been reporting for the past few hours now from the russian foreign ministry of the russian foreign minister but we've since had more detail from the defense ministry the news conference there in the past half an hour or so has got evidence that the alleged chemical attack in syria's duma stage correspondent daniel hawkins was across of that news conference that we had in the past few minutes take us through what was said of that briefing that it was certainly interesting take by the russian ministry of defense on those events in the last few days just to give you some background it was around the seventh of course that those allegations came forward by syrian troops on the ground the white helmets that a chemical incident a chemical attack had taken place in the town of duma killing and injuring many civilians in that area allegedly subsequently this of course led to a huge diplomatic fallout in the security council etc and considerations by the u.s. the u.k. other states a lot strikes on syria now with the o.p.c. w team is going to do more i believe is in syria already will be looking at what's going on there in the next day or so now wh

with the russian ministry of defense to make sure there were no russian aircraft in the air when the was done. i think it appears to me they went way out of their way the trump administration and the pentagon to make sure no russian soldiers or russian facilities were hit. i just would note, i want to remind people when we talk about the legality of the attack. there are 2,000 soldiers in syria. we have been trying with the a lot of precision to avoid our military being in conflict with the russian military. >> let me pick up on that point. and ask you is there a valid question to be asked about whether or not the authorizization of use of force that had been granted to the president by congress after 9/11 to go after terrorism in the broad abstract way. that wouldn't necessarily be applicable to what the administration say is very narrowly in the chemical weapons program. >> there's lots of issues there. when i hear people talk about the illegality of the use of force this syria. we have been using force in syria including when i was in government. and the obama administration we wa

of terrorist aggression. had russian ambassador to the u.s., saying that russia has been threatened and warning of consequences. but we are waiting for, a briefing from the ministry of defense here. we expect that, in the next hour. but already russian media are quoting the ministry of defense saying that not a single cruise missile fired by u.s. and allies, entered the air covered by russian air defense. now that does appear to tally with what the u.s. is saying in the its briefings on this, on these strikes. they didn't, the strikes did not take place in the area where the russian air defenses, but i think the fact that the, the russian ministry of defense, is beginning to say things like that, they will have been saying that part ly underscore the fac they didn't need to respond with air defense in the way they suggested they might. interesting to see whether they take the view, the line this was a relatively limited strike and kind itf you use it as a we to emphasize the u.s. and allies weakness or whether they continue down the line that russians have been over the past week. and that is to condemn, to say, it its, unjustified interference, to question the, the -- the

defense systems but should the u.s. conduct any additional strikes how might russia respond well look in all reactions we have heard to so far and especially in the response of the russian ministry of defense we hear that the americans didn't attack russian targets and i think the hope of course is that there will be no military action from russia and the russian air defense systems located in syria territory have not been used to counter the missile strikes however. the russians have a letter a letter to flee a large military base in the syrian city of community mean i was there myself two years ago and saw that there are not just a few plants there but a whole arsenal of military equipment and personnel if the americans attack. then an open military conflict between the two superpowers us a and russia can no longer be avoided but so far there is no directed then job of it i think you're a shadow in moscow for us thanks very much for that very. while this western intervention in syria comes as investigators from a global chemical weapons watchdog are due to start their fact finding mission into last week's suspected poison gas attack in the syrian town of duma now syria and its

now these are obviously quite strong allegations from the russian ministry of defense or other counter allegations us to this alleged chemical incident in do something they will have to obviously provide evidence for specifically for for britain's involvement in this the key bit of evidence that as we said before is the arrival of the o.p.c. the team with the u.n. man that he would instructions on the ground to get those soil samples get those examined any victims if there are any and find out if any chemicals were used that's the key thing to prove what exactly happened and to give some credibility to either of these two versions will find that out of course in the next twenty four to forty eight hours let's hope some scientific facts can take some of the heat out of the situation for now though don hawkins thanks very much for that. those who reported on the alleged attack and it was dan was just saying there some have question marks hanging over their credibility has more i guess they have explained . reports of a chemical attack first appeared strange enough it's almost the precise

according to the russian ministry of defense militants obstructed the deal of their evacuation with their families from doing many eastern we'll talk to in northern syria they also according to syrian officials and military source blocked for the ins from accepting from via humanitarian corridors an open gunfire at demonstrators and side who are calling on the militants to leave of course this comes after a sub for members and senior commanders are. turned against this evacuation deal reached last week over there inside duma and those senior commanders actually ousted the other commanders officials who were negotiating with russia on this deal after of course such developments the syrian government forces stepped up their military actually attacks and started a new ground offensive against militants enjoyment in order to militarily get rid of there was militants and particularly of course. however before the deal was violated it to prove pretty effective thousands of people civilians militants and their family members used the corridors to leave the district. building. that was going to b

yes according to the russian ministry of defense militants obstructed the deal of their evacuation with their families from do many eastern part in northern syria and they also according to a syrian official military source blocked civilians from accepting from via humanitarian corridors and opened gunfire and demonstrators inside who are calling on the militants to leave of course this comes after of members and senior commanders are. against this evacuation view reached last week over there inside. and those senior commanders actually asked the. other commanders of journalists who are negotiating with russia on this deal after of course such developments the syrian government forces stepped up their military actually attacks and started a new it round of france. against militants in duma an order to militarily get rid of those militants inside particularly of course. sure there was a lot of hope wasn't there mohammed that this humanitarian corridor would succeed just on the basis that over the last few weeks we've seen similar humanitarian corridors work pretty effectively. yes for se

will come back the evacuation of civilians and militants from syria's eastern ghouta has been suspended according to the russian defense ministry that's up to one of the militant groups which have previously agreed to leave the enclave violated the agreement the district has been under an army blockade since two thousand and thirteen after it was captured by rebel groups the rebels have used the district as a launching point to shell residential areas of damascus causing you civilian deaths syrian based ali gave us the latest on the situation according to the russian ministry of defense. obstructed video. off on their evacuation with their families from doing many eastern water to northern syria they also according to a syrian official military source blocked civilians from accepting from duma via humanitarian corridors and open gunfire at demonstrators and side who are calling on the militants to leave of course this comes after a sub for members and senior commanders are. turned against this evacuation deal reached last week over there inside duma and those senior commanders actually ousted the other commanders who are negoti

best a geisha as to what you make of the the russian media defense ministry being able to very accurately state as far as they're concerned whether you believe it a lot of rory said that they were able to tell the media this is what happened this is where the missiles did not go did not strike yet we haven't really heard from the pentagon yet because i still analyzing the results well there's a bit a little bit of muscle flexing i think between the two sides if what the russians what they say is is true that seventy percent of the missiles were intercepted then that is really to the credit of the technology weaponry of the russians of the russians that they have been able to. deflect seventy percent of the attack it's quite amazing. and the real sad story is the testing ground remains the syrian ground and the syrian population that these two sides testing their abilities to to attack and counterattack and the real issue hasn't been addressed that the capability of assad to inflict damage on his population is probably stronger than before what hasn't killed you will make you stronger in t

of the disorder. according at least the russian defense ministry. has reportedly. reportedly. hearing. thanks for joining us this. over the last few hours police have been clashing with protesters in a french town near the city of not. using crowd control measures to break up an environmental squatter camp. no doubt. you. know. the protesters belong to the so-called movement which comes from the french language zone to defend the stand off against the construction of when he has been ongoing for more than four decades now on his short of doing skis on the scene. oh god the. world thank you for your world will know you will be if you. will. make. her out that. this land was scheduled to be part of an airport development many people are against that people moved into the land they took over they built a coal mine of the many years many people say that this is now the family land they farm here and they want to protect it the government said they had to be out by the end of the winter they would give them until last week to leave the being given extra weeks grace and what's happening now i

secretary of defense mad dog mattis admitted actually we have no real evidence that assad ever you and several months ago we had a russian ministry of defense come out and tell us that they were expecting their respect to another and another pretext a staged chemical weapon attack and the one thing that the western media will never tell you is who was in control of the this is the saudi backed. literally head shopping woud be jihadists of joey all islam literally they call themselves the army of islam this was in who is in control of doing right and there were eight there is no western journalists on the ground with them of course there is a couple of local gong goes paid by the us government and white helmets why are you helmet syrian american matter is unworkable of information isn't always the brotherhood right there had been well who had jumped in and there is an interesting detail that i would like to add to all of the syrian war several western journalists were kidnapped and they were never kidnapped by us forces they were always kidnapped by the so-called position fighters more their ads and the moderates. photographer and

allege the use of chemical weapons so these are obviously quite strong allegations from the russian ministry of defense or other counter allegations us to this alleged chemical incident in do something they will have to obviously provide evidence for specific before for britain's involvement in this the key bit of evidence that as we said before is the arrival of the o.p.c. the team with the u.n. and that he would instructions on the ground to get those soil samples get those solved examine any victims if there are any and find out if any chemicals were used that's the key thing to. prove what exactly happened and to give gravitas and credibility to either of these two versions will find that out of course for the next twenty four to forty eight hours the u.k.'s ambassador to the un has reacted to the accusations from the russian military by calling them grotesque in a blatant lie however the video we're telling you about the featured the medic who dismissed the chemical attack claims has been taken seriously in shown by a number of media outlets further questions are also hanging over the west's narra

know that some sort of a substance was used a chemical was use we're just not sure at this point today exactly what was what used furthermore we've heard from the russian defense ministry and they say that they have sent their chemical experts to the site in dilma and that they just don't see the evidence that that attack even took place this is the russian ministry of defense hurt you but you're. off to the influence russian experts the road to the site of the alleged chemical attack who took food samples. which showed there were no poison the substances the sea medical institution show helmets footage me the story is confirmed any victims or use of poisonous substance is now at this point u.s. fleets are on their way to the middle east and the world is holding its breath wondering what will happen next and how much restraint various world powers will be able to show as tensions are clearly escalating trump may be rushing to act now but it was doorways like this back in two thousand and thirteen he was highly critical of then president barack obama's approach on syria so the bad things will happen if washington launches an attack but after becoming president trump dro

yesterday russian military police military police is acting on the ground in the syrian city of what we just seed seen it in the report where the alleged chemical attack took place russian ministry of defense insists the situation in duma remains stabilized for the last few five days allegedly if there are there to guarantee law and all the however we see a clear attempt by the russians to downplay the situation as much as possible by the way even russian state run broadcaster since yesterday it reduced the antti west and rhetoric significantly ok in this new information that we have russian personnel on the ground in dumas certainly is a new and important factor right now a close go to you know the white house spokeswoman sara huckabee sanders is saying there's no tying table right now for action in syria is the white house backing off of its previous comments. well her comments are quite troubling given trump's earlier tweets promising military strikes on syria and the fact that the white house is now saying that all options remain on the table suggest that trump was on twitter promising military action before anything had actually been decided now it's unclear not only what his long ter

said we're not going to comment on that for now also we don't have the reaction of the russian ministry of defense to that it's early in the morning here so perhaps they're going to come up with some statement a little bit later so indeed the situation is getting complicated and all of this is happening right after the chemical attack that you mentioned allegations of a chemical attack the blame is being penned on the assad government which damascus denies and has again we all know russia called it a provocation and vladimir putin has been more warning the international community have. about things like that possibly happening when he was meeting with the presidents of turkey and iran last week did the picture likely to clear up as the day goes on and as of yet what we can be sure of is of course there will be a fallout from this one that diplomatically about what's happened over the last few hours there with the latest thank you we discussed the matter with us surely a professor and dean at the jindal school of international affairs. as part of the u.s. goes and the russians go i think they shoul

hours ago saying there was solid evidence that it was staged what we heard there was at the russian ministry of defense have a video of people who were featured in the original footage that suggested there was a chemical attack in duma last weekend saying that it was staged that when people were being brought in that others ran into the hospital to start throwing water to potentially treat these people before leaving again so refuting the genuine claims that that video was a genuine chemical attack so quite a significant detail there that we've had from the russian ammo day we're going to go back to the new york now where another u.n. security council meeting on syria is underway. whistler's me in this case will fall to the united states and their allies it is most unfortunate that old europe continues to loose face there's a world where we call upon the leadership of these states immediately to reconsider to return to the international legal fold and not to bring the world to such a dangerous threshold that is necessary to urgently seek a peaceful settlement through collective efforts our separation s

idea believes that is that correct yes that is true we just got an update from the russian ministry of defense we were expecting reaction from them and we have it they are saying that early in the morning it was about four pm moscow time a bit earlier than that two f. fifteen belonging to the israeli air force launched air strikes against that military base from the lebanese airspace it says that according to the russian army five rockets were launched a total of eight lockett's rockets were launched five couldn't reach the target they were intercepted but three eventually that air base so this is the latest update from the russian military on this that we were expecting would see what israel has to say about that and the rest of the international community will of course up until now have denied have declined to comment either way on their involvement or not we do have that security council meeting coming up specter's sparks flying obviously allegations council occasions. of the latest updates on that as well thanks for that. well meanwhile in the besieged enclave of eastern ghouta rebels are

and that they just don't see the evidence that that attack even took place so this is the russian ministry of defense. but you but you're. off to the duma incidents russian experts arrived at the site of the alleged chemical attack took soil samples and collected data which showed there were no police in the substances at the scene at the medical institution shown in the helmets footage move the stuff nor pollutions confirmed any victims or use of poisonous substance is now at this point u.s. fleets are on their way to the middle east and the world is holding its breath wondering what will happen next and how much restraint various world powers will be able to show as tensions are clearly escalating many thanks our correspondent carolyn warping with the latest there from new york. may be rushing to act now but it wasn't always like this back in two thousand and thirteen it was highly critical of then president barack obama's approach on syria saying bad things will happen if washington launches an attack but after becoming president trump dropped tomahawk missiles on syria and is now seemingly gearin

allege the use of chemical weapons so these are obviously quite strong allegations from the russian ministry of defense or other counter allegations us to this alleged chemical incident in do something they will have to obviously provide evidence for specifically for for britain's involvement in this the key bit of evidence that as we said before is the arrival of the o.p.c. team with the u.n. and that he would have structures on the ground to get those soil samples get those solves examined any victims if there are any and find out if any chemicals were used that's the key thing to. what exactly happened to give some credibility to either of these two versions will find that out of course in the next twenty four to forty eight hours however the video featuring the medic who dismissed the chemical attack claims has been taken seriously and shown by a number of media outlets for the questions also hanging over the west's narrative due to the dubious reputations of the groups that initially made the allegations morganti of explains. reports of a chemical attack first period strangely enough for it's almo

allege the use of chemical weapons so these are obviously quite strong allegations from the russian ministry of defense or other counter allegations us to this alleged chemical incident in do something they will have to obviously provide evidence for specific before for britain's involvement in this the key bit of evidence that as we said before is the arrival of the o.p.c. the team with the u.n. and that he would instructions on the ground to get those soil samples get those air solved was examined any victims if there are any and find out if any chemicals were used that's the key thing to do. groove what exactly happened to give some credibility to either of these two versions will find that out of course of the next twenty four to forty eight hours however the video featuring the medic who dismissed the chemical attack claims has been taken seriously and shown by a number of media outlets further questions are also hanging over the west narrative due to the dubious reputations of the groups that initially made the allegations explains. reports of a chemical attack first appeared strange enough it's

russian chemical military grade chemical i mean maybe they're still sticking to highly likely exactly where do we stand in terms of certainty. well i was talking to chemists working for the russian ministry of defense a few days ago while the they agreed that you know no ritual for example any substances complex is the new feature of viral agents nerve agents or they cannot be made in a basement it requires years of experience it requires a professional aboard torie requires dedication and money to make a nerve agent any sort of nerve agent more complicated than the x. . which is sixty odd different nerve agents they would require a lib oratory a proper border tory to make but with regards to identifying the origin of this substance well they've all but said that they believe this is new which will johnson you know if we remember on the fourth of march when screwball and his daughter were poisoned with this substance two days later you had boris johnson in parliament promising to retaliate against russia if there was any proof at all then said they said it putin smug response showed russia's guilt what exactly and this was this was a huge campaign that lasted for weeks and culminated in the expulsi

more on that line that sergey lavrov was outlining later on in the day perhaps from the russian ministry of defense but more generally i think russia as each day goes past with no u.s. strikes against syrian targets i think that russia is perhaps feeling like the that the imminent danger time is passing that it has had enough warning essentially to be able to move its more vulnerable military assets out of harm's way that it's been able to do the same for vulnerable syrian government assets and perhaps iranian assets too and that it hopes that enough time has passed in washington d.c. for the u.s. military establishment to be able to back donald trump away from his more inflammatory positions that it articulated earlier on in the week and that of course that this military de confliction hotline that exists between the two countries will i think the russians hope give them advance warning about what's coming and make it more of a cosmetic strike if it happens and less of a specifically punitive one roy thank you very much for that so russia cost pond and roy hallums live in moscow and saying a ha th

the strikes did not take place in the area where the russian air defense is. russian ministry of defense is beginning to say things like that. they will have been saying that partly to underline, to underscore the fact they didn't need to respond in their air defense in the way they suggested they might. you will be able to see whether they take the line this was a relatively limited strike and use it as a way to emphasize the u.s. and allies weakeners or weather they continue down the line the russians have been over the past week and that is to condemn, to say unjustified interference to question the claim by the u.s. that chemical weapons were used. it will be interesting to see how the russian government responds as the day plays out. >> keir simmons live in moscow, thank you very much for that, keir. from moscow, let's go to washington, d.c. and bring in nbc correspondent vivian, national political reporter for msnbc news who covers the white house. great to have you with us on this very busy night. i know you served in baghdad. you have a lot of experience, unfortunately in

kingdom that says four aircraft struck all of their targets dead on and the view of the russian ministry of defense saying that 103 cruise missiles, including tomahawks were used in the attack. but 71 cruise missiles were intercepted. on top of that, the russians claim a number of air bases were also attacked whereas the allies have said there was only one base that came under attack. i think this is definitely within the context of he said/she said, muddying the waters. a standard operational procedure, really, of any country involved in some kind of conflict is to try to own the truth rather than let the truth speak its own. but on the same level, i think what's also striking, really, for the russians is that the scale of this operation will make no material difference whatsoever to the successful prosecution of the civil war by the russians and the syrians and the iranian allies who are definitely way ahead and winning. this has not broken the back of any aspect of the military capability of the syrians with the exception of chemical weapons. and they have been killing very much larger numbers o

of russia are consequences and condemnation. >> reporter: yeah. condemnation from across the russian government. president putin in the kremlin calling it an act of aggression. condemnation from iran, russia's partner inside syria. the russian ministry of defenseholding a news conference in the past few hours in which russian military officials there say that of 103 missiles that were fired, 71 were shot down by the syrian air defenses, which, of course, are supplied by russia. now, i mean, that's a pretty bold claim. unverifiable by us in moscow. russian are saying they may use the opportunity to supply syria with more sophisticated air defenses. and francis, away from the rhetoric and counter claims, i think, inside the kremlin, they'll be satisfied that this has not lead to a larger confrontation with the united states and at the same time russia's advantage inside syria hasn't been lost. certainly there is no sign of president putin heeding president trump's wonder and turning away from syria this morning. >> as we await the pentagon briefing in a few hours, keir, about targeted air defenses, collateral damage in any way so far? >> no, i mean, what is interesting is that the russians confirming that they did not engage their air defenses a

a lot of people in the russian ministry of defense warning the united states that any military attack could have serious consequences. israel, let's not forget, there have been first of all dozens of chemical weapons attacks that the u.n. has pinned on president assad's regime and forces. and there have been dozens of israeli air strikes inside syria. last night, which was a predawn raid, was actually launched from here from the air space in lebanon. the lebanese authorities saying four israeli warplanes took part. but as you say, this is a -- you know, a horrible game of many players. we've got turkey, iran, russia, the united states, president trump is talking to emmanuel macron of france, french warplanes may well be involved in action. and this afternoon at 3:00 eastern time on the floor of the security council, once again this must be the 30th or 40th emergency meeting on syria. we will have the horrors of the syrian war played out yet again. and there will be just bitter disputes between nikki haley who will set out the evidence, and the russian ambassador who, again, going back

of the russian defense ministry has this play fragments of several missiles recovered from the country the missiles and other malfunctions all failed to reach their targets they were part of the launched by america or you at u.k. and france earlier this month carol's got more on the story. well as you know we've been bombarded with two different versions of events of those strikes that hit syria in mid april and today the russian defense ministry really upped the ante by providing some actual tangible evidence of those missiles that it says what are the intercepted or simply malfunctioned and this is going to be a barrister in development for the u.s. side which has lauded the success of those one hundred five as strikes which it said was were precise and overwhelming also dismissing any suggestions by russia that any of those missiles have been intercepted also insisting that the syrian air defense capabilities had been largely ineffective with syrian missiles merely being fired into open air take a listen with way over one hundred missiles they didn't shoot one down the equipment did

allege the use of chemical weapons so these are obviously quite strong allegations from the russian ministry of defense or other counter allegations us to this alleged chemical incident in do something they will have to obviously provide evidence for specific before for britain's involvement in this the key bit of evidence that as we said before is the arrival of the o.p.c. team with the u.n. and that he would instructions on the ground to get those soil samples get those examined any victims if there are any and find out if any chemicals were used that's the key thing to. prove what exactly happened and to give gravitas and credibility to either of these two versions will find that out of course in the next twenty four to forty eight hours. the u.k.'s ambassador to the un meantime has reacted to the accusations from the russian military by calling them grotesque in a blatant lie over the video we were telling you about featuring the medic who dismissed the chemical attack claims has been taken seriously and shown by a number of media outlets further questions are also hanging over the west's narrative

of. the russian defense ministry also went into detail earlier about the targets of those one hundred five missiles twenty two only twenty two of those one hundred five missiles actually hit their intended targets and it's being revealed that they actually hit civilian objects rather than the alleged chemical supplies the u.s. has been so persistent upon take a listen just of. some of the missiles don't reach the targets apparently due to malfunction the real threat to civilians there in civilian buildings at the same time the logic of the u.s. u.k. and france in choosing the targets is unclear you see there were stockpiles of toxic agents there if they were hit by cruise missiles this could lead to widespread poisoning and if it was for damascus itself tens of thousands of people could have died so this latest development is probably going to deal or blow to the u.s. presidency ego as well he had boasted as so optimistically about the performance of his missiles and after those strikes even still his popularity on the upturn with his approval rating jumping a few percentage points so this

earth of the delayed chemical weapons attack jaish it informed the un that they had reached an agreement with the russian federation and defeat in government the russian federation ministry of defense stated that the agreement and compasses as if i am and j shit fighter of laying down their arms or evacuating duma the russian fed russian federation all the reported that up to eight of them j she slammed fighter and forty thousand of their own family members where to evacuate and the brief you know now we understand that additional if i question from duma are already underway we have also received reports and some that they need the ones we had heard before have began to be released from the what they we do note reports that the agreement provides for civilians who decide to stay to remain under guarantees of the russian federation with the resumption of visits in coordination with a committee of the billions locally. i urge the syrian government and the russian federation to ensure protection of those civilians so that many civilians as possible can stay in their homes if they choose to or leave to a plate of their own choosing or return and by international law and urge that they