in the attack. our military policy in syria has not changed. our priority remains the defeat of isis. isis represents a clear and present danger and iedia threat to europe and ultimately a threat to the united states homeland. in closing, the syrian regime should think long and hard before it acts so recklessly in violation of international law against the use of chemical weapons. the general will provide further information on the strike. thank you, mr. secretary. secretary mattis stated the united states central command was directed to develop military options and response to the syrian regime s use of chemical weapons. we did that and developed a package to eliminate the capabilities including air frames and development that provided offensive military capacity for the regime from the air field. we did not deliberately target
sent out to all of the reporters here. sean spicer saying in no way was i trying to lessen the horrendous nature of the holocaust, but trying to talk about the population sector. that is a statement that sean spicer is now adding any attack on innocent people is reprehensible and inexcusable. when asked about whether it was a prepared talking point between assad and hitler, the press secretary responded to nbc news that was off the cuff remark and raises questions. the overall messaging on syria and when you look at the big picture, that was working with the questions in large part that came in in addition the nature of the comments themselves. okay. thank you for bringing up that statement that we just received to nbc bus. let me go back to you.
into broader stry? how does the strike and the positioning of u.s.-backed forces on the ground help in a broader strategic sense. the broader strategy is embedded it s inside a global strategy and the americans are making very clear that isis is in our cross hairs and that s what our climbed after the campaign in syria is taking. this other effort that came up in the midst had to be addressed because it addresses a vital national interest that bars the chemical weapons not be used and the bar not get lowered by the assad regime so this is common place. we had to make a very, very
with rex tillerson there in the region, what pressure can the u.s. put on the russian government. how much leverage do they have right now. i have to say this is a problem that is all very well to say russia is an island. russia is isolated. we are talking about the syrian war in which the key and most effective players are russia s assad forces, iran, and the lebanese militia that followed. i do understand what shaup spear is saying in those terms, but the fact is that this is the coalition. that is winning the war in syria and russia will be disinclined to drop assad who is winning that war. he took aleppo and had control of all the major cities.
personnel on the strikes. when the order was received, we targeted the 59 locations and struck 57 of those. we assess that we achieved our stated objective and the regime s ability to generate offensive capabilities from the air field which we assessed was the launching point for this chemical attack has beeny severely degraded. we are paying close attention to the environment and respond as necessary. meanwhile we are focused on the defeat isis campaign. in closing, i want to commend the exceptional skill and professionalism of forces involved in the strike operation. they performed extraordinarily well and we are very, very proud of them. thank you, general. we can take your questions now. bob, let s start with yours. thank you. you mentioned defeating isis in syria is your main priority, but in light of the chemical attack,