nbc's martin fletcher is in tel aviv for us. good morning to you, martin. some saying this attack could even be a message to iran. >> reporter: that's right, richard. the attacks that took place, the two attacks that you mentioned by israel into syria certainly have an immediate effect in terms of destroying any weapons that syria wants to transfer to hezbollah in lebanon. but the real message, exactly as you say, is actually to iran, which is stay out of syria, do not continue to try to arm your puppet in south lebanon, hezbollah is ready to strike. the question now is what will iran do? and also more immediately, what will syria do? the deputy syrian foreign minister called it an act of war. now, the israeli military have today been saying there's no war with syria. they don't want war with syria. all they want to do is stop weapons from iran transiting syria to hezbollah in lebanon. now, those weapons that israel attacked which reportedly were fatah 110 long-range missiles, very accurate guided missile system from iran. those were transferred from iran.

martin fletcher live for us. martin, first of all, what led israel to strike yet again. >> saying that if the syrians transfer -- began to transfer any weapons that called game changing weapons to hezbollah and lebanon, they would strike. they have acknowledged it was their planes that attacked syrian targets two and three days. the rockets, iranian made rockets being transferred to hezbollah in lebanon. war planes attacked the source of those rockets. there was a huge explosion earlier, very early this morning. apparently the rockets were destroyed and maybe other weapons destroyed too. israel attacked because they could not bear the thought of those weapons being transferred to its enemies in lebanon then potentially in the future being used against israel. so israel decided not to wait for the weapons to be transferred to lebanon but to strike before they left syria. >> how real are the chances at this point that syria will in some way, shape or form retalia retaliate? >> well, there's -- the nerves are on edge

nbc news middle east correspondent, martin fletcher joins mow knew from tel aviv. , israel moved the iron dome and is prepared for retaliation, but doesn't really expect it. they think that syria is pretty well preoccupied with the rebel forces. isn't about to take on israel. is that your take as well? >> that sums it up. the israeli commanders in the north said they did not expect any kind of war to break out in the north. syria is so involved with its own problems and it knows if it does retaliate against israel, then israel will retaliate much more strongly against syrian government and the army installations, which could lead to the fall of the syrian government. so there's no sense here that israel is about to be attacked and there's almost complete quiet among the israeli people. the only thing i would point out is that israel does have an annual military exercise in the golan heights. which is supposed to start in a few days and they've already said that's going to be reduced. so as not to stir things up further. andrea? >> that's interesting, indeed. thank y

nbc's martin fletcher is in london near the crime scene with more. martin, good morning. >> reporter: lester, good morning. with a flower tribute behind me growing all the time, there's been a bizarre twist. police arrested the friend of a murder suspect last night after he claimed on bbc the spy agency had tried to recruit one of the murder suspects, the man filmed with blood on his hands. he turned them down six months ago, the arrested man said, no comment from ma-5. security officials did confirm that both suspects had long been on their radar. this is him six years ago. the slogan muslims against crusa crusaders. a show of support and national unity in the north of england on friday as the second signal regimen ended the second tour of duty in afghanistan. with britain reeling from the vicious murder of the soldier who fought six months in afghanistan and was rammed by a car and slaughtered with a butcher's knife on a london street. had his family said their hearts have been "ripped apart." >> you don't expect that. >> no. you don't expect it. >>

mar martin fletcher joins me with the very latest from london. first to the arrest today. ex, it was a 22-year-old young man from north london arrested. armed police went into his house. he has not yet been charged apparently, in the same way as up to eight people have been arrested in the last few days since the killing. none yet have been charged. the key question the police are addressing and they've appealed for help from the public in pursuing this is the main question they're facing was this a conspiracy or was this a lone act by these two suspected killers? that's the key question scotland yard is facing at the moment and they are appealing for help. they are examining cc it tv footage. they have forensic evidence. according to witnesses collecting as much cell phone footage as they can. it's still very early stages, they say. the police at least say the investigation is proceeding well, alex. >> yeah, and the two suspects that were arrested, what do we know about their background, the extent to which they had been flagged by security. >> reporter: well, this is anot

correspondent martin fletcher is joining us from tel aviv. the updates we've been getting are certainly not a lot of confirmation coming from israel so much in terms of whether or not they were trying to take out assad but more that they were trying to stop those weapons from getting to hezbollah. is the israeli government formally confirming that now? >> reporter: they've never said a word officially. although some news agencies are quoting israeli officials saying yes, they did it. they attacked two syrian targets twice in three days. so now israel is ready for any syrian retaliation, as you said, they're on top alert. no one is expecting any attacks from syria. the israeli commander in the north in fact said that israel is not in any kind of state of war. doesn't expect war with syria of but they are ready. they've moved two iron dome batteries. up to two northern towns. in case of retaliation, they don't expect it. >> explain to all of us, we know that jordan's king abdullah had meetings here over a week ago with the vice president and th