Sounds like a man engaging with the rest of us. Wasnt he meant to be the America First president , the one willing to do deals with russia and assad . So, has something changed . The Syrian Government thinks america was duped. I think they fall to the trick, and they have changed unnecessarily what they thought about syria. Well ask what this means for syria, the us and the world. And, while the world was reacting to that, a reminder of fraught times another truck atrocity, this time in the swedish capital, stockholm. I could actually see bodies lying on the street, and i could see the police covering a body with an orange blanket. Hello. Over three days, a huge shift in us policy to syria. A new engagement with the world and, it seems, a fresh approach to Foreign Policy that sees america willing to bomb again. On one account, trump means business, is willing to act fast and decisively, and is telling not just syria, but russia, iran and north korea to watch out. On this account, what trump has done has exposed the vacillation of President Obama, and despots of the world will now need to tread carefully. In the un Security Council, nikki haly, the us ambassador, laid it out. When the International Community consistently fails in its duty to act collectively, there are times when states are compelled to take their own action. The indiscriminate use of Chemical Weapons against innocent civilians is one of those times. The United States will not stand by when Chemical Weapons are used. It is in our Vital National security interests to prevent the spread and use of Chemical Weapons. Too soon to call it a trump doctrine, but theres no doubt, the launch of 59 Tomahawk Cruise Missiles in the early hours of our morning suddenly made the world feel like a more familiar place than it did last week. The us took a forceful stance, russia and iran were both very angry. The uk backed the us. France and germany supported it too, as did israel. Saudi arabia called it courageous. Was this trump turning into reagan . Or was this a trump just being capricious and inconsistent . Lets start by talking to the bbcs middle east editor, jeremy bowen. When the International Community consistently fails in its duty to act collectively, there are times when states are compelled to take their own action. The indiscriminate use of Chemical Weapons against innocent civilians is one of those times. We dont know if it does yet. It depends if it is a one off or it is part of a thought out us strategy, a new strategy, one that has a clear idea of what victory looks like, a clear idea of how they get there. That might change things. More attacks might change things as well, if the americans choose to use more force. Actually changing the course of this terrible conflict, i think, will take more than simply one attack. Lets talk about syria. We will hear from the Syrian Deputy Foreign minister shortly. What has been going on there . It would obviously be very bad for america if it emerged that they had been duped and it wasnt the syrians who have released sarin gas. What would be the theories as to why syria might be engaging in Chemical Warfare this week . The regime absolutely denies they had anything to do with it, or ever had anything to do with Chemical Weapons. Thats the first thing. Theres one school of thought that says assad would have been insane to use Chemical Weapons at this point. With his russian friends, he has scored important victories, turned the tide of war in his favour, with aleppo falling at the end of last year, a lot of bombing going on in idlib province, a rebel holdout, in the last couple of months, and particularly in the last few weeks by the russians, so why would he do it . Why would he want to get trump, who was talking about him as part of the solution to islamic state, and then bombing him . That is one thing. Another school of thought is that assad and his people knew all of that but they got away with using Chemical Weapons in 2013. I say here that they deny they get. They got away with it in 2013, really wanted to show all those who oppose them that they would grind them into the dirt and so, as well as conventional weapons, they thought, what the hell, we have Chemical Weapons left over, well use them too. Well speak to the Deputy Foreign minister shortly. It does seem like a hugely different donald trump to the one that was against bombing of syria back in 2013, and who campaigned against us involvement in foreign wars. Many thought he could end up taking the us into isolation and yielding much of the world to the influence of president putin. David grossman considers how significant a shift it is. The eagle in the president ial seal carries both an olive branch and a clutch of arrows, the power to make peace or wage war. Before being elected, donald trump repeatedly warned americas real enemy was not the Assad Government but islamist terrorism. I dont like assad at all, but he is killing isis. He said very bad things would happen if america got involved. That view has clearly changed. Tonight, i ordered targeted Military Strikes on the airfield from which the chemical attack was launched. Trump has consistently emphasised that the priority in syria should be Fighting Ices and even imply that one point during the campaign that assad could be a partner in Fighting Ices. He said that russia and assad are fighting is, so shouldnt we as well . So it was a stark turnaround just in the space of a week, a couple of days. The world is now trying to work out what our Trump S Ambitions and triggers in the region and a purpose for american involvement. The problems in this attack is limited to the specific objective of punishing and deterring assad from using Chemical Weapons in the future. I think it will be effective for that limited objective. But of course, it doesnt deal with the more fundamental problem that the Assad Government is committing war crimes every day. This is what the damage on the ground look like, according to russian television. Translation this is an act of aggression does that reminds me of 2003 when the us and britain invaded iraq without the agreement of the un Security Council, a major violation of international law. This of the photograph the white house released the president and his team the moment after the missiles it. There are obvious echoes with his predecessor and his advisers overseeing the operation to kill osama bin london. President trumps controversial chief strategist, steve bannon, is literally taking a back seat. Hopefully trump is starting to listen to people around him. Steve bannon has been removed, and many were concerned about him. He has been removed from the National Security council. I dont expect that Everything Trump does in Foreign Policy will be a dumpster fire. I do think we are seeing a process of some normalisation of the administration is the people around him start getting theirfoot in. Last nights air strike has rather overshadowed another apparent Foreign Policy refinement from the trump administrations an his attitude towards china. It is a tremendous honour for me and my representatives. Today, he was posting president xijin ping. He once described china as an enemy that was raping the american economy. He has backed away from most of the controversial things he said before taking office, questioning the value of nato, and us allies, questioning the us One China Policy. He has proved to be much more moderate than candidate trump. It reflects the responsibilities of office, in part, and that most of his Foreign Policy team are very mainstream. In any presidency, there are always two processes going on in parallel. The man shakes the offers, and the office shapes the man. Lets get the syrian Point Of View now. Just for context, its worth noting that quite apart from the Sarin Gas Attack this week, and the ones in 2013, there have been chlorine gas attacks on more frequent occasions. Last year, the organisation for the prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the opcw, jointly with the un, did find that the Syrian Government was responsible for at least three of those, while there was insufficient evidence in a number of other cases. That may or may not be relevant to the assessment that the Syrian Government was responsible for the latest sarin attack. Well, a little earlier i spoke to faisal mekdad, syrias Deputy Foreign minister. I asked him what he thought had happened in idlib this week. What happened is that a fabricated incident of the use of Chemical Weapons in Khan Sheikhoun was made, and at the end of the game, the United States has come at the request of Terrorist Groups in syria and bombarded a very important airport from which our planes go and attack daesh and Jabhat Al Nusra in its fight against terrorism. What happened to ignite sarin gas in Khan Sheikhoun this week . I think the Terrorist Groups have hidden these materials, and we have reported this to the United Nations Security Council, and to the organisation on the prevention of Chemical Weapons, some time ago, and told them the terrorists groups, Including Daesh and Jabhat Al Nusra, are bringing in chemical materials the real story has not been yet confirmed because the whole area is under the control of a terrorist group. Is it your contention, mr mekdad, that the Syrian Government has not used sarin gas or chlorine gas at any point in the conduct of this war . In my capacity, as the chairman of the Syrian National committee, on the implementation of our responsibility towards the opc, the organisation on Chemical Weapons, we have shipped all the materials on british, on french, on finnish, on american ships, and we send them to be burned this is what we have done. We have no whatsoever any Chemical Weapons, and the syrian army has not and will never use them against our syrian people. If we have to say what are the gains of the Syrian Government between using traditional weapons, or using these chemicals, the traditional weapons would kill more terrorists than what was reported. So the syrian army has no interest, no gains as, i mean, for the use of these gases or chemicals. Why has the organisation for the prohibition of Chemical Weapons in Itsjoint Investigative Mechanism with the United Nations found that the Syrian Government was responsible for chlorine attacks on various occasions, in april 2014 and march 2015 . I read the report very carefully, and they said that they were not able to go to those areas because they are under the control of Terrorist Groups, and they said that there is a possibility that the Syrian Government may have used chlorine in these attacks, but there was no confirmation whatsoever of these incidents in the report given to the Security Council. Mr mekdad, can you understand why most of the world simply doesnt believe a word that the Syrian Government says . We have seen the indiscriminate behaviour in terms of attacking have a reputation that anyone will stand by, and when you say that youre not behind chlorine gas attacks that other people say you are, or this latest attack this week. When we were liberating Eastern Aleppo from the Terrorist Groups, the entire International Community was mobilised against syria. Recently, in attacks carried out by the same Terrorist Groups who occupied Eastern Aleppo against damascus, the capital of syria, not a single incident was reported. During these attacks, many syrian civilians, of the international media, against the Syrian Government, with the support of certain governments like those in saudi arabia, and turkey. Let me ask you this. What is your reaction going to be, to the american attack last night . This is an unjustifiable attack. This is an aggression against a sovereign country. Its the responsibility of the Security Council acting within the charter, and the role of the Security Council to stop such attacks against sovereign country. Only a week ago, the position of the american government, the trump administration, well, it was that assad is a matter for the syrian people, not for the american government, against syria, and i think the administration in washington and other countries were subject to a misleading information that came to them, or have created such a thing to change these policies. The americans are just a victim here, they have just been a bit dim and fallen for a trick against them, its not that they have the best Intelligence Services and the biggest Security Administration in the world, its just they are suckers, basically, theyve fallen for a trick. I think they have fall to the trick, and they have changed unnecessarily what they thought about syria. And killing innocent children and women around shavrataireert . , do you ever stand back and think there are a lot of people in syria who hate Bashar Al Assad . Your country has fallen apart under him. Its in the grip of a horrendous civil war. Do you ever think, would it notjust be helpful if this guy stood out of the way or said he was willing to stand out of the way if there was a peace process, do you never look at what is happening to syria, and think my goodness, we need to do something here, rather than just stand and fight and bomb our own people . After the election of President Trump, and even in the uk, in france, people, i mean a lot of people hate his election, a lot of people hate president hollande. A lot of people hate Prime Minister, the Prime Minister in the uk, but they have never resorted to the use of weapons to express themselves as what happened in syria. In syria we have a lot of people who support policies of president Bashar Al Assad. His role in combatting terrorism, his role in bringing peace back into syria, so president assad was elected, whoever will come. Mr mekdad, we have to finish. He was not elected in the same way as the British Government or the american government. He was elected. Come on, dont be ridiculous. No, what you are saying is ridiculous because you admit elections in the uk, but you dont elect, i mean admit elections in syria. Tens of thousands of people have gone to the embassy of syria, in lebanon to elect president Bashar Al Assad. He is more legitimate than many of the european leaders you have, but these are not the questions to be asked. 0k. It is a discussion for another day. Faisal mekdad, thank you for giving us your time. We do appreciate it, thank you. Lets talk now to philip gordon. Between 2013 and 2015, he was Special Adviser to barack obama on the middle east. Gfififii egteiiig §§¥§u do you welcome what President Trump did last night . Within limits, i think it is the right thing to do, to respond and make clear that the United States is not going to allow the regime to use Chemical Weapons, and i think failing to act in some way, would send a message to assad who was clearly testing President Trump, go right ahead, use Chemical Weapons as much as you like, so i think there was a case for it and i am glad we did it, but i am also concerned about the consequences and the risk of Slippery Slope and this administration is going to have to be really disciplined in ensure that this doesnt lead us into conflict in syria, and discipline is not exactly been the hallmark of this administration. A lot of people say this is a huge shift, in the course of a week, from saying assad is sort of syrias problem, to getting pulled in as it is. Do you see this as a major shift, a strategic change, or do you see this as A Rush Of Blood To The Head in a one off . Well, it is definitely a head spinning change, i mean, i dont position on this issue, for six years, it is indeed 180 degrees. He has all along from the start of the conflict been opposed to american intervention, he said obamas red line was dumb to have issued and was against forcing it at the time. And by the way, in 20 you cant just say that well, the Chemical Weapon . ~ , w, ~~ attack in 2013 was with the same sort of substance and it killed about 15 times as many people. So in that case he was against it, now suddenly this week, he is for it, only days after Administration Representatives had signalled they were ok with assad staying in power. So in that sense. Are you feeling more positive, sorry to interrupt, he has done what i suspect President Obama wishes he has done, back if 2013, hasnt he . Well, i dont know if President Obama wishes he has done that, he is on the record recently as saying he thought it came out better than it would have had, and the logic there is, that is my caution about feeling so good about what happened now, nobody, we are 12 hours or whatever. ,. ,. After the strikes, critics or people who are concerned about where it leads never thought that the bad things would happen in 12 hours and President Obama didnt think that then. e you know; the others get fivdtetqt what does assad do now and what does putin do now . I am concerned, even though i think it was the right thing for the United States to respond, there will be a reaction from the other side, and i think it wont be long before assad is challenging trump again, maybe not with Chemical Weapons but possibly bombing the same parts of idlib with barrel bombs and other munitions and killing lots of people and saying, sorry, you really havent changed the course of war. And that will give a dilemma. Do you think the Foreign Policy is normalising, under donald trump . I wonder whether that is because there is something of a kind of, not a battle, but there are different advisers telling him Different Things and he seems to be leaning advisers telling him Different Things and he seems to be leaning towards, if you like, the more conventionalForeign Policy advisers, is that is what is going on . That is what is going on. If you set aside the tweets and the dust that gets kicked up by what this president sometimes says when you look at major Policy On Major Strategic Issues they are coming out in a fairly conventional way. Again, the style is far from conventional, you have to acknowledge that, in contrast to campaign positions, he said he would dismantle the iran nuclear deal. It turns now out he doesnt want do that. He questioned the One China Policy as the transition and he is meeting with the president of china and sticking with the One China Policy, he said he would move the embassy in israel tojerusalem, then decided it wasnt such a great idea. He questioned natos utility and sent his Vice President to nato to say good things about it. So i think across the board, you have gone from quite radical unconventional challenging positions, to much more mainstream and then as you say the personnel is becoming more mainstream as well. General flynn was a radical, he lasted 2a days. He has been replaced by a much more conventional National Security adviser, the secretary of defence, secretary of state. So it is moving in a much more traditional direction. But look, we still have a president who is impulsive and mecurial, and as we saw yesterday can change on the dime as if his previous positions had no meaning whatsoever. Phillip gordon, thank you very much indeed. Terror came to sweden today. And again, it was a vehicle that was used as a weapon to cause death. A truck. It really seems that this has become the default method for those wanting to do maximum harm. In this case, a beer truck was used, which had been hijacked earlier in the day. There was panic in the streets of Stockholmtoday Asshogners ,, a lorry smashed into a department store, before bursting into flames. The swedish Prime Minister, Stefan Lofven spoke this evening, to express the nations shock and anger. Thoughts, concerns and condolences have reached many of us from all around the world. And we are grateful for the many warm expressions of sharing our grief. We are determined never to let the values that we treasure, democracy, human rights, and freedom to be 34; swedish prime i522 swedish Prime Minister. Its been a little confusing this evening, with the suggestion that the police had picked up a suspect, but followed up by a claim that they were still looking for the killer. Bbc correspondent dan johnson is in stockholm, and just before we came on air, he brought us up to date on developments there. Well there is a strange atmosphere here tonight. Swedes are contemplating what happened here earlier and what it may mean for the future, now, the Prime Minister was clear that he said this had all the hallmarks of an act of terrorism, but at the moment we have had nothing more officially about who may have been involved in this, 01 what their motivation may have been. We know the police are questioning one man and they are urgently seeking another. They have put images out tonight of somebody they want to talk to, and we know there are extra police on the streets of this city, and across sweden, and there are extra Border Checks in place too. Now, there are potentially Big Questions raised by what has happened here today. It is a huge challenge for security services, here and everywhere really. How to keep people safe when they are walking through a city like this, if someone is prepared to kill, using an every day object, like a delivery truck. That is what was driven through Pedestrianised Street Today at shopper who had to run to save their lives. We know that four people died and 15 are being treated this evening, nine of them seriously ill. And there will be questions in the future about exactly what was behind this attack and that will raise issues perhaps about what extra Security Measures need to be put in place. Sweden has a proud history of being an open society, that embraces all, but we will have to wait for more detail on exactly what could have been behind this attack before we know the true impact it will have. Danjohnson. Dan johnson. Tonight, people, i think, feel a certain sense of wanting to help each other. We also saw that in the afternoon. An outpouring of support to each other with transportation, with letting in people into their homes. That was also part of the reaction, today. Was this expected . I mean, we have seen events of this kind, i mean, very close to this, in berlin, in paris, in nice, in london. Was it expected . Clearly it looks like a Terror Incident, and it bears resemblance to what weve seen in other places in europe. Of course we can be prepared. We can talk about it before it happens, but when it happens, its very dramatic, and you can never be fully prepared for that. But do you think this will contribute to a sense of uncertainty about the direction that sweden is taking . I think its too early to draw a conclusion like that. It will definitely affect our political discourse. If it affects our way of life, im not that sure. We actually, we had a Terror Incident in 2010, a Suicide Bomber in the same area as this incident. No one was killed at that time except the Suicide Bomber, so it was not the first time that Terror Strikes in stockholm. We know that donald trump made some comment about sweden and the difficulties it was having, and there was a certain sensitive there, wasnt there. I mean, everybody in sweden noted that he said sweden was this problem country that had let too many migrants in. I just wonder whether those words will be echoing to some extent around sweden this evening and people will feel frustrated to some extent that the president said that. From some corners in society we will definitely hear that. What donald trump did was to spread false information about what was happening in sweden, the day before he was talking. But well see who is behind this, if there is any link to immigration, or to refugees, or the situation in syria, who takes responsibility for this act of terror. I think it is too early tonight to draw conclusions about what we can who is really behind this. It is really too early. Does it matter who it is, that is the perpetrator . We had acts of terror from the right wing in sweden as well. We had that a couple of years ago. It was not that widely reported throughout the world but we have seen acts of terror from both sides. Jihadism is a serious problem in europe, and sweden is not an exception. Lets wait and see what this really is. The perpetrator or the perpetrators might still be at large, we are not sure about that tonight. Peter wolodarski, thank you very much