over the last seven years. the message is clear, their one leader is president assad. he may be absolutely propped up by the russian military, but it does not change the fact that, again, he is in power. his military is still there and the russians are not going anywhere. cal, before or as the strikes were happening, president trump took to the air waves and gave a speech to what was going on with the air strikes. take a listen. i also have a message tonight for the two governments most responsible for supporting, equipping and financing the criminal assad regime. to iran and russia, i ask, what kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children? in 2013, president putin and his government promised the world they would guarantee the elimination of syria s chemical
states, united kingdom and france. everybody here, seemingly, at this point, saving face. we have heard they were very strategic strikes and they seem to be very strategic diplomatically. the united states can claim they were able to do what president trump committed them to doing three days ago on twitter. president assad can, again, claim victory he was able to thwart the attack. the russians didn t lose any service members. no need for them to respond to the attack. again, that word calculated, used around the world, it seems that s what it was. you have been monitoring syrian tv. what is going on in syria in response to the attacks? there were two dangers, one the united states would hit targets where there would be russian or iranian troops. that would significantly escalated the situation in the region, but perhaps globally as well. the other danger of this strike
reliable intelligence shows military officials coordinated what appears to be the use of chlorine on the 7th of april. no other group could have carried out the attack. the fact of this attack should surprise no one. we know that the syrian regime has an utterly abhorrent record of using chemical weapons against its own people. on the 21st of august, 2013, over 800 people were killed and thousands more injured in a chemical attack, also in ghouta. there were 14 smaller scale attacks prior to that summer. on the 4th of april last year, the syrian regime used sarin against its people and based on the regime s persistent pattern of behavior and the cumulative
international community acted to give that clear message about this use of chemical weapons. i m from the guardian. prime minister, are you concerned you do not have support of the british people for the action? polling shows a fifth of people support further action in syria. and what is your message about the people who are uneasy about the action you have taken? as i said, i have taken this decision because i believe it is the right thing to do. i think my message to people about this is that this is about the use of chemical weapons. we have, for nearly 100 years, had a generally accepted position in the international community that chemical weapons are illegal, their use is illegal, they are banned. that has generally been accepted. we have seen that international norm being eroded. it s been eroded a number of
wider issue of restoring peace and stability and security in syria and we will continue to work with all partners and, of course, russia s involvement in that will be a part of that to bring about that security and that peace for syria in the future and political solution for syria in the future. simon israel from channel 4 news. given the failure, as you have said in your statement of all diplomatic efforts so far, what is the plan following these strikes? sorry, what is the plan for your plan, following the strikes. as i said, diplomatic efforts in itself has not had the impact that we wished it would have. we have now taken military action and alongside that, we will renew diplomatic efforts as well. some of those will continue to be through the united nations to