>> the worst part is not hearing i love you from her, not hearing her words of encouragement, not hearing hey you are an awesome kid, keep out the great work. >> reporter: what has he stolen from you? >> my precious lisa. just her smile. she would call me the, you know, every morning and say hi mom. took that away from me. so, just our whole family is not complete without her. >> reporter: there will always be an empty chair at the family table. only images of the smile, and memories remain. that is all for this edition of dateline. i'm andrea cannon, thanks for watching. cannon, thanks for watching. good morning, right now on this special two hour weekend edition, retaliation.

the u.s. bombs 85 targets in iraq and syria and promises it is just the start of the next phase. the u.s. avenging the death of three american soldiers brought home friday in the solemn dignified transfer in dover, delaware attended by the president and first lady. iran condemning the attacks with its foreign minister calling it an adventurous and strategic mistake. the secretary of state antony blinken preparing to leave tomorrow for his fifth dip a medic shuttle to the region. pausing -- pushing for a halt in gaza, long enough for a hostage release. hostage release. good day everyone, i am andrea

mitchell in washington as the world braces for the next phase of strikes against iranian backed militant groups in the middle east as potential counterattacks . the powerful but limited first phase targeted command and control her operations with intelligent centers, weapons facilities and supply lines among the aircraft used was long rage bombers that took off from texas and flew more than 6000 miles. refueling in midair. officials say they used precision guided bombs and were confident they hit exactly what they meant to hit. they would get a more accurate damage assessment based on daylight, these are the first pictures of the damage we're getting from iraq. while not hitting targets inside of iran, the targets included the revolutionary guard, military force known for funding training and supplying the iranian proxy groups around the region. in a statement after the attacks

president biden says he does not seek conflict with iran, but he says let all those who seek to do us harm know that if you harm an american we will respond. with a message made clear by the defense secretary lloyd austin. >> we are going to hit what we are aiming and take away capability. we are going to do what we are desiring to do each time to take away even more capability than we have in the past. they have a lot of capability and i have a lot more. >> military and national security experts will be joining us that the next two hours. starting with our nbc news team from iraq, tel aviv, the white house and now, let's start off as the iraqi government says it is not preemptively informing about the attack, but 16 iraqis were killed. what else are they saying as

this is a sensitive time and a sensitive relationship? any signs of retaliation from the proxy? >> that is right and i think that statement from the iraqi government will be one of the focuses today. of course iran condemns the strikes and of course the syrian government condemns the strikes, but they iraqi statement from the prime minister's office saying that the u.s. claiming that this was correlated, that iraq was told prior to the strikes is deceiving the world and it says that these strikes put a rack on the brink of the abyss. it goes on to say something very interesting. it says iran reiterates refusal that it's lands be an arena for settling scores. what that refers to is that it is a message both to iran and to the u.s. because remember

when you listen to this statement from the iraqi government, the iraqis are both partners of the u.s. and of iran. one of the risks of these strikes that we saw in the anbar providence was that they would push the iraqi government more toward the iranians and encourage those voices to say the u.s. should leave iraq and that's exactly what the iranians want, that is a strategy, to move the u.s. out of the region. the question is whether that statement from the government, with a sign that shift is happening or whether it is just rhetoric because i have to say something because they have a relationship with iran and they have supports in iran. i get it, it is incredibly context, the picture, it is complex, u.s. residence around

the world would be stunned that these strikes are putting the spotlight on this extent and scale of iranian influence and iranian facilities. here in iraq and more importantly, in syria. one last thing, if these strikes, they are a powerful escalation, they are also limited and they happened along the border between iraq and syria. in a region close enough to tower 22 those american servicemen and women were killed. they are limited and what they don't do, for example for good reasons, they don't really tackle the strength of iran in syria for example which is what israel finds threatening. >> the last time that i can recall a major u.s. action against iranian interest in iraq

, reportedly at the time was without any warning and both acknowledged there was no warning to iraq. that set off not only in iraq and its government, but very privately, our nato allies were not warned and were there in full support with the u.s. operating in a rack and they had not been what, our closest allies. including britain. >> that is right. again, of course, there are those who say it wasn't a significant action from iran. so worries about the reaction some will say was overblown, but we shall see what happens next. certainly at least one of the militia under the islamic resistance were vowing to say

we will carry on and carry out strikes and protest over gaza. also in order to try to push the americans out of this region. important to keep in mind when we think about that play from the iraqi government, they have this relationship with iran. the more that you warn the iraqi government about caring out strikes the more you warn iran because it is a pretty porous relationship so of course, this has been signaled for days and other analysts judging from this morning, one of the aims of the biden administration would've been to warn iran and to flag what was coming to reduce the number of casualties, for this not to be a surprise so that you can send a strong message, but you don't surprise the government and elicit a reaction that you don't want. again importantly, iran is so

embedded in syria and in iraq, there are many targets that were not hit. and a point to highlight that is the syrian government says hours after the campaign by the u.s. and at the beginning we should say, we don't know what will come next. just hours after these strikes from overnight the syrian government says the israelis did hit south of damascus, that was an area not hit by the could you and the israelis wanted to trying to hours later where there is a strong presence of iran and the revolutionary guard. >> of course there would be no sensitivity about striking targets in syria and four of the seven were in syria and three in a rack. thank you for starting us off. now let's talk about president biden planning the next phase,

how did the administration come to this decision? >> it cannot be underscored enough how complicated and complex a decision this was for president biden. simply because of the wake that this kind of action carries. we know from sources familiar that he had concerns among many was taking action like this. it was about the hostage deal that so many have high hopes to be able to create between hamas and israel. we have reported extensively on those talks in europe last weekend, to seal the deal and we know after advisors eased concerns for the president, he finally made this decision on this response first. the first phase out of the menu of options presented to him. as far as how we got here. since the israel and hamas war began the president and

officials have said repeatedly that they want to do everything within their power to prevent the war and conflict from widening, from preventing the u.s. from being dragged deeper into this. every deterrent sent, in the form of more troops, more strike groups for example to the red sea, that has not stopped the iranian backed militias from repeatedly striking u.s. forces. u.s. officials have said most of the time those strikes are intercepted and the injuries on service members have been minor, but remember that the president established a redline early on saying if any u.s. service members were killed as a result of these attacks, that would prompt a forceful response. after we saw that happened last weekend in jordan, the president knew he had a decision.

not just a decision to retaliate forcefully, but also to send a message, a warning to not just iran, but the other bad actors against trying to take advantage of this increase in civility, trying to drag the u.s. deeper into the conflict, trying to send out a warning to defend the troops. inevitably the u.s. being dragged deeper into this, regardless of those preventative efforts. >> the u.s. has been called in with a letter protest from the foreign ministry in iraq. following up on that sensitivity, they are very sensitive, they feel that they are threatened and they closely align with those iranian militias. now is talk about israel's

reaction to the u.s. strikes and how it could complicate diplomatic efforts that have been underway this last week in particular and will be intensified when secretary antony blinken gets to where you are in the region as it will be the first meeting tomorrow. >> exactly. it is the jewish sabbath here, we don't usually hear official statements from the government until at least sundown on saturday, but as a general rule the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, welcomes any exertion of american power that pushes back against iran, pushes back against iranian proxy groups in the middle east. he has made it his life's work in some case to make the case that iran is not just an israeli problem it is a israeli problem and a shared fear of the states coming closer

together. no official statements from the israelis at this point, likely we will get something in the next couple of hours. we are hearing from hamas who are condemning, as you imagine these strikes calling them violation of sovereignty of iraq and syria and their framing this as part of what they see as joint is really american aggression that now stretches from gaza to yemen to iraq to syria and beyond. as you said, these strikes coming at a unbelievably delicate phase of these negotiations to try to pause the fighting in gaza and get at least some of the hostages being held by hamas out. we spoke to the prime minister ofearlier this week. he has been the key mediator and he says the talks have been in a better place, but there is still a long way to go.

chaos in the region would not be good for negotiations that are this sensitive, at this point, there is no indication that american strikes in eastern syria and western iraq would necessarily have impact on negotiations between israel and hamas in gaza. one thing that could really shake things up if somehow hezbollah the powerful lebanese militant group backed by iran was for some reason led to escalate against israel. there is no indication at this point it is happening and the u.s. has been very careful to try to avoid triggering a conflict between hezbollah and israel. >> the u.s. says they don't want war in iran and iran does not want a larger war so have they made a balance here, the foreign ministry in iraq is now complaining if 16 people were

killed including civilians and 25 were wounded in what they call aggression against iraq sovereignty, that's from the prime minister. that is also a predictable response. is it not? >> yes it is, but it does underscore it's not just the sensitivity here of striking iran, the united states decided not to do that, but the fact that these strikes inside of the rack are incredibly sensitive and now there is the risk that the iraqi government is may be forced to push for the early exit of those u.s. forces in iraq and that possibly opens the door to more iranian influence in the region. this is really kind of almost a no win situation for president biden. he had to react when troops were killed and then he faces this risk of kind of going up the escalation ladder.

we don't know how these strikes are going to be received in iran or by the iranian proxies. will they get the message that the white house hopes they do? to step back, pull back and stop this, stop firing drones, stop firing rockets at u.s. forces in iraq and syria. stop throwing drones and missiles at commercial ships in the red sea. they still have the capabilities. these drones are quite small, they can be moved anywhere, they don't need an airport to operate. there are many ways for these militias and proxies to continue attacking, no matter how many airstrike is carried out. it's all about the political calculus on both sides. at the moment we don't know if

this will change the situation at all. the big hope for the white house is that israel begins winding down significantly the defense of gaza and to release hostages with cease-fire negotiations and that needs to come to fruition. that there is a deal which will then lower the temperature in the region and defuse tension and we get out of this cycle. that's the hope from the white house. >> that's the hope, but they know it will be long and difficult negotiations as they negotiate for hostages and it's not just the numbers, but who because the first group of palestinians released was a three for one in november, the last time there was a larger hostage release. it was mostly nonthreatening palestinians, you could say, they were not convicted, they were women and teenagers. they had not been convicted of something more serious.

the next group it is believed palestinians will want far more for every hostage and also people who have been involved in what israel says is terrorism and have blood on their hands. it will leave very tough decisions for that israeli right-wing cabinet. >> incredibly difficult decisions on all sides. painful compromise and concession on all sides. it is not clear that a deal will be struck and if the deal falls apart, then we are in a really precarious situation. and it is hard to imagine these airstrikes will be enough to deter iran. another point, there are still capabilities that iran have that help the proxies. for example there is an iranian ship at sea providing intelligence and surveillance to the houthi rebels in yemen to help them target commercial

shipping. will the u.s. take out a ship like that? that would be a major decision. it looks unlikely at the moment, but that's the example of the kind of network in iran has. >> dan de luce, raf sanchez, allie raffa and keir simmons, thank you for starting us off. what the u.s. military may do next with airstrikes and possibly cyber attacks. you are watching a special saturday edition of the andrea mitchell report. only on msnbc. stay with us.

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the u.s. airstrikes hitting more than four locations in syria and three in iraq. what is the next phase in what defense secretary lloyd austin says will be a multi tiered response. joining me now is former chief of staff to the secretary of the pentagon, also with us

today is our analyst and medal of honor recipient. so first, john kirby says the targets were carefully selected to avoid civilian casualties. that is one reason why they were waiting for cloud coverage to clear. what else from the pentagon, what else have they taken into consideration when taking the targets and why did they wait a number of days since the killing of the deadly strikes that killed three soldiers? >> i think everybody expected the united states would have to respond to the killing of three u.s. servicemembers in jordan. that was not in doubt, and then the questions unfold. will be the target and platform used? what would be the weapon earring? what would the united states say publicly about the attacks and its efforts to go after iranian targets, specifically.

what would we communicate publicly and privately to allies and partners? that takes coordination, it is a highly coveted operation, the president does not just push a button and the attacks unfold. as noted, some platforms included included aircraft from texas, these anbar bombers, these are large nuclear capable bombers that are part of the nuclear triad which can carry and hold much larger weapons. they can fly with weapons with more standoff capability. they can stay back because of the air defense or political air rights that for example the iraqi government may have been holding back. this was a fairly complicated and comprehensive operation that was well done and well executed, professionally executed. we were going after iranian targets specifically calling out iran as the author of this

unrest in the region including attacks against u.s. servicemembers, but not attacking inside of iran to escalate a wider and more direct conflict. i think this was the right level and well executed. >> now what military access was used in the response, we talked about the b1b, but what about the significant weapons used? >> precision guided munition is the way to go. a lot of people talking about how they can use dumb bombs instead, but there was a concern of collateral damage, of course. it is interesting to note that these kinds of weapons can be launched from a variety of platforms, including ships and aircraft that are located on ships in the region. we wanted to keep those assets, the aircraft carriers and the planes that carried them, and

the planes that are on them, just in case there was some sort of escalation and those aircraft would be required to do further counter strikes. interesting to note that we have a large target list that gets modified from time to time as intelligence dictates. so there are more targets there that we can strike, but have elected not to so far, because if we strike all of them, then we have nothing left to do except to really escalate the conflict which the united states does not want to do. >> let's talk about what could come next. a lot of talk about cyber possibly being done in addition to these strikes. what are our capabilities of cyber and who would we be targeting? >> i suspect the united states led by cyber command from maryland has a range of options

on the table and they have probably been conducting operations against iranian surrogates and proxies, to collect information and to debilitate their command and control and ability to operate. if cyber is part of the weapon sweep and in modern warfare it always is, then undoubtably if there are opportunities, the u.s., they have the benefit of being less visible, therefore the united states does not have to explain them publicly and they can be highly effective. i think that in this case given the fact that iran had been attacking our troops and bases and personnel in the region, we would have to respond with missiles, with lead on target, there was no way the president could tolerate this. it did take a couple days and there was discussion in washington, but i think this is the right response. it is important to note, one

final point, all of these attacks against america and our allies and partners in the region since october 7, this is not a coincidence that hamas attacked israel, hezbollah have been attacking israel, the houthi have been attacking ships, iranian proxies have attacking u.s. forces, this is an effort to prevent a three- way diplomatic deal which is what was it on the table in the fall of 2023. at this hour, six americans are held hostage by hamas in gaza. six americans are being held. this is an attack not just against israel, but against the united states. against our citizens, against our people and troops and president biden went to dover air force base to see the transfer ceremony of three servicemembers this week as a result of those attacks. >> those young servicemembers, barely in their 20s. two women

and one man. their parents were talking about their aspirations. the volunteer army, this was their career path to thriving in society and of course two, the two women were promoted to sergeant posthumously and what their mother said was a very meaningful promotion by the president in that phone call. more on that to come. stay with us as we talk about the target area, coming up next, a closer look at where the could you airstrikes hit and how effective they may have been. you are watching a special edition of the andrea mitchell report. only on msnbc. we will be right back. ht back. $3 footlong pretzel and a five dollar footlong cookie. every epic footlong deserves the perfect sidekick. order one with your favorite subway series sub today.

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the u.s. airstrikes in iraq and syria targeting facilities that the iranian revolutionary

guard used to attack forces from, to explain the importance of these locations is our national security analyst and former fbi special agent, the leader of the digital threat analysis center at microsoft and author of messing with the enemy, surviving in a world with hackers and fake news. what can you tell us about those locations that were hit? >> right here, this location in the black is tower 22, that happened a week ago. none of these locations were surprises from last night. this area here on the river headed down into iraq, several attacks there and here with a big attack in this area inside of iraq with some other strikes in here. this pattern was remarkable,

the fiber wine to 2006, seven and eight these would be the same towns that we saw, those trails going to syria into iraq and is still the place where the u.s. military has had combat power deployed in the fight against isis for many years. this border area is where we have seen the strikes and they're all islamic resistance groups, proxies of iranian forces now the big question is where these targets just going after the proxies? yes they were, in retaliation, but as we were just talking before this, the question is what were the iranian targets? that would be the iranian revolutionary guard corps. they have a special unit that operates as a group working with all sorts of forces and resistance groups. so were all the targets hit,

just these resistance groups or where they actual members? most people think they had cleared out of town. some wonder if there were those targets in the midst of these locations. >> do you think they were targeting specific leaders or were they going after the command and control and munitions assumed they would get some of those players? >> mostly the latter. based on looking at these reports, there were talking about a possible munitions bunker, there was a lot of loud explosions. there was a lot of communication between those groups. if they can hit the ammunition they reduce the risk of all the strikes occurring. the bigger question is the connective tissue between all the groups, it is the iranian revolutionary guard corps and overnight there were reports israel struck a commander of

irgc in damascus. so there are questions about is this a multicountry effort to go after the irgc and what could we see next? they have irgc links to yemen and the houthis and we see it across a rock and syria and we have seen this with hezbollah. these are the questions of will there be a follow-on layer at a different location? >> thank you so much. coming up, threading the needle, the pressure against iranian proxies without creating a larger war, that's the challenge. this is a special edition of the andrea mitchell report , only on msnbc. on msnbc. i'm just a regular person. some people say, "why should i take prevagen? i don't have a problem with my memory." memory loss is, is not something that occurs overnight. i started noticing subtle lapses in memory.

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i noticed my lung function improved. it helped improve my symptoms, and breztri was even proven to reduce flare-ups, including those that could send me to the hospital. so now i look forward to more good days. breztri won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. it is not for asthma. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. don't take breztri more than prescribed. breztri may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. can't afford your medication? astrazeneca may be able to help. ask your doctor about breztri. u.s. airstrikes in iraq and syria against iranian backed militias are just the beginning

of a campaign that could last weeks. will they deter further attacks against forces in the region and international shipping in the red sea or could this escalate to a larger war? joining us now is national security reporter for the washington post, thank you so much for coming in. the iranian foreign ministry calling the frame a strategic mistake that will increase tension and instability in the region. so how does the military go about threading the needle between deterring iran and not supporting the wider conflict that both countries do not want? >> that is exactly what the military and the biden administration in general is trying to do, thread the needle in terms of eroding the military capability of these forces, the iranian backed militias and the irgc itself to conduct attacks on american forces so that would be drawn facilities, they were able to

hit command and control nodes, intelligence sites, other weapons depots. they are trying to reduce their military capability and send a message to tehran, that the biden administration is more serious about this, more willing to risk regional instability than it has been in the past without tipping into a direct conflict with iran. that's why we did not see any direct strikes into iran itself, that would have been an option but the biden administration chose to target iranian assets outside of iran and that is what the united states has done in the past and iran has shown itself willing to tolerate those attacks to some extent, in a way that they wouldn't at the united states struck in iran. >> not hitting iran territorially, but we know how critical this irgc force is,

the military wing of the regime. how do we know how much damage we did to those forces and their capabilities? >> the general who spoke with us last night said that the united states will get a better idea as the sun comes up, so that is a process that is ongoing in terms of getting the battle damage assessment. we will look at the extent of the physical damage and they will be collecting intelligence about the operational impact and potentially the sort of intentions, what they hope would be a change of intentions on the part of the irgc and the iranian leadership. so you know i think that there is no expectation that iran is going to change its overall position on the u.s. military presence in the region and this now decades long antagonism we have seen. going back to the 1980s between

the u.s. and iranian proxies in the middle east. the hope that the biden administration has is that it can get back to a more tenable sort of low-level standoff that we saw for a while before those events of october 7th. >> of course it was not that strikes force involved in the shipping, was that group involved in the death of the americans? >> this gets to the interesting question of the dynamics and the relationship between the irgc , the qudz force and this proxy in syria. there is an assumption that iran has the ability to direct these militants in a way that it may not have, clearly iran has provided weapons and training.

they are there in those countries to a certain extent, but these groups also have their own local agendas. lebanese hezbollah is much closer to iran than the syrian and iraqi militias. and the houthis are different, have more autonomy and will not necessarily take direction from tehran in a way that other groups will. it is a very complex situation and i don't know that the u.s. government has full visibility into the agency and the dynamic behind the scenes. what they are clearly hoping to accomplish with these attacks is erosion of military capability and then sending a message to tehran. we also have to note that there is a necessity for president biden in this election year to send a message to his domestic constituency, to the republicans criticizing him for not acting strongly enough.

>> missy ryan, thank you so much. we really appreciate it. thank you for being here. the pentagon says last night the strikes were only the beginning of the u.s. response to the death of the three american soldiers. what might they do next? you are watching a special edition of the andrea mitchell report. only on msnbc. ha ha ha. variants are out there... and i have mouths to feed. big show coming up, so we got ours and that blue bandage? never goes out of style. i prioritize my health... also, the line was short. didn't get a covid-19 shot in the fall? there's still time. book online or go to your local pharmacy.

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160 attacks against u.s. forces and other international shipping by iranian backed groups across the middle east since october 7, the most severe was the deadly attack on sunday when three american soldiers were killed in jordan. now, iran has denied involvement in the drone attack and says it does not want a direct confrontation with the u.s., but talk to us about their larger involvement arming these groups and secondly let me ask about hezbollah. the group that said earlier this week they did not want anymore, they were suspending attacks, yet they were involved in that drone strike that killed the americans. >> iran has a strategy of utilizing surrogates, proxies, the militias and other terrorists to do its bidding.

this allows iran to inflict damage on what it foresees as its adversaries, the united states, israeli, countries of saudi arabia, uae and other countries, jordan as well. so it uses those surrogates and proxies to inflict damage on those adversaries of iran without iran acknowledging publicly that is waging war and iran is probably the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism. of hezbollah, a terrorist military, it funds, trains and equips hamas which is a brutal terrorist military that attacked israel and killed americans and is holding americans hostage. iran uses this deniable strategy , but again, american intelligence and israeli intelligence and other allied intelligence agencies have called iran out and they see

the ties between decision- making from tehran, the supreme leader and these terrorist militaries so when houthi attacks or hezbollah attacks one of these proxies , when they attack, everybody in the world knows it is iran and iran cannot evade responsibility. >> as we know the houthi forces from yemen have attacked commercial ships in the red sea. they say it is because of gaza, but they have been attacking international shipping and causing great economic problems to china, causing international shipping to circumvent the area which is a great cost. how do you see the u.s. for the reacting because reaction up until now has not deterred the houthis. >> yeah, there is no doubt about the fact that it has had a deleterious effect on the economics of the entire world.

now with shipping having to take the long way around the cape and africa. it is adding time and cost. a number of shipping companies say they are not going through the straits anymore. this is one thing that the united states needs to keep in mind that unless and until it can have an effect on the houthis, unless it can prevent attacks in the region, things are going to be much more difficult over time. it sounds like it is part and parcel of what's going on in the middle east and it is, to a greater or lesser extent, but at the end of the day, the houthi rebels are part of what is happening in yemen and the united states has been reluctant to attack the houthis overtime because we have said we are concerned about widening the civil war that has taken

place in yemen. at some juncture we will have to , we and our allies, in particular great britain will have to make a decision to strike perhaps preemptively on the houthis to restore national shipping. >> one reason why the u.s. is reluctant to be more aggressive in yemen is that the saudi's have a cease-fire after 10 years of brutal civil war against those proxies against the houthis and they were trying to at least, preserve the possibility of keeping that cease-fire with saudi arabia. now it may no longer be possible because deterrent up until now has not work. thank you as always for your time. jeremy, please stay with us for the next hour, we have another

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good day everyone, i'm andrea mitchell in washington. we are getting our first look at the damage inflicted by u.s. bombers against iranian link targets in iraq and syria. and new reaction from the governments in