this is going to be tough israel has been fighting a two front war against hamas and against hezbollah recently over the weekend, they also attacked into yemen to attack houthi positions. now, what you're talking about, there's a new enemy is actually an old and i mean that's around. phil will israel now attempt to these attacks with another group of attacks. it's a very unfriendly neighbourhood for israel. that's an understatement. but when you're talking about a forefront war for our forces, the size of israel's, this is going to be very challenging all along the attempts by the biden administration he has been to tamp down the potential for a regional war. i think we're seeing the potential now for that to increase significantly. and that's really unfortunate. >> i think that's what we're seeing right now general hertling. thank you. don't go

anywhere because i want to bring in christiane amanpour, who joins us now and christiane, you know, full well that the biggest one of the biggest concerns aside from hamas and hezbollah inside israel, maybe a bigger concern has been the kind of thing we're seeing right now, which is iran, which has a very, very, very deep bench of very strong artillery and missiles. and it appears that they are using them right now indeed. >> and it's incredibly important to be absolutely precise about what's going on so far, there is no evidence that anything has landed that it is being intercepted according to our correspondents, on the ground. and also the united states and israel said that the they assessed that the targets would the three israeli air bases and intelligence and an intelligence base, again, as our correspondents have said, that's very important to keep in mind. the second thing is that i've been speaking to

foreign ministers from the region just today, the lebanese foreign minister, currently in washington speaking with the biden administration and trying thank to get them as he told me, to really use all their diplomacy and their influence with israel and with whoever else that influenced with to stop this escalating. and what the lebanese foreign minister told me, and this is really extraordinary and i had not heard it before. that, just before the israeli targeting of the hezbollah headquarters that assassinated hassan nasrallah, that there had been a ceasefire which the u.s. announced. but what the lebanese prime minister said to me was that they had got hezbollah to agree to that ceasefire. and apparently they thought that netanyahu would agree to anyway, as you saw what happened on friday night, which has led to this escalation as for iran. and now the lebanese prime minister is very concerned that there will somehow be an attempt, whether

it's to come to the rescue of israel or whether israel tries to get us in. but the u.s. may end up. john pointing this escalation in the middle east, the foreign minister said that the iranian foreign minister told me in new york during the united nations that they were showing, and this is again before friday's assassination, that they were showing restraint and that hezbollah was showing restraint as well. and that it wanted to deal yes. collate all of this. that was the word also from the podium at the united nations by the iranian president and they were saying that they are being entrapped and they're trying to resist the notion of being trapped into this war. so then comes the assassination of their client hassan nasrallah now, hezbollah is not but there iran is not there to protect hezbollah. it's the opposite hezbollah is meant to be the frontline troops of iran. so this response from iran is more likely because it feels it has

been left no choice as the reef said to me, in new york, that they may be pushed into this the response because everyone is asking, hang on a second, what are you going to do now that your best friend has been assassinated in lebanon and certainly the so-called supreme leader of iran, ayatollah khomeini was very close to hassan nasrallah. and there's been a lot of internal divisions inside iran about how best to respond to what happened with the assassination of nasrallah. so that is essentially what seems to be going on right now in terms of the big picture, nobody, nobody, not the lebanese nor the iranians want this to escalate even further. iran does not want an israeli or a us war against it. it is unlikely to be able to resist that. it does not want it. so we're going to see whether this is targeted and how much damage beyond what israel believes are the targets is

actually done. and i think that is what's going to determine potentially the next steps, like it did last time, if you remember a whole coalition of the united states, israel, other arab countries, european countries stopped those three 300 missiles and drones and cruise that came in and they did almost no damage. and israel responded in a much more limited way than it might have done. so we will see as, as president biden said, that's the last time take the win. we'll see what happens this time. >> yeah. exactly. i mean, we don't know as you said jim sciutto was reporting that he saw with his own eyes some actual missiles hitting the ground and hitting targets. >> steps disney, but i think we need to be i think about this. i think he said he said he saw some intercepts and others he made contact, but i think the point that you're making is really important, which is it's going on right now. we

don't know when we won't know until until this is over. but the cnn teams and israel and jerusalem have counted dozens of missiles flying above them. several have been intercepted. it is unclear how many and also christiane, what you say about the idea of iran doing this because they don't feel that hezbollah is able to anymore, right now is very question of deterrence everybody is trying to move their determined to ability so this is what's going on. and i think also not to be forgotten when prime minister netanyahu addressed the iranian people the other day and said that they stayed close by them and supported them in iran in some quarters, it was interpreted as a warning shot about regime change in iran. so all of this is also happening in this entire military political situation christiane, thank you so much.

>> thank you for being with us. don't go anywhere. cnn's breaking news coverage continues straight ahead with kaitlan collins news and we do begin with breaking news this hour as iran has launched a major missile attack on israel, i'm kaitlan collins in new york. >> we'd like to welcome our viewers here in the united states and around the world as we are following this breaking news from every angle, cnn's jim sciutto is live in tel aviv. jim, you were right there watching as you are seeing explosion it's happened in the tel aviv sky. tell me what you're seeing right now don't know if you can hear me. i i know we've had some issues with communications. jim sciutto, you are live on the air. if you can tell us what you're seeing in tel aviv as of this moment, jim what's happening will work to

establish jim sciutto's connection. he's right there in tel aviv, yet to evacuate briefly as we were trying to see what he is seeing in tel aviv as this missile attack is happening right now over the skies of israel, we've got cnn's nic robertson also on the ground following this story for us, nic robertson, i believe we can hear you and we can see your shot. can you tell us what you're seeing on the ground right now? >> in this part of northern israel is relatively calm. it is where jim sciutto is tel aviv in the center of israel. that seems to have ban the brunt of these two salvos about 15 minutes apart of missiles appeared to be ballistic missiles fired by iran walz israel, iran had teslas theta that was understood, that they were targeting air bases several air bases, and the mossad intelligence headquarters just outside of tel aviv. it's not clear if any of those locations were hit

when iran targeted israel backing in april, it fired a salvo of over 300 drones, missiles and ballistic missiles and cruise missiles. only three out of those 300 got through. but israel had more time to prepare back then. that is not the case. now this has happened very quickly israel does have strongest offenses, but i think we're yet to get an assessment from the israeli government about what has been hit. and of course, back then, it took israel several days before it responded in a limited way to iran. right now, the expectation will be clearly that israel will be preparing to respond. and this is something it appears it appears, and i say that right now is threatening to israel. do not respond and thank you, nic robertson, stand by. >> we'll come back to check in with you. i want to go back to jim sciutto, who is in tel aviv where you are able to hear the explosions happening in the sky. obviously the iron dome

defense system being put to work, jim sciutto, what can you tell us about what you're hearing see, we saw multiple intercepts over us here in tel aviv and i saw impacts as well packed just along the shoreline here. >> and another one off beyond. if you see those blinking lights on the smokestack just beyond that where i saw quite a lot lotion is now it's unclear whether those were the missiles themselves striking fragments of missiles that had been intercepted, or perhaps some of the interceptor missiles themselves coming down. but i will say the speed and the trajectory was quite forceful we don't know the extent of this conflict right now, but i'll tell you, kaitlan, that this is what a war sounds and feels and look like, looks like given the size of this barrage, these two barrages that we witnessed here now you did also

get a sense in the midst of it and of just the extent of israel's missile defenses, which are multi-layered. we should be clear. do you have the iron dome that's the most familiar one, but there are several layers different altitudes to take out missiles and rockets various ranges and speeds, et cetera. the ballistic missiles, they are the fastest and they're the ones that come in and at the highest altitude. so it maybe what we were seeing were some of the higher altitude missile defenses such as one of which is known as david's sling. but i'll tell you as i was as my team and i and to be clear, there are several levers here as we were in the midst of this, the extent of the intercepts over tel aviv, which is a big city extended from the southern end all through the central area here to the northern and multiple firing and points of those interceptors going up and meeting in the sky above us. and you could see the, you could see the explosions as they hit presumably, their targets it's of these incoming missiles and jim, i should note

that we are getting a statement in from iran now saying what was plainly obvious, but but still confirming that this isn't direct response in retaliation for what israel has been conducting over the last several days and weeks, which is the killing of these top leaders of hezbollah. >> of course, hassan nasrallah and other top leaders that they have targeted in recent days, they are now saying in a statement that argc, that this is in response to that jim, obviously, what was so critical in april was the heads-up that israel had about what iran was planning. and also the assistance of the united states in that situation. what do we know? about how the u.s. has been coordinating with israel as far as giving them a heads-up about the intelligence they had, they did believe iran was planning to launch a ballistic missile well, attack we do know because it was just a couple of hours ago when us officials made that warning public that iran bonn was making preparations for a

ballistic missile attack on israel. >> and it's our understanding that they of course gave that warning prior several hours prior to to israeli officials so that they could prepare for exactly that kind of that kind of attack i was also told that it was a us intel view that among the targets were israeli airfields, but also, and this is crucial. the headquarters of mossad, the international intelligence service of israel, which is inside tel aviv. it's in the northern part of tel aviv, but it's in the city. it's in a densely populated area. and of course, the concern is if you're firing even even though iran might consider that the military target, it is in a densely populated city with civilians around it. and that's just one more layer of escalation as we see this, this exchange of fire. now, the other thing i'll note, kaitlan, i was told by us officials chose prior to this attack that the u.s would take part coordinate with israel in

air and missile defense, including shooting down those missiles. it's not clear yet. i haven't been told if the u.s. managed to shoot down any of these with their forces in the region, but they were prepared to do just that. and we know from our experience in april not just. did israeli missile positions, missile defense positions take down missiles, but also us forces did. and crucially, other allies in the region and including jordan, jordan's geographical position is important because it's between right, between iran and israel. not clear if jordan took part in today, but i'll tell you, kaitlan that. listen, i've been coming here for 20 some odd years. i've never seen an attack like this in tel aviv it brings back echoes of shock and awe, right? going back to the iraq invasion in 2003, not that scale given it was too two barrages of self several minutes. but in terms of the threat to this city and the escalation from what we've seen

prior, its significant yeah. >> and i should know, jim, i just while your reporting i heard from an israeli source who said that the israeli security cabinet is inside that a month of urgency bunker that they have in jerusalem as they're watching all play out not far from where for you are in tel aviv. but jim, to hear you say that in your 20 years of reporting, you have never seen an attack like this on tel aviv. what is it that makes it different right? >> if the volume and the munition, because a ballistic missile, it's fast, it's, it's supersonic, takes it number of minutes to get from iran to israel, about 12 minutes to cover hundreds of miles of territory. it's very high altitude. and because of all those things, it's threatening. and when you fire a ballistic missiles in number the intent is to attempt to overwhelm the missile defenses. you hope iran that you might be able to get some through because they can only so many

targets in any given in time. and kaitlan, that's not dissimilar from what we've seen russia do in ukraine. fire several missiles sometimes of different categories at the same time i'm to attempt to overwhelm those missile defenses. and of course we've seen in a place like ukraine how you can do so with such a devastating effect. it is not clear here yet, and we are seeking out reports for damage inside, inside that tel aviv. i don't see anything visibly burning right now. we've heard some sirens, but i will say as i said earlier, one of those the strikes that i saw maybe a couple of miles just to the north of this year, there was an explosion that followed and i have to imagine there's damage on the ground there, hopefully not casualties nervous city. no question. and understandably so absolutely understandably so. >> and obviously, jim, first i should say, if you need to go inside, please let us it's no at any point, obviously, you're right there in tel aviv where we're seeing so much of this action happening. and i should

note, we're waiting on briefings from the idf, from the pentagon, from the state department. we have a lot of officials that we're waiting to hear from as everyone is watching this play out to see what the impact is. but jim, before i let you go, i i do want to ask you when this attack happened in april and iran sent some 300 missiles towards israel, many of them crashed or just did not ultimately make their desk donation, which helped play a part. and that not having as big of an impact is what we're seeing right now. what are israeli officials hoping are counting on that being a factor in this attack? >> it's a good point because there was some speculation in the april attack that perhaps that was deliberate, that there was some telegraphing right. and that the collection of munition munitions, some of which were ballistic missiles, but others were drones which fly much slower and cruise missiles as well, which flag flying much slower than ballistic missile so as that, that might have been part of a calibration on the part of iran, not to escalate further and you're hearing a siren,

they're not clear if it's related while it looks like it's police police car as opposed to an ambulance. thankfully there were speculation that that attack was calibrated so as not to spark a massive retaliation by by israel against iran. and you may remember in april, the israeli retaliation was one missile, one this all deftly placed in that it went after a missile defense battery around one of the iranian nuclear installations, but it was not a massive is rarely missile barrage in response. but given the size of this, two barrages, 15 minutes apart or so, enough that it was certainly keeping the air defenses here busy. and again, i'm not clear if the missiles got that we saw fall here, got through those defenses, or if those were pieces of missiles falling but it. was certainly, bigger than that attack in terms of its effect on tel aviv so listen,

in the dangerous game that is played in this part of the world or in any, in any conflict. you have an attack and then you have retaliation. and then retaliation and retaliation. sometimes you an effort, you have an effort to calibrate those retaliations so that it's it's proportionate other times, one is bigger than the other, and in variably, when you're one side defines as proportionate may not be proportionate the other side's view and i think that given the size of what we saw tonight we certainly have to at least be prepared for quite sizable israeli response yeah, of course we heard from prime minister netanyahu defending them, going after the leader of hezbollah by pointing to what hezbollah was doing on october 8, firing at israel one day after the worst day, the deadliest day for jews since the holocaust. >> all of this is, you know, kind of what people have been bracing for since nearly a year ago when that horrible day

happened to jim. and i should note right now we're hearing from the iranian mission to the united nations there saying that this response from iran and there quoting them now has been duly carried out. jim sciutto, standby. we're going to check back in with you in tel aviv to what you're seeing in the skies. we've also got nic robertson, who is in haifa and nic, obviously, when you heard from israel last night, the idf confirmed they were sending ground forces into across the northern border into lebanon they were describing it is limited targeted raids. they have been bracing for a response though since netanyahu was here in new york and we were first hearing that hassan nasrallah had been killed in that strike. they obviously knew something was going to happen. there is a big question now of how israel is going to respond to this attack has made very, very clear the prime minister benjamin netanyahu, made it clear at the un general assembly that israel has a long reach.

>> and if it's attacked, it can reach its enemies that it had an long range. in fact, it's second law longest range combat mission over the weekend to a target houthis in yemen and that part of that was not just a target houthi infrastructure, but also who to send a message to iran. and that was the message that we've given by the defense minister, the chief of staff, the prime minister, again, that that same evening. so it does seem in the context of israel in the way that israel projects itself and creates that sense of deterrence that israel will be compelled because that's the way it sees. it needs to operate in a region where it sees it as surrounded by enemies that it will be compelled to try to keep that sense of deterrence, which means it will be compelled to respond. the scale of that response might be moderated by the pressure of allies like the united states it's not clear. it will be up to israel to look at the damage and assess the

damage and a summit assess the success that iran may or may not have had and to that point looking that one of the what appeared to be an impact to the north, that of tel aviv that jim was describing i can't say what that location was, but i absolutely know that area was in the vicinity of one of the stated targets of iran. did they get through? but what we've seen and what i can wave some experience of being there baghdad in the gulf war in 1991 and during shocking oren 2003, when there were looking over the green zone multiple multiple, multiple impacts from us cruise missiles that were fired into baghdad when those missiles come down, you have multiple huge impacts and multiple huge explosions when there's nothing that to stop

them. but i think what we've witnessed this evening, as far as i can see from the video that i've seen so far. is that israel has managed to stop a lot of those missiles coming down. however, the only view that we've had of it is from tel aviv and we know that iran said that they were targeting other locations inside of israel. we don't have eyes on that. we haven't seen video from that. we can't make a full assessment the picture yet, but at least as far as tel aviv as concerned, where israel has been fending off both ballistic missiles from hezbollah in the past week and several ballistic missiles from the houthis in yemen in the past two weeks, that israel has very strong defenses, both the lower level iron dome, the mid-range david's sling, the high range arrow intercepts to get those ballistic missiles when they're very high in the sky. it has a range of defenses and has had them clearly around tel aviv. and the first

impression created for me tonight is that israel has had a relatively successful dev, defending itself however, we are yet to get any information from israeli officials and they have yet to make their calculations. based on that, how they should respond. >> nic robertson. thank you for that. and i should note those israeli officials, at least the security cabinet, is inside an emergency bunker right now in jerusalem watching this attack play out, we just got an update from the west white house, president biden and vice president harris are also in this situation room watching this attack unfold. and according to a white house official telling cnn, president biden has directed the u.s. military to aid israel's defense against iranian attacks and shoot down missiles that are targeting is real for those who are just joining us. we are watching as a iran has launched an attack on israel with missiles, ballistic missiles, we believe is what they are according to us intelligence and what they had communicated

to israel in the early hours this morning here on the east coast. it's about 8:00 pm in israel. i want to show you the moment that we first began to see these explosions happening over the skies of israel this is a summarizing major sciutto this is obviously a major attack. >> there's no question we're seeing what we're all seeing with our own eyes is a major attack from iran it's a major attack. dana, and it's an escalation. it's an escalation of saw. i think potentially beyond what we saw in april when it, when iran launched dozens of missiles and drones, this attack, according to us intelligence jen principally, or perhaps entirely ballistic missiles, which are the fastest by far and the most dangerous and, now what we're seeing in addition to those intercepts as we're seeing fragments falling

to the ground, it's like a deadly a deadly fireworks display over tel aviv. goodness, there was an impact you tell us here and you're talking about tel aviv, jim, we are looking at pictures right now. we are looking picture at pictures of tel aviv. what you're describing >> okay, guys, we got to get off the roof. these are coming down right next to us here. >> please do, jim please do they're coming down one just about. we got to go inside jim, please take cover listening and we are watching

you were just watching the beginning moments as iran launched a major missile attack against israel, which it is now said is in response for israel killing top hezbollah leaders in recent days, we are covering all of this from breaking news with our reporters live on the ground in israel and in beirut and along the border, there well, i want to bring in cnn's wolf blitzer, who is here with me. wolf, obviously, this is a moment that israel had been bracing for what the response to the killing of nasrallah hassan nasrallah was going to look like. and the question of course, is whether or not this is a moment that only plunges this region into further conflict than what had already had been since october 7. >> yeah. i think it's a fair fair question, indeed, and in my opinion, based on all the years i've been covering this story, it's almost certainly going to happen. israel is going to retaliate. it's going to respond directly at iran in

one way or another. we certainly don't know what exactly the israelis will do. but this situation is clearly going to escalate when you see those ballistic missiles flying over that, over tel aviv. when a lot of people don't realize is even though israel has a truly excellent air defense missile system, the iron dome and david's sling and all sorts of other patriot air defense missile systems that the israelis have some created and israel some created in the united states and elsewhere. what people don't necessarily realize. and i've been there when these rockets and missiles have come in, the iron dome has blow to them in the air. all of a sudden the shrapnel will start falling to the ground and that's extremely dangerous because if you're on the ground and some of that shrapnel and thousands of pieces explode as a result of that missile being destroyed all of a sudden, you could be in grave, grave danger and you have to run into a shelter immediately as soon as those sirens go off in tel olivia, i've been in israel when those sirens have gone off in immediately run into it,

shelter and you can hear the explosions coming in that sounds like the iron dome breaking up a missile, but then all of a sudden, all the metal from that missile is going to fall to the ground and potentially kill people who may be in the way. so that's why you have to get into a shelter as quickly as possible once the alert goes off and israel has a very sophisticated alert alert system to notify people, get it, get in inside, and get to a shelter as quickly as possible. kaitlan, this is an extremely dangerous moment in the middle east right now, because the situation almost certainly is going to intensify and explode israel is going to retaliate again mr. ron. and remember, these are not missiles and rockets and drones coming in from his balah in the north there houthis from yemen in the south. this is iran launching these strikes against israel i want to bring in ben wedeman. he's joining us from beirut right now then it's been i take it relatively, relatively keyword quiet in beirut. but

what's the latest where you are? >> well, what we've seen as these rockets and missiles were firing over tel aviv was the, there was hello rhetoric, gunfire and fireworks been led off over the southern suburbs of beirut. so people here at least in those parts of beirut, clearly taking some solace in the fact that israel's been hit keeping in mind that it's been, it was just two weeks ago today that those pagers started to go off in beirut the next day, the walkie-talkies and certainly over the last eight days, what we've seen what amounts to a full full-scale war between hezbollah and israel. and it's also important to note that iran, in its putting out it's statement in the aftermath of these strikes on israel said that it was in retaliation for

31 july assassination of his melania. the head of hamas's political bureau, assassinated in the heart of the iranian capital, tehran. and then of course, last friday, hassan nasrallah the, killed in the southern suburbs of beirut in that massive blast and also a senior commander of the islamic revolutionary guard corps also killed in that strike. but stepping back and looking broadly at this situation, i think we are at that tipping point that so many people feared a real regional war. i was here an 18th when you i had more than 300 iranian missiles and drones fired at israel, but that was such an orchestrated telegraphed event. and israel barely retaliated, i think just one missile on some obscure target in iran. but given the size of the iranian strikes on israel this evening, the broad nature how many of those

missiles were fired across israel. i fear it's inevitable there is going to be a significant israeli response on iran. and therefore, you get into a situation where we could easily find the region, the middle east and engulfed in that regional war that so many people feared wolf are we're going about to get this news conference. >> the idf press spokesman, rear admiral daniel hagari there you see him. let's listen in to hear what he's saying. >> that can we shall on all meltzer debris, it michelle loves announced new low meso am human most often been very villa atomaton hay'at lot said mammal have a mugen van us know i'm sure simla kovac them itself as they've been media

drama, if they decide to act do the time, when necessary. hello, me again, more of a by difference is not the first time for us he said from iran pili vermont now need from the state of the science portion of myself, run the end. >> we are ready for them. i will cease fire system you should lock the border it's able of the public, there's no injuries, no hearts, no. no? >> both in there and i am the future. now in the future communities. and we're ready well if kamala we continue on to action there were serious

attack or nash and there'll be a serious consequences on that. >> zolan. thank you. thank you i will repeat to update you on all the developments in the future. let's other big worker should be very important that our public high school in a matter which it saves lives all right, so there we have the translation, the israeli idf spokesman rear admiral daniel hagari telling people in israel, listen to all the instructions you're getting. this is clearly an extremely dangerous moment in israel's history right now with these rockets and these ballistic missiles moving towards tel aviv elsewhere in israel, if you've been getting these notifications all over israel, sirens are going off right now, not just in the tel aviv area, but elsewhere in israel as well. and you can see these rockets coming in and then at some point, very often can you can see an iron dome anti

ballistic missile system intercepting a rocket or a missile or drone and exploding in the air. but as i said, before, still very, very dangerous when all of that shrapnel, all that metal comes down potentially on people on the ground, it could kill you. so you have to be very careful and that's why israelis, based on the experience i've had, and i've been to israel not three times since october 7 they immediately listen to those sirens, kaitlan, when they go off, they go into shock shelters and wait for the all-clear and sometimes that could take a long time to as i said, this is an extremely tense moment. and based on everything i've been hearing kaitlan over these past few weeks, if the iranians were to launch this kind of strike again, israel would not wait very long, but would retaliate in a major, major way. they have a lot of targets inside iran that they can go after. various targets and there's no doubt that israel has the capability of reaching those targets this thing, this situation in the middle east could explode into a regional

war big time right now. and kaitlan, when final point i just want to make before i throw it back to you the u.s. has been moving troops and equipment to the region, whether the eastern mediterranean or the red sea or elsewhere, are getting ready not only to help israel in an emergency like this, but also to preemptively warn the iranians if you're messing with israel, you might be messing with the united states as well. and there you see those pictures from moments ago when those missiles said rockets started coming over tel aviv and some of them being intercepted. kaitlan, this is an extremely tense moment right now. >> yeah, wolf and you make a really great point about the u.s. moving forces there, something that they just moved more of in recent days, israel has also been amassing forces on its northern border for with lebanon. that's when they said yesterday that it was limited ground incursion going into into lebanon. there were questions of what that was actually going to look like, how long that could last. and wolf on your point about the shelters and what we're watching right now. we just got that breathing briefing from the spokesperson for the idf is

when jim sciutto was reporting from tel aviv a few moments ago, just moments after these missiles seem to stop, obviously ballistic missiles move very quickly within 15 minutes, even potentially, you could see traffic going up and down the roads of tel aviv it's about 8:00 in the evening. their people were still out on the roads. they did not seem to have as much of a heads-up that an attack was coming at this time as they did back in april when, officials were bracing, they were telling residents to either stay home or to stay in shelters. and wolf, i obviously, you have to note the timing of all of this. this is happening on the evening in tel aviv, as we were just on the eve of jewish holidays, that obviously people will be observing will be at home and the timing of this attack happening. now, wolf the jewish new year russia center starts wednesday night and it continues thursday and friday leads up to a yom kippur some ten days later. >> so this is a very, very sensitive religious moment in

israel, as well as all of this is beginning to unfold up once again. hundreds, hundreds of iranian missiles launched toward israel. that according to the jordanian military and in the past when an april when a, iran was launching missiles and rockets towards israel, jordan was involved in helping the u.s. and israel under buying that opportunity for the iranians try to destroy those incoming rockets and missiles. and israel got help from the uk and other countries as well in that region, some 300 missiles and drones and rockets were fired towards it. israel, but the iron dome and israel's other anti ballistic missile system worked in destroyed most of them, causing very limited damage in israel. jim sciutto tell us where you are. we were really concerned a little while ago when you had a run into a shelter, when you saw what was going on from your location? >> well, wolf, we were on the roof of our hotel once again where we were in the middle of

this barrage our senses now the air raid sirens have stopped stop. we've been told it's safe now and other folks around here have been told it's safe to go back to their homes and we're seeing the city now as i just look around me and see the streets begin to fill again with traffic, a sense of the city waking up to some degree to your point? well, if this is a city that takes those air raid warnings very seriously they listen, they go to their shelters. as we did during the worst of it. i mean, you saw that impact there. i actually filmed that. right there on my phone just moments ago those impacts about a quarter mile from our hotel here still not clear if those were the missiles themselves that got through intercept missiles that came to the ground are fragments of missiles regardless, it shows you the danger i did find it remarkable listening. there to admiral hagari saying that there have been no casualties report, reported that speech seeks to the just how formidable israel's missile defense is,

especially. but i have to think there's some good fortune involved as well because some of the impacts i saw all hit the ground, particularly one just to the north of us. i'm amazed that people got through unscathed. now i should note, and i believe this was mentioned earlier that there was another event, another deadly event in tel aviv earlier this evening, and that was a shooting at one of the high-speed rail locations here? in which, eight people were killed according to the emergency services. they say that police responding then neutralized to attackers, which they described as a parent and terrorists. so in the midst of that aerial barrage from iran, there was a suspected terror attack. and sadly, that terror attack, a deadly one, killing eight just to the south health of us. here it speaks to the nature of where we are right now in this country and in this region, because in addition to the incoming threats it's

hear, you now have israeli boots on the ground in southern lebanon that just beginning in the last 24 hours, you have an ongoing war in gaza. you no real israeli strike. and i'm pointing with general directions here as best i know them without him happen front of me you had an israeli air force strike in yemen against houthi targets just in the last 48 hours. and now you have this incoming from, from iran. the other thing that stood out from admiral hagari, his comments, there just a short time i'm ago wolf and i'm sure this caught your attention as well. he said there was a serious attack on israel and there will be serious consequences will await now, to see how israel response to this. but as you noted, they have enormous capabilities. the question now will be, to what extent they use them and that's what presumably a lot of folks in israel will want israel to respond and hit iran directly various, various very sensitive targets in iran to

make it clear to the iranians, you can't do that, you can't launch these ballistic missiles towards tel aviv acute city, 1 million people plus with all those huge buildings there and tel aviv. >> and think you're gonna get away with it. iran is going to pay at least everything i've heard from the israelis a huge price for doing what they're doing right now so this situation as bad as it is right now as you correctly pointed out the houthis launching missiles towards israel from yemen with his balah launching rockets you can send missiles from southern lebanon towards israel. and there's still this war going on with hamas in gaza, multi-front war going on right now and now the iranians directly from arraignment and soil, not their proxies, not the houthis or hezbollah or hamas, but iran itself launching these ballistic missiles towards israel. you got to believe that she is going to intensify a very, very dangerous moment in the middle east right now, go ahead and you know, wolf, one question about israel's response is,

and this has been a burning question as you well know for a number of years does israel attempt to strike iran nuclear facilities there is a cohort in this country that is wanted to do that for some time when israel responded to the april iranian missile attack we all noted at the time that it struck a missile defense position around one over ron's nuclear facilities are facility locations in his for khan a strike on iranian nuclear facilities that would be quite a moment and hard to see how that would not spark and even larger war in the region that's where potentially could happen. indeed, that's not unrealistic at all. jim sciutto, be careful over there in tel aviv, we'll get back to you, kaitlan i want you to continue our special coverage yeah. >> wolf. a major question of how israel chooses to respond

to those that could determine what we were looking out over the next days and weeks and months. we can report now that celebratory gunfire and cheers could be heard in beirut and gaza as all of this was unfolding in just the last hour, cnn's ben wedeman is in beirut. ben, can you tell us what you're seeing from your vantage point in the immediate aftermath, kaitlan of those strikes on israel, a war fireworks being fired over this southern suburbs of beirut a root and we could also hear celebratory gunfire keeping in mind that the last two weeks have been a very hard for his butler lebanon. >> it going back to the pager attacks, the walkie-talkies, and since the last eight days, full-on war between hezbollah but and israel and therefore, for these supporters of his butler and the supporters of iran here in lebanon this was a moment of for them joy and of

course, in elsewhere though, for instance, in jordan there was fear. we've seen so in jordan rockets firing through this zooming through the skies of jordan, the jordanian military put out instructions to people to urgently go inside for their own safety. the airspace over jordan has been closed. and of course now we are bracing for these israeli response to these iranian strikes and the expectation is that unlike an april when the israeli response to when iran fired more than 300 drones and ballistic missiles at israel was very modest. clearly they were, israelis were encouraged by the americans not to esq., collate but i think just watching the pictures from israel clearly these rarely response is going to be significant what we have been

talking for months now about the threat of a regional war. and i think we are on the very edge of that the worry is that now that this has happened, that things could quickly go out of control. and of course you have the united states very much part of this conflict to seen as the major supporter of israel. it's deployed significant additional military forces to the region and in the event we see more exchanges of fire between iran and israel, it's likely that the u.s. will, in some way be involved. kaitlan that's a really important point, ben, in the sense of in april after seeing iran's response, the white house basically was telling netanyahu take the win. this wasn't as bad adam as damaging as it could have been. it was more targeted, maybe meant and deliberate not cause more damage than what they had set out to do. and the question

though but if it happened again what israel would do and what that would look like. and i think the question here is, do they target iran's nuclear capabilities? what does that look like? like in the aftermath? because that could really shape the future of this war in this region heard the prime minister so netanyahu, the other day, he put out a message in english to the people in the iran. >> and he certainly suggested that things would change soon hi, they take the relations between the people of iran and the people of israel would, could dramatically improve this is going to come about. it's difficult to say, but certainly israel has been poised for years of four military action against iran. and certainly i think now that seems very likely indeed, kaitlan yeah, ben wedeman,

we'll be watching it all. >> ben in beirut. thank you for that report. wolf, obviously, major questions here of what this is going to look like though we did hear from the idf spokesperson who said right now in the immediate future, it does not appear there's any longer an aerial threat coming from iran. obviously a relief to people who were in israel as of this moment, especially what we saw happening and television the still a big question of what's to come that's a huge question right now. >> kaitlan. and it's very important what rear admiral daniel hagari, the israeli idf spokesman, said just a few minutes ago, he said there was a serious attack on us and there will be serious consequences. his words he added that this was not the first time israel has faced a direct threat from iran. we all remember what happened in april, but he added these words. we are ready for them. i want to bring in michael oren right now. he's the former israeli ambassador to the united states. ambassador oren. thank you so much for joining us. how tense is this moment in israel's history right now?

>> it is a very tense and a very historic moment. wolf, state of israel was created in 1948 to prevent precisely from this happening, to defend the people and the land of israel to ensure that the jewish people would never be subject again to precisely this type of attack. and this goes to the dna of the jewish state. and israel will have to respond just as it responded to the attacks on october 7 to the 11 months of shelling from hezbollah in the north israel will respond and respond forcibly against iran. and israel has capabilities and capabilities that are conventional. i must say that it has not used. i want to call your attention to the the operation that eliminated mr. he hassan nasrallah before several days ago, in which many israeli planes dropped bombs by 2000 pound bombs that cut through many, many yards of concrete we don't have strategic bombers like the united states have that can bomb from 50,000 feet in the air with 50,000 palms.

>> we have a lot of fighters that 15s f-16s f 35s, that conduct successive bombing sorties that can cut through concrete and so there is no there's no structure, no facility in iran, including the nuclear facilities that is immune to an israeli response you think the israelis will actually do that, go after iran's nuclear capabilities and tried to destroy them with a massive bombing attack i wouldn't rule it out. i wouldn't rule it out against the action against iran oil facilities as well in the persian gulf. >> they're very vulnerable way back when ronald reagan took out a number of them, the 1980s in response to iranian aggression, they are vulnerable israel has other capabilities. we have submarines, we have, we have long-range missiles that we haven't used yet in these, in these conflicts. so there's a range of, there's a spectrum of possibilities that israel can do. and i think that israel has to respond in a very forceful weight because again, that goes to the very dna of

the country. the big question wolf is what will be america's position here? i was in the white house recently, i asked very pointedly, it's the united states willing to put teeth into don't remember the president said, don't to iran and to hezbollah. they did. and now is the united states willing to adopt a posture that's not just defensive? but offensive, we're the united states to do that, i strongly believe it would be a game changer in the middle east and a game changer in the world well, do you think the u.s will in fact come to israel's aid right now, or will the u.s. >> continue to urge israel to step back and try to work out some sort of ceasefire agreement i think that that as they say, that horse has left the stable about the ceasefire agreement and israel is not going to be able to agree to any ceasefire, wasn't going to reach a cease fire even before this. the 21 day ceasefire, those requested by the administration and by the french was a nonstarter in the state of israel because that's ceasefire would have benefited only hezbollah, given a chance

to regroup and rearm unless that ceasefire king with agreements with the united states, the united states would support israel wholeheartedly should whose ball the break the ceasefire and not implode retroactively implement resolutions 1701 from 2006. and that is to withdraw north of ohtani river about 20 miles from our border. but now with the iranian shelling of israel and my family, my grandkids are all in bomb shelters now, as i'm speaking to you, there are huge explosions in my neighborhood and a major terrorist attack because says jim reported a little while hello, go on cnn, a major tariff in my neighborhood literally down the street, eight people killed israel has going to have to respond and again, there will be a spectrum of possibilities the big question again will the united states just act in a passive way and help israel to take down these rockets. and i think we'll find out shortly united states states military assets in the middle east were very active in intercepting these rockets. but as the united states willing to say to the

iranians, you shoot at our ally the way you've shot on your ally and you're going to pay a prohibitive price because up to this point, the iranians haven't paid a price. they've fired at american bases in the middle east some 200 times. they've wounded dozens of american service people killed three, and iran to this point, hasn't paid a price. here's an opportunity to change the rules of the game so the iranians will know in an unequivocal way that if they destabilize and bring it to the middle east and bring violence to so many people, they are responsible for literally hundreds of thousands of deaths and many hundreds of american deaths. that there will be a very painful price to pay so what does your gut tell you, ambassador near the former israeli ambassador to the united states, you appreciate what's going on in washington right now. >> you know what's going on in washington, what's your what's your gut tell you if the israelis launched a massive retaliatory strike? strike against very, very important and sensitive targets in iran, which a lot of people suspect the israelis will do. what will

be the u.s. reaction to that? will the u.s. get militarily involved in helping israel or will the u.s. try to urge israel to step back? >> it may do both. it's not an or it may age, urge israel to exercise restraint and very difficult right now and i think that the administration knows that they can say publicly pleased hold your fire, but behind the scenes, they know that israel cannot do that. we cannot do that and fulfill our historic role as the jewish state, which just can't do that. but also the states will be involved. as i mentioned, defensively helping to intercept rockets, sharing intelligence as they've done before, the u.s. and israel, as you know, we don't agree all the time on everything, but still, we are a historic alliance between us the us, israel strategic alliance is probably the deepest and most multifaceted strategic alliance which the united states has had with any foreign power in the post-world war ii period. and it goes into many, many areas. it's cyber, its laser, its, its intelligence sharing at the highest level. so that's going

to comment to play the big question is, is the united states states, and we kept over not overlook the fact that you're in an election cycle here. only a few weeks away and the debate tonight is the united states prepared to adopt not just a defensive posture toward iran, but a more offensive posture toward iran. and let the iranians understand that they cannot do this. they cannot ignite wars throughout the entire middle east. they cannot be involved in the massacre of hundreds of thousands of people. we're talking about 500,000 people who were killed in syria alone and in the yemen civil war, they can't do this anymore. they can't stop international shipping through the mandeb strait. they can't fire on american bases all the time. there has to be a price to be paid and that would be a game changer. it's not an easy decision. i understand it's not an easy decision for the white house, but there's an opportunity here. and history will judge america, i think very favorably if it takes a strong stand at this moment. >> i know that the u.s. defense department, the military, the defense secretary lloyd austin, and others were deploying many

additional us troops and equipment to the region in the hopes of deterring iran from doing what they've done in the last couple of hours or so, launching a lot of these missiles and ballistic missiles towards tel aviv and elsewhere in israel that deterrence clearly did not work. let's see what happens next. michael oren, the former israeli ambassador to the united states. thanks very much for joining us >> thank you. >> now, let's get back to kaitlan. kaitlan. >> thank you, wolf. and i want to bring in cnn's alex marquardt because alex was just days ago that prime minister netanyahu was here in new york for the united nations general assembly. he delivered a speech and there was a line that day that stood out, but even more so now where where he said it was warning to iran a very frank one. he said, if you strike us, we will strike you. there was no place in iran that the long arm of israel cannot reach and alex, you and i went to a briefing with senior israeli officials talking about the very prospects of what the next steps of this war could

look like, especially as we were on the verge of getting confirmation mission that the leader of hezbollah had been killed in a targeted strike by israel that's right, kaitlan and that briefing was on the heels of this ceasefire deal that the u.s. >> had put on the table and it hits said that israel was fully on board with and then clearly, israel showed that it had no intention of abiding by that ceasefire. they did not agree to it. and just a couple hours later, we got confirmation that hassan nasrallah had been killed. the us has made clear that they did not want israel to go into the group round in lebanon and further inflame the situation. so i think i can answer that question that ambassador michael oren was just posing about whether the u.s. will take a more offensive dance. i think the u.s. has shown zero willingness and has no desire to engage proactively militarily with the iranian regime shimon, i think there are a lot of officials in this town who would take issue with his characterization that what

the u.s. is doing right now is passive. in fact, what we're told is that the u.s. it, has been very actively involved tonight in this aerial defense of israel as they were back on april 13. and so right now, kaitlan, we have to get a sense of what it was that that iran has fired at israel and what the destruction, what the results have been. i'm also told kaitlan that in terms of this defense of israel or damian's, have been actively involved with their air force in terms of shooting down many of these missiles were starting to get a sense of what this collective defense of israel has looked like tonight and as we know so far from the israelis, there have been no deaths and no injuries. and therefore, the question will then be, what are what is that israeli response going to be? we heard the israeli say that there will be consequences. you can imagine the u.s. is going to be pressuring them to not escalate and to not respond in a way that will further inflame things thanks, kaitlan.

>> yeah. and president biden and vice president harris are right now watching all of this play out with their national security team from the situation room. we do know that alex marquardt. thank you for that. our special coverage of this attack by iran on israel will continue and you were going to take a quick break. we'll be back with the breaking news with wolf blitzer, blizzard, and anderson cooper right after this in the driveway being treated for leukemia i hope she lives along great abdoulaye and she will never forget how mom and eddie lover st. jude mean. >> this is what's keeping my baby girl you can join the battle to save lives by supporting st. jude children's research hospital for just $19

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