are unnamed and they are not speaking on record but it is apparent that the u.s. officials informed israel of the timing of the attack here in israel it is still the sabbath so we are not likely to get any kind of official response from the

israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu until saturday evening but no doubt when that response comes it will be words of welcome this will be something that both the israeli government and many in the israeli public will be pleased to have heard happened now earlier in the week israel did reject comments from the russian foreign ministry who said that israel had quote worsened the situation in syria by carrying out a legit air strikes there earlier israel of course is concerned. about the military expansion of iran's inside syria across its border so it is hoping that these kind of strikes will limit both the syrian government and also iran's involvement but the very often the very opposite could happen and that is the concern in the region that this could lead to a greater conflict that will see iran and also russia being torn in just yesterday rainy and threaten to turn tel aviv to dust and at the same time we heard in the rain an official saying to quote that they plan to expel the american occupiers

we're still waiting for the wish an official reaction to come from tehran so we'll be keeping a breast of the reactions we expect that they'll start coming in the next few hours as the region indeed wakes up to the latest developments m.s.r. and as strikes on syria come before the international chemical watchdog start their probe into the alleged attack in duma last weekend o.p.c. w expos are due to arrive at the scene later today saturday we requested a comments from the organization and we'll bring you that as soon as we get it now meanwhile washington says it's coincidence that the syrian government's used chemical weapons against its own people according to a white house statements their confidence in that is based not on intelligence but on media and geo reports this conclusion is based on descriptions of the attack in multiple media sources the reported symptoms experienced by victims videos and images showing two assessed barrel bombs from the attack and reliable information

indicating coordination between syrian military officials before the attack russia's defense ministry has released a video in which witnesses to the aftermath of in the lead a chemical attack in syria's duma say there was no indication that those rushed to the hospital had been exposed to a chemical agent and it is thought that my name is. a medical student i work in the e.r. department of dumas central hospital. on april eighth a building in the city was bombed the upper floors were destroyed and the bottom floors caught fire all the injured from that building were brought to a hospital. that the residents from the upper floors were suffering from smoke inhalation and that is what we treated them for based on the symptoms they exhibited this is a bit of a dominating headlines over the past few days that incident in duma whatever took place is attracted very different versions of events from the russian side the

syrian side and the u.s. u.k. and france something did happen in do while the seventh of april with the western nations on the white helmets group on the ground in syria claiming it was a chemical attack by the damascus government on civilians killing and injuring dozens the russian side the mask is saying this was a setup not today we've got that evidence allegedly from the russian modi saying they have identified an individual in the video you can see just being played bad that video was used as part of the evidence by helmets and western nations to prove that there was a chemical attack in duma as those rebels and civilians were being evacuated you can see the highlighted the witness there on the video just for our viewers they claim they've identified him subsequently asked exactly what happened in that incident on the seventh of april in dubai let's take a listen to what exactly had to say about what took place in the hospital. during treatment some person came in i don't know who that was and said that it was

a chemical attack. when the. people got scared a fight broke out. relatives of the victims started pouring water on one another. then others began to give inhalers for asthma the children. even though these people were not medical professionals we did not see any patients exhibiting symptoms of chemical poisoning. so this video amongst others of course quite shocking disturbing images of civilian casualties was circulated on while social media and cited by the information and organizations countries as evidence of that chemical attack and evidence of course is the key word here is the real crux of the issue of what o.p.c. w team heading over to do more on the way that they should be there over the next twenty four forty eight hours or so believe they have arrived in syria their findings will be key to establishing what really happened in duma whether there was some sort of chemical incident by the damascus government by our side as to what's

the nations are saying or as we heard from the russian. the russian military has gathered evidence that indicates the direct involvement of great britain organizing the provocation in eastern ukraine we know for a fact that london pressured the so-called white helmets to carry out their plans provocation as soon as possible they were told that from the third to the sixth of april rebels would carry out a series of heavy showings of damascus and that this would lead to a reaction from the government forces which the white helmets should use for their provocation and to allege the use of chemical weapons so these are obviously quite strong allegations from the russian ministry of defense or other counter allegations us to this alleged chemical incident in do something they will have to obviously provide evidence for specifically for for britain's involvement in this the key bit of evidence that as we said before is the arrival of the o.p.c. team with the u.n. and that he would instructions on the ground to get those soil samples get those examined any victims if there are any and find out if any chemicals were used

that's the key thing to. groove what exactly happened to give us some credibility to either of these two versions will find that out of course for the next twenty four to forty eight hours however the video featuring the medic who dismissed the chemical attack claims house being taken seriously and shown by a number of media outlets for the questions also hanging over the west's narrative due to the dubious reputations of the groups that initially made the allegations right garcia explains. reports of a chemical attack first appeared strange enough it's almost the precise moment the battle had ended when the syrian government and rebels were negotiating on how to evacuate the latter reports first appeared on social media twitter facebook and spread like wildfire while my colleague kendall anian and i have learned today that the u.s.

now has blood and here in samples from some of the victims of this attack in syria last weekend and that those samples according to u.s. officials tested positive for chemicals sources the usuals why the helmets who serve as rescuers islamists and syrian rebels also the somewhat less known syrian american medical society sounds together with the white helmets they were cited by the washington post the new york times c.n.n. virtually every western media outlets reporting on this chemical attack saturday april seventh amidst continuous bombardment of residential neighborhoods in the city of duma more than five hundred cases the majority of whom are women and children were brought to local medical centers with symptoms indicative of exposure to a chemical agent sams itself is funded by u.s. aid six million in two thousand and fifteen usaid is widely believed to be an arm

of the state department and is banned in multiple countries accused of interfering in domestic policies and promoting regime change it even has an office of transition initiatives the management at sam's also believe it or not former usaid stuff as it was saddam's who reportedly provided the u.p.c. w. with samples of the alleged sarin gas that was used in hunchy houla the site of a chemical attack last year after which. donald trump sent fifty seven cruise missiles at the syrian base o.p.c. w. is on its way to duma to investigate we've contacted various groups including the world health organization they've cited saddam's but have refused to go into any details what comes next no one can say whether the u.s. will go ahead with a preemptive strike or where the cooler heads will prevail author and journalist

max blumenthal believes people should be skeptical about the role of one group in particular in syria. well what's remarkable is that this group the syrian american medical society is cited by a who's who of western media organizations as a credible source when it's anything but this organization which is funded to the tune of some close to six million dollars or more by usa id a wing of the state department which actually emerged out of the cia to encourage regime change and what the u.s. considers enemy states this organization is directed by operatives name sahar so who is actually a lobbyist who's been lobbying the u.s. government since the obama administration for a war of regime change and this organization operates hospitals exclusively in territory controlled by al qaeda syrian affiliate and its allies so this is

a you know to me to see it should be a national scandal that u.s. taxpayers are basically paying for the civil society wing of al qaeda and its soil if you just jihadi allies and we're simply talking in us media about this organization as if they're just a bunch of syrian feel doctors this is an international law being an influence organization dedicated to stimulating regime change and so we absolutely have to be skeptical when they make these allegations of a chemical attack because that advances their agenda and they have every motive to deceive the west about it. for comment on breaking news we can now cross live to benoit camp mark senior lecturer in the school of lobel urban and social studies now the o.p.c. w r do and do on a fact finding mission today why do you think the u.s. and its allies didn't wait for at least some initial results from that investigation. investigations and this is not about confirmations it's about strategic and tactical value the timing of it is of course in

a sense very un surprising because of course assad's forces have been doing quite well in duma and it's very very clear that in the context of this some kind of redress of some kind of curbing back of assad successes systems of course by russia needed to be done and that's one of the reasons why there was not a sense of waiting for confirmation as to whether there was in fact a chemical attack to begin with now and can't be strikes also make the investigation itself more difficult and possibly hamper it altogether. yes one of the things about these sorts of investigations of course is that they have to take place expeditiously and they of course chemical samples themselves corrode with time and of course the scene so to speak will be affected over time and the reality is that of course strikes that take place and then hampering efforts and so forth further complicate the issue which demonstrates perhaps that the inclination.