Conflict . We have full coverage today, friday, april 7th, 2017. From nbc news, this is a special edition of today. Strike on syria. With matt lauer and savannah guthrie. Live from studio 1a. Welcome to this special edition of today. 7 00 oclock on the west coast on this friday morning. We have a lot to get to, including the u. S. Mill take strikes on syria. But first breaking news out of sweden. A truck has crashed into a Department Store. Several victims are dead. Police are treating this incident as possible terrorists. We have the latest on this. What can you tell us . Were just getting details of this, but in the last few minutes, the swedish Prime Minister saying this indicates a terror attack. Two people dead. Many people injured. Other reports say three many people have been injured. Other reports say three people are dead and there are eye witness accounts of bodies on a pedestrian street, a busy pedestrian street. There are also pictures of a struck that appears to have slammed into a Major Department store and eye witnesses saying they could see smoke coming from that building. Swedish television also saying, not confirmed by nbc news that there have been reports of shots fired. So swedish Prime Minister saying this does appear to be a terrorist attack. Unconfirmed as of yet by nbc news. Thank you very much. Of course the big story here, the u. S. Missile strike in syria. Here is what we know right now. The pentagon saying two Navy Destroyers fired 59 tomahawk missiles. Its also used to store chemical weapons, ammunition and radar equipment. New this morning syrian officials are labeling the strikes irresponsible and reckless, claiming at least nine kri vail yans killed in those attacks. Russia is condemning the strikes, accusing the u. S. Of violating international law. But most foreign leaders and lawmakers are voicing support for this american show of force. We have extensive coverage this morning. We will start with nbcs chief foreign correspondent. Reporter good morning. This option weration was limite specific and seemed to prevent the u. S. From getting drawn more deeply into the Syrian Civil War or putting american pilots at risk. It is significant that Cruise Missiles were used, not manned fighter jets, which could have been shot down by air defenses. U. S. Navy warships launched 59 Cruise Missiles against a Syrian Military base. It was retaliation by President Trump for a horrific chemical weapons attack the u. S. Blamed on the syrian regime. Tonight i ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in syria from where the chemical attack was launched. The Cruise Missiles destroying syrian aircraft, hardened hangers, fuel depots, weapons storage and air defenses. The u. S. Says it has radar images that track the aircraft used in the chemical attack back to this base. And the reactions came quickly this morning. The syrians calling the strike blatant aggression. The russians calling it an act of aggression against a sovereign state. U. S. Military Officials Say no syrian troops were deliberately targeted. It is in this Vital National security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons. It was a very limited, even symbolic strike, unlikely to threaten syrian president assads grip on power. Russia was informed ahead of time to warn them to keep personnel away and avoid a potentially massive escalation. The goal a u. S. Official tells nbc news was a proportional response to the chemical attack and to send a message to the world that the u. S. Under President Trump will act militarily and act quickly. That message also directed at President Trumps dinner guest while the strikes were underway. The president of china, arguably the only world leader who can influence north korea. While it is only been hours since this u. S. Military strike, the reactions we have been hearing from syria and russia so far have been fairly muted. This seems like it was a one off strike by the u. S. And it does not seem to be escalating at least yet. All right. Richard on the story. Thank you very much. We are expecting to hear more from President Trump today. Traveling with the president at maralago in florida. Good morning. Reporter good morning to you. Today will be all about watching the aftermath of this strike. President trumps most important military moment yet. From inside his maralago esta estate, donald trump explaining his most consequential decision so far as commander in chief. There can be no dispute that syria used banned chemical weapons, violated its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and ignored the urging of the un security council. The president made no mention of moscow, but his secretary of state did. Calling the kremlin, quote, complicit or simply incompetent in its ability to follow through on a 2013 deal to get chemical weapons out of syria. And for President Trump, a striking shift. In 2013, he repeatedly warned the Obama Administration to stay out of syria. Just last week, his own administration called the assad regime a political reality. I think the status and the longer term, longer term status of president assad will be decided by the syrian people. Now a reversal as the images after the attack. The children struggling to breathe seemed to horrify the president. Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack. And former rival hillary clinton, who said this about assad just hours before the air strike. I really believe that we should have and still should take out his airfields and prevent him from being able to use them to bomb innocent people and drop sarin gas on them. Still on capitol hill, concern from some about why the president didnt consult with congress first. It does concern me that we not have an impulsive administration that is ready to completely change direction, that isnt necessarily thinking through what are all the consequences. And back in washington, a congressional source tells nbc news the head of the joint chiefs of staff will brief all senators later today in d. C. About the Syrian Strike. It comes as the president juggling another international threat. North korea sure to be at the top of the talks today. All right. Thank you. As we had mentioned, the strikes drew sharp criticism from the kremlin overnight. Bill is in moscow. Bill, good morning to you. Reporter good morning, matt. Yes, president putin condemning the air striking this morning as an act of aggression that would have negative consequences and would damage u. S. Russian relations and the Russian Defense ministry also taking a swipe at the u. S. Releasing a video it claims shows damage at the airfield but saying only 23 of those 59 Cruise Missiles actually hit their targets, saying the main runway was not damaged and claiming the combat effectiveness of this mission is thus very low. More seriously, russia is suspending the agreement with the u. S. To provide air safety over syria for russian and u. S. Planes. But only suspending that agreement, not pulling out altogether. Matt, savannah . Good morning to all of you. Weve got some military experts here, but let me start with you and what ive been reading overnight from the military experts is that this was limited. It was on the lower end of what was available to the administration. So was it the right strike at the right time . Well, it was smart, matt. It was well executed. It was a moral statement. And my view is that this sal voe must be followed up with a diplomatic sal voe. There is no military solution to this sixyearold civil war. We have a lot of equities there in syria. We want to continue to fight against isis, so we need to keep our powder dry to some extent but we also need assad out of there at the end of the day. What do you think is the likely response . Weve heard from russia. Its been interpreted as somewhat muted in light of what has happened. What is assad likely to do. He went do anything. Hell take a deep breath and hope we dont strike again. Jeremy is right. There is a diplomatic salvo to come here. It will have to be focussed on russia. Assad is not a Decision Maker here. The Decision Maker is Vladimir Putin. I think the strike was proportional, legal and very well executed. Good day for the navy to put 60 of these things on target. Lets stick with you for a second and talk about the weapon that was used, the Cruise Missile. They hit those hardened hangers. They destroyed aircraft, maybe some fuel supplies. Some people may be wondering this morning why that runway itself wasnt taken out. Explain it. It is hard to take out a runway, matt, because they could be very quickly repaired. You could crater them. Weve got some bombs that the air force has thats particularly good at this. Thats not a primary tomahawk mission. Its so accurate, matt, we could choose to play it through the 49th street door or 50th street door at 30 rock. Ive launched hundreds of these over the years and the hit rate is very, very high. The next question is now what. You hear that russia has temporarily suspended this decon flix agreement, something that makes it safer for russian aircraft and u. S. Aircrafts to operate over the skies in syria. Not for the United States. I mean, this is a very limited attack for very limited objective. Dont forget the president was also playing to a domestic audience. And when russia says well, were going to stop all this decon flix stuff, they are playing to a domestic audience as well. Our principal objective was to stop assad from using chemical weapons and to that extent, this is probably exactly what happened. Lets stay with you. The red line has always been about chemical weapons, but assad has shown over the last five or six years hes willing to kill hundreds of thousands of his own civilians using conventional weapons as well. Are we reconsidering that line as well . No. I think the bifurcation is chemical weapons or no chemical weapons. Dont forget half a million syrians have been killed so far with conventional weapons. That is not going to stop. And we have not made any public commitment that we are going to do anything more than we have already done. The American People probably dont have the will to do it and certainly congress doesnt. Thank you very much. And we are joined now by marco rubio, who is a member of the Senate Foreign relations committee. Thank you for being with us. Let me get your take on this strike. We have heard it called symbolic. We have heard it called limited. You used to rail against pinprick strikes. Is this a pinprick strikes . I dont believe it is. I think it is the right thing to do. It had a clear military objective, to degrade a specific airfield, actually the one thats most active right now in that conflict for the assad regime and the airfield in syria, which was the one used to conduct the chemical attack two days ago. They also took out aircrafts used in that mission. I think it had a clear objective and they put the appropriate resources in order to achieve that. Lets also remember this strike was legal. It is in furtherance of an agreement that the United States and russia are supposed to be the guarantors of. That obviously was not the case. They are in violation of it. Number three, it was in our National Security interest. There are hundreds of National Troops imbedded in the region working as advisors and the like and they are in danger of being posed to sarin gas if it is deployed in the future. You talked about that deal that was supposed to result in the assad regime. That deal was brokered by the russians and the administration, at least the president has been incredibly silent when it comes to russias role in complicity in this situation. What would you like to hear President Trump say this morning about the russians and their involvement . First of all, i dont think they were silent last night because that airfield that was struck was an airfield the russians have flown out of. Didnt they get a heads up . Didnt the russians get a heads up this was coming and moved some of their equipment out of there . No. I think they moved some of their people. We are not at war with russia and the objective of the mission was not to kill russian or even syrian troops. It was to destroy a facility. That was the purpose. Think about it this way. If they had not gotten the heads up, which is customary when you are not at war with someone and russians had been killed, then you would have a very different situation this morning. If in fact russians were killed at this point, they would have no one to blame but themselves. Take us forward here, senator. After this strike, it is very unlikely that assad stops his assault on his own people. Maybe not with chemical weapons, but continuing as you just heard jack jacobs say with more conventional weapons. Where does this lead us . What is the next step . What options are left open for the Trump Administration . I think this morning assad and putin and iran and others have a different cost benefit analysis. They could about with impunity up until last night and they knew what the risks were of doing that and that was international condemnation. Now they have to wonder what will happen if we actually do this. So i think it has the potential to impact behavior. Second we need to move forward through a combination of dip employee masy and the support of troops on the ground to create alternatives to the assad regime. I think we need to now reach out to our partners in the saudi world, the uae and the turks who have an interest in what happens to become part of a solution here that i think begins to create an alternative to assad in syria. Sorry to interrupt. Were short on time. I do want to ask you were your surprised to see how quickly President Trump seemed to have a change on heart on this particular issue . As recently as last week members of his administration saying it was political reality that assad would stay. Then we have this chemical attack. And back in 2013 it was trump who said dont go into syria. It is not in Americas National interest. What changed . We dont have a lot of time, but this is not similar to 2013. Assad was losing the war in 13 and if we had supported some of the elements on the ground he may have very well fallen. The russians got involved in 15 and changed the dynamics. We also didnt have american troops in syria. We do now. As far as change of heart, i think the president was deeply and personally impacted. There is a difference being a candidate and being the president and seeing those photos and having that weight on your shoulders. And i belief that it weighed on him as a person, as a human being. I think you saw that in his Statement Last night. I thought you saw that the day before in a press conference. Senator marco rubio. Thank you very much. Of course more on the air strikes. Lets get our first check of the weather. All right, guys. What we have been talking about these tornadoes and we continue to see the real runup of these tornadoes a fast start this year. 61 tornadoes in the last seven days. Were almost at 500 tornadoes over 28 states. If you average that out, we are almost double what we should have and unfortunately weve seen more deaths so far due to tornadoes than all of last year. Today were looking at a major storm moving its way into the pacific northwest. Some flooding problems and snow. Carolina ferries have been canceled. Plenty of sunshine through the gol gulf. Good morning. Im meteorologist kari hall. We still have some rain moving through the north bay. While the rest of the bay area sees cloudy skies and some gusty winds. And a few spotty light showers. So as we get a look out the window right now, as you head out, its 55 degrees in the peninsula. Sdpix degrees in the south bay. San francisco also at 56 degrees. The rain will be off and on throughout the day. Cloudy skies. Some peeks of sunshine, too, and highs reaching into the low to mid 60s. More heavy rain later this evening. And thats your latest all right, al. Thank you very much. Coming up the power struggle inside the Trump Administration thats being exposed by the u. S. Strike on syria. What is the next step for the president as he faces his first major Foreign Policy test. Well talk about that. But first this is today on nbc. Nobody told me to expect it. Intercourse thats painful due to menopausal changes. Its not likely to go away on its own. It took my most honest friend to help me do something about it. She told me premarin vaginal cream can help. It provides estrogens to help rebuild vaginal tissue and make intercourse more comfortable. Premarin vaginal cream treats vaginal changes due to menopause and moderatetosevere painful intercourse caused by these changes. Dont use it if youve had unusual vaginal bleeding, breast or uterine cancer, blood clots, liver problems, stroke or heart attack, are allergic to any of its ingredients or think youre pregnant. Side effects may include headache, pelvic pain, breast pain, vaginal bleeding and vaginitis. 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