arwa damon joins us from a refugee camp in northern syria.e us just an idea of how these attacks affect the people there. >> well, let me first start off by describing the attacks that actually caused people to flee to these refugee camps. everyone is living here in these tents right now is from the ghouta/douma area where the alleged chemical strike took place. we've been spending the better part of the day with this family. the two girls, the twins and they have brought some of their stuff with them. the kids' bags still have a very acrid smell with them and what she's going to show us is what her daughter did when they were leaving. and as they were leaving, this is how traumatized children are. as they were leaving, she took her dolls and hid them inside this box and then told the doll, speaking to the doll said you're going to suffocate in here maybe but at least you might be safe from the bombings. we were talking about those air strikes that took place, those u.s., uk and french air strikes that took place. and she was telling us that

. >> cnn's arwa damon is tracking the latest from istanbul. we understand that donald trump and recep tayyip erdogan have spoken about the syrian crisis. >> reporter: they did, christine. we don't know a lot of what took place during the conversation. both sides very closed mouthed about the details. just saying they have pledged to keep in close contact with one another. turkey is in an interesting position. it is a nato member, but has maintain maintained levels of communication with iranian and russian leaders. they were in turkey prior to the chemical attack taking place. there is speculation as to the u.s. and allies and to what it will do with the various strike options in syria. what is concerning to those at this stage living within the syrian rebel areas is what then is syria and possibly russia going to do in potential retaliation to any sort of u.s. or coalition vulnerable. they would like to see something more sustained. they would love to see a no-fly zone. it is not just about the attacks by chemical weapons, although they get th

arwa, these families have fled their homes in search of safety. tell us what you're hearing about from them. >> reporter: you know, it was for some, yes, they fled, for others it felt more like a forced evacuation. these are people, ana, if you can even begin to try to imagine, who have endured months of relentless bombing and then, of course, that alleged chemical attack that took place. they lived underground. if them, something like feeling the sunlight on their skin, that was a luxury. and when this chemical attack took place, many of them who we spoke to talked about how terrifying it was. one mother said that she felt her throat closing. she couldn't breathe. she felt her entire body go week. she tried to grab her daughters, twins, 7 years old, and drag them to one of the upper floors, but then she said air strikes, artillery strikes began, so they were stuck in this building where the lower floors were filled with this stench from chemicals. the upper floors, they couldn't actually get to them because of the ongoing air strikes. they're fin

. >> cnn's arwa damon is tracking the latest from istanbul. at this point, it is not a question of if, but when. >> reporter: it really does seem that way. a lot of people were taken by surprise when it came to the president's tweet. especially given how contrary it runs to military strategy in terms of secrecy. there is a bit of diplomacy happening with trump talking to president erdogan. not a lot about what they spoke about, but the two remained in close contact as the situation continues to develop. turkey, of course, is in a unique situation in a sense it is a nato ally, but it has open communications to russia and iran. syria, itself, also und understandably on high alert. moving assets away from locations that could be targets of the air strikes. it is worth talking about what syria and possibly russia and iran could do to retaliate should these air strikes take place. when you talk to syrians living within the rebel-opposite held areas, areas still under siege, their concern is the target of the government's wrath and no one to protect

. >> that's arwa damon there. survivors tell cnn the clothes still smell of the attack that almost killed them. >>> you're looking at some of the damage from the air strikes in syria. this rubble used to be buildings reportedly part of a scientific research lab in damascus. hours after the attack, you could still see the smoke rising there. >> after the strikes, the syrian regime is defiant, declaring victory in the last area of damascus that was held by rebels. the syrian military says it's cleared all iner surgentinsurge. >> the syrian regime labels rebels as terrorists. units of our valiant armed forces, along with its allies, completed the cleansing of eastern ghouta, in all of its towns and villages after the terrorists left douma. it's been a condemned operation. the u.n. says more than 130,000 civilians have fled the rebel enclave. now, many of them live in limbo in makeshift camps. >> now, there are more in the camps. in a world exclusive, cnn is the first network to speak with survivors of the suspected c

. >> cnn's arwa damon has been following the developments and joins me now from turkey, not far from the border of syria. arwa, the assad regime is assessing the damage from this weekend's strikes, and you have encountersed some of the human toll? >> that's right, the president met with some russian delegations about cooperating when it comes to the arena reconstruction, estimating it could take well over a decade to even try to rebuild, so that may be optimistic. meanwhile, it is and does always go back to the civilians that suffer not only the consequences of this alleged chemical attack but also various other bombardments. there's definitely something that stinks. >> these backpacks belong to 7-year-old twins from douma. they're a little shy, hesitant. they smell something. their mother tells us they remember everything vividly. they were hiding in a basement when the alleged chemical weapons attack in douma took place. they could barely breathe. she felt her body go limp. she clawed her way up, dragging her daughters. but then the other strikes began. we were between two deaths,

arwa, the regime is assessing the damage from this weekend's strikes. speaking to people who fleed for their safety who survived the horrific chemical attacks. what are you learning? what has touched you? >> reporter: you know, despite the fact that we have been covering this since the beginning, more than seven years now, there's still always something that is very visceral when you're talking about people that have had to implore the violence because they can barely put it into words. they struggle to describe the depth of the fear of what it is they have gone through, because it is not just this one most recent chemical attack. this particular area, in fact, has been subjected to numerous chemical attacks, not to mention the oncoming barrage of air strikes or artillery that did, in fact, force the majority of families underground for four months leading up to the most recent chemical attack. we spoke to one mother, the mother of two 7-year-old twins, who was telling us that the girls, they basically lost their childhood. they were about 2 months old

nearly seven years, cnn's arwa damon spent the day in a refugee camp. she join us from the turkey side of the turkey/syria border. what are you finding in people's stories there and experiences? >> well, we were at a relatively new camp whose inhabitants are those who fled duma after the chemical attack took place. and it's quite difficult to put into words what it is they went through, because they themselves struggled to do just that. imagine being under constant bombardment. many of them spent the bulk of the last four months living in bunkers because of the ongoing aerial strikes and the barrel bombs. and then of course they had this horrific chemical attack that took place. many of them describing how they felt as if they were suffocating. one man saying that he came to in a hospital to find himself frothing at the mouth. we spoke to one mother. she had two twin daughters, 7 years old. she said when the strike took play she felt her body clench up and then her nerves feel as if they were giving out and she was trying to grab both her little girls t

and what he revealed was really that from the moment that marie called conroy and other journalists, arwaas they were arriving in lebanon, there were intelligence sources tracking and reporting their movements to the head of the intelligence directorate. all of that was being channelled to the military and security officials that were overseeing the armed operations in homs, with specific instructions that the intelligence forces were to track them down and capture them if possible, or otherwise kill them. >> i suppose it's really lucky that the syrian regime, like so many in that part of the world, are so bureaucratic, and you have so much paperwork. >> exactly. in many ways, this is one of the first cases to actually proceed to a trial phase, where the evidence will be considered by a judge. but it's by no means the last. i mean, there really is a mountain of documentary evidence, in addition to all of the witnesses, of various atrocity crimes committed in syria. our hope is that this case, marie's case, will provide a brupt blueprint as to how that evidence can be used to establish the

saying that they want this to be a peaceful protest they made their utmost to make sure that no one was arwa no one was going to shoot at the israeli soldiers the tents behind me are pretty empty now just because yes they going to stay here for six weeks but people also have a daily life to go back to so they go to work they go to school they go to university but in the afternoon and certainly on weekends the students will have thousands of people just as what we have seen on friday a large fire in yemen has destroyed tons of much needed humanitarian supplies the fire burnt on warehouses in the rubble help port city who data halted urging and has more. yemeni firefighters did all they could to stop the flames. but more. than fifty tonnes of critically needed food and relief supplies were lost the five warehouses in the rebel held port city of what died were being used by the united nations food program the red sea port has been a lifeline for people in the war torn country. that had the thought of being controlled from the beginning it wouldn't have reached this extent by sunrise the fire wa

arwa damon, cnn, the antarctica. >>> well, in some places, you couldn't be blamed for not knowing what season it is. there is a ferocious heatwave hitting southeast asia, and snow is forecast for the u.s. northeast. meteorologist ivan cabrera joins us now to explain what is going on. ivan? >> too much snow late in the season. that's what is going on in the northeast. i'll talk than in a second. it's psychologically depressing as well, even though we're going to melt the snow with warm temperatures. not as warm as it's been in india. have you seen the numbers from the weekend? upper 30s to lower 40s you. have you to factor in the humidity. it's humt humid, humid enough te it feel it's in the mid and upper 40s. that's dangerous heat. it continues to build into the next few days. a problem in india this time of year is the monsoon hasn't started. with don't have the cooling rains. and we are leading the spring months and we're going get into some very hot temperatures coming up. in fact, they already have. new delhi's temperatures in march, it's been the warmest in eight years. also in ei

. >> in a world exclusive cnn's senior international correspondent arwa damon spoke with themt at a makeshiftnear the turkish border. >> reporter: there's definitely something that stinks. these backpacks belong to 7-year-old twins from douma. they're a little shy, hesitant. their mother tells us they remember everything vivedly. they were hiding in a basement when the alleged chemical weapons attack in douma took place. they could barely breathe. she felt her body go limp, she clawed her way up dragging her daughters, but then the other strikes began. we were between two deaths she remembers, either from the chemical strikes or the others on the rooftop. the smell is still quite strong. these are the things they weren't able to wash yet. look, that's the toy her daughter tried to hideaway to try to keep her safe. and she would tell the toy you might suffocate but at least you'll be safe from the bombing. that's how the kids minds work. yesterday they were digging a tunnel for the ants so that the ants wouldn't suffocate just in case something happened. in another tent a boy with a jagged sca

it's stunning that anyone was able to live amidst that wreckage for as long as they have arwa damon,nks very much. >>> coming up, the president grows on the president's attorney michael cohen. a closer look at the president's fixer and what he has or has not fixed, next. ♪ this is a story about mail and packages. and it's also a story about people. people who rely on us every day to deliver their dreams they're handing us more than mail they're handing us their business and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you ♪ i'm your phone,istle text alert. stuck down here between your seat and your console, playing a little hide-n-seek. cold... warmer... warmer... ah boiling. jackpot. and if you've got cut-rate car insurance, you could be picking up these charges yourself. so get allstate, where agents help keep you protected from mayhem... ...like me. mayhem is everywhere. are you in good hands? this one's below market price and has bluetooth. same

these refugees are mostly ethnic us arwa who fled persecution in afghanistan now they are locked up on the island of borneo far away from the capital jack after three youngest. was detained when he was twelve now he's fourteen years old. or is that. it's been very difficult not only me but everyone is suffering from depression once we tried to escape but one man fell from the high wall and broke his leg and failed. indonesia has not signed the un convention for refugees but a government decided fifteen months ago that refugees should be given proper accommodation while waiting for resettlement. still more than one thousand refugees are locked up without deferred it for a release date most of them for more than four years of course we expected when we scare from the priests accused from the be here to inform the discrimination from our country we start a similar and we come and here we are sifting knocked on the log behind. what. the un commission for refugees the u.n. h.c.r. has recently told refugees in indonesia that their chances of resettlement are close to zero strangely i do unit

that's where we find cnn's senior international correspondent, arwa damon.he's speaking to people who have managed to survive attack after attack. >> reporter: this is going to end up being their life for who knows exactly how long. no one can answer that. what so many of these parents are so worried about is where are the children going to go to school? these twins, they're 7 years old. all they've known is war. they haven't had a chance to have a proper education. in fact, when they first came to this camp, their mother was telling us that they began actually digging a little trench for the ants. that's how they were playing a game so the ants could stay safe from potential bombing. that is going to be the next big crisis that this region, this country is going to have to deal with. talk to anybody here and they will tell you that when you refer back to ghouta, to douma, what happened to them there is beyond words. the nightmare that they've lived, the fact that there are no buildings standing, the fact that you can't even recognize streets that you used t

arwa thank you very much kegel senior consulting fellow at the russia and eurasia program at chatham house. the biggest gathering of heads of state in the western hemisphere is taking place in peru it is from across the americas a looking to tackle corruption and overcome differences on trade and political crisis in venezuela is also a big focus there is several notable absence in the u.s. president donald trump is one he pulled out at the last moment just ahead of those military strikes in syria so john heilemann joins me live from lima what if we had a summit that. well as we speak spectate today a lot of the talk has been about venezuela the issue there is really serious problems in terms of the economy in terms of humanitarian issues and also in terms of an upcoming election that many countries around there isn't going to be free and there was lots of halt to it during his way there and again election the united states to some degree is trying to push in that push that reaction against venezuela as well another issue that came up was obviously the u.s. led missile strikes against