there are challenges in taking on these kinds of strikes. if we go down here to mezze, it is believed to have a number of air defense systems capabilities, but a strike against mezze airfield would result in a lot of civilian casualties and that is not something the u.s. can afford at this stage. it is an area that the israelis have struck in the past when they have wanted to send a message. is it a fair assumption to believe there would be russian personnel at most of those major airfields? i would make that a safe assumption. i m sorry. i ve got to interrupt you. i have to go to barbara starr. what are you learning request. reporter: good evening. we have able to report that air strikes have been launched against assad. we are being told by a senior
cruise missile launch operation everything that you ve heard is typical. that s the way these things are planned and executed. it is not dissimilar from the kinds of plans we had teed up in 2013 when president obama was considering similar strikes against syrian targets. it is interesting this hit one airfield and multiple targets at the airfield. i m a little interested to know why no storage facilities or any specific chemical weapon storage facilities might not have been hit. maybe they didn t know where they are or maybe they re deep underground, but when talk about degrading his capability to conduct those attacks, when you
congratulate our men and women in uniform. i don t believe this is a message. i believe this is actually a tactical action that furthers an objective. my guess is and i think you ll see confirmation, the airfield which is where these attacks were launched from a couple of days ago is going to be the target and that is the airfield from which the chemical attacks were launched. it s a critical point in a part of the country where they are battles rebels in the southern part of syria. as i said, i think this is an important decisive step that was taken. it is not a message. it is a degrading of the capability of the syrian regime to carry out further chemical attacks against innocent civilians. this will degrade their capability to launch those attacks from the air and i think it was important step and hopefully it s part of a comprehensive strategy. when you talk about a comprehensive strategy would you like to see more urgent air
relayed quickly. if you can circle the base for our viewers at home to get a sense of exactly where the base that was targeted according to barbara starr. sure, it s right here, the shayrat airfield. it s from here to give you an idea the chemical strike took place up in this province. if the trump administration decides it wants to take greater action to further degrade the syrian regime s capabilities, those are down here. then you have another installations, the headquarters for the republican guard for example, they are on the outskirts of damascus. you have the mezze airfield. targets like this would be tricky because it s in the capital itself, but again the
target for those tomahawks that were launched right here, shayrat airfield, this is specifically where the syrian regime launched those aircraft that carried the bombs that had that chemical substance on them that caused those horrific deaths. i want to go back to barbara starr. do you have more information. reporter: some additional details. we talked about the fact 50 to 60 tomahawk cruise missiles. we know that the impact time, those cruise missiles hit that airfield at 8:45 tonight east coast time in the united states and they were specifically programmed to target key things at that airfield and that includes the runways, some of the aircraft at the airfield and the fuel points. essentially where the airplanes get their gas from.