mackey. can you describe for us what it was like to be in damascus last night? yesterday morning around 4:30, there was a number of u.s.-led attacks near damascus in different segments and parts of the city. and i essentially awoke to what was about 12 different strikes consecutively one after the other. so it was pretty terrifying initially. after the situation cleared initially, you had syrian air defenses began to launch s-200 missiles in an attempt to down some of the rockets which were coming through, but to no avail. the attack continued for about 50 continuous minutes with temporary pauses in between after different waves targeted different buildings. and what i could gauge initially from the area i m currently located in, which is in western damascus, was that three different military sites were targeted after the first wave. one of those was the research
in any way about what it was going to do and, indeed, warned the russians to get any air crews that it might have at that airfield near homs out of harm s way. we don t know that yet. bill, in terms of the reporter: rachel? in terms of the russian exposure here, you mentioned the russian base there. obviously, when, you know, syrian fighter jet pilots are in the sky, they re flying soviet-made, russian-made planes, right? that s the anti-aircraft defenses that they ve got and they re considerable. those s-200, s-300 missile defense systems and aircraft defense systems. those are all russian-made. but what about russian personnel? in the united states, we have to worry about force protection efforts for our own 500 to 1,000 service members wh are on t ground in syria. russia, obviously, has a large number of their own personnel on the ground there. is there is the deconfliction
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defend people and its unity. the pentagon says the coalition is softening up libyan positions before beginning enforcement of the floen are no-fly zone. it is called operation odyssey dawn. the initial targets, mostly along the northern libyan coastline. those are the major cities, the major oil gas installations and the political capital tripoli. the reason those targets were along the coast in the early days is because this is where moammar gadhafi has his most powerful weaponry that could be used against coalition pilots. the purple circles, s-200. in u.s. military lingo, s-5. nato call them russian-made surface to air missiles with a range of 150 miles. those were the biggest targets in the initial strikes and those will continue to be targeted. the smaller circles, anti-aircraft batteries gadhafi has. those will be the top targets early on because of their
back to the situation in libya, where we are hearing that american warplanes are taking part in operations over libya right now, and that includes stealth bombers which are attacking critical targets inside the country. cnn s chief national correspondent john king take as a closer look at how operation odyssey dawn started and crucially why specific targets have been chosen. it is called operation odyssey dawn, and the initial targets, mostly along the northern libyan coastline. why? those are the major cities, major gas supplies. the reasons they were along the coast in the early days this is where moammar gadhafi has his most powerful weaponry. the purple circle, s-200. s-5, and russian made, surface to air missiles, and those were the biggest targets in the initial strikes and will continue to be targeted.