interesting question about this whole business when he said that assad pretty much has the war won with russian help, with iranian help, and it didn t make a great deal of strategic sense to drop chemical weapons on that cloistered set of civilians near damascus. and it was just inviting a response from the united states, and perhaps maybe that was what it was an attempt to see what we were made of and whether or not we would respond. i think that it s unlikely that they re going to use chemical weapons again in any case, not because we ve denigrated their capability, not because we ve punished them excessively, but primarily because they don t need to anymore. the president s assertion that this is something of a continuing exercise, i think was
the syrian defense forces i m sorry the syrian democratic forces, the u.s. ally there on the ground, they have taken back a large percentage of the isis territory that s been taken. somewhere around 95%. but that s been a sustained campaign over several years. it s not just since president trump came into office, brian. all right. courtney kube at the pentagon for us. courtney, thank you as always for taking our questions. courtny s been there at work all night. cal perry is our nbc news global editor. he is in our newsroom with what he s been able to see and gather and vacuum up regarding video and reporting from overseas on just what took place tonight. cal? brian, just off the phone with somebody in damascus in the western part of the city, and i can crystallize a little bit what courtney is saying there about the targets. three targets in and around damascus. the first, an airfield. the meza airfield, just south of damascus. this is where helicopters have been launched from
horrible barrel bombs in addition to the use of chemical weapons that has claimed the lives of so many syrian civilians. that base central for that effort. in gem raya, a barracks believed to house what they call the 41 guard. that is the syrian republican guard. those are the sort of front line troops that assad has been using backed by russian forces. the final target in a neighborhood called barza. it s in the eastern part of the city. this is what the pentagon referred to as the, quote, scientific research facility. when you hear the phrase scientific research facility, that means a chemical weapons production facility. the person i spoke to on the ground in damascus and all of these targets also confirmed by the syrian opposition, saying that there is sort of a red glow from that facility where it s believed that fires are burning this morning. the strikes, it s important we should say to our viewers, terrifying of course for those living in damascus. it s worth also reinforcing t
it s all about the still lives in sucks it s all about george chance to discover the world from different perspectives. join us into speired by distinctive instagram hours at g.w. stories. topic each week to greg. welcome back to news i m terry martin our top story russia has blocked the u.n. security council resolution ordering an immediate thirty day cease fire across syria civilian death toll continues to rise as government forces bombard the rebel held suburbs of. near damascus. now the conflict in eastern ukraine has been raging for almost four years the u.n. says the fighting between pro russia separatists and the ukrainian military has killed more than ten thousand people the separatists control
news the u.n. has warned syrian government forces to stop their assault on the rebel held enclave of eastern ghouta near damascus and the syrian observatory for human rights says that government air raids there killed nearly one hundred people on monday many of them women and children. and germany s right wing populist party the alternative for germany or a.f.p. has overtaken the social democrats for the first time in a national opinion poll the news comes just before the s.p.d. begins a critical vote on whether to join another coalition government with chancellor merkel s conservatives. and the results of that internal poll with the s.p.d. should be out on march fourth by the way don t forget you can always get news on the go just download our up from google player from the apple store that will give