do you generally if you want to destroy an air base. if you want to stop them from launching strikes. if you want to destroy an air base, absolutely, you destroy the runway. let s say you have a place where runways cross, that s the point you hit. any place that is an aircraft hangar, any place where there are something like fuel storage areas, weapons facilities, all of that stuff. but they didn t do that here. that s right. what that tells me is the goal was really not to do that. they didn t want to destroy the syrian air force or that base but what they wanted to do was send a message. when you mentioned some of the fact issues, the business about destroying 20% of the syrian air force, absolutely not. twenty aircraft, yes, that s possible. one air base, one location, one wing. there s no way you can get 20% of that air force even though it s a relatively small air force. nick burns, it also raises the question of policy objectives. they wanted it to look like a
regime, how does this affect the conflict in the long term? we have coverage around the world. welcome back, i m christine romans. i m dave briggs, it is 11:32 in syria, we welcome our viewers around the world. president trump launching strikes in syria, u.s. warships launched 59 tomahawk cruise missiles at a syrian airfield, the same airfield that carried out the chemical attacks were based. assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women, and children. it was a slow and brutal death for so many. no child of god should ever suffer such horror. this is the direct military action the u.s. has taken
florida where he ll be heading over the mar-a-lago. a 6:30 eastern time dinner is planned between the president and the president of china. the first meeting between two men and a lot on the agenda there. i want to stick with syria if i can and ask about the possibilities. you mentioned there will be options. the previous administration obviously struggled for years with how to handle syria and what kind of military force on use. this is a very difficult subject no? it is difficult. but there isn t a lack of military options. in 2013 when president, then president obama came very close the launching strikes, they had a whole host of options ready. the pentagon was ready to go. what we ve seen the last 24, 48 hours, is the pentagon in some parts dusting off those plans
effectively ending a cease-fire with the pkk that had been in place since 2013. all of this coming against the backdrop of the negotiations ongoing between turkey the united states and other coalition allies about the use of turkish air bases and air space when it comes to launching strikes against isis in both syria and iraq. it does seem at this stage, some sort of agreement has been reached. this may not necessarily be a game changer when it comes to the war against isis. but it most certainly is a game shifter. thank you very much. we ll check back with you in a bit. another story to tell you about. coast guard crews searching through the night for two 14-year-old boys that have not been seen since friday afternoon. they were on a sailboat that was found capsized.
arabian ministry said, hey, all bets are off the table, we are now going after with intense resolve this area, but we are also going to start looking at bombing some of the houthi leaders houses. again, the churches i m sorry, the mosques, the schools, these are all places where the saudis have said there are targeted individuals that are launching strikes against saudi arabia, or they have weapon stored in those areas so they are using human shields or these kind of facilities to guard against strikes. so is it typical to conduct these strikes without warning civilians? i understand that we have seen in other arenas that the bombings are targeted to places where civilians would be but there is some warning for those civilians. it s a great point, victor. what the united states has brought up too, and observers on the ground have said not only have there been leaflets and helicopters dropped and sending information to the residents of these areas to get out, to quit