strike syria quote within hours and if the president orders military action. today, the obama administration laid out its case for retaliation because it says the syrian government did, in fact, use chemical weapons against its own people. anyone could claim this attack is contrived or fabricated needs to check their own moral compass. what is before us today is real and it is compelling. president obama believes there must be accountability for those who would use the world s most heinous weapons against the world s most vulnerable people. so what s the reaction from syria? cnn s fred pleitgen has rare, inside access to damascus and cnn is the only western television network in damascus right now. hi, fred. tell us, quhas the reaction from the ground there?
anyone could claim this attack is contrived or fabricated needs to check their own moral compass. what is before us today is real and it is compelling. president obama believes there must be accountability for those who would use the world s most heinous weapons against the world s most vulnerable people. so what s the reaction from syria? cnn s fred pleitgen has rare, inside access to damascus and cnn is the only western television network in damascus right now. hi, fred. tell us, quhas the reaction from the ground there? reporter: hi, jessica. you know, the syrian government hi, fred. tell us, quhas the reaction from the ground there? reporter: hi, jessica. you know, the syrian government hasn t put out statements after kerry s speech but they re reacting and you can certainly see they re at least hearing the message. when s going on is the foreign minister of the country called for a press conference for tomorrow 1:00 p.m. local time and you can see the government
syria? cnn s fred had rare, inside access to damascus and cnn is the only western television network in damascus now. fred, tell us what s the reaction from the ground there? reporter: hi, jessica. the syrian government hadn t put out statements after kerry s speech but they are reacting and you can certainly see they re at least hearing the message. what s going on is the foreign minister of the country has called for awe press conference for tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. local time and generally you can see the syrian government reacting. president al assad came out with an interview in a russian up in saying it was ludicrous to assume his forces would use chemical weapons on the front line saying they would have gassed themselves if they would have done that. clearly, the u.s. isn t buying that. on the other hand, though, the syrian government is still trying to show a show of force. what we ve seen as the u.n. weapons inspectors were on the