moving forces that centcom has a very effectively used against the houthis north to support israeli systems, as well as the existing air defense systems in eastern mediterranean required some high level conversations as well as probably some understanding of what we could do over iraq and perhaps some sense of what regional partners would do. for example, some countries such as saudi arabia and jordan would not want iranian missiles transiting their territory are running drones. they may not want to be very public about shooting it down, but they have a responsibility to protect their territory and how that might play out. got requires the conversations that would dry in the senior-most officials of centcom >> all right. want everyone to stay with us are breaking news on cnn continues right now. >> he's cnn's breaking news

also reports that cruise missiles as well towards israel from iran, israeli forces are planning to intercept as many of those ads as possible with the help of united states but at this moment, we do not yet know what the results of these attacks may be. or what the targets are. we have reporters and analysts all over the map as we track this news. i want to get straight to jeremy diamond on the ground in jerusalem, who has some new reporting jeremy. what do you learning about? what iran is undertaking in this retaliation right now >> well, alex, over the course of the last several hours, we've been reporting that iran has launched the waves of drones in the direction of israeli territory more than 100 drones currently making their way aid israel with multiple hours of travel time before

they are expected to hit their targets or to try and hit their targets within israeli territory. but now iranian state media is reporting that in addition to those drones, iran has also fired ballistic missiles. that is a much more significant threat facing israel in, for two key reasons. first of all, they represent a more significant threat in terms of the payload that they carry the impact that they can have if they make it through israel's air defense assets. but in addition to that, they travel much, much faster than these drones, which were anticipated to take hours before they could reach israeli territories. and so now with iranian state media reporting that iran has fired those ballistic missiles, we could be significantly closer to a potential targeting of israeli territory, whether that will be whether those missiles will be intercepted, or whether they will hit hit their targets on israeli soil is another matter. we know that israel, in

addition to its significant air defense assets, has been cooperating very, very closely with the us military, and that both the us military and israel are aiming to intercept many of these various threats from iran, not only above israeli skies, but in fact, i was told by an israeli military official earlier tonight that israel is going to try and intercepts these drones before they reach israeli airspace. and certainly they will have that opportunity as these drones are travelling at much slower speeds than these missiles would. and we know of course that the united states has significant air defense assets deployed across the region, including, for example, in iraq which is one of the country's over which these drones will likely fly over. but this is without a doubt, alex, a very significant moment of tension, a very significant inflection point we have been watching this war unfold over the course of the last six months. and one of big

question has loomed over this entire war, and that is whether or not iran will be, will come into this conflict, come into direct conflict with israel whether or not this war between israel and hamas could explode into a much more signal inefficient and a much wider regional conflict. and certainly these actions by iran could point things in that direction. but now the question will be, where exactly do these various threats from iran hit? do they make impact on israeli soil? what are the target's going to be and then how will israel? bond? >> yeah, no doubt this is a turning point. this is a new chapter in this war with these strikes on israel directly emanating from from iranian soil. we are looking at pictures of the skylines of both jerusalem and of tel aviv. it is just after 1:00 in? the, morning there as jeremy was noting, these ballistic missiles, in addition to cruise missiles, we believe and drones

are now flying directly towards israel. and because of how fast they go, we could see some kind of impact or interception in the coming moments, the skull coming to a head rather soon and it is expected according to the white house to play out over the course of several hours. i want to bring in our clarissa ward in tel aviv. clarissa, this is such a remarkable moment. this is not surprise attack we knew to some extent that this was coming that was only the matter of when there were all kinds of different scenarios that we're being bandied about. perhaps the most significant is the one that we are seeing unfold, right now. and that is a direct attack by iran on israel that's right. >> and it appears to be potentially a significant attack. and so there is a sense that there has been a failure if you will, alex, to actively

deter iran from engaging in this. there is a sense of heightened alert at the moment. i think before everyone had expected that iran would feel compelled to retaliate in some way. now i think there's a very real concern that this portends a significant escalation that we are entering uncharted territory. no one wants to be alarmist here. no one wants to set off a panic but certainly there is a heightened sense of anticipation the israelis have closed the airspace. the war cabinet has been in session. we're staying in a hotel. i just saw a bunch of families who have been leaving for the airport coming back with their suitcases, gps has been scrambled. i tried to look on google maps at currently as that i'm in beirut, lebanon and everybody is waiting to see what will happen in the coming moments, in the coming hours, we are expecting. as you've been hearing from all the other reporters and analysts that intercepts or impacts could

happen anytime from now in the coming moments and certainly in the coming hours, we know that the us has actively been trying to work with israel to intercept any missiles or drones before they actively enter is really airspace. but there is certainly a broader sense here that we are on the precipice of something very different something that nobody quite has their arms around yet, because as much as iran has telegraphed this, as much as it was expected, there is now concerned that it becomes difficult to control what the unintended consequences this is of an escalation like this could be. so, as i said before, not a sense of panic, but certainly a sense of heightened alert. and i think many people starting to come to terms with the fact that this looks like a broader, larger, and potentially more significant attack, than had been anticipated. get it, alex. >> and a major question right

now of what iran is intended targets are. this is, of course, in retaliation for the israeli strike against what iran calls its consulate building in damascus that killed seven senior members of the revolutionary guard, including a top commander. so as chloride chris, it was just saying, this is the long expected retaliation for that strike that took place almost two weeks ago. we now have reporting from iran state media that iran has fired its first wave of ballistic missiles towards israel. israeli media is reporting that cruise missiles have also been fired i want to show some new footage that we just got into cnn. it appears to show and we cannot verify this, but it is a footage of iranian missiles crossing over the sky in southern iraq heading towards israel. again, we cannot verify this video, but can see those gloves who's in the sky in

basra, iraq from earlier this evening of a parent iranian missiles heading towards israel for now what we know is that it is iran carrying out this attack on israel. ben ben wedeman. i want to bring you in urine beirut in lebanon which is the home of arguably the most formidable iranian proxy in the form of hezbollah hezbollah yesterday fired dozens of rockets at israel, which they've been doing for the past few months what concern is there that hezbollah will get involved in this retaliation that iran is kept carrying out right now >> well, the concern is very high now we heard from a source very close to his butler few days ago that the iranian response to the israeli strike on the iranian consulate

damascus, would be iranian, that iran, other allies and proxies in the region would not be involved however, what we've seen is this evening within about the last half hour. according to his bella, which put out a statement, they targeted with according to the statement, tens of cusco rockets is rarely air and missile defenses. in these occupied syrian golan heights. and what we've also seen in the evening isn't intensification of israeli activity, bombardment and hizballah counter strikes along the border, as well as a very intense israeli air presence over the southern part of lebanon definitely there's a very real danger that even though we heard the intention that iran would be the author of the response that its allies could very well become quickly involved in this iranian,

israeli confrontation. and of course, this is set off much uneasiness here in lebanon. we understand in the southern part of the country, there cuz outside petrol stations of people stocking up lebanon has closed its airspace as of ten minutes ago, and at least at the moment they say it will be closed for the next six hours, but certainly lebanon closing its airspace. we know jordan has closed its airspace iraq is closed its airspace so really all the countries around israel are bracing for perhaps something much more than simply an his ready rather an iranian counter-strike to israel. this is really a dangerous moment in the middle east where things could go in a very bad direction if there is not some sort of control by the belligerent parties.

>> and a number of countries have told their citizens not to travel to israel and several surrounding countries in addition to what ben was saying about hezbollah in lebanon, of course, you have the houthis farther south in yemen. and then other products groups in iraq and syria. so israel is to some extent surrounded by very significant iranian-backed forces. i want to bring in our mj lee at the white house. mj, the president cut short his weekend to come back to washington to essentially manage this crisis that's right, alex. and within the last 30 minutes or so, a us official confirmed to cnn that the president was in the situation room meeting with his top national security advisors to a to assess the situation. and of course, figure out what comes next. the white house has been in preparing for this possibility for days now, really, in the aftermath of the israeli strikes in damascus that ended up taking out

several top of iranian commanders. and there was a notable line in the statement that we got from the national security council, which said that the expectation was that this attack i was likely to unfold over a number of hours. certainly suggesting that we expected to see waves of attacks. and of course we have since seen iranian state media reporting that not only was it drones that were launched against israel, but it was also ballistic missile missiles as well. and the other part of the statement, of course, was a reaffirmation and reiteration of what the president has been saying all along leading up to today. and that is the us's commitment to israel's defense. and security and to that end, as we have been talking about us officials have been very clear. again, leading up to today that the us would do whatever it could to try to intercept any weapons, if possible in the region. and that is of course a part of why

we had seen us assets being moved into the region in preparation for this very kind of scenario. now as us officials assess the full scale of these attacks, one of the things that they're going to be watching out for is whether or ultimately any proxy groups affiliated groups end up getting involved in these attacks with the important caveat that iran can ways sort of predict or even have full control of what these proxy groups always do in the region. so that could certainly lend to even more sort of unpredicted. the deductibility and volatility in the area >> and i think just one more space that >> is worth watching too. alex, is how us official so today, in these last few hours have been a corresponding within communicating with israeli officials, their counterparts, they're given that at the end of the day, one of the big goals for the us right now is

containing this situation if that is at all possible. so will they be urging their israeli counted? for to give a response that is proportional, whatever that might mean for the israelis. so all of those spaces are worth watching. but again, the top focus right now for the president is getting a clear picture of the situation that is unfolding. and then of course, figuring out the involvement in all of this in comes at a moment, of course, where the biden ministration is frustration with israel with how it's conducting its war in gaza is really quite high. but at the same time where the past few days and anticipation of this iranian retaliation, we have heard president biden and other top officials repeat over and over again that the us backing of israel is ironclad and we are about to see over the next few hours that backing that support play out as us is expected to try to help israel knocked down these drones and these missiles expected to come

from iran. i want to get back to our jeremy diamond in jerusalem. jeremy, we understand that there's a in new development. what have you heard >> yeah. like, i mean, in addition to messaging via it's military assets, iran is also using diplomatic means and we've just gotten a tweet from iran's mission to the united nations, which is i just want to pause on this real quick, alex, while we verified this this account. but we do know that iran has made clear that this attack is indeed in response to israel's strike on what they are describing as a consular facilities the in damascus, syria. we know that israel conducted the strike that killed a senior iranian commander as well as several others but certainly iran has been trying to telegraph that its response will come in the context of that viewing that attack on that diplomatic

facility as something that is a equivalents effectively to its own territory. under international law we are still waiting to see when these israel, these iranian drones and missiles will arrive in israeli airspace. if indeed they make it to their targets. israeli officials have been telegraphing throughout the night and over the course or so the last several days. that they're forces and their air defense assets are certainly at a heightened state of alert >> clarissa ward if you're still with me, could you speak to that all right. i'm gonna go back to general mark hertling, who was with us. general hurtling to what jeremy was just talking about right there. and the fact that iran says it is carrying out tonight's retaliation because of that strike against the alleged consulate in damascus to what extent do you think iran is going to limit its targeting at

official government military targets rather than what we're looking at right now, which is downtown tel aviv it's hard to tell, right. and now, alex, i would have thought that this would have been a for tat kind of operation. they hit a consulate which everyone knew from the intelligence perspective was actually a headquarters of the quds force in damascus. it wasn't truly a consulate, it was a building but what we're seeing now with the number of weapons in the air that we have been able to count so far it just seems to me this is not going to be the kind of strike you would expect as a counter strike you always have to in a military operations, there's always an action than a reaction and a counteraction. i am very surprised at the number of weapons that iran has put in the year. both the drones and the missiles against israel and again, i think we're going to see more from loving benign and

from the houthis as well as the pmf forces. so this is more than just a an attack to counter one attack that israel had against the quds force do i think it's going to hit more than military targets? unfortunately, i do with this number for of a weapon systems flying toward israel, they have to hit more than just military outpost or military facilities or intelligence centers. some of these are going to likely hit civilian populated areas. and i hate to stir that up and to cause fear. but there's just too many weapons coming across the border for them to not hit locations where civilians are. so yeah, it concerns me and what also concerns me as how israel will retaliate if it does >> and i should note the biggest military target, arguably inside israel is in

downtown tel aviv curia, as it's known, which is israel's pentagon is in a very populated, dense business area of tel aviv. so if iran were to go after that target for example, there could be some significant political damage. i want to bring in hagar chemali, who is a former spokes person for the us mission to the united nations hagar. thank you so much for joining us >> right now. we know that president biden has been meeting with top national security advisers in the situation room. >> could you >> take us inside that meeting obviously, the us has a role a significant role in this. so what would the president and his advisors be doing in this moment as we await really, these drones and missiles to get closer to israel sure. >> willing times of crisis like this, you're going to have all the policy people all hands on

deck trying to look at the array of options. they have and looking at the pros and cons of those options, meaning, what are the military responses? what are the contingency plans? what are the red lines that if this happens, what would what would go the united states? into responding itself? and that is gonna be the biggest question here, because israel is an ally of the united states, it is a non-nato ally since 1987 it is not written down exactly what would need to happen for the united states to enter a war on israel's behalf. it's one of those things that is deemed that whatever the usu to do for israel survival, it will do. and so that's what they're going to have to be decided here. this is the general noted. i am also surprised by this response. it feels very disproportionate to me. in response to israel's strike suppose it strike on. the iranian embassy in damascus. there have been other strikes on iranian top general roles including any run in four years ago, israel, we assume

assassinated iran's top nuclear scientist inside iran. and iran ever responded why now, why this attacking particular, clearly they viewed this strike on the embassy as something that was an act of war. nevertheless, this responsive significant is majoring to me that says that they also are not threat. they don't feel threatened. iran doesn't feel threatened by the us response. so that's also something to us is gonna be figuring out is what would drag us in and also what are we going to communicate to both his and iran to try and de-escalate as soon as these missiles are struck down hopefully, or as the attack is over >> regard, i want you to stand by. we need to get back to our oren liebermann, a correspondent pentagon oren. you have new reporting about how the us is helping intercept some of what iran has fired at israel that's right, alex, according to two us officials, the us has intercepted and engage engaged a number of iranian drones that were launched at israel. so taking those down, of course, before

they were able to reach their target, it sounds like before they were even able to reach israeli aerospace, this had been the plan. the us had committed to israel. the tri, in whatever ways it could to intercept and stop these launches before they reached israeli aerospace and were able to strike their target again, we've now learned from two us officials that the us has been able to intercept and engage a number of those drones. what we don't know right now is a couple of pieces of information. first, how many as of the latest update that were more than 100 drones launched of the season is an incredibly large barrage that was launched and it's unclear how many of these were shot down by us forces. second, we don't know how they were shot down. there are ground-based aerial defense systems that could have engaged the drones depending on their altitude, their speed, what direction they took the routing they used to try to get from iran to israel. and we also don't know if it was an aerial system essentially a fighter jet we know from flight tracking websites that there was a us tanker in the air, an aerial refueling platform, and that strongly suggests there

were us fighter jets in the air in the region. tankers don't simply fly around the middle east for no good reason. so we don't know how these were shot down but crucially, the us here are stepping in as we expected, they would, as we reported yesterday, they would try to do to intercept some of these iranian drones that were heading towards israel. now we have not gotten word on cruise missiles yet. those obviously move much faster. potentially, they can be much stronger. we don't know if those were intercepted. so that remains an open question. mr. near, something will work to find out, but at least from what we know at this point, this barrage, this frankly massive barrage that has been launched by iran toward israel, at least some of that, some of those drones have been intercepted and picked off before they were able to make it to their target. alex, one last point i'll make here we have seen us fighter jets be able to intercept these types of drones. and that from the red sea, us faa fighter jets launched from the uss dwight d. eisenhower have been able to intercept houthi drones. and

houthi missile. so this capability has been shown before at a different part of the region, and it's being shown once again and certainly not to. downplay what we believe has just happened but the drones are moving slower of course, then the ballistic cruise missiles. so to some extent those are easier targets, we believe, and there's, there's a lot more firepower that is heading towards israel. i want to get back to clarissa ward. clarissa, there's a good the chance in the coming minutes and hours. certainly we'll be asking you what you're seeing and what you're hearing. we're looking at that skyline of tel aviv major questions right now about what iran may be targeting. but i want to ask you about your impression of what iran has been telegram graphing over the past almost two weeks since that strike in damascus, there was a very public message to the us essentially saying stay out of it. >> i want to start alex by just checking on this potential

targets because we have heard from the idf, they are telling people in specific parts of the country to stay very close to secure shelter. they're talking about the golan heights that is territory that israel seized from syria after the six-day war in 1967 along the border between syria and israel, they're talking there are telling people in dimona which is a nuclear site they're telling people also in never team at near the airbase there that's where the if 35's are based crucially. so it does appear that these are strategic targets. now, we don't know if any of these missiles or drones will get anywhere near those targets. but what we do know is that this is a significant escalation, alex and you asked about what iran has been telegraphing. they have absolutely been telegraphing that there would be a strong response, that there would be punishment but privately, there

has also been behind closed doors, a flurry of diplomatic activity, and there was a kind of consensus or a belief that cooler heads would prevail that the ideal objective here was to try to find that goldilocks spot, that kind of carefully calibrated retaliation that does not devolve into escalation and a full regional conflagration. but as we are starting to see the shape and scale and scope of this assault coming into clear focus. that is raising real questions about what iran is objective is with this assault. and whether at some point israel will feel compelled to respond, not necessarily out of a direct desire to escalate further, but potentially to act as a deterrent. and so you do see a region really holding tight and looking at the edge of a precipice, this is not a place

that we have quite reached. in the last six months despite all the focus on the region, despite the ratcheting tensions and now i think you're seeing an almost frankly surprise from many officials, both in israel and regionally, who certainly expected some type of response, but who did not necessarily anticipate the likes of which we appear to be seeing, taking shape in the early hours of this morning here in alex. >> all right. it clarissa ward, i want you to stay with us and i want to get norm rules take on this. so what clarissa just said norm, this is not a country. israel that is full of shrinking violets. they are well accustomed to incoming rocket fire from hezbollah, from hamas and now you have the israelis, according to clarissa, telling residents in certain areas to seek secure shelter in the golan heights in

dimona, which is near a nuclear reactor. naibe team that's near a military base and norm on top of that, we are reporting that hezbollah has clicked claimed that they have fired dozens of katyusha rockets against an idf air defense headquarters in the kyla barracks. that's also in the golan heights. so norm, when you take all of that together, what does that tell you about what iran is targeting this evening? >> well, i think we need to keep a couple of basic ideas in mind. iran needs to punish israel. that means it needs to show that his damaged israeli structures and israeli territory iran, is a problem. israel is very successful at air defense and the united states is brought in some of the finest military operate operators on the planet to assist that. >> so the >> idea that iran might expand its attack force might be consistent with that. second, iran isn't used to an awful lot of international punishment for its actions and it sees

that israel and the united states are working together, but there aren't an awful lot of european actors standing with israel involving military personnel right now so that you don't really have an reason for iran to believe there will be a significant pushback by the international community if it chose to expand its force. last one has blob. >> i >> do believe has blood needs to show it's putting skin in the game. but at the same time has blessed not firing major weapon systems where the type of weapon systems that would risk and israeli response against it has below leadership mark hertling, what do you make of the fact that has below appears to some extent to be getting involved. i mean, this is not new. of course, hezbollah has been firing rockets daily at israel tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border have had to move out. now we understand that it's dozens of katyusha is that are being fired but if iran were choreographing this,

which we believe to some extent they certainly did is this the stage in this response where the other proxies would now get involved as those iranian weapons, the drones the missiles are getting closer to israel yeah, i think so. alex and mr. rule would be the best to ask this, but i actually thought has below would act much sooner and actually prep the way you're going to see not only hezbollah but also the popular mobilization forces are fronts. in other countries probably chime in. it doesn't necessarily generally mean that iran is controlling their actions or telling them what to do, what we've seen in the past in this area is they just do it because they want to contribute much like we've seen the second front. they've opened up is israel has gone into gaza, no one has told them to do that. they're just doing it. >> so yeah. i it's not surprising at all. but again, i go back to what several of your

guests have said. this is more than a proportional response. this is significantly greater than a proportional response and that i, i for one did not expect it to be as significant as it it is. >> all right. i'm going to ask you all to stay with me as we bring in congressman jason crow democrat who is on the intelligence committee congressman crow, thanks so much for joining us this evening you and i have spoken about this conflict many times over the course of the past six months. i want to pick up where general hurtling just left off in terms of his surprise about what we're seeing in this evening with multiple waves of different kinds of weapons coming from iran. and now it appears more rocketry could katyusha rockets coming from hezbollah, your reaction to what we're seeing? >> well it's a significant response. alex, there's no doubt about that. i share general hurt lanes surprised as to the level of response, both in terms of the quantity and

also that they have launched attacks directly from iran, which is a significant given that ron historically relies on proxy forces enforces now inside of iran to conduct its attacks. so this really signifies a significant shift. their aggression. there's no doubt. so from our perspective, united states has to make sure that americans are protected and israel, that us facilities, us service members are protected. that's our immediate goal. i understand the president there is assembling the members of the national security council right now to look at what is the full breadth of our intelligence and information about these attacks and then what, if anything, we need to do to defend our ally israel here? >> as a member of the intelligence committee, what can you tell us about how much was known about what iran could do following that israeli strike in damascus well, i can't tell you much because i don't necessarily know, but because we obviously protect our sources and methods

there's no secret >> to the fact that iran is an adversary of ours. and then we keep very close tabs and what they're doing. >> and that >> we have a close intelligence sharing relationship with israel this doesn't necessarily surprise me, but i would say that the quantity in the fight, but they disrupt from iran does signify a major shift and their strategy, in their approach here after tonight. what do you think iranians intention is for its role? going forward? do you think it is going to try to take carry out this retaliation and then go back and step back and be in the shadows essentially where it's been looking for the past six months or do you think it's not going to be taking on a more proactive you've role >> well, as you've identified one of my really big questions here, right because the nature of this tack in the size of this attack does in my view, represented significant shift in how iran has historically approached its regional

aggression. the question that i i have is, has their risk tolerance for a broader middle east conflict changed recently? are they now looking for a broader conflict with the united states and our allies? because before this, they really haven't been they have been content to engage in de-stabilizing efforts to use their proxies to conduct attacks. they just want to keep the united states and israel and others off balance and work through their proxy forces and there are forces that allow them to have non attribution, right? that gives them an arm's length distance this is a major shift, so the big question in my mind is what is their strategy going forward? and are they looking for a broader conflict? and if the answer to that is yes, then of course, we have a different situation on our hands. we have to figure out how we de-escalate, prevent that from happening. >> congressman, obviously, the pentagon hasn't put too many details around what it's doing to support israel tonight. we know that they have moved assets into the region. there

were already ships in the eastern mediterranean, the red sea, the gulf of aden are you happy with the level of supports do you think that the us it doing is going to do an effective job at protecting israel, helping protect israel from what is incoming right now >> will time will tell that but what i can say is that we have been doing all the things in preparation to defend against an attack that i think were necessary, surging resources into the region. we've had a long time collaboration with israel on the development of the iron dome system, which it, which is a jointly developed system. this is a system that the united states and israel has put a lot of time and effort and resources into, and i'm very glad that it exists because it's going to protect israelis. it's going to protect americans living in israel as we have long-term preparations that we've put in place as well as the shorter-term surge of resources, but we're going to keep a close eye on it. and i'm going to get the first available briefing that i can

and i will see what, if anything, i would push the administration to do differently. but right now, all i have to say is i'm very glad that president biden and is in the white house and he has a very serious and very competent group of national security advisors who know what to do and know how to handle this. and i know that they will take the right steps, at least an interim. all right. congressman jason crow, thanks so much for joining us this evening. we know that you are watching this very closely. and we'll be in touch as this unfolds. i wanna go back to jeremy diamond in jerusalem. jeremy, a fairly significant bit of news out of the iranians sayyed. they are claiming that they're retaliation is essentially over what more they saying yeah, alex, this is that tweet from the iran's mission to the united nations that i wanted to ensure that we verified before bringing it on air. but iran's mission to the united nations at the same time as these launches have taken place as

this escalatory military action is taking place from iran iran's mission to the united nations is trying to tamp things down, saying that this attack, that it has carried out tonight is in response a direct response to israel's strike on its consular facility. last week, and now saying the matter can be deemed concluded, i certainly think that a number of high-ranking israeli officials namely the israeli prime minister, will certainly disagree with that notion. but iran is also including a warning in this tweet saying, however, should the israeli regime make another mistake or ron's response will be cidr oblique, more severe. it is a conflict between iran and the rogue israeli regime from which the us must stay away. so also a warning there to the united states, but it is interesting, alex, of course, as iran is communicating through its military means, communicating through more than 100 drones

owns and reportedly some missiles, or which it has now launched and fired in the direction of israeli territory. it is also communicating through very public diplomatic channels trying to suggest that it has carried out this attack which is quite a large-scale attack in order to respond to an israeli really strike last week. and now saying that this matter can be deemed concluded we israeli officials, of course, in recent days have made very, very clear that should iran carry out an attack on israeli soil, that israel would indeed respond in kind, of course, we will have to wait to see how many of these drones because, and potentially missiles actually make it onto israeli territory and to what extent that shapes a future israeli response, right? jeremy diamond in jerusalem, thanks very much. want to get back to norm roule. norm, you have been deciphering iranian messaging for decades what do you make of this message from the iranian mission at the united nations

in which they say that this matter is deemed concluded, and then warning that should the israeli regime they say make another mistake that iran's response will be considerably more severe. does that that this is over for tonight? >> it is likely over from the iranian perspective, but a couple of points remain first, iran does not seek a conventional war because the conventional war, or even a longer-term conflict involving israel in iranian territory, would embarrass the regime as iran, as israel, in essence destroyed a number boroughs tangible, visible sites within tehran itself. the second point is iran needs to punish israel preferably by showing damaged territories in israel, or at least claiming that to its own people for its domestic narrative. but at the same time, iran is now crossed a red line. it is said we will attack israel directly when we the lead doing so has her good reason. >> well, >> that cat is out of the bag and they haven't done is they

haven't allowed in essence, israel to be able to do the same thing against iranian territory itself, other than the alleged consular building a quds force intelligence center. and i think we are in new place in the middle east there's no matter what iran has said >> all right, norm roule, please stay with us lots more to discuss. but for the moment, i want to bring in jonathan mann, rica sees a former spokesperson for the israeli defense forces. jonathan or viewers certainly will recognize you from the past few months of discussing the israeli war with hamas. but tonight hey, this is a different conflict, or at least a different side to this conflict that we're discussing. what do you make of that message just now from the iranian mission at the united nations saying, all right, essentially we fired what we're going to and now it's over yes. >> thank you for having me. i would say not quite. that's typical uranian the attack is very out of form and not

iranian because they are now for the first time masks are often they've attacked israel from sovereign iranian soil they. will face the consequences for their attack, the consequences of course, will depend on how much damage is done in israel as your previous guests have very eloquently said, but i don't think that iran gets to say both to launch an unprecedented massive attack against israel with more than 100 drones and ballistic missiles from various locations at israel. and then to say, you know what, that's it. that doesn't make any sense. and i think that israel already has contingencies ready in order to retaliate against iran. and i think that we are actually on day one of a new middle east where israel, the us, and sunni states in the region who are peace oriented and prosperity oriented, have an opportunity here to finally

address the root cause of instability, violence, and terror in the middle east. and that is iran stand by iran stepping out yes. >> sorry. i just wanted to ask sorry to interrupt i wonder i wonder if you have heard of anything happening in israel tonight. we have reported that the us had intercepted some of those drones. those were the first wave of weapons to be fired by hi iran. clarissa ward also reported that israel is telling residents of certain areas, particularly around military areas, to seek shelter. but have you heard of any any any strikes any impacts, or any interceptions inside israel itself? >> yes. you also alluded to before when you spoke about hizballah rockets that were fired from lebanon toward the golan heights and towards the border between israel and lebanon. and most of those

incoming rockets and uavs were intercepted and that's being looked at now. but as unfortunately has become the norm over the last six months, israel is under attack from various locations simultaneously. and they were alarms and explosions in northern israel. i am not aware of any reported damage to middle to terry or civilian facilities in the golan heights in israel. and there were alarms in the south as well. the area around the gaza strip, but no reports of casualties or any damages. but another night from that from that perspective, in israel, what is very different is of course that the uranian that's our attacking with a very large scale and attack which we have addressed here, which really is a game changer. there is no talking this back and there is no saying that from an iranian perspective that we've done this now on that's it. let's call it fits that doesn't work.

that's not how business it's in the middle east works. and i think that we are in a watershed moment in middle eastern history. >> yeah, it certainly is iran has been very careful, i think to telegraph and including this latest statement that this was this retaliation for the israeli strike in damascus, but no doubt iran carrying out such a significant attack as we believe is unfolding right now. these are live pictures. it's unclear exactly what we're looking at, but you can see those streaks in the sky they look like shooting stars. they could quite easily be missiles, but i don't want to speculate too much. let's take a listen

>> nic robertson, if you can hear me. nic robertson and jerusalem, what are you seeing? what are you hearing >> in dissents in the sky had third big detonation i'd see a lot of trace of iran rockets. i've seen at least a dozen rockets tracer fire intercepts, lighting up the sky here >> this is a familiar sight for you, nick, and for those of us who have been following this war it is neck. does this look the same as the iron dome intercepts that you've been seeing for the past few months, how different is this >> it's a little different. it's hard for me to assess. there's a sirens now >> guys, so we on and those are the sirens. nic robertson, you are on air those are the sirens

that are sounded by israeli authorities warn residents. in this case of drew in jerusalem of incoming rocket fire. what you're looking at their life pictures of jerusalem, the hills of jerusalem, just before 2:00 local time in the morning it has been several hours since we first reported that iran had launched more than 100 drones at israel from iranian territory, followed shortly thereafter by cruise missiles. and then a wave of ballistic missiles that has just been a matter of time until we believed that that combination of firepower would be arriving at israel's doorstep. we know that the us has helped intercept some of those drones. i believe these are the first sirens for this evening indicating that there may be some incoming drone or rocket fire. nic robertson, if you're

still there, is there anything more you can tell us about what you're seeing? >> we're continuing to say multiple intercepts and the skies above me coming from multiple different directions. it's hard to determine what is potentially an incoming missile and what is an intercept. the moment. so i'm just going to back up and look out here that's a bright white light flashing in here that scudding that just got intercepted so coming in from this sayyed, it appears to be that was a bright white light, so that appear to be the incoming missile. i saw it intercepted the sirens, now gone off i'm searching the skies here to see what intercept some hearing barrages of what sound like. i am dome interceptors, but more in the distance that perhaps that phase of missiles that was intercepted over jerusalem close to us that phase of ms

house is moving through now and being intercepted somewhere else but those explosions that we can see in the ad behind me, and i'm hearing multiple, multiple detonations. again of what sound like intercepts in the sky i am not and i should be very clear about this ion not hearing the sound of impacts, i am not hearing the sound of things hitting un detonating on the ground. what we're hearing at the moment the detonations of the outgoing, it sounds like iron dome intercepts we're saying the intercepts in the sky and we're hearing the detonations associated with those intercepts in the sky. but i have to stress it's a little hard to pick out the precise dynamic of what's happening. that was another white flesh and i'm seeing more yeah, more amber orange tracer fire possibly intercept missiles in

the sky above us and behind us here. so this is ongoing. that was another big detonation and rumble there. this is an ongoing situation. i would say well, we've been talking here. we've witnessed 20 to 30 perhaps, perhaps intercepts now we don't know what's being intercepted in the skies above us. but i hadn't that bright white light that i told you i saw tracing through the sky over here are a couple of minutes ago i haven't seen something like that in the skies here above israel was not something that we've witnessed around gaza. so i would estimate and this is an estimate because we're at the moment there's a level of uncertainty about precisely what we're seeing. but i would estimate that that bright white light that flew slowly across here because potentially an incoming missile of some description, and it appeared quite large. it was certainly not what i'm familiar with in

terms of the amber light that you see, the amber glow that you see with the interceptors and the interceptor, did intersect with that bright white light but again, stressing, it is difficult to assess. i'm not hearing many explosions or their distance explosions at the moment so it is hard it's hard to precisely assess what we've just witnessed here, but it seemed like a phase of missiles and i'm hearing distant >> intercepts in this direction. it seems like we heard a phase of miss hours pass through. and the intercepts are happening perhaps elsewhere on the outside some jerusalem right now >> yeah, these are remarkable images. if you're just joining us, it has just before 2:00 in the morning are in jerusalem, are nic robertson is right there on the ground. we've been watching these incredible scenes play out in the skies above jerusalem. you can see right there those streaks,

those glows in the sky hi, nick has been describing what appears to be interceptor rocket rockets going up presumably to try to take down anything that may be incoming. of course, these are seeing similar scenes we've been playing c play out over the past six months as hamas and other groups inside gaza have been firing rockets all across israel. but nick, i think it's impoant in this moment to remind everyone that this is a far, far different kettle of fish, if you will, the rockets, the missiles, the drones that are being fired by iran tonight are far superior, far more deadly and damaging. and you can hear those sirens going off again in jerusalem and mick was just describing those interceptions nick what are you hearing aside from the sirens, have there been more of those explosions >> we are seeing more more explosions. these and the

missiles had are coming from iran, a way different from what hamas has fired out of gada hamas says rockets are not directional they fire a handful, are a few dozen. and they're mostly readily intercepted and they're like in a way that the oversize metal tubes might look like the metal tube of a lamppost that you would have standing at the side of the road? lighting a highway. these missiles a these iranian drones are directional. they have, they have a able to fly by gps coordinates, which we know the idf is blocking tonight, they've said that, but they have precise information loaded inside them to hit precisely targets. they have a lot more explosive than hamas is rockets. hamas is rockets, if you will, a dumb rockets, they flay in a general direction and land in a general area. these drones go to

specific targets. that's what they're aiming for. and they can pack a far more powerful punch. now we don't know everything we're seeing, right now. we don't know all the micelles that are in the sky. we know that iran and its arsenal also has a cruise missiles the interceptor systems here would be able to intercept them. israel has a range of interceptor missile systems, but this is a dynamic, an ongoing situation at the moment. but as you say everyone hear and the audience should fully understand that these weapons that are coming into israel's air space and flying over densely populated civilian neighborhoods like jerusalem a weapons that can be far more devastating than anything hamas has fired into israel over the past six months >> and nic, i just want to underscore this remarkable moment because we have heard just moments ago from the iranian mission at the united

nations saying essentially this is over, that there are retaliation for the israeli strike against that building in damascus last week, as far as they're concerned, it's over, but it's really just getting started where you are. it's been several hours since we've been on the air reporting this iranian attack against israel and there is this delay where you have several hours for the drones to get to israel and so what you are experiencing now, just before 2:00 in the morning, in israel may just be the very beginning of what israel is going to be going through for the next several hours the idf briefing an hour or so ago said they believed that the wave that >> we've talked about, incoming to israel, that is perhaps the wave that we've just seen flying over and being intercepted is only one they suspect of what could be several waves. so the expectation is there is more to come that the idf has told people to stay in their

shelters in both the north and in the golan and in an end, dimona and other locations in the negev desert. so it is clear and a lot as well. i've told to stay in shelter, stay close to shelters. there right in the south of the country. so it is clear that these barrages of weapons are coming to multiple. the idf believes they're coming to multiple different locations and may come in multiple ways. now, the idf said they wanted to interceptors many as possible outside the country clearly, many, many, many have got inside the country and are incredibly, if you consider where jerusalem is in the geography of israel, we don't know where these weapons systems crossed the border, but they have by the time they have reached israel, will have been an israeli air space for many, many minutes. so they will have been flying over israel. the west bank for a period of time,

perhaps coming from the north perhaps, but they will have been in israeli air space for some time and it is only here that they're getting into cells now that may be because israel as determined, it, it should use other assets to patrol its borders for perhaps other types of missile systems, we don't know how israel is dividing up. it's sophisticated air defense systems and choosing what to target and where to target it. but i don't think anyone was expecting acting to see intercepts so many intercepts over jerusalem. again, a densely populated city that i think has perhaps is not something people were expecting, but to stress again, we have not heard any impacts on the ground here where we stand tonight. we had don't have report let's yet as i understand it of casualties from in an around the jerusalem area. so perhaps these were missiles passing to somewhere else intercepted over here

yeah, that's right next so far, we at least to cnn are not seen or heard any, any reports of impact or damage or deaths and injuries on the ground? nic robertson and jerusalem, i want you to stand by. i'm going to go quickly back to general mark hertling general hurtling. what do you make of what nick was just describing? obviously, the sirens or that we've heard that before, but he was talking talking about things that he has not seen before in the past six months in terms of the interceptions and the explosions, what do you make it a >> yeah, i wish i was inside the integrated air defense center of israel right now, alex, because you have a better feel for that. you don't know, but from what i'm seeing from the picture and next description, i would suggest it's probably not iron dome intercept, so it could be aircraft intercepts or even arrow or david sling intercepts. but its now i'm looking at my clock and it's three hours since the reported first launch of the drones that would have given them enough time to get to jerusalem. i think jerusalem being more

toward the eastern side of israel. so this could certainly be some of those drones the iron dome is not as effective against drones as it is against rockets that have a parabola parabolic strike shape. so i would guess that this is some other system some perhaps even aircraft shooting them down and even looking at the video right now, it appears that it doesn't have the telltale iron dome launch an intercept it, but it could be it appears that it's being launched from in the sky itself. so this could be either israeli or us aircraft intercepting some of those incoming devices >> general, we only have about a minute left, but i'm looking at the timing of this and we first got the reporting about the ballistic missiles. just over an hour ago. those go pretty fast. so where do you expect those are right now is that what we could be seeing in terms of the interceptions?

>> yeah, it certainly could be and these would be the more the targets that would be more high value to the air force to knock down plus it's almost like an air to air engagement because those cruise missiles do take on a flight pattern of a lear jet or a smaller jet, whereas the drones for moving about the speed of, as i said before, a cessna aircraft. so you would have aircraft intercepting some of those cruise missiles. it's certainly could be a cruise missile that's entered into israeli airspace. >> all right, general mark hertling, everyone else. i want you to please stand by. we have much more coming up are special life i've coverage of this breaking news in israel continues right now >> cnn breaking news >> wolf blitzer in washington, we're following the major breaking news at this hour in the middle east fears of a one