dinner that he was having with president xi, and the beautiful piece of chocolate cake, and those strikes were against a runway that we were told was repaired within days, if not within hours of those strikes. this time, courtney, it seems as though they are going to take a much stronger response. you re right, andrea. the april 2017 strikes were more to send a message. th u.s. intelligence knew that the aircraft took off from this base, they loaded the chemical weapons into a syrian regime aircraft, they flew they dropped the bomb that killed about 100 people with a vicious sarin gas attack. and they had proof that the syrian regime had struck that location. they also saw an aircraft later took off and hit the hospital where many of the wounded were being treated. so there was clear evidence at that time in april 2017 that the
syrian jet as part of a defense mission to protect the u.s. fighters, the u.s.-backed fighters on the ground. all of this in a critical location as the advance is beginning on raqqa. this is that area that is essentially isis last stronghoed. the syrian regime came out with a very strong statement against the u.s. it said it was fighting you know, if it continues to claim it s fighting against isis, but it was in fact fighting against u.s.-backed forces. an official u.s. coalition official is telling me this is the first time the u.s. has shot down the syrian regime aircraft. and while there was no direct threat to any u.s.-military in the area at the time, it escapes no one s attention that u.s. special forces are in that area acting as advisors to the very forces the u.s. tried to defend today by shooting down that syrian aircraft.
aircraft left in their air force at this point, why would they risk one of their own fighter jets to move in to this area knowing full well that the u.s. would spot them and would likely shoot them down. why did the syrians decide to take this risk. and there was conversation between the u.s. and the russians during the day to try and get the syrians to back off. why did they not is wilisten to russians. i want to bring in rear admiral john kirby now. thank you for sticking with us throughout the day. we ve seen similar incidents like this before, but this is one of the first of its kind, right? yeah, it is. it is the first time we ve shot down a syrian regime aircraft. so this is new. i d be careful right now to talk about how significant an escalation it is. clearly it is a very kinetic, very active act here by the coalition, but it was, as barbara reported, done in self-defense. and i think it is important to
because, you know, people just don t see this, the level of brutality, the level of viciousness. but when they drop barrel bombs and bombs of any kind right on top of a civilian population, that s the worst thing i ve never seen anything like it. frankly putin is backing a person that s truly an evil person. i think it s very bad for russia. i think it s very bad for man kind. it s very bad for this world. the white house is accusing russia of tryin to cover up the syrian government s role in last week s deadly chemical weapons attack. the trump administration says declassified intelligence shows the chemical agent sarin was delivered by a syrian regime aircraft. meanwhile president trump is bolstering the u.s. role in one of putin s most hated alliances. today president scheduled to meet with secretary-general of nature at the white house. yesterday trump signed a treaty
lot of other people are noting over the past week. thomas friedman and others have noted there has been a shift of change in tone at least in foreign policy. okay. there are many that see a shift in policy and tone toward our position toward syria. the white house is accusing russia of trying to cover up the syrian government s role in last week s deadly chemical weapons attack. the trump administration says declassified intelligence shows the chemical agent sarin was delivered by a syrian regime aircraft. meanwhile, president trump is bolstering the u.s. role in one of putin s most hated alliances. today the president is scheduled to meet with the secretaryf general of nato at the white house. they re set to talk about strengthening ties and plan to hold a joint news conference. yesterday president trump signed a treaty allowing the entry of