the president wanted to send a clear message ta bashar assad. stop using the chemical weapons. >> reporter: that's right. president trump campaigned he would not be the interventionist. but this is the second time he launched u.s. air strikes after horrific chemical weapon attacks. and the president addressed the nation and declaring he had to act in this case because bashar assad in the words of president trump is a monster. and called out iran and russia for being part with the mass murder. and stim in keeping with the president, he would not get engaged in long- term war. u.s. officials said it was a targeted strike to chemical weapon facility. they are trying to limit the civilian casulties. and mattis saying in the pentagon that they used over double of the number of weapons this year compared to last year. and they are trying to turn up the heat on assad if you will and specifically targeting those research centers and mattis stresses it was a one- time shot unless assad does not get the missage and lufrns more chemical weapons attack. nth

al assad. bashar al assad needs the russians more, and, in fact, there are reports today that the syrian government is asking the russians urgently for more modern updated air defense systems. surface-to-air missiles, show in a sense it may help the russians influence assad a little bit. they do not have full total control over bashar al assad. >> secretary james, i want to ask you about some internal dynamics between the new

millions had to leave their country because bashar al-assad refuses to have democratic elections. ng that has happened overnight is pretty small compared to what should have happened many years ago. the only reason bashar al-assad is in power is russian forces are supporting him. there will be much bigger discussions to take place between various countries to find out some sort of movement towards change. after all this time this is getting worse. hard to believe after all this time but it is. the use of chemical weapons, next step up but only just one thing happening here every day the last we 7 years. it is a difficult situation and is not getting better and this first attack is the beginning of more protracted engagement with bashar al-assad's government because something has got to give. this is crazy stuff. 7 countries are involved, thousands of militia groups, absolute chaos. kelly: the pictures we have seen of all the atrocities that have taken place in the human agony of losing loved ones, what is the next step in trying to quell this violence? >> what would be the next ste

assad from using chemical weapons again. well we don't know i mean i think time will fundamentally tell recall that we had a very similar situation roughly a year ago when bashar al assad used sarin gas on civilians in it look province. donald trump launched you know cruise missiles to prevent that from happening again but. bashar assad has continued as you know to use chemical weapons against his own civilians now the it seems like what's happening here is that this is a much more extensive robust and sustained a set of operations geared toward preventing or deterring bashar al assad from using chemical weapons whether he'll get that message or not whether they'll be able to whether these airstrikes will actually be able to significantly damage the ability to produce and use these types of weapons on syrian civilians also is unknown so we'll have to wait and see time will tell how confident are you that this operation will be able to limit itself to the taking out of the facilities that enable the regime to make and use chemical weapons to resume a was at pains to say when she announced to the british public her involvement in the operation that this is not a

leaders of arab league nations are taking part in the annual summit in saudi arabia president bashar al assad is not attending the meeting following syria's suspension from the group in twenty eleven the summit is likely to focus on the conflicts in syria and yemen as well as the status of jerusalem leaders at the summit of the americas in peru are calling them venezuela to hold a free and fair presidential election next month they say the votes will be illegitimate if the country doesn't restore democratic standards gunman disguised as united nations peacekeepers of detonated two suicide car bombs at french and u.n. bases in mali one peacekeeper was killed and at least ten french soldiers wounded in timbuktu no one has claimed responsibility for the attack the first rank of family to be repatriated from bangladesh has arrived in myanmar as rakhine states the family of five has been given identification documents but not citizenship nations warning the community still faces discrimination and persecution in the inside story is up next. with and for you. the u.s. u.k. and france launched airst

welcome to the program i'm fully back in what is the biggest military action against president bashar al assad since the start of syria's war seven years ago the u.s. u.k. and france have bombed multiple government facilities the air strikes dog hit a research center outside the capital damascus and two suspected chemical weapons storage sites near the city of holmes the action was in response to an alleged chemical attack by syria on civilians in the city of last week the syrian government claims to have shot down many of the more than one hundred missiles launched and in damascus people celebrated on the streets honking their cottons in a show of defiance at the u.s. senate say the strikes were aimed at deterring for the use of chemical weapons and president donald trump directly address russia and iran the two countries supporting syria's bashar al assad. 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 innoce

assad's mind? >> i believe that bashar al assad is a coward. he has seen now what the united states is capable of. and he understands now that there is a president in the white house that will act on his threats. and so, i think going forward, if this strategy is one that includes sanctioning the assad regime and limiting its ability to kill civilians. there is a bill in the senate foreign relations committee today that has passed the house of representatives that will increase pressure on the assad regime and become conducive to a political solution. i think if congress supports this president and his strategy going forward and if the president, you know, brings back political initiatives, led by him and his allies, i think that assad will -- and will be -- will be dealt with in the right way. and i think then he will start thinking of a political transition if he understands he no longer has the ability to kill civilians at will using chemical weapons or any other weapons for that matter and the syrian people deserve democracy and value that

that would really bring bashar assad to justice. six resolutions have been vetoed by russia. >> the president also said that the coalition partners would continue these strikes until the bashar assad regime say they will no longer use chemical weapons on his own people. >>> house minority leader released a statement saying that one night of airstrikes is not a substitute for a clear, comprehensive syria strategy. the president must come to congress and secure authorization for use of mattila very -- military force by proposing a comprehensive strategy with clear objectives that keep our military safe and avoid lateral damage. some are calling the attack unconstitutional. it is believed the president will get strong support from around the world. >> i think in the middle east it sends a message that we are willing to act. that the use of chemical weapons has to be brought to a halt. for people who want to possibly make political hay over that, the majority of the world sees this as a positive step. >> there is word tonight from the f

assad in person, you are a defender of the nation of syria. would you welcome... yes. everybody is. would you welcome basharher by the international independent impartial mechanism team working under the auspices of the un which says it has an overwhelming volume of evidence including testimony, images, videos documenting atrocity committed by both the government and the anti—government forces. would you welcome bashar al—assad facing a court one day? of course not, we don't trust your evidence, your mechanisms and your so—called international bodies. what you call civil arms, are rescuers and what you calljihadis with long red beards, moderate rebels, how can we trust you? after everybody now knows with hard proof evidence that lies were made to the british people and violated international law, wasted money, launched an attack based on a hoax. would you put them injail? would you put tony blair in jail after admitting he made a mistake by killing a million iraqi citizens. would you put trump or 0bama injail for killing thousands of thousands of civilians in raqqa. why do laws only apply to us? we are the

just run right through that red line president trump came into office he saw what bashar al assad bashar al assad did last april and there were strikes on a. port facility that was being used to hit civilians the president trump struck that facility over the past year we have tried diplomacy. and clearly the diplomacy sadly has not worked in a largely because russia has stood in the way finally can i ask you what you think about the wisdom of the president using the phrase mission accomplished because we all know the echo of george w. bush and the iraq war which was a clear indication of him misreading the situation how wise was it for president trump to use that language i understand why people might question our president's use of that however i think what he meant was mission accomplished in that and this is significant in that we managed with the french and british to hit the target to not have a single loss of allies life and significantly degraded the ability of syria to strike on civilian again i think that is what the president meant by that syrian government forces say th

al assad. basharl assad needs the russians more, and, in fact, there are reports today that the syrian government is asking the russians urgently for more modern updated air defense systems. surface-to-air missiles, show in a sense it may help the russians influence assad a little bit. they do not have full total control over bashar al assad. >> secretary james, i want to ask you about some internal dynamics between the new national security adviser john bolton and defense secretary jim mattis. there were reports there were tensions between them in the spectrum of where these strikes fell. there's such a stark contrast between two very key components of the national security team for the president. how does that ultimately play out and the fact that we saw this operationing? who do you think won out in terms of this round of the syria policy? >> i have no doubt that secretary mattis and the options that he laid upon the table ran the gamut, and, of course, it would be up to the president himself to ap

you still have bashar al assad in power being able to kill many of his own countrymen. that's not a success. i think until bashar al assad leaves, i would say the broader goals in the region have not been accomplished. >> are these strikes overnight going to change bashar al assad's behavior? do you see any indication at all? >> some of the positives from the strikes. one, it was multilateral. the fact that we did there side by side with our british friend, with our french friends is very important. the fact the germans were supportive of this effort. the fact the turks was supportive as well and their foreign ministry came out with a show of support on this. turkey has been a tricky partner. they have been tricky. they had recent conversations with the iranians and the russians. the fact the turks are getting on our side. the fact the syrian missile defense did not work is a pretty significant change in our cunniku understanding of the battle space. the fact that one of the strikes was inside damascus and their missile defense shot after our attacks with over. not only

a cnn report of bashar al-assad 's reaction to the strikes, it says he refuses to back off fighting terrorismn syria. bashar al-assad said that saturday's airstrikes will not stop them from fighting terrorism across the country. according to state television, and their state tv, he said their aggression would only increase the determination of syria and its people to continue fighting and crushing terrorism in every inch of the country. that is according to cnn. the reaction of the assad regime to the strikes. let's look at what james mattis said last night about the strike. >> the president directed the u.s. military to conduct operations with our allies to destroy the syrian regime's chemical weapons research and development and production area. tonight, france, the united kingdom, and the united states strike the chemical weapons factories. bashar al-assad' regime did not get the message last years and our allies have struck together, sending a message to the murders people that they cannot perpetrate another chemical weapons attack or they will be held accountable. the 70 nations any defe

first, bashar al-assad still capable to produce chemical weapons. second, the message the countries seasoned to bashar al-assad is you could kill your own people in any kind of weapons, but do not use chlorine and sarin gas. let's remember two weeks before the chemical attacks took place. all but 1,000 people killed in ghouta. and the people killed by the chemical attacks were in a shelter, a basement shelter escaping from the barrel bombs and air strikes. and because they were in a shelter, they got trapped with the gas. >> so mahmoud, let me ask you. barry mccaffrey told me this could not be solved for 25 years? what do people who are opposed to the assad regime in syria want us to do? what does success look like? >> i have heard that president trump tweeted "mission accomplished." with all the respect of president trump, i would like to ask question. which mission will these strikes stop? the syrian conflict? the answer is no. will these attacks stop the refugee crisis? the answer is no. will these attacks stop the extremists? the answer is now. t

there are videos of bashar al-assad going to work this morning and his supporters have been in the street in damascus celebrating and cheering the bashar al-assad regime but three targets were hit by us, british and french jets. the pentagon saying among the targets were chemical research facility in the master stand a chemical storage facility, one of those was already hit by israeli jets in the last few years. we also understand the duma airbase was targeted by the us, russia is claiming the air defense system shot down 12 missiles and there wasn't much damage. we are still waiting for a damage assessment later from the pentagon in terms of what damage was done not only to the base but those facilities but syrian leaders painted a picture this morning that the missiles have done very little damage not only to their infrastructure but ability to carry out strikes and attacks on opposition forces. the syrian military officers saying the bashar al-assad regime will fight in battle, quote, terrorists which is how they describe opposition forces in syria. the regime is confident at least pub

position strikes on target associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of syrian dictator bashar al—assadsyrian dictator bashar al-assad. a combined operation with the armed forces of france and the united kingdom, is now under way. we thank them both. tonight i want to speak with you about why we have taken this action. one year ago assad launched a savage chemical weapons attack against his own innocent people. the united states responded with 58 missile strikes that destroyed 20% of the syrian airforce. strikes that destroyed 20% of the syrian air force. last saturday the assad regime again deployed chemical weapons to slaughter innocent civilians, this town —— —— this time in the town of douma near the syrian capital of damascus. this massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime. the evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gus being the air. —— gasping for air. these are not the actions of a man, they are crimes of a monster in stead. following the horrors of world wa

duma and didn't find any evidence of a chemical attack well donald trump has called president bashar al assad an animal and says there's there will be a response probably together with the french the kremlin in reply to that says that calling an animal is no way to talk about the legitimate president of syria and says that the u.s. and other countries should refrain from any steps that would destabilize further syria later on today we are going to we're going to get a meeting of the united nations security council to talk about this alleged chemical attack i would hazard a guess that at that meeting we'll get the usual accusations flying both ways towards russia and then russia trying to deflect them and things will carry on much business as usual. hungary's prime minister may have won a consecutive third term but independent monitors are questioning the fairness of the elections the organization for security and cooperation in europe says other candidates weren't able to compete equally against viktor orban party critics say his landslide win will allow him to press ahead with hardline polic

finds itself in because it has made a point that it does not support the government of president bashar al assad but it is in partnership with allies allied to the government of president bashar al assad so it is an issue which divides all of middle east and we hate waiting to hear about what sort of retaliate for your steps would be taken but as has been mentioned by other colleagues that there was a major sigh of relief by all sides were expecting a lot more in terms of attacks and sustained action of those promised by the president of the united states for now. thank you. i want to turn to some other stories now because it's been exactly four years since two hundred seventy six school girls were kidnapped from their school in northeast nigeria by the armed group. parents of the missing girls have month anniversary by marching to their school and renewing calls for their release fifty seven girls escaped in the immediate aftermath of the attack and four years on one hundred twelve are still being held by juries president mamadou bari says talks and back around to free the rest of the girls suf

it's being described as the biggest victory for syrian president bashar assad since the start of the conflict eastern huta has returned to state control after almost six years for weeks the enclave on the doorsteps of the capital damascus came under heavy fire hundreds of civilians were killed the pro-government alliance was also accused of using chemical weapons in the main town of duma before the last rebel group surrendered the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons is sending a team to the site to investigate those claims the u.s. and its allies didn't wait for the organizations findings they said they had their own evidence and launched air strikes targeting syria's chemical weapons facilities the strikes were not about threatening bashar assad's hold on power but since the bombings the message from the government has been one of defiance its army says it is preparing for more offensives the priority seems to be clearing the remaining territories outside government control near the capital in southern damascus a number of districts are under government siege center

with the chemical weapons capabilities of syrian dictator bashar al assad donald trump has argued be us how to take action to protect its national interests at the stall the assad regime use of chemical weapons the purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production spread and use of chemical weapons establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the united states and had this message for president assad's russian an iranian alights what kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men women and children the nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep no nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states brutal tyrants and murderous dictators. it's just over a year since the starting gas attack in syria provoked an american military response this was a joint operation the french and the british joining the americans tonight france the united kingdom and the united states took decisive action to strake the syrian chemical weapons infrastructure. clearly the assad regime did

that only took out 20 percent of president bashar assad aircraft x. within 24 hours, his air force was flying again. and in order to provide a deterrent, this will be a stronger signal and we'll know more when the pentagon breves us on the targets. >> sean: the russia blocking u.n. condemnation and accusing the uk of using chemical weapons and russia pulled out all of their vessels from the area and we talked about and mentioned sabre was from moscow and not putin himself. >> reporter: we heard from senior russian officials whether it is labroov. he made the threat. and so very, very top officials that speak for putin were issuing those threats to at this time u.s., but again, the u.s. military has forced protection in place and so they did not take those threats seriously. and any threats to shoot down the tomahawks or incoming cruise missile. the russians have the air defense system and can fire off missiles from inside syria, but the sheer number of tomahawks and the u.s. and allies have in position and cruise missiles, they would easily overwhelm

warns of more strikes if bashar assad's regime uses chemical weapons again. a call for venezuela's president to restore democracy ahead of upcoming elections which many call a sham. cantonese opera for a new generation children in hong kong given old art form a new lease of life. here and security council has voted down a russian draft resolution condemning missile strikes on syria by the u.s. france and u.k. the draft criticize what it called aggression on friday the three countries fired more than one hundred rockets in response to a suspected chemical attack which they blame on the government of bashar al assad has been used up in a gruesome news learned that the organizers of the aggression didn't even white for the elementary establishment of facts by an international organization which is authorized to do that they supposedly determine everything for themselves and you determine who was guilty i spoke to the president this morning and he said if the syrian regime uses this poisonous gas again the united states is locked and loaded. when our president dr

perfectly executed calling it mission accomplished it's the most significant attack against president bashar assad and the first coordinated retaliation for last saturday suspected chemical attack on duma washington and its closest allies and more than one hundred missiles targeting a sigh. if it was such a facility in damascus and to chemical weapons storage facilities now homes one was also a military command center syria says it shot down thirteen incoming missiles over damascus while its ally russia says syrian forces intercepted seventy one cruise missiles throughout the country the strikes have just been discussed yet another heated u.n. security council meeting this one was called by russia it ended with the council voting against a resolution condemning the attacks so let's now speech on defense correspondent patty calling who's monitoring everything at the pentagon and so patty just hearing well president trump being president with the now infamous phrase that he's used to describe the operation in syria do pentagon officials share his views well they're trying to narrow the idea of what

al—assad can you ? you know bashart of syria. and we have been involved with syrian situation just to fight the terrorism and at the invitation of legitimate government to fight seriously the terrorist on the ground. it is a question of asking a legitimate government for fighting terrorism, which we all share. how can he be hej it mate if he is gases people. because he is a member of the un and the syrian theatre is very complex. how can he be legitimate if he gasses his own people? because he is a member of the un and the syrian theatre is very complex. there are different actors, non—state actors. do you feel conflicted? sir, you know how strongly you feel about chemical weapons. do you feel conflicted standing side by side with assad? that's the question, now we see some countries claiming that chemical weapons have been used but the question is, there is no information on the ground to prove that. so first, we want to establish proof, and we are happy that in fact inspectors from the opcw are on their way and based

state department say they have very high confidence that the bashar assad's government was responsible while the war in syria has been going on for seven years now and had reports limited strikes such as these have not been able to stop chemical weapons attacks in the past a warning that viewers may find some of the images disturbing. another batch of syrians forced to leave their homes. these are nearly four thousand people displaced from doumani of the syrian capital damascus where the latest suspected chemical attack happened. we lived in birthdays in history and bhutto especially in the last three days with the original creation in juba which used resulting in suffocation cases among the civilians i would force displacement of hundreds of thousands of people in chemical attacks were unthinkable for these protesters in two thousand and twelve in the beginning really mobile videos used to capture a peaceful syrian uprising against bashar al assad. in the syrian government began its brutal crackdown with the arrests torture and killings the opposition also picked up weapons. and radic

and france against the syrian government is the most significant attack against president bashar assad and the first coordinated retaliation for last saturday's suspected chemical attack on duma washington and its closest allies launched more than one hundred missiles targeting a scientific research facility in damascus and to chemical weapons storage facilities now homes one was also a minute she command center syria says it shot down thirteen incoming missiles over damascus while its ally russia says syrian forces intercepted seventy one cruise missiles throughout the country u.s. president donald trump has praised the strikes as perfectly executed calling it

it's notable that all three countries were able to work together to hold bashar al assad accountable here. at the same time, as each of these instances arise, the question is going to be, you know, can these governments again come together to hold bashar al assad accountable? we do know the president will be having a state visit from emanuel macron in a few weeks. they do have a good relationship. and the french were certainly out in front on all this. the president will be meeting with shinzo abe, the prime minister of japan, at mar-a-lago later this week. the president is supposed to have a press conference. the question will be asked of the president, where is this red line drawn, how do you define mission accomplished, and how do you deal with mission creep, which every administration has to deal with, when they start getting involved in interventions overseas. it's unclear whether president trump will be able to avoid it with syria because he's drawn this red line so brightly. >> the same questions the obama administration faced. jim acosta, thanks. cnn's sam kiley is in moscow.

interest to launch this strike against syria to deter assad regime from using chemical weapons again about what happens if bashar al assad uses chemical weapons again that would mean that you as a would have to really act and that's a red line and that's something that president said he would never do something that he said he would never do but he also did not go to congress for approval prior to this assault are people questioning the legality of these airstrikes yes of course there are people questioning the legality of these strikes particularly democrats on capitol hill senator. came for example set of that launching the military action against syria without congress's approval was illegal and there is a number of senators and congressmen on capitol hill who feel in the same way and who say that it's important for them to learn more about trump's goals in syria but also in iraq and also in of or regions of the world xander phenomena in washington thank you very much. german chancellor angela merkel has joined other western leaders and voicing her support for the strikes earlier today she had this to say we

and syrian president bashar assad has says saturday's u.s. led airstrikes were based on a campaign of lies coming from the u.n. security council assad hosted politicians from russia which continues to support its ally. business as usual appears to be the message of these syrian state t.v. images an upbeat president assad welcomed russian politicians to damascus signaling that the u.s. led strikes did not pose a threat to his hold on power russia says it's firmly behind its ally. relations between the russian and syrian army's or accident so relations between politicians the army will now fulfill its task and russia and the assad government are not the only ones defiant the pentagon showed off satellite images of the destruction saying the strikes completely destroyed two targets and seriously damaged another one in damascus was reduced to rubble. we have a responsibility as a world to attack and stop what syria is doing and so the united states with her allies one after three sites these are pinprick targets three targeted sites that we know w

rhetoric from the president you remember that he was threatening russia with missiles calling bashar assad a gas killing animals just twenty four hours ago social media on thursday he's following up on the statements you heard just there are essentially saying that syria may be attacked more maybe not at all no why do you think this is happening well i've got a bit of a sense of why that has to do with some experts who have been weighing in very heavily in the president's ear in the last twenty four hours we know that the general dunford the chair of the joint chiefs of staff was here at the white house along with the secretary of defense general james mattis who have been saying continually that the united states still wants to assess evidence before any decisions are made or recommendations are made to the president the general speaking on capitol hill at a budget hearing here in washington just in the last few hours saying that while the strategy has always been for the united states and syria is to defeat eisel that is the primary goal the united states is not want to get into a civil

and not be a great deal of criticism of russian support and iranian support for the regime of bashar assadfrom the u.s. the u.k. from france as well but i imagine nuts about all we'll see because as as we all know the u.n. security council is being designed in such a way that there are veto powers russia has a veto and so i can't imagine there will be any type of resolution passed on this so much like with the with all security council discussions on syria in the past seven years it will be a talking shock and on the red lines imposed by mr mccrone will turn out to be words and not deeds much like those put forward by mr obama in the past. time i want to turn to something else that has developed in syria because you know that russia and syria they are accusing israel of carrying out an airstrike attack on the homes air base no comment so far from israel on that what do you think that we are to make of it. well i think what we need to do to understand what's happening here is to place that this strike within the larger regional security complex so we know that syria has has become a quagmir

attack on civilians which was thought to have been carried out by the forces of syrian president bashar al assad. we are prepared to sustain this response until the syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents i also have a message tonight for the two governments most responsible for supporting equipping and financing the criminal assad regime to iran and to russia i ask what kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men women and children. this is the largest display of joint force by western nations against the assad regime and were significantly bigger than u.s. strikes on syria a year ago. said the best visit is objective this operation and targeted objectives belonging to the clandestine chemical program of syria the process the main and research center of this program and to important production science has been struck. through these targets we have here the capacity of syria to develop and to produce chemical weapons metal poor deploy desire machine siri get i don't. despite the strikes britain's prime minister made it renewed calls for diplomac

she said that it was clearly a response to what she says was the the chemical weapons used by bashar al assad in duma she says that as you were hearing just a moment ago he cannot be allowed to continue to do so with impunity and she says that the u.k. and allies strikes will send a message to anyone else who think that they can use chemical weapons with impunity just a bit of detail the ministry of defense here in britain also released a written statement calling saying that they had conducted a successful attack now we have seen pictures of fighter jets arriving back into u.k. a military base on the island of cyprus perhaps they were involved the ministry of defense say that the the strikes or the operation happened at two o'clock local time. in which four tornado fighter jets tornado planes long to the royal air force launched storm shadow miss oils what they're calling a military facility which was previously a missile base a short distance western of homs in syria. they say that outlook that location the syrian government was stockpiling what they call chemical weapons precursors they sa

is there a diplomatic solution where bashar al-assad is involved? guest: that is a militant -- million-dollar question. bashar al-assad has never been willing to grant a single meaningful concession to the syrian opposition. it has never been possible to reach a negotiation about the settlement of war until and unless the shower al-assad is --ced -- but show all aside bashar al-assad is forced to make concessions, or the regime believes -- host: we are joined by jennifer cafarella from the institute for the study of war and an analyst at isw. recentco-author of isw's planning exercises for a strategy to defeat al qaeda and isis. we have been talking about a strike in syria. up next is judy on our democratic line, from indianapolis. caller: i was calling because i was thinking about -- i really feel sorry for the people over in syria. the presidenthat is trying to do what he can to keep them from killing his own people. i don't understand why they do not him like they did gadhafi in libya, just go ahead and bomb the palace or wherever the leader of sy

difficult operation but from my perspective i see nothing immoral for taking out a evil despot like bashar al-assadh: we did that in iraq. what we found out effectively years down the road is isis. if you take bashar al-assad out and you do not have a plan for who is going to go in, general, what kind of chaos do you then have? >> i think that is a very serious concern. the timing has to be right, why i said that in the beginning. the timing of what we do has to be absolutely perfect in this. but let me say this. i, first of all there are worse options than bashar al-assad. that would be the resurgence of isis and al qaeda and other entities like them that would form some kind of a coalition to govern syria. what that means is, israel is at risk. any christians that are left there will be killed because they have already shown their not only their propensity to do that but tear intent to do that could you wind up with a worse thing than you have now with bashar al-assad in power. i don't deny that for one minute. trish: well, i guess goes back to why we need to be extraordinarily careful about the

that were dealing with equipment related to assad and chemical weapons use and syrian president bashar assad has said the western air strikes were based on a campaign of lies coming from the u.n. security council russia attempted to pass a motion condemning the airstrikes but that effort failed. yesterday's u.s. led strikes on syria it was a war of words between russia and the united states in the united nations. a sign of cynical distain a group of western countries decided to take military action without waiting for the results of the concessions geisha. russia condemns in the strongest possible terms the attack against syria through its actions united states makes an already catastrophic humanitarian situation in syria even worse i spoke to the president this morning and he said if the syrian regime uses this poisonous gas again the united states is a lot and loaded. when our president draws a red line our president enforces the red line. but the bickering isn't just about whether the strikes were just to find the u.s. france and the u.k. maintain that they bombed only chemical weapons fa

came in to syria with a mandate to destroy all of bashar al assad's chemical weapons and it did so it said that it had destroyed all of the declared weapons arsenal that bashar al assad government was holding and as we heard from the pentagon briefing according to defense secretary jim not to say that there has been that the government has not been truthful and that guarantors of this process the russians have not been truthful in coming out in saying that all of the chemical weapons have been destroyed and we also heard just a few hours ago at the united nations security council nikki havey the u.s. ambassador saying that it is fifty incidents of the use of chemical weapons have been recorded by the president bashar. assad's government but according to other activists on the ground at least two hundred reported incidents of chemical weapons use since two thousand so it is one of those areas that we have seen repeatedly heard that there is a red line that the international community would not allow this to happen but this isn't the first time that syria has been hit with missiles by t

a vote on further action she says that that she will that she wants to continue to ensure that bashar assad doesn't use chemical weapons now this this is very very controversial let me just give you what jeremy corbyn the leader of the labor party the opposition labor party has said has put out on facebook in the last hour or so bombs won't save lives or bring about peace this legally questionable action risks escalating further as u.s. defense secretary james mattis has admitted it and already devastating conflict and therefore makes real accountability for war crimes and use of chemical weapons less not more likely so the bottom line from from jeremy corbyn is that this is going to escalate provoke a retaliation which britain hasn't really prepared for and will not do sufficient damage to the alleged chemical weapons program of bashar al assad to stop him from attacking in future he also says to resume a should have sort of it your approval not trailed after donald trump well i think that would chime with a lot of people the parliamentary reference they're interesting to see what stories

saying that the only way to solve the crisis is for bashar assad to go but i'll tell you his party's foreign minister posted a strong statement on his twitter attack on his twitter account denouncing the attack saying that. seeing civilians killed in a chemical attack by a shuttle is a test for the international community and for the multilateral institutions which have to act to get their act together but the same time as you know the americans will have to listen to other key allies in the region like saudi arabia and saudi arabia has some sort of turnaround about syria they've been saying in the past it's muscle as such it should go but recently the crown prince one hundred percent man has been saying that russia is staying in power they will also talk to the turks turks very clear about the crisis they want to shout out to go now comes to keep players in the region also russia has been very instrumental is a key player in the region and they have been saying that this should be no attack targeting president bashar assad the iranians also have huge levers in syria they're providin

why would then president bashar al assad used chemical weapons if the americans are on their way out. because he overestimated the from statement he saw it as still to disengage when from syria and he overreached but. like saddam hussein if you don't these minority sixty eight in the genes are used to overreaching to give a signal to the mystical ideas that we out of the off and we we use force will regardless of what the tension situation is owed with it it's very difficult to rationalize it that he but these regimes have mobility jeems of so much spite against the majority population and they have little legitimacy digital you see other than being holding the see the fall and tyson what do you think will be strikes against the government i think that will likely depend on the syrian government itself i mean the u.s. administration has made clear that they do have a red line in this case if there is more chemical attacks there will be a response from the united states and its allies but this is a great point that minority regimes and in the region governed by fear the source of legit

do you think bashar al—assad cares that his military assets are being targeted in this way?hether this serves as being these strong deterrent to prevent future use of chemical weapons, again, if there's any self—governance motive here then it's the principle that chemical weapons or weapons of mass destruction act should never be used on the battlefield under any circumstances and that's a strong us, french and us motive —— weapons of mass destruction act. saying he may not be deterred at all, he may continue in the future. that remains to be seen. michael, want to bring you a statement from anatoly antonov, who is the russian politician, you know him currently as the us ambassador to the... the russian ambassador to the united states. he has said in a statement on these airstrikes that russian warned that such actions will not be left without consequences, i'm looking here, this is from the reuters news agency. that is significant. is that the kind of thing which would have worried you when you were in the white house? it's very non—specific. to me it sounds like blaster. y

as well as a new warning for syrian president bashar al assad. nbc's jennifer johnson has the story from washington. >> reporter: despite targeted military air strikes on syria's chemical weapons sites, the white house is concerned president bashar al assad still has and may use chemical weapons again and is warning assad to be on guard. >> we know it is now up to president bashar al assad whether he'll use chemical weapons again and should he use it again, the president made it very clear that the united states is locked and loaded and ready to go. >> reporter: the white house says president trump's tweet of "mission accomplished" was referring only to friday night's coordinated action by the u.s., britain and france, which destroyed three different research, production and storage sites. >> they also sent a strong message to syria, to russia, to iran that when this president has a red line, he will enforce it. >> reporter: assad met with russian lawmakers today calling the strikes an act of aggression. russia is helping assad fight militants opp

and allies of bashar al assad have been unequivocal in their support. he shared last night's strike that happened at dawn against syria is a crime clearly announced that the us president the french president and the british prime minister are criminals and have committed a crime. those on the receiving end of the syrian government's attacks involved welcomed the military action and we support the american strike because we support everything that targets the syrian regime we know that this bombardment will not lead to the fall of the regime targets this criminal regime we are supporting i suspect a chemical attack on duma last week predictably support the allies of the assad government and those who oppose it while russia denies the attack ever took place turkey says assad's actions must have consequences their own gender just didn't follow the up it was unthinkable to leave all the attacks the regime has conducted an ant said that is why we welcome this operation because we can't tolerate what has happened in the perpetrator has to pay for it and the r

rockets stop bashar al assad's killing machine or will they be.

is that they are doubling down behind bashar assad because if there is anything that resembles as you need. a conference according to the geneva one and geneva two it is that we have to move in a post assad syria but at this point in time to herat and most court that link down behind assad putin the president of russia is already saying that perhaps they will be supplying the assad regime with advanced surface to air missiles as s. three hundred and the iranian regime is saying that the equation has not changed on the ground or whatever the dubai missiles will not change the alliance and the influence that iran has is its exercise and just to go back to your point about it being about chemical weapons and forcing that ban in do you think that now that the particular strike has been made to have these in strikes in the past against assad's chemical weapons facilities overseas was a bigger one where do you see this leaving a son terms of his likelihood to use chemical weapons again. to be honest with you of course i mean that's a short answer i don't know but i think also the internatio