the ground in syria saying that at least 25 people have been killed in syria today. other reports are saying higher. many more people are injured as well. clashes between anti-government protesters and government security forces, live ammunition, we are told, are being used against the demonstrators, and it is happening in clashes all across the country including and this is important the very heart of the capital of syria, damascus. at the center of it all, the embattled syrian president, basharal assad, he, of course, rules a country that is critical to mideast peace efforts. that s why this is so important. he has been offering up conciliatory moves including the slashing down of harsh emergency measures that have been in place for decades. however, at the same time he s been turning his own security forces against his own people, and the protesters have been upping the ante as well. in the past couple weeks they ve been calling just for reforms of the government, now they are c
that it has happened again. again, here is the president. my fellow americans. a short time ago, i ordered the united states armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of syrian dictator bashar a l- assad. a combined operation with the armed forces of france and the united kingdom is now under way. we thank them both. tonight, i want to speak with you about why we have taken this action. one year ago, assad launched a savage chemical weapons a talk against his own innocent people. the united states responded with 58 missile strikes that destroyed 20 percent of the
gas. president basharal assad has 60 days to use it before it expires and needs to be used. it suffocates victims by paralyzing the muscles around their lungs and is 500 times more toxic than cyanide. the military source tells us the gas in syria is believed to be in aerosol form which means it is in canisters that can be dropped from airplanes. we are told by middle eastern diplomatic sources that middle eastern countries are trying to find a place to give assad asylum. the u.s. military is making contingency plans in case assad leaves. if he leaves suddenly a top international priority would be