targeting a military research facility just outside their capital. they claim jerusalem has joined forces with al qaeda. cnn's fred pleitgen live from damascus this morning. good morning, fred. >> hi, christine. it was absolute mayhem that night. we were torn out of our sleep in the middle of the night by these gigantic explosions. there were several, initial big blasts that went through the city, and then there were secondary explosions that went on for more than two hours. you could hear these explosions, you could hear gunfire in between residents of that area actually thought that there was a full-on battle going on there, and then syrian state television informed everybody that it was these strikes. have a look at the size of the blast. it was at around 3:00 a.m. local time that gigantic explosions lit up the skies over damascus. one deafening blast after another, it went on for more than an hour, rocking a large military area in the suburbs of syria's capital and prompting