jim clancy, cnn. >> jim clancy there reporting and the person who got inside from cnn international . moment from an announcement th you want to hear. [ female announcer ] nature valley protein bars. 100% natural ingredients like roasted peanuts, creamy peanut butter, and a rich dark chocolate flavor. plus, 10 grams of protein. so it's energy straight from nature to you. nature valley protein bars. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] at&t. the nation's largest 4g network. covering 2,000 more 4g cities and towns than verizon. at&t. rethink possible. >>> we are just a few minutes away from the top of the hours and that means our very own wolf blitzer. wolf, it's going to happen live in your show, none other, todd akin, he made the comments about legitimate rape holding a press conference. we'll carry it live. >> i don't think we will carry it live. if he were to announce he was dropping out of this race, that would be huge news, it would set the stage for claire mccaskell would have an opponent to more likely put her on the ropes. if he's staying in the race, if that's all he's doing, just to anno

jim clancy, cnn, charlotte, north carolina. >>> back to presidential politics.aking his first public comments since mitt romney's selection of paul ryan as a running mate.

jim clancy is following the developments from beirut. chemical and biological weapons arsenal at this point in syria? >> on the official front, we don't know very much at all. clearly, obama's red line comments provoked a response both from the russian side and also from damascus. first to damascus. we heard from the foreign min city where they said that their statement of two days ago talking about the use of chemical weapons only against a foreign aggressor was being misinterpreted. it wasn't an admission that they had weapons of mass dee destruction like chemical weapons. they said in no way, shape or form would those ever be used against the civilian population. that's the reaction from damascus. does it allay any fears? no imt the u.s. is just as concerned that the chemical weapons might fall into the wrong hands. meantime, also reacting to president obama and what we just heard there was the russian foreign minister. he was in china for talks with officials there. he said both beijing and moscow are sending out the warning that no v

cnn's jim clancy has the latest for us. jim?: it was one of the bloodiest days in what has been a week that has been marked by triple-digit death tolls death tolls each and every day. the regime of president ba shir al assad was clearly under attack. the regime's fighter jets pounded the city dropping bombs on the free syrian army as well as civilians. tanks were seen moving in on the outskirts of that city expected to go on the attack as well as civilians scurried for shelter. anes in tee international issued a report charging the regime with targeting its own civilians in an act that could be construed to be a war crime. >> in the ten days i spent there, i looked at case after case of families, people who were killed in their homes, out when they were buying food, especially when they were queueing up to buy bread, and people were even killed in the very places where they had gone for safety. people had fled their homes and were staying with friends and family or were staying in schools, those places too came under attacks. >>

jim clancy is joining us. want to start first of all with the president's comments. this was made yesterday about a possible u.s. military response. take a listen. >> we have been very clear to the assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. that would change my calculous. >> jim, this really got a lot of us thinking and got our attention here when he talks about changing the calculous, changing the equation, crossing a red line. this is a language that is very, very strong. we have not heard this from the president yet. this is the first time here. what does this mean? in terms of where the united states is positioning itself, and how syria is responding? >> reporter: well, we look at this in the context of what is believed to be in the hands of the syrian regime, and that is a very large and potent arsenal of nerve agents that could be deployed, could be used. moreover, they could be shifted to other locations and put into the hands of people that

i want to bring jim clancy back to the map, talking once again about syria.ated. six-point peace plan, we didn't even get to point number one. are you surprised by this? >> it was mission impossible from the start, everybody knew it. but imagine how frustrating, there before the security council, trying to get everyone to cooperate, people are saying, yes, yes, we'll support this. the syrian government, flat-out, you'll remember, the cease-fire was declared, the shells kept flying. >> it was a joke. >> it was a joke -- it wasn't a joke. the death toll rose and rose and rose. and in the face of this, he's trying to do everything. members of the security council, including the united states, revealed today we're giving clandestine aid through the cia, to the rebel side. they say it's not deadly force, but there are a lot of people in there who are supplying a lot of deadly force, whether it's qatar or saudi arabia, on the asaad side, we've got the russians. we've seen the mirltization when kofi annnan was trying to say, let's talk politics. >> we've been talkin

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i want to go straight to jim clancy joining me from beirut.looked at and is that fighting directly related to all the fighting we have been witnessing in syria? >> reporter: in a word, yes. directly related because you have two neighborhoods. our correspondent bureau chief here and cnn cameraman were up in tripoli today. they literally ran into this fighting as it erupted once again. this has happened before. inside you're looking at one syrian neighborhood-excuse me one, sunni muslim neighborhood where many are fighting on the side of the free syrian army. there are refugees from cities who are now living in that neighborhood in tripoli. on the other side of the street named syria's street is another neighborhood. a neighborhood of muslims who support president bashar al-assad. they post posters of him on their homes on that street. at least four people reported killed. 40 wounds. they tried to take army personnel up there speeding up there at the street. trying to put a lid on awe of this. they pulled back under a hail of automatic weapons f

jim clancy joining me now. kofi anan resigning yesterday. what does it do? does it really do anything and is the u.n. mission totally in jeopardy in syria? >> in a word, it does nothing. i only use that word nothing because there isn't another word in the english language that means anything less. you talk about the mission. it would appear by the middle of august we may be losing that whole observer force. it's mandate play not be renewed. there's a lack of cohesion. you have one set of country that don't want to see any regime change. even the resolution was watered down. they had to water it down. they had to withdraw wording that would have called for the resignation of bashar al-assad. what we have here is complete collapse of diplomacy. people are looking on. they are very frustrated. they want to do something. it will have absolutely no affect on what's happening on the ground. what's happening on the ground can be pretty frightening today. >> what are the politics and why did they even pursue this if it means nothing? >> they wanted to pursue it beca

jim clancy, cnn, charlotte, north carolina. >>> massive flooding in the philippines causing scenes likee caring for a loved one 1rrsz goes by that you don't have them. questions about treatment where to go for extra help, how to live better with the disease. so many questions, where do you start? alzheimers.gov. the answers start here. >> reporter: solice will be thiest. test. >>> several stories caught our attention today. photos as well. take a look

. >> jim clancy, thank you. >>> the party platform that is going to be voted on at the republican national convention has gotten attention and i will ask one of the authors about the most controversial plank, abortion. >>> and i will take to jeanne cernan about the first man on the moon who died yesterday at age 82. [ male announcer ] whether it's kevin's smartphone... mom's smartphone... dad's tablet... or lauren's smartphone... at&t has a plan built to help make families' lives easier. introducing at&t mobile share. one plan lets you share data on up to 10 devices with unlimited talk and text. add a tablet for only $10 per month. the more data you share, the more you sa. at&t. to help protect your eye health as you age... would you take it? well, there is. [ male announcer ] it's called ocuvite. a vitamin totally dedicated to your eyes, from the eye-care experts at bausch + lomb. as you age, eyes can lose vital nutrients. ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. [ male announcer ] ocuvite has a unique formula not found in your multivitamin to help protect your eye health. now, that's a

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jim clancy has some of their stories. >> reporter: the death toll continues to soar with activists reportinge including large numbers of women and children. the rockets fired into civilian areas and tanks moving in on the ground in many places across the country. the battle has centered not only on the large cities like damascus and on many smaller towns where the free syrian army has held sway for months. all young men have gone. all the young men have been burned this woman shouted. their voices filled with grief and anger. they trudge along. the smoke from fires smeared the skyline from behind them. video posted shows residents of the town leaving their homes, escaping with their lives but little else. some carried bags with food or belongings, perhaps a single bottle of water. many cradle children or infants in their arms. some appear to be injured or exhausted after days of fighting in iraq. as they appear to abandon their town many curse bashar assad. the determined drive by syrian government troops left those who supported the uprising in despair. this man was comforted by passers by

they're trying to get the assad regime's vice president out of the country, but "cnn international's" jim clancye farouk al sharaa is or even if he's actually defected. >> farouk al sharaa for years was the face of the syrian regime under bashar al assad's father. the face of the regime to the world. he represented them in the madrid palks after the rslf wa he's this ve w, w aed bit of a falling out with the government. heay want to l. let's be very clear here. leaving the syrian government, leaving bashar al assad is not the same thing as joining forces with the opposition. we're going to have to wait and see on this one. >>> meanwhile, syrian opposition groups report 183 people were kied today in civil wr violence. >>> the plane assigned to america's top military officer was hit by shrapnel from a rocket grenade in afghanistan at the bagram air field. the plane was on the tarmac. the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff was on base at the time, he was not hurt, but two base personnel were slightly injured. >>> state troope erers say none the five children killed in this crash was wearing a se