a deal has been reached on syr syria, but will it work? the u.s. and russia are agreed to a plan that will confiscate assad s chemical weapons. experts say it will be an extremely complicated road ahead. joining me to talk about it, barry mccaffrey and christopher hill. gentlemen, welcome back. good to see you both. good to be with you. thank you. general, first up to you. your reaction to this deal? well, look, the good news is we re talking to the russians in geneva instead of bombing the syr syria syrians, something that would be else can la toir, something not supported by nato, by congress. we ve offramped a bad policy option. you know, so i suppose that s positive. the bad news is the brutal assad regime almost gets a timeout
something you, general, did not have to deal with back in 93 when you were the military liaison to the chemical weapons convention that established this current ban. can you talk about what goes on behind the scenes in these sorts of negotiations? well, of course, you know, the chemical weapons convention, which i was there with that wonderful secretary. we signed it in paris in 93. most of the world community came aboard. seven nations didn t sign up. that had been the result of 15 years of painful negotiation. a lot of which goes on inside the u.s. government. out of it we ve almost completed a destruction of our own stock peoples as have the russians, the former soviets. i think the timelines they rege simply not believable. but i agree with ambassador hill. this is the best of a bad option. better to talk to the syrians than bomb them.
reporter: israeli leaders either didn t think of the implications or wanted to make a point when one of their jets launched a sky work, simulating a ballistic missile inbound against the jewish state. the same system tracking a dummy missile would be tested for real if the syrians made good on their promise to retaliate against israel for a u.s. strike. most likely in the form of russian or iranian skud missiles. israel and the united states invested billions into a defense system that includes the iron dome, now deployed to protect tel aviv. israel has remained on the sidelines of the syrian civil war, but today s test made clear the threat of the neighbors is top of mind. we will continue to develop and research and to equip the idf, said the country s defense
lebanon, over 700,000 here now, more than anywhere else. it is really hard and sad the way we live here, this refugee says. there are no massive syrian refugee camps in lebanon, just rows and rows of makeshift huts like these. no plumbing, no running water. the folks left the hell of war for another kind of hell. an overwhelmed lebanese government has done little to provide proper shelter for the syrians and are just trying to keep up. in a place near the border, the population doubled, families moved into places little more than cardboard boxes with open sewage and garbage around, conditions are unsanitary. for this family that had to leave a hot spot of homes, at least it is peaceful. it is safer here, we have no bombing, this man said. we have no choice. more than half the refugees children, education and other social services are strained. it is always the children that are paying the price. children are the most vulnerable.
given what happens happened to this point. thank you for being here. no grapevine tonight. ahead, two million syrians without a home and with no good options. from z there s nothing like that feeling