attack, the hideous attack on october 7th that they had to prove their strength and reassert their strength in the s fact that they were the invulnerable israeli army. now. >> that is why you have been doing this so many years. it is all about perception and deterrence. israel was badly, badly wounded and embarrassed. it felt that its capabilities were, it didn't live up to its capabilities. it had to prove its deterrent. now iran was humiliated after its embassy compound was attacked in damascus. now it has to prove its capacity. prove its capacity. engel. that does it for a some coverage . f that continues the

next hour. we, the air this hour. u.s. officials say their intelligence over the last half hour, hundreds of iranian drones headed in the direction of israel, cruise missiles as well as ballistic missiles. we are waiting to see if in fact those drones make their way through the a multiple layers of anticipated intercepts that are going to take place over the next several hours. as i mentioned, we are coming on the air with the breaking coverage of iran's retaliatory strikes against israel. this comes after the israeli military confirmed more than 100 drone strikes were launched by iran today, marking the first time iran has launched a direct military attack on israet . obviously, risking a regional conflict that could draw the united states and its military forces into direct confrontation with iran and its

proxies across the region. a senior by an administration official is warning iran could launch dozens ofansss cruise missiles, not just adding that the u.s. and israel have been closely coordinating how to defend against this attack sayingsr quote, we are ready. the israelis are ready. the israeli military says it plans to intercept drones before they reach israel as i was saying, but it has also prepared to intercept drones over israel if need be. moments ago, iran's mission to the united nations posted that this would be it's only response to the israeli attack against its diplomatic compound in the syrian capital of damascus over a week ago. of course, as i mentionedai, th

was, in the eyes of iranians, a direct attack on iran's consulate, a violation of international norms going after a diplomatic facility. israel did not take responsibility for it. however, widely believed by the united states and other countries in the region that it was israel that went after these top iranian commanders and several members ofditrel ir military corps. united states has since restricted travel for its staff and israel out of an abundance of caution. israel has also shut down all schools across the country, and as of this afternoon, it has closed its airspace to both international and domestic flights. earlier in the day, iranian special forces seized a cargo vessel and a key shipping line that was operated by the zodiac shipping ih el country that is of israeli zodiac group. we're showing you live images there on the screen of the skies over jerusalem as we await

whether or not these drones make their way into israeli airspace. in the afternoon, president biden travels, returns to the white house to meet with his national security teamne about the events taking shape in the middle east, these tensions between israel and other countries in the region have been escalating for months, and it is clear that this is no longer a war solely between israel and hamas focused in gaza, but as we have seen over weeks and months now, has slowly expanded beyond those borders. let's go now to nbc news chief correspondent richard engel who is live for us in jerusalem. richard, we are going to pick up the coverage where you were just discussing the situation with andrea mitchell. we are showing our viewers these images pof the skies ov jerusalem. give us a sense of what you are able to see around you, and what the early morning sky in jerusalem looks like.

>> so, the pictures i believe you are looking at, and i can't share your screen right now because i'm just standing on a wrist stop in the old city in jerusalem at the moment but a short while ago here, probably 10 or 15 minutes ago, and it lasted for roughly 20 or 30 minutes, there was a lot of activity. we saw what looked like rockets, flares flying through the sky, coming from areas all around s,jerusalem in multiple directions, and many of them were right over the old city. behind me, you see the walls of the old city, the part that is the most holy, the most sacred in the city. the most important space for the three great monotheistic religions on the planet, and a short while ago, there was an air war over the old city with these flares flyingth, dozens o them in the sky at the same time, exploding. there was an array inside an inch -- air raid siren in the

julia sims so clearly there was a threat. we could not see exactly what the air raid systems were reacting to, but we did see several of these yellow streaking rockets that were moving through the sky quite slowly e , explode, as it seemed like they were trying to take something out, to try to knock out a target, potentially one of those drums. it was roughly at the same timee israel had predicted the drone was launched by the same time would proceed. that was a short while in jerusalem but since we have been on there with you, it has been quiet here. av as far as the anticipation of this evening and how it has played out, walk us through what we had learned about what iran was capable of doing, what iran had signaled it was ab willing to do in response to israel's attack against its

diplomatic compound, earlier this evening the israelis threatening that if iraq didpo cross the threshold and attack israel directly that israel would do so in kind. what have you heard about israel's plan of attack at this point in time? >> well, i think it is still a state of assessment. this country is at its highest state of readiness, actively trying to defend the country, the citizenry. just a short while ago there was another update from the israeli military speaking directly to the people. for the last six months here, there have been many air raid sirens. people of gotten used to them, they don't always obey them in the israeli military has been signaling to the people, take this threat seriously. take this threat seriously and go intod i a shelter. the next few days are going to be uncertain. they have banned gatherings over 1000 people. they have canceled all school,

and this place is now at its highest level of military readiness. all the defense systems are on. the u.s. military is working closely with the israeli military.cl whether this leads to a regional war, i think really depends on what happens over the next 24 to 48 hours. will it just be more of a symbolic response from iran, which is, at this stage, mostly what we have been seeing, because iran announced that these attacks were going to come, and it launched the drones. it takes hours for the drones to arrive. the israelis have sophisticated air defense systems, which we have seen. they have powerful allies including the united states and other nato allies,dr but it goes

further and if they do as they promised to do, use ballistic missiles and some of these get barough and cause casualties or a lot of damage, israel has already said it will respond in kind or even to a greater extent and we could be in a very different situation. so, what we know right now is the israeli military is completely focused on this and is telling people, don't think that this is just like you've gotten used to for the last six months. this is different. but, they are also putting a time frame on it. israelis are saying give this until monday night, and then let's reassess. that is how long these restrictions have been put in place, how long they are closing the schools. these next 48 hours, i think, are quite volatile. >> we are talking about this being an inflection point. we know you've been going, io h israel since october 7th but for those and others who have

been on the ground, walk me through the evolution of how we got to this point. was this direct confrontation between israel and iran inevitable? was this the trend that was going? i know israeli voices we are going to hear from later on in the show have been warning that things were not trending in the as the war in nf gaza dragged on but give me the readout over the past six months of how we got to this point of a direct confrontation between israel and iran. >> in many ways, we got here w almost on the first day when hamas crossed into israel, but it broke out of the gaza strip and thousands of hamas fighters entered israel and carried out their massacre and dragged back hostages, some of whom are still in gaza. iran immediately justified the attack, immediately blamed

israel for causing the underlying circumstances that led palestinians, hamas to want to carry out an attack of that nature, and quickly, we have seen hezbollah, iranian proxies like the houthi'sbl ve, taking a flight to israel but not from iran directly's, so iran was involved either because it supported the attack or because it was supporting other attacks through its proxies right from the beginning, but this has escalated. this is escalated.at prime minister netanyahu has talked about targeting tehran several times then it escalated to a very dramatic point about two weeks ago when the israelis carried out an attack on the consular annex of the iranian embassy in damascus, and that

is generally considered a redline, even in military conflicts. you don't blow up somebody else's embassy because they consider that their own sovereign territory. b once that happened, everyone in the region has just been bracing for this moment right now, and we don't know, will this be to it for tat where the israelis got to carry out their attack and now the iranians are demonstrating their strength, or is this the beginning of a totally new conflict that frankly would be very different in nature from the conflict in gaza. the conflict in gaza is focused. it is contained on the gaza strip and focused on eliminating hamas, and causing catastrophic suffering for the 2 million palestinians who live there. the war between israel and her onll -- i ran, nearly 1000 miles in that direction, could dragon the entire middle east and have enormous economic consequences far tibeyond what we've seen beyond the human suffering in gaza.

took us to the significance of this and how we could see all of this reverberate throughout the region right now. what is your reading r of what happened tonight? >> well, iran had been telegraphing that this was going to happen and they were going to react to israel's attack on the consular embassy in damascus. they were almost forced to react. let's not forget israel has been

carrying a number of revolutionary guard officers in syria over the last six months, and iran has d not reacted othe than it supports the houthis and hezbollah but has not directly reacted, but when the consular section was attacked and killed seven top levels i c officers, iran, at least for domestic purposes and on the so- called arab streets, had to show some kind of reaction and basically, by telegraphing this for the last 10 days or so,e giving the u.s. plenty of opportunity to move forces into the reason -- region, giving israel every opportunity to shore up their defenses. i think iran really does want this to be the end of the story , does not want war with

israel. that would be disastrous for iran as well as neighboring countries and i think by sending drones, which fly slower than a lot of modern cars for that distance, has given israel, the u.s. and the uk plenty of opportunities to shoot them down to avoid having these suicide drones actually hit israel proper g, and if one or two to get through, i think it is unlikely that they are targeted to civilian areas. again, iran knows that heading civilians in israelli probably would require a reaction from israel, and get support from israel at a time when israel is not very well liked in the region or even, indeed, in the western world because of its actions in gaza. i think they really do want this to be the end of the story. as richard engel pointed out on x, iran's u.n. mission very quickly put itio out as a

statement that this is the end. >> let me ask you about the domestic purposes of iran's motivation for a moment before we can get into the implications for the region and what it means for the war in gaza. you mentioned that iran had to do this, or had to do something for domestic face-saving measures or purposes. walk us through why they were compelled to do that, and if they had not done that, could they have -- there was some suggestions that the iranians were requesting the americans to push for a cease-fire in gaza in order for it to avert this retaliatory strike in israel.coresu >> there were a couple of instances where iran felt it could satisfy its domestic population, at least the ones

who support the regime, with a couple of diplomatic moves. one was going to the un security council. they were unable to get to the security council because of the u.s., uk and france blocking it, a statement condemning the israeli attack on the consular section in damascus. that may have been enough, at least they indicated again in one of their statements,pl cel if that had happened, they would've been less likely to feel the need to react. once the u.n. condemns it it feels like okay, now the rest of the world has said that this was wrong of israel, so that was the first thing. the second one was it was a sort of clever diplomatic moves saying that if there is a cease- fire in gaza, then a permanent cease-fire in gaza which they we knew the israelis were not going to do but if there is a permanent cease-fire than maybe that also means we don't have to act. int time particular that means sacrificed these generals in order to save the palestinian people with a cease-fire so that was a clever diplomatic move that obviously didn't go anywhere but we have to remember iran's own government at this point is not very

popular for a lot of reasonsla among its population. the job revolution a revolt from a year and a half ago. people are dissatisfied with the economy, the sanctions, iran's isolationism, the nuclear deal falling apart. all of those things in the hard- line government, the most recent election in iran of a president was m not popular in the most ever turnaround in history of the iranian islamic republic, so the people who do support the regime are the hardliners and those hardliners are the ones who rewould need t have a reaction against this israeli strike on their embassy compound, and without those hardliners, to satisfy those hardliners i think the supreme leader had to do something to show some sort of strength, to show that iran is powerful and can be a force to reckon with when it comes to israel, and i

think there is also the element that at a time when the arab states aren't doing anything to help the palestinians, or anything significant to help the palestinian cause, iran is there and attacking israel when israel attacks iran so i think that is the most that kind of thing that if you have only 30% of the population behind you but that 30% are crucial to your survival and crucial to your credibility, then you're going to have to satisfy them. >> i want to bring into the conversation,30 i american university of beirut distinguished policy fellow, someone who knows the region well and i wanted to get your thoughts on lebanon in the situation. i think for those who have been following what has happened since october 7th, still the biggest threat to israel would've been on its northern border from hezbollah, which has been engaged in direct fire llfor octhe erpast several months. it seems that has not been the

case so far from tonight. how do you see what is happened today from this direct iranian e attack on israel chaise -- change the dynamic, specifically, bring hezbollah closer into a full-blown war with israel? >> hezbollah is one of the several people around the region who have had war with israel and brought them to a draw several times.pe and then of course they pushed the israelis out of occupying south lebanon so hezbollah is very experienced in warfare with israel. the problem is neither does israel want a full fledged war on the lebanon-israel border because both sides are so powerful with such sophisticated weaponry and technology in communications and guidance missiles and things like that thatsr sca the

destruction would be massive in both societies, so they are desperately trying to avoid a full-fledged war, but at the same time, netanyahu, for the past months, has been trying to take on the iranians and hezbollah and he seems to want a war. he keeps talking about wanting to destroy hezbollah once and for all,n nd and they see iran the ultimate threat in israel right now, so there are several dynamics going on at the same time. lebanon does not have any real defense capability on its own other than hezbollah, and that is a very serious defensive and offensive capability but remember, this was triggered by the israelis attacking the iranian consulate in damascus. this is a confrontation of choice by israel to drop iran into attacking israel, so i think we need better responses from the israeli government. why did they launch this war?

why has netanyahu been egging on everybody to beat up iran and beat up hezbollah and openly saying after we finish with hamas, were going to finish with hezbollah, and of course, he has not finished thomas. he has tried to finish hezbollah several times, could not do it, so there is a huge amount of questions for the israelis, because they are the ones who really have started this round, at least, of the fighting, and i think this is something that will happen in due course, but everything has been changed. everything has been thrown up in the air in the region. all the things we assumed to before about the passivity of the docile nature of hamas, the inability of the palestinians to do anything,of the impenetrable israeli defenses,

their outstanding intelligence, all of these things have been thrown out the window and we have this plausible genocide going on by israel in gaza, and most of the arab world is sitting around watching it, so really, this is unprecedented. we have never been in this situation. the biggest fighting forces from the arab world are these united states-armed actors as well as hamas and yemen who are very close to iran and have become strong because of their links with iran so there is a whole new world out there, and we don't know really why iran responded in this manner. a bunch of drones is not going to do anything, even some missiles. the israelis and americans have the finest air defense systems in the world ever created in the history of humankind, and

the iranians are pretty capable but not that capable, so why did they do this? i think we've heard a lot of speculation in the last three hours and it is all speculations, so we just have to wait and see what the iranians have in mind. there is an element of saving face and looking tough but i think there's probably more strategic calculations behind the scenes which we don't really know about yet. >> do you think, given what is happened today and as you were saying earlier, the potential damage that would be as a result of direct war between hezbollah and israel, that iran was trying to re-establish some sort of deterrence w or trying signal to israel that it could not do what it did in damascus without any consequence, even if this is, on the surface of it, purely symbolic and not in any way tactical, per se. >> if it is purely symbolic it doesn't have much meaning really in the strategic equation, so there has to be something behind this.

maybe the iranians are just testing out different systems, trying to see what are americans helping with, what are israel is doing, and then maybe they will wait a whilee and do something down the road. i was extremely surprised when they did this. iranians think the would have launched this kind of operation. i don't know if it is a real full-scale attack, but launch this kind of action when the u.s. and israel together are on high alert expecting it, so the iranians are not rash in their military actions. they are quite calculated. they also have the element of time that they always consider. they don't have to immediately flex their muscles, but the issue you mentioned of deterrence absolutely is correct and there is a point both sides want to make. if you beat me up, i'm going to beat you up and this is part of human nature. nothing to do with being

iranian or palestinian or israeli. it's human nature and if somebody is attacked and takes a hit and is very weak and can't attacked, they just bide their time and they will come back later when their stronger and hit back. this is exactly what we've seen in the arab world over the last 25 years or so, a weakened arab world has become stronger because of these advanced arms factors and iranian support. the problem is they are not state backed actors but this is a consequence. we have to remember, all of this goes back to the palestine- israel conflict. all of this goes back to the century of confrontation between zionism and palestinian arabism and this is a consequence of all of this and so the easiest way to avoid all this is to resolve the palestine-israel conflict with two states or one state or some combination that is fair to

both sides, and the israelis seem desperate to avoid this. they don't want to negotiate and this is something that has to be addressed. >> all right, thank you to the both of you. let's head over now to washington, d.c. president biden is meeting with the national security council at the white house to discuss iran's attack on israel and let's bring in brie jackson with what we know on what is taking place behind the scenes there at the white house. what can you tell us about the president's return to washington since the strikes have taken place?

>> reporter: good evening. u.s. officials have been in constant contact with israel as well as other allies and there is concern about this possibly becoming a higher conflict. we are told this high-stakes meeting upping it at the white house in the situation room right now include secretary of state antony blinken as well as secretary of defense lloyd austin, vice president harris, who has been traveling. she is attending that meeting by secure video. here's what we know from u.s. officials so far.it aste iran's attack began with more than 100 drones headed toward israel. the administration's expectation is that iran will not dozens of crews and ballistic missiles targeting israeli government sites, but not civilian or religious sitesa the u.s. military has already shut down some iranian drones tonight. no, the biden administration has been on high alert and warned that this retaliatory strike would happen. take a listen to what national security spokesperson john kirby said earlier this week. >> we still deem the potential threat by iran here to be real, to be viable, certainly credible. we are watching it as closely as we can. right now, our focus is on having conversations with our israeli counterparts and not just conversations, but making sure that they have what they need and that they are able to defend themselves and, as i

think you know, we are also clearly, it would be imprudent if we didn't, taken a look at our own posture in the region to make sure we are properly prepared, as well. >> the white house is stressing the president biden support for israel's security is ironclad in preparation for today's strike, the pentagon had already repositioned assets, including fighter jets and ships in the middle east to better support israel. u.s. officials say the administration is not expecting iran to target any u.s. assets in the region. as we continue to get updates from the white house, a couple of key things we are looking for is the impact of ctiran's strik and what actions the u.s. will be taking in response. >> bree, do we have any sense from the white house how they have been communicating to

their allies in the region about the united states' potential involvement to either intercept incoming drones or missiles, or whether or not the u.s. has been signaling to israel any potential response? >> the u.s. has been in constant contact with israeli counterparts. we know secretary of defense lloyd austin spoke with his israeli counterpart earlier today, even before the strikes happen, so the u.s. continues to be in communication with israel about how to move forward with this strike, or how to respond to iran's strike. we are told they are going to be responding in lockstep, so we are still waiting for more information to come out of the white house about what's happening in the situation room.

>> all right. we are going to continue to track developments from the white house. for its part, the israeli military is saying it was fully prepared to respond to iran's retaliatory strikes. >> this is a severe and dangerous escalation. our defensive and offensive capabilities are at the highest level of readiness ahead of this large-scale attack from iran. together-s, with our partners, the israel defense forces are operating at full force to defend the state of israel and the people of israel. this is a mission that we are determined and ready to fulfill. >> with me now to discuss this reaction from israel is a former israeli ambassador to the united states and former israeli consulate general to the united nations in new york. i will start and get your initial thoughts on the response from the israeli military so far and the israeli government when the

spokesperson says that they are ready to respond with full force, what do you understand that to mean in real terms? >> i understand it to mean the defensive in the first instance is blocking these drones from striking israeli targets, particularly civilian targets. i think the fear has to be, and we have to take this possibility into account, that the drones are just a diversion of sorts, designed to weaken and dilute our ground to air missile defenses and then to strike with cruise missiles, which of course, are much more faster, accurate and deadlier. israel together with the united states has developed a system

known as the sling which can intercept both drones and cruise missiles, but it is a very expensive system to use. it has been tried out in combat recently but not on a massive scale like the iron dome, which takes out relatively short range, what are called drop- down rockets, but drones and cruise rockets can be guided by a joystick, much more difficult to intercept and destroy, so i think that will be the initial task of the israeli military first to take down the drones, be prepared for a second wave of more accurate, bigger and deadlier cruise missiles. >> i wanted to get your thoughts on prime minister netanyahu. nbc news reports that he is convening a war management cabinet or security cabinet in tel aviv. what kinds of discussions do you imagine are happening right now in that inner circle, and what do you think the prime minister's mind is that in regard to this attack and how israel response? >> there is a simple matrix to correctly assess the damage, which can't be done at this point, michael was absolutely right.

this could be followed by cruise missiles, which may change the entire matrix, but they are looking at a menu. what would constitute an attack or damage to which israel will be likely to respond? i'm not talking about american pressures not to respond. i'm not talking about self- restraint. i'm not talking about putin. i'm just talking about the matrix. what would constitute a threshold above which or beyond which israel will feel it needs to be retaliated over the retaliation and that, i think, is the most important question because if you noticehe, the iranian u.n. mission came out today after and most -- invoking article 51 of the u.n. charter about self-defense, et cetera. they said that as far as they are concerned, they deemed this concluded. i don't know how seriously we should all take what their u.n. mission said, but on the other hand, i don't think they were talking off the cuff, so from an iranian point of view and again, tthis is very premature

but from an iranian point of view this could end now so but i am stressing this for the third time. until we know exactly how this ends, this attack on israel, we cannot seriously estimate or guesstimate even what the israeli retaliation would be. >> ambassador, to pick up on that point, how much of the response that israel considers or ways, based on that menu of options perhaps been presented to the israeli prime minister as we speak, is determined by the success or failure of the iranian attack in -- and that assessment you both for evaluating? >> if you are measuring in terms of israeli lives, that will of course impact the basic

decision but i don't think it's going to change the basic calculus. for many years now, israel and even the united states have been playing by iranian rules which means iran shoots at us through proxies first, most recently, the houthi's in yemen and [ inaudible ] in iraq which recently is naval base with an armed drones. israel fires back at the proxies. it doesn't fire back at iran. those proxies hide behind civilian populations in israel gets branded a war criminal and happens time after time, round after fighting and iraq comes out scot-free. i think there are many people who want to change that equation, that iran should be made to pray -- pay a price but hezbollah has for many weeks outshot hamas in terms of rockets fired at israel. large swaths of the country arer uninhabitable because of hezbollah. it's an intolerable situation for any sovereign country to have been rendered

homeless by hezbollah. it's not as if iran doesn't bear responsibility for that. of course it does. hezbollah is a proxy of iran, and the question is, will israel go back to playing that game again, which is iran's game, where it gets hit with iran if -- i ready-funded missiles. >> do you think there was an overreach by the prime minister or israel to go after the iranian general in damascus? was that in itself a threshold crossed by israel to go after such a senior figure? what iranians and for the most part, the international community has been deemed to be an international compound

belonging to the iranian government which is off-limits during a time of war. >> you know, for several years there's been a covert war between israel and iran. it was not direct. it was via proxies, clandestine to a large extent and there were rules of engagement and rules of the game. what israel did was break that template and change the equation. i'm not saying it should or should not have been done. all i'm saying, and these people deserve their fate, let there be no doubt, but there was a question of timing and context, and the timing and context that during a raging war in gaza to do this would be inevitable escalation as we see now and as you see in the footage behind you, the only conclusion agis that mr. netanyahu was eager to provoke some sort of escalation for his own political reasons. should we not have done this? i don't want to pass judgment on that because those were vile

people who were struck in damascus. should it have been done? should it have been done in the context and the timing? i doubt that. >> i will pose that question to you, ambassador. what do you make of the decisioi to go after these generals in damascus at a time when israel was already facing this increased international scrutiny and pressure over its conduct in the war in gaza, and again, it's not casting a judgment on the individuals, but the timing and methodology and whether that crossed itself a threshold that brought us to this precipice. >> i've long been in at -- advocate of change in the rules of engagement by iran. as for the timing of the specific operation, i don't know. i was not in the room and i know when you are in the room, decision such as this are not made by one person. it is a collegiate decision made by a war cabinet that includes people who are in the

opposition. the prime minister is not the commander-in-chief. an operation of this magnitude would not be ordered by the prime minister alone. it would have to be approved by military experts and other members of the war cabinet so there must've been, i would assume, pressing reason for that. i mean, people were plotting a major operation against israel. there were reports now for weeks of iran smuggling massive explosive devices into the west bank trying to get into israel proper. it's not that iran is not coming in israel at every different angle and certainly from every border and for israel to remain passive in the face of what could've beenli nt a far greater terrorist attack, any government, i think, would've authorized the separation.nt >> let me ask it in a different way, which is perhaps the u.s. signaling to the israeli

government that had unconditional american support and some suggested that perhaps is how israel interpreted the ability to go after these generals in syria and opening this additional front. do you think that was a mistake , that there was not enough restraint on israel throughout this? >> no. in fact,r secretary of defense lloyd austin reprimanded his counterpart for not notifying the u.s. the u.s. was clearly unhappy and discontented with what it happened with israel's action. that was done without consulting the u.s., and the u.s.' military, financial support and backing and israel did not extend toward what happened in damascus. reminding you, president biden indirectly and implicitly warned iran and hezbollah not to escalate -- don't, he said. he repeated that just friday. i don't think it has to do with unconditional support but i

think that the last thing america needs right now, once right now, or is willing to be dragged into is a region brought escalation, and my only concern is again, without casting judgment, should these people have been assassinated? they probably should have, but israel is now seen as a rogue actor that is interfering with american interests. that's not a good place to be, and i don't think the assessment is justified, but that ise the notion amongst so people in the administration. >> all right, thank you to the both of you. greatly appreciate your insights. breaking news coverage carries on after a quick break.

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moments ago, president biden for posting a photo of him in the situation room flanked by his national security team there. let's bring in courtney. what can you tell us about the u.s. military's involvement in some of these and a subset of been taking place? we know u.s. officials say the u.s. military has shut down some of the drones. what more can you tell us? line

>> reporter: the u.s. has repositioned some things in advance of this expected retaliatory action by the iranian so we are talking about the u.s. military locations in eastern syria. there is quite a presence out there that does have some air defense systems. in southern syria, we have heard in just recent days about them shooting down other drones. in most cases, by iranian backed militia groups in the region. we know that at tower 22 in northern jordan, which we all became familiar with after the death of three u.s. members and dozens more injured and another attack, the u.s. has beefed up air defense systems and defensive systems around that area, as well, all of which would be capable of helping intercept or take out iranian

drones or even in some cases, ballistic missiles. in addition to that i mentioned repositioning. we are talking about u.s. navy ships that have been moved to different areas, and have the ability to take out ballistic missiles, drones, other projectiles and that is something we've seen demonstrated a number of times recently in the red sea, including by the uss carney. >> we know the iranian consulate in new york has signaled at least on x that as far as they are concerned, this concludes their operation obviously verifying from the u.s. pentagon is a different set of facts. does the u.s. military assess right now that the initial wave of attacks, or the attack itself, is there more to it or do they believe this is still a dynamic situation with more potentially to come? >> reporter: no one is talking about this being over yet. they have been talking about this as an extended campaign they expected would continue throughout the night. that doesn't mean it is over quite yet.

i will say some of the messaging on twitter is signaling as much to the israelis potentially not to respond to this. there was the israeli strike in damascus, which was very potentially escort tory, striking a building that was on a consular compound, killing senior iranian officials including a single senior member of the revolutionary guard. that in and of itself -- there was almost no way iran wasn't going to respond to that but it remains to be seen what exactly if anything iran really hits with this massive volley of drones and now missiles they've been launching toward israel. it is possible that if there is no massive damage there may not be a response from these israelis. i can tell you the diplomatic back channeling we've been hearing about has really been about both sides tamping down the rhetoric and tamping down

the potential for escalation. i have to tell you i really read that note as more of an okay, we've retaliated here for what you did in damascus and now let's end it here. >> i was going to say one of the words that has entered the vernacular in recent years has been the word comedy confliction, certainly with israel operating on multiple theaters. are there any military deconfliction lines taking place, as well? >> there is deconfliction that goes on between the u.s. and syria. we also know the israelis will give the united states a very short heads-up when they're operating in that area so something like the strike in damascus, the u.s. has said firmly they were not told that

in advance. but usually they will give the u.s. military a heads up that something is happening for no other reason than to deconflict that airspace. i'm not familiar with that being a standard practice. the one thing i will think back to us after the u.s. killed [ inaudible ] and i ran retaliated with a dozen or so ballistic missiles, we were told at the time that there was not a deconfliction mechanism is there either. >> all right, correspondent courtney kube with that update. we will be in touch with you as this evening develops. for more, let's bring in collin clark, senior research fellow at the defense center.

we were just hearing from my colleague about the myriad of options the united states has right now as they assessed what's taking place and begin to intercept some of these drones. you posted on x this evening that the next 24 hours are going to be tense in the middle east, and that there are major chances for miscommunication and miscalculation. elaborate for us how we might see this play out given the response that we have seen so far over the last several hours. >> it is an interesting situation because it is one where major countries are involved, iran, israel, the united states really want to, for the most part, limit this. we can quibble with netanyahu's intentions but by and large, there is a lot of signaling that they should be contained, but there is a multitude of efforts involved including iranian proxies, various nonstate actors including the historys, who can be a bit of a

wild card so anytime you have a conflict with more actors involved, the more chances there are for miscalculation, miscommunication and for something to go awry, so if there are civilian casualties, infrastructure that was not intended to be hit, there, we can see a broadening of this conflict even further. >> doing out here from moment when you look at what the iranians could've done as a response to the attack on its consular compound in damascus, the more lethal option might've been activating hezbollah to attack israel directly from the north. why do you think iran opted to cross this threshold, which is a direct attack on israel as opposed to using its proxies as it has done time and time before, and using its most lethal proxy, that being hezbollah. >> i think there is just growing pressure on iran to react. the iranians were put in

the difficult position. that was a blatant strike in damascus, so we finance the iranians have signaled that they don't want to escalate, in many ways, they feel that their hand is forced. if they did not respond like this, they would feel that they could be perceived as vulnerable, as weak. if you go back to the iran-iraq war, there was so much gamesmanship involved between saddam and the ayatollah saying you know, who did what to whom, use of chemical weapons and so, it is a danger in the region to show your hand in some ways, show everything you have. i think in many ways, this iranian show of force is a message to adversaries including countries in the gulf that are not necessarily in this fight to show what the iranians can do if pushed. >> what do you think could've been done between now or previously from october 7th to now the could've it averted this escalation from the u.s. standpoint? there was some criticism the u.s. is not putting enough pressure on israel to not widen this war as it began with strikes against hezbollah in lebanon and receiving the strikes as well from israel but

also going beyond that in going and places like syria with this attack on damascus. should the u.s. administration of done something different to prevent us from getting to this point? >> i think we are in one of those strange historical moments for it is a perfect storm. had this not been an election year i think we would've seen biden been a bit more forceful with netanyahu but it just that we are approaching an election in november something i think israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is very aware of. he wants to string this out but you know, if we were not in an election year i think the administration would've been a bit more forceful but as things stand, they are getting hit by all sides, by democrats, by republicans, and really trying to run out the string here.

>> there have been some israeli security experts that have assessed that netanyahu's attempt to widen this war and certainly go after iranian generals in damascus diverts, or is a distraction from what has been an unachievable goal in gaza, the inability to release the hostages militarily and at the same time, the inability to destroy hamas, both stated objectives of the is israelis from day one in that war. do you share that assessment or is this something completely disconnected from what was taking place in gaza? >> i do share that assessment. i treated it out the other day and i think in response, [ inaudible ] tweeted out. i wrote a piece about the dangers of counterinsurgency in gaza and at the end of the day, things are not going well for the idf in gaza. this is an attempt, some would say by netanyahu, to make this a broader regional war.

this is a forcing mechanism to paper over the wrists between biden and netanyahu and present a united front at a time when relations are not that good between the u.s. and israel because of what is happening in gaza, and the massive civilian casualties. >> always a pleasure. thank you so much for joining us this evening. we are going to take a quick break. were going to have a new our of breaking news coverage every iran's retaliatory strikes and israel. stay with us. stay with whoo! ♪♪ these guys are intense. we got nothing to worry about. with e*trade from morgan stanley, we're ready for whatever gets served up. dude, you gotta work on your trash talk. i'd rather work on saving for retirement. or college, since you like to get schooled. that's a pretty good burn, right? got him. ame. thanks for coming to our clinic, first one's free.

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the go-tos that keep us going. the places we cheer. and check in. they all choose the advanced network solutions and round the clock partnership from comcast business. see why comcast business powers more small businesses than anyone else. get started for $49.99 a month plus ask how to get up to an $800 prepaid card. don't wait- call today. tonight, the middle east on edge. we continue our breaking coverage of iran's retaliatory strikes against israel. the israeli military saying iran has launched more than 100 drone strikes towards israel, marking the first time the country has launched a direct military attack on israel. moments ago, our producers there sent us this footage, flares shooting through the skies over jerusalem. officials telling nbc news that the u.s. military has shot down some an