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To escalate. they have been explicit about that, especially with assad. the next step, the next move is in assad's court. if you uses chemical weapons again, they have vowed to strike again. ari? >> we have been reporting on this all day. in a presidency known to have a lot of critics and make mistakes, this is a day that seems to have gone reasonably well with, and i have had them in our coverage with people who are critical of donald trump saying this worked, yet, it seems two little words, mission accomplished is the one thing he struggled with. so, any thinking, any reporting you can sugge...

Put the russians in a position where they might retaliate, number one. two, i think they were highly sensitive to the iranians, worried they might respond using shia militias against the americans. and in iraq, it is 5,000. i suspect that drove the administration. do i think it would have been smart to hit the command controls which gets to the basics of assad's power, absolutely. i think what was driving the administration, make a statement, increase the prospect of assad's use and the russians constraining him so they won't use chemical weapons. there was not a larger purpose. there was a na...

Thinking. they say a version of the tweet speaks for itself. in this instance, ari, you have seen senior administration officials and military leaders back the president up on this. the spokesman at the pentagon said today, the mission was a success and we heard from nikki haley, echo those same comments, even from mike pence. what we have seen take shape is this rhetorical pressure campaign, capped by nikki haley, the u.s. is locked and loaded and could take further action against assad, if need be. apart from a reflective criticism the president is getting from democrats who suggested he sho...

Latest updates on this topic from reliable sources.

They continue to do their battle assessment, they want to know exactly what they hit and what they met. initial reaction, they think they have a good amount of success. all the missiles landed on to t target, none were shot down and none failed. they didn't have casualties from the fixed wing aircraft they have. in terms of what they accomplished, they think they knocked out and set back assad's chemical weapons capabilities. there's an important difference between degrading and destroying. >> we believe we have attacked the heart of the syrian chemical program. i'm not saying they are not goi...