certainly that possibility is open and one he has promised will happen. he said tel-aviv will be bombed if attacked in local newspapers. this is the only thing they re talking about in the news. a tense waiting period in the picture of people lining up for gas masks. there were thousands waiting for gas masks. those who did not get them yesterday are out of luck as the gas mask distribution centers are shut down in israel for friday and saturday the weekend here. we are told there are thousands of people who still do not have them. whether they will be needed or not, nobody knows. israel is clearly moving towards being ready for an assad counterattack. their iron rod missile defense system has been deployed in the morn part not only in tel-aviv and there are some on standby and we learned the weekend leave for soldiers normally able to go home to their families has been canceled. no question the israelis are taking this threat seriously.
much larger regional war. the united kingdom, for its part, is taking a little bit of a step back. today they announced that they were not interested in participating in a military strike until the u.n. inspectors finished their job. today in damascus the inspectors were out at a site of one of the alleged chemical attacks to collect samples, those kinds of things, see if they can figure out exactly what type of gas was used. they conclude on saturday, then would have to issue their report. the one thing that everyone assumes will be missing from that report is it may say what type of gas was used, very unlikely they re going to be pinpoint a culprit, meaning either blame the regime or the government like the united states has. ali? alisyn: well, that would make it more complicated, obviously. congressional leaders are looking for real evidence of who did it, but meanwhile, jerusalem is your backdrop there, leland, so what s the feeling there? is there tension? reporter: tense but ki
jon: some international headlines we re watching this hour, japan s regulator said impact of radioactive water leaking from a damaged nuclear plant is unknown but it is monitoring the situation closely. a massive earthquake and tsunami damaged the fukushima nuclear plant as you remember in 2011. in israel thousands are crowding gas mask distribution centers preparing for a potential conflict with syria. this video is from haifa where officers are deployed to maintain order after more than 5,000 people crowded lines waiting for protective kits. parts of china are suffering from the worst flooding in more than a century. military vessels are on patrol preparing for mass evacuations and crews reinforcing dikes. it is feared they could be breached at any moment.
more now on our top story. in just a few hours congressional leaders are expected to be briefed by members of president obama s cabinet on what action, if any, the u.s. will take against syria. meantime, in israel people are rushing to gas mask distribution centers. they fear that if the u.s. goes ahead with missile attacks on syria, israel will be the first target of retaliation. nbc s a tia baughy is in tel aviv. hi there, tamron. there is a panic among certain civilians inside israel that they may be targeted if there is a u.s. air strike in syria. you mentioned thousands of israelis have lined up at various distribution centers. these are government issued gas masks that are given out to the population to protect them, any time during the year. in the last couple of days we ve seen more and more israelis going out and trying to pick those up. they ve been waiting in line
circumstances. sanctions against syria is complicated the payment for extra fuel. france is backing the sanctions but the spokesman said the airline paid the bill without taking any money from passengers. the plane later landed safely in beirut. can you imagine that? the iranian president, mahmoud ahmadinejad, todaying saying that israel s existence is an insult to all of humanity. we have heard stuff like that in the past but the latest comments come during increased debate whether israel should bomb iran s nuclear program. iran claiming the nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. israel doesn t buy that. the country, they are preparing their nation for war. the israeli government opened new gas mask distribution centers, and tested a new nation-wide missile alert system. what is going on here? we have pulitzer prize winning journalist and fox contributing