they were a chemical weapons storage and production facility, a key chemical weapons research center, and military bunker involved in chemical weapons attacks. hitting these targets with the force that we have deployed will significantly degrade the syrian regime's ability to research, develop, and deploy chemical weapons. atrocityo after the there, the u.s. conducted a strike on the air flailed at which the attack took place. it aside and his regime have not stopped their use of chemical weapons. last night strikes by the u.s., u.k., and france were significantly larger than the u.s. action a year ago and specifically designed to have a greater impact on the regime's capability and waiting this -- willingness to use chemical weapons. as a collective action, this sends a clear message that the international community will not stand by and tolerate the use of chemical weapons. to be clear that this military action to deter the use of chemical weapons does not stand alone. we must remain committed to resolving the conflict at large. the best hope for the syrian people remained this poli

they were a chemical weapons storage and production facility, a key chemical weapons research center and a military bunker involved in chemical weapons attacks. hitting these targets with the force we have deployed will degrade the regimes ability to research, develop and deploy chemical weapons. a year ago after the catastrophe, the u.s. conducted a strike on the airfield where the attack took place. assad and his regime haven't stopped their use of chemical weapons. last night strikes by the u.s., uk and france was significantly larger than the u.s. action a year ago and specifically designed to have a greater impact on the regimes capability and willingness to use chemical weapons. this collective action sends a clear message that the international community will not stand by and tolerate the use of chemical weapons. i also want to be clear, this military action to deter the use of chemical weapons does not stand alone. we must remain committed to resolving the conflict at large. the best hope for the syrian people remains a political solution. we need all partners, especially the

they were a chemical weapons storage and production facility, a key chemical weapons research center, and a military bunker involved in chemical weapons attacks. hitting these targets with the for the that we have deploy ed will significantly degrade their ability to deploy chemical weapons. a year ago, the u.s. conducted a strike on the airfield from which the attack took place. but assad and his regime hasn't stopped their use of chemical weapons. so last night's strikes by the u.s., uk and france were significantly larger than the u.s. action a year ago and specifically designed to have a greater impact on the regime's capability and willingness to use chemical weapons. and this collective action sends a clear message that the international community will not stand by and tolerate the use of chemical weapons. i also want to be clear that this military action to deter the use the chemical weapons does not stand alone. we must remain committed to resolving the conflict at large. the best hope for the syrian people remains a political solution. we need all partners especially the regi

chemical program. obviously, when we take a look at target planning we take a look at the location relative to other populated areas, collateral damage, proportionality. these targets were carefully selected with proportionality, discrimination and being specifically associated with the chemical weapons program. reporter: were there any manned air craft? gen. dunford: there were manned aircraft involved and we won't give you any details until tomorrow morning. we will do that at that time. reporter: question to secretary mattis. up until yesterday, i'm going to quote you here, you said, i cannot tell you that we have evidence. when did you become confident that the chemical attack had happened yet sec. mattis: yesterday. reporter: after you said that? sec. mattis: yes. reporter: second, you talked about targeting the chemical weapons infrastructure of assad. if there were any chemical weapons or agents in those facilities that you targeted, i assume they would create health hazards in the region, or no

that chemical weapons convention, that chemical weapons were illegal, that their use was banned. all too often seen chemical weapons being used. i think it is right that the international community has come together, and said that we will not accept this and give a very clear message that we want to re—establish the international norm that chemical weapons are banned and should not be used. yes? if chemical weapons are indeed used again in syria, will the united kingdom take part in more targeted strikes, and since if it is in the coming weeks, parliament will no longer be in recess, will you feel a big pressure to actually ask for that green light, and how important is it to you that president macron is alongside and very much participating in this operation? how would you characterise the franco british entente about this operation? first of all, on the parliament rig front, andi of all, on the parliament rig front, and i apologise i should have made reference to this, i will be in parliament on monday to make a statement to parliament and give parliamentarians the opportunity

chemical weapons are a threat to us all. threat, a typeue of weapon so evil that the international community agreed they must be and. we cannot stand by and let russia's trash every norm that we stand for. and allowed the use of chemical weapons to go unanswered. regime usedsyrian the chemical weapons was not an isolated incident our response is part of a new course chartered last chair to deter future use of chemical weapons. our syrian strategy has not changed. forced us regime has to take action based on their repeated use of chemical weapons. since april 2017 chemical attack, the u.s. has impose hundreds of sanctions involved in chemical weapons in syria and north korea. we have designated entities in africa that have facilitated chemical weapons. we have revoked the visas of russian intelligence officers in response to the chemical attack. we will continue to seek out and call out anyone uses and anyone who aids in the use of chemical weapons. with yesterday's military action, our message was clear. the united states of

they were targeted it seems on a chemical research base and ona seems on a chemical research base andical storage facility, and also won a military command bunker. those were the targets of the attack. mrs may said there were clear boundaries. the thrust of the political message i think was meant to be one of reassurance. interesting to i thought, she did also refer explicitly to the chemical attack in salisbury, with the poisoning of the skripals. that was part of the thinking of the joining in with the air strikes last night, to send the message that the use of chemical weapons in any forum is not acceptable. mrs may made clear that the international rules on the use of chemical weapons had held good for 100 years. it was a limited targeted strike on president assad's chemical weapons facility, but it was also designed it send a broader message including to the russians, not to flout international rules on chemical weapons again. that is an interesting point. does that then imply that one of the reasons why britain wanted to be involved with this, to take away all the special relati

, a key chemical weapons research center and chemical weapons attacks. and would significantly research, development and deploy chemical weapons. a year ago after the atrocity, the us conducted a strike on the airfield, stopping the effect on chemical weapons. they were significantly larger year ago and specifically designed for greater impact on the capability on not stand by and tolerate the use of chemical weapons. i want to be clear this military action to deter the use of chemical weapons does not stand alone. we must remain committed to this at large. the syrian people, it remains a political solution. the regime to enable humanitarian access to those in desperate need as the us continues to strive for both. these are about deterring barbaric use of chemical weapons in syria and beyond. to achieve this, there must be a wider diplomatic effort including the full range of medical and economic leaders, to strengthen the global norms prohibiting use of chemical weapons which have stood for nearly a century. of a much lower order of magnitude, the use o

program and never uses chemical weapons again. we support our diplomats who are working to set the conditions backed united nations geneva process to succeed and we look forward to working with united nations envoy to syria in an effort to maintain transparency. general mackenzie will now provide a detailed overview of the actual operation. toeral mackenzie: i'm going spend the next couple minutes talking about the details of the operation. can i get the first graphic up? . as you have heard from the president of the united states. the united states, the united kingdom, and france inducted a proportional precision strike in response to the syrian regimes continued use of chemical weapons. this strike was directed against three syrian chemical weapons targets and i will show you them to you on the monitor behind me and i think you have access to that information. were fundamental components of the regimes chemical weapons infrastructure. let's go to the first slide. the search and development the chemicalast weapons development fac

weapons a storage facility west the third, an alleged chemical weapons chemical weapons command post, also near homs. u.s. and russian sources both indicated there were no civilian casualties. u.n. however is unable to independently verify the details of all these reports. as president, secretary-general of the united nations it is my duty to remind member states that there is an obligation, particularly when dealing with matters of peace and security, to act consistently with the charter of the united nations and within international law in general. the u.n. charter is very clear on these issues. the security, council has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. i call on the members of the council to unite an exercise that responsibility and urge all members to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances, and avoid any act that could escalate matters and orson the suffering of the syrian people -- and worsen the suffering of the syrian people. of notsed the need allowing the situation to spiral out of control. any use of chemical weapons i

one chemical least agent that was used. reporter: i want to clarify on the d complexion line you russians ahead of russians ahead of time before the operation began what you were going to do at what targets you would strike? gen. dunford: the only communications that took place specifically associated with this operation before the targets were struck was the nfliction of the airspace. general dunford, you mention syrian air defenses had engaged. syrian state tv says they genert -- shot down 13 tomahawk missiles. can you refute that? reporter: i can't tell you results. the time on target was about an hour ago and we came straight up here to give you the best information we have right now. we will giveing, you more detailed operational over? gen. dunford: over? gen. dunford: yes, that is why we are speaking with you now. sec. mattis: i wanted to follow-up action, you said that would depend on whether or not the outside government index future chemical attacks. could you explain more about what would be the threshold for that

>> the assad regime has a pattern of using chemical weapons against some people against the chemical weapons convention, despite the fact that they agree to it and that the russians were there guarantors. what happens next has everything to do with what the assad regime decides to do and what the russian government decides to enable as well. >> why does the administration feel these strikes are enough to deter the from using chemical weapons again? >> the were very methodical in making the decision about these sites. it was a deliberate decision to go to the storage facility, to go to the research and development facilities. that was the difference. we think that by doing this, this was very successful. we are confident that we significantly degraded his ability to ever use chemical weapons again. >> what kind of response should the assad regime expect from the u.s. if they were to use chemical weapons again? >> it is important to remember that this represents 3 permanent members of the u.n. security council. the u.k. and france are our oldest allies. this is about values. read it th

if chemical weapons are indeed used again in syria. will the united kingdom take part in more targeted strikes and since if it's in the coming weeks parliament will no longer be in recess will you feel a bigger pressure to actually ask for that green light and how important is it to you that president michael is alongside very much participating in this operation how would you characterize the franco british on thought about this operation. well first of all on the parliamentary front and i should have sort of made reference to this in answer to the previous questions i will be in parliament on monday to make a statement to parliament and obviously to give parliamentarians the opportunity to question me about this i believe it was right to take the action that we have done in the timing that we have done as i've indicated in relation to assessment planning and operational security but the it was to send a very clear message about the use of these chemical weapons i believe that the action that's taken will have significantly degraded t

sized vetoes on russia six times on the chemical weapons dosia the aim of these. was purely to protect the syrian regime to guarantee impunity in contempt for the body of international standards to allow for what is cannot be defended russia deliberately chose to sacrifice the security council's capacity to act the most significant tool for our collective security and we saw proof of this once again on the last tuesday on seven april the name duma has just joined those of. you who in in the litany of chemical weapons massacres you mr president i wish to state this formally today deciding once again to use chemical weapons in deciding to do this on seven april the regime has reached the point of no return to france will shoulder its responsibility to and an intolerable threat to our collective security to finally ensure respect for international law and respect for the provisions adopted over the course of a number of years by the security council a chemical weapons attack such as what took place in duma which was to gas the last residents of a besieged enclave as

for we contribute allow the use of chemical -- for we cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to beormalized, either in syria, on the streets of the u.k. or elsewhere. so we have not done this because president trump asked us to do so. we have done it because we believed it was the right thing to do. and we are not alone. there is broad faced international support for the action we've taken. nato has issued a statement setting out its support, as have the gulf cooperation council and a number of countries in the region and over the weekend i have spoken to a range of world leaders, including chancellor merkel, prime minister jent leonie, prime minister trudeau, and european union council president. all have expressed their support for the actions that britain, france and america have taken. third, why did we not recall parliament? mr. speaker, the speed with which we acted was essential in cooperating with our partners to alleviate further humanitarian suffering and maintain the vital security of our operations. this was a limited, targeted site on a legal basis that has been used b

the or chemical weapons from syria. the united states, france and the united kingdom acted after careful evaluation of these facts. the targets we selected were at the heart of the syrian regime's illegal chemical weapons programme. the strikes were carefully planned to minimise civilian casualties. the responses were justified, legitimate and proportionate. we did not give diplomacyjust one chance, we gave diplomacy chance after chance, six at times, that is how many at times russia vetoed security council resolutions to address chemical weapons in syria. our weapons —— address chemical weapons in syria. ourweapons —— our address chemical weapons in syria. our weapons —— our efforts go back even further. in 2013, the 0ur weapons —— our efforts go back even further. in 2013, the security council passed a resolution that required the assad regime to destroy a stockpile of chemical weapons. syria committed to abide by the chemical weapons convention meaning it could no longer have chemical weapons on its soil. president p

that is what chemical weapons are all about. that is why we must not stay silent in the face of horrible chemical weapons use in our own time. the first response to all of this death and injury was the 1925 geneva protocol which banned the use of chemical weapons and more. later in 1993, the chemical weapons convention was signed and that convention obligates all of its parties to quote - never under any circumstances, develop, produce, stockpile, transfer or use chemical weapons. it also prohibits all parties from assisting anyone to engage in these activities. the united states is a party to this convention. russia is a party to this convention. every country that is a member of the united nations security council, is a party to this convention. even the assad regime has pledged to abide by the convention. in theory, all of us agree on the core principle at stake today. no country can be allowed to use chemical weapons with impunity. now that we have established what we all agree on, let's ask ourselves, what should we be cond

is likely to be continuing with some chemical weapons production. the o.p.c. w. inspectors have investigated previous attacks and on four occasions decided that the regime was indeed responsible. and on each occasion when we have seen every sign of chemical weapons being used any attempt to hold the perpetrators to account has been blocked by russia at the un security council with six such vetoes since the start of two thousand and seventeen just this week the russians vetoed a draft resolution that would have established an independent investigation into this latest attack even making the grotesque and absurd claim that it was staged by britain so we have no choice but to conclude that diplomatic action on its own will not be any more effective in the future than it has been in the past over the last week the u.k. government has been working intensively with our international partners to build the evidence picture and to consider what action we need to take to prevent and deter future humanitarian catastrophes caused by chemical weapons attacks whe

the search and development center, the chemical weapons lastly,facility, and the chemical bunker facility, which is located seven kilometers from the previous site. this strike aimed to deliver a clear and unambiguous message to the syrian regime that their use of chemical weapons is inexcusable and to deter the , future use of chemical weapons. we selected these targets carefully to minimize the risk to innocent civilians. we are still conducting a more detailed damage assessment, but initial indications are that we accomplished our objectives without material interference from syria. i use three words to describe this operation. precise, overwhelming, and effective. let's go back to the first slide, please. against the first target the first target, the research and development center located in the greater damascus area, we employed 76 missiles. 56 of these were tomahawk land attack cruise missiles, and 19 were joint air to surface standoff missiles. as you can see from the graphics, initial assessments are that this target was destroyed. this is going to set the syrian chemical weapon

the second target was a chemical reckons storage facility —— chemical reckons storage facility —— chemicalacility we st of chemical weapons storage facility west of homs. we identified this as the primary location of syrian sarin equipment. the second target contained both chemical weapons storage facilities and an important command post. us, british and french naval and command post. us, british and french navaland air command post. us, british and french naval and air forces were involved in the operation, and for reasons of operational security i will not be more specific this evening. before we take questions i would like to address how this evening's strikes we re address how this evening's strikes were qualitatively and quantitatively different than the strikes in 2017. last year we conducted a unilateral strike on single strike, on aircraft asserted with the strike in 4017. this evening we conducted strikes on multiple sites with two allied is that will result in a long—term degradation of syria's capability to produce chemical and biological weapons. important in construction was d

those who fabricated the masquerade of the chemical attack in good to the -- chemical attack admitted on television it was a fabricated attack. ladies and gentlemen, i would like to draw your attention. those of you attaching international law to the charter that this aggression is another message by the three aggressors to the terrorist groups. for them to continue using chemical weapons in the future and committing their terrorist inmes, not in syria but other countries. there is no doubt about it. 146 letters we have drawn your attention to the use of use of chemical weapons. reinventinger is in the wheel and trying to determine it. you all know, that this agression took place just fact-finding team from the opcw was supposed to arrive after the request of the syrian government to investigate the chemical message tothe main -- and actually, they are not interested in a transparent and independent investigation. the are trying to undermine work of the inquiry team and put pressure on the mission to continue their lies and fabrications, just as it .appened six years ago >> that is --

chemical weapons. i didn't see any people and with lots of beside me after that any any other people affected by chemical weapons and so several hours later i came back home from the hospital that my house is about one kilometer away from the hospital so i went on food so i felt ok and after i came home i didn't feel any other than its symptoms or anything. that was indicated and it meant chemical exposure one of you know as for these water dowsing performed by white helmets what they did was. they were just getting them clean because of all the dust and smoke. after the explosions. so there were no evidence of chemical attack thank you. for this fluid issue. with. the darts. at the lab in the hospital next to hear say doris who works at the lab in the hospital. and asked me good evening my name is so you. must be my. i work at the laboratory. do hospital i perform a lot analysis and i collect blood from. from the patients so this is a lab that works both for the hospital and the whole and for the emer

of chemical weapons. you,lleague, sitting with deputy of the high representative for disarmament .ffairs i urge the security council, in accordance with this mandate, to obtain international peace and security and uphold ensuretional law, to responsibility. returning to the narrative of events, around the big night of the seventh of april, ours -- midnight after the seventh of april, there was an agreement reached with the russian federation and the syrian government. the russian federation minister of defense stated the agreement . up to 8000 islamic fighters and 40,000 family members were to evacuate. haverstand d -- we already received reports released from douma today. provided tot civilians would allow them to remain under the peace of the russian federation, with the resumption of services in accordance with civilians, locally. i urge the russian federation to allow asi many civilians as possible to stay in the homes if they choose to, or leave to a place of their choosing. there will be, or there s

chemical weapons storage facility and so on. three different targets, all relating to chemical weapons. >> don, what is so extraordinary is what you just mentioned, they went downtown damascus and essentially struck a target in damascus, associated with bashar al assad chemical weapons research capability. damascus is a city and the other location you mentioned homs, this is an area of syria that is heavily defended by both syrian and russian air defenses. they did mention that they saw some activity by syrian air defenses, we'll learn tomorrow whether any of the allied missiles were potentially in fact shot down by the air defenses. but the u.s., the allies have not gone to damascus in the past. that is something that is very new. on the question of whether they will do this again, the president talked about the potential for a sustained response but he was not specific on whether he meant a military response. so the secretary is stepping in and saying tonight that this is where it stands. this is complete, unless assad uses ch

security council did a chemical weapons attack happened. yes the u.s. has analyzed he yes it has happened the u.k. has analyzed yes it has happened france has analyzed yes it is that three separate analysis all coming back with the same thing there is proof that this happened 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 was certain language are waiting to see what the next move is and what will happen next in the international community. meanwhile people in to of syria's largest cities damascus and aleppo have rallied together against the u.s. led military action you see here flags being waved in support of the syrian government third even if you know closely some russian flags being waved as well here's what some residents in the capital had to say. this strike to does not break you shall make you stronger we are standing steadfast the syrian people are full of will in our stad that. we condemn and denounce this assault on our country we

the syrian government the three allies say the operation was launched in response to an alleged chemical attack in the city of doom a week earlier although many western governments blamed assad's military for that suspected assault they've not put forward any clear evidence to support their claim . one of the targets of the u.s. led attack was a research facility near damascus the syrian government says it was a civilian object we spoke to a technician who worked there who said that the international chemical weapons watchdog had checked the center several times and found no signs of any violation. so you can see that nothing has happened here but i've been here myself since five am there are no signs of chemical warfare agents but this is a civilian facility drugs and chemicals production technology was developed here for peaceful economic purposes p.c. w. visited this facility several times carrying out several thorough inspection of the organization received a lot of help in its work and so did the members of its teams there was even a special place on the site allocated for the o.p.c

weapons attacks and a chemical weapons program against innocent civilians. this was the morally right act to take, and i spoke to the president this morning, and we couldn't be more proud of our american forces and our allies who conducted this attack with such professionalism and brought about an extraordinary success. the president has also made it clear that the united states of america is prepared to sustain this effort, to reestablish the deterrent framework that exists in order that the syrian regime and its patrons know that there will be a price to pay if chemical weapons are used again against innocent men, women and children. i have been heartened by the support that has been expressed here at the summit of the americas and from leaders around the world. many world leaders here at this summit in lima have expressed support to me privately, many have publicly, for the joint action last night, and expressed appreciation for president trump's strong leadership and the efforts of our armed forces. so we stand against, as the civilized war has -- civili

in duma they have not found any traces of chemicals they have not found any vick. 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 yes to us has analyzed yes it has happened to u.k. and to analyze to guest it has happened france has been analyzed yes it happened three separate analysis all coming back with that 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 or was not in approval and was not cooperating other countries that have b

syria committed to abide by the chemical weapons convention, meaning it could no longer have chemicalpons on its soil. president putin said russia would guarantee that syria complied. we hoped that this diplomacy would succeed and putting an end to the horror of chemical attacks in syria. but as we see from the past year, that did not happen. while russia was busy protecting the regime, assad took notice. the regime knew it could act with impunity and it did. in november russia used its veto to kill the joint investigative mechanism, the main tool we had to figure out who used chemical weapons in syria. just as russia was using its veto, the assad regime used sarin, leading to dozens of injuries and deaths. russia's veto was the green light for the assad regime to use these most barbaric weapons against the syrian people, in complete violation of international law. the united nations and our allies were not going to let that stand. chemical weapons are a threat to us all. they are unique threat, a type of weapon so evil that the international community agreed they must be banned. we c

last year in response to a chemical weapons attack and to signal the regime to cease chemical weapons use, we targeted the military base. earlier today, president trump directed the u.s. military to conduct operations in concert with our allies to destroy the ser ja regime's chemical weapons capability. tonight they took action to strike the chemical weapons structure. clearly assad did not get the message last year. clearly with our allies we struck harder. we sent a clear message to assad and his lieutenants that they should not perpetrate another chemical weapons attack for which they will be held accountable. the 70 nations in the defeat isis coalition remain committed to defeating isis in syria. this shows resolve to prevent chemical weapons used on anyone in any circumstance. i want to emphasize these strikes are directed at the syrian regime. in conducting these strikes we have gone to great lengths to avoid civilian and foreign casualties. but it is a time for all civilized nations to urgently unite in ending the syrian civil war by supporting the united nations backed geneva

the second site was a chemical weapons bunker 15 miles west contains both chemicals weapon equipment storage facility into an important command post. they were successfully hit by the french. the third was the -- storage site for missile base is no military facility. mrs. the location of production equipment this was hit by nine u.s. -- five navel and to scout missiles from france and eight storm launched by the u.k. very careful scientific analysis was used to determine our best to target to maximize the destruction to minimize any risk to the surrounding area. the facility we targeted is located some distance from any known population centers. all targeted and limited, the strikes were significant larger than the u.s. action one year ago after the attack. they're designed to have a greater impact on the regimes capability to use chemical weapons. we minimize the chance of a wider problem. russia has not -- as a result of the strikes. the whole house will want to join me in paying tribute to the british men and women as well as the american and french allies who carried this out wit

chemical agent in the samples brought from salisbury the death from bees that chemical agent is quite rare the lethal dose is very high but at the same time the bees it actually affects the nerve system of a human body not the states had. a chemical agents from nine hundred sixty two in one thousand sixty five because it russia didn't have busy. in its arsenals. and that does it for me i'll be back in just over thirty three minutes with a full look at your new stretch marks international that's. what you. are competing like the auto insurance industry why four thousand dollars a year can i be protected against all these medical emergencies that take place in my car therefore we know that the price of having medical insurance or be a thousand dollars a year about thirty thousand dollars a year they're overcharging by twenty thousand dollars we're going is going to oligarchs american oligarchs. something happens in this case it was the chemical attack on civilians in syria and then the public in the media are waiting for the response and i think it's very clear now that if president tru

the chemical weapons storage facility.t, in the next slide, please, the chemical weapons bunker facility, which is located about seven kilometres from the previous site. this strike aimed to deliver a clear unambiguous message to the syrian regime that their use of chemical weapons against innocent civilians is inexcusable and to deter any future use of chemical weapons. we selected these targets carefully to minimise the risk to innocent civilians. we're still conducting a more detailed damage assessment, but initial indications are that we accomplished our military objectives without material interference from syria. i'd use three words to describe this operation — precise, overwhelming and effective. 0ur correspondent, barbara plett usher, is in washington. do you get a sense from the pentagon state m e nts do you get a sense from the pentagon statements that they actually hope this is only one strike and that they can get on to deal with all the issues? —— other issues? i am afraid... we will have to leave it there, ba

the chemical weapons convention.rms that we have dating from 1899. let me explain why we have taken this action. last saturday, one week ago, up to 75 people were killed in a barbaric attack, withers to —— with up to 500 further injured in douma. a body of intelligence indicates the syrian regime was responsible for this attack, and we know the syrian regime has a track record of using chemical weapons against its own people. including in eastern ghouta in 2013 and elsewhere in 2017. we had sought to stop chemical weapons using every diplomatic means that we have. but, as you know, russia has vetoed in this chamber, six times on chemical weapons to prevent accountability for previous tax and prevent the establishment of an investigative mechanism. so we had no choice but to conclude that diplomatic action on its own would not be any more effective in the future than it has been in the past. the united kingdom believes it was both right and legal to take military action, together with our closest allies to alleviate f

sweden drew up chemical weapons attack. sweden drew upa draft chemical weapons attack., in order to conduct a investigation, no resolution is necessary, however we are willing to consider this resolution. today, we propose that what you envisage in your project in your draft be done. let the op cw, which through the secretary stated a willingness to get to the bottom with the police. let it immediately, tomorrow, flighty damascus. there, the syrian authorities and russian troops will provide conditions to travel to the area of the alleged incident, for them to familiarise themselves with the situation. incidentally, this is what president trump and other western leaders called upon us to undertake. as for the possibility of a chemical attack being a possibility, this was repeatedly warned about by the... it was dated that in order to take a film of a chemical attack, and i put this in quotes, the necessary equipment has only been brought in. we, too, made the relevant state m e nts we, too, made the relevant statements of the security council. you have heard these warni

arsenal the clandestine chemical arsenal do you think that this is. a military action the will succeed in deterring a preventing president 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 opera

chemical weapons watchdog destroying the syrian government's declared arsenal. the trumpet ministration responded in two thousand and seventeen the missile strikes inside syria but also gave warning to russia president assad. as with previous incidents there's been international outrage failed un resolutions and u.s. missile strikes in syria seven year war the international community has been outraged multiple times and at times took limited action but all that has failed to stop attacks on civilians who oppose president assad. hundreds of thousands have been subjected to the tactic of starvation and the. thousands frighten the skaven many died on the way the world has effectively shut down the borders around syria so people and. some of the job others here are needed to. know the syrian opposition leader been hearing from him not very and he's been calling for an end on attacks against all civilians by the syrian government on twitter he said maybe the regime will not use chemical weapons again but it will not hesitate to use weapons in social community has all

one syria's chemical weapons program must be ended and the chemical weapons stockpiles destroyed onceand for all to their mess be an immediate cessation of hostilities and compliance with all security council resolutions and these include those which mandate humanitarian access three the regime must return to the geneva talks and agree to engage in the substantial gender put forward by the un special envoy stephan de mistura for finally there must be accountability for the use of chemical weapons and other war crimes in syria mr president the secretary general rightly highlighted the political process we propose that this as the security council will be together next weekend in the retreat with the secretary general they kindly hosted by sweden that we should use that opportunity to reflect on next steps and the way back to the political process and with our allies we stand ready to work with all members on the security council towards this and thank you learn i quote a lot of present done delivery much like to thank you represent of the united kingdom for statesmen and i now give the

chemical weapons attacks in the future. but it's important to set now the deterrence message don't do it again or else. >> former u.s. ambassador to syria, thank you very much for your time. >>> next on msnbc continuing coverage against the u.s. strikes in syria. how the launches are being seen inside syria. you know what's awesome? gig-speed internet. you know what's not awesome? when only certain people can get it. let's fix that. let's give this guy gig- really? and these kids, and these guys, him, ah. oh hello. that lady, these houses! yes, yes and yes. and don't forget about them. uh huh, sure. still yes! xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. now you can get it, too. welcome to the party. >>> back now on msnbc with breaking news. new video from the syrian government shows destruction of what officials say is a scientific research center targeted by missile strikes overnight. u.s., french, and british forces say they launched strikes against syrian president bashar al assad's chemical weapons facilities