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 iranian drones.

in a statement tonight, ron said that this will be the only response to israel's strike on iran's consulate in damascus at the beginning of the month. that, of course, killed several iranian generals, including two top commanders. iranian officials had vowed revenge for those attacks, and in their statement, they also warned that the united states must stay away from any direct military involvement. meanwhile, officials telling nbc news that the u.s. and israel have been closely coordinating how to defend against this imminent attack. for fears of growing regional war have been escalating for months ever since hamas is october 7th attack on israel, and the subsequent israeli war on gaza. joining me now, richard engel, nbc news chief foreign correspondent. he is in jerusalem for us in the early hours of the morning there we are in that window, richard, of anticipating some of those drones making their way into israel, as well as potentially those missiles. what can you tell us about what

has transpired there in terms of israel's ability to intercept some of these drones, or perhaps even american intercepts over the skies of jordan? >> reporter: over the skies of israel, also over the skies of jordan, also over the skies of syria and iraq. this entire region is now mobilized. if you look at the, those flight control apps, and i was just looking at one a few minutes ago, you see a big hole where there are no planes flying all across this part of the middle east right now. no planes, no planes in jordan, lebanon, iraq, syria, iran, it would seem. this whole region has been shut down, as iran is firing these, these drones at this country, and we saw a short while ago, and you played a clip of some of the israeli air defenses countering that, that threat, and we heard the, the air raid sirens going off as well, and

israeli media now report that it seems that we saw was an attempt by iran to target the israeli knesset, which is also in the city, but it is not just jerusalem that has been targeted. many of the strikes appear to have been focused in southern israel, in the desert area, and some of those drone strikes, according to videos that we've seen, still working on full verification, but appear some of those appear to have, the strikes appear to have gotten through the air defense systems. unclear if they caused any casualties. it's a largely desert area, but there are quite a few military bases in that desert area. so that was the first wave. iran is talking about three wave attack. first wave, we saw. we saw part of it. the second wave, more drones, according to around. in addition to missiles. at a third wave of the listed missiles. and that has the potential, the biggest potential to escalate

this into a, a truly regional war, war between iran and israel. but so far, this drone phase, it is still early days, and the israeli military has been updating the people and the israeli military spokesman says that he will give an update to the media, and also therefore to local press, every hour throughout this crisis. >> richard, let me ask you about the threshold that has been crossed and what this means in the larger context of the shadow wars iran and israel have been engaged in over the last several decades. we know, and certainly from an iranian perspective, the attack on damascus was a crossing of that threshold. tonight, israel is going to undoubtedly, and it has been factually a special being crossed with iran directly attacking israel. how does that change the equation of these two countries that have been at better odds for the better part of 40 years now? >> reporter: so there is a chicken and egg scenario here, which we so often find in

conflicts in the middle east am aware, as you mentioned, israel and iran have been daggers drawn really since the 1979 islamic resolution in that country, where being anti- zionist, anti-imperialist, anti- american, anti-israeli became part of the, the country's mantra, became part of its, it's lifeblood and motto. and israel has carried out attacks in, in iran many times, and has killed iranian scientists, it has use proxies to carry out attacks. there have been attacks on weapons facilities in iran, weapons destined for iranian proxies like hezbollah. and then, of course, two weeks ago, there was the iranian attack on the diplomatic eldon, on the embassy annex in, in damascus. what we're seeing now, which is different, is iran responding directly. iran responding directly from iranian territory, not using

behind, not hiding behind a proxy, not using another military group to attack israel, and therefore potentially inviting a direct response onto iranian territory. i think it's very significant that iran said that after this, it wants things to be over, that this, they consider this case closed after tonight, but we will see if israel agrees, if the prime minister benjamin netanyahu agrees. and i just spoke with a senior diplomat in the region, and he is not the only one who believes, and many diplomats unable to tell you this, i'm sure you've had them tell you this in private as well, that they believe that netanyahu is partly motivated by his personal survival. that he wants to escalate this conflict to, to a war with iran. it's a bit of a conspiratorial view, it's a cynical view, but it is one that many people in this part of the world who believe. >> all right, nbc's richard engel life resin jerusalem this evening. richard, it's good to see you

my friend. thank you so much britt let's bring in colin clark, director of research, senior fellow at the carnegie dam and for international peace, and -- former spokesperson for the u.s. mission to the united nations. she's also the former syria and lebanon director at the white house. it's great to have all three of you with us. i'll start with you tonight, and get your reading of the iranian actions here, the attack on israel. on one hand, the iranians needed to show faces. we've heard throughout the night for their own domestic purposes. on the other hand, the assessment is going to be, why would they risk invoking a response from both the united states and israel that could, if the situation escalated, bring about a greater conflict against the regime, which has always sought to, has sought to survive as opposed to enter direct war with the united states? >> well, you put the parameters correctly. we're too weak in responding,

they lose face. if they're too aggressive, they could lose their heads. and that's a very difficult needle to thread. at the end of the day, iran's supreme leader is 84 years old. arguably the longest-serving dictator in the world. and he wants to continue to survive, and he wants to die as supreme leader. their hope, as richard alluded is that this is just going to be one punch they're going to throw, and that they want the matter to end. but it's no longer up to them. israel, obviously, is going to have a say, whether or not it chooses to retaliate. >> so, colin, to that point, how does israel assess whether or not to respond, and whether or not the united states that's involved in trying to either constrain or restrain israel from responding? given the fact that it has already gone after iranian targets, as we saw in syria and the iranian, the senior members of the iranian military. >> reporter: well, in this kind of continuing -for-tat , you

know, i think the israelis are reluctant to let iran have the last word. i've said, you know, for a couple of months now, we're at a low boil regional war. i think what we've seen over the past few hours, depending on the, you know, the next 24 to 48 hours, could take that regional, that low boil regional war and turn up the temperature quite a bit. things are going to get very heated, and i also expect the proxies to become a lot more involved as the with these, especially -- you know, it feels like we've taken several steps back, and just doing the kind of kinetic response from the iranians, i have to believe the israelis are not going to leave it here. >> you've said that the strikes by iran so that they feel the need to respond, as we were just mentioning, to save face in front of its people without being, at the same time, suicidal. break that down for us in terms of the options they could have

pursued that thread that needle for them. why do you think they pursued this particular direct confrontation mother's direct attack on israel, which, in of itself, crosses this dangerous threshold? >> well, you know, i had said that when we thought it was just drones coming over, when we saw the first reports about the drones. and so to me, i thought that, well, that's interesting. they want to respond, they clearly need to show their domestic audience that they're doing something, but they're not suicidal. that's why that's all they're doing. this is a whole other level. i mean, every foreign policy expert, me included, i know, are surprised by this response, because it seems very disproportionate, and it is clearly designed to overwhelm any defense mechanisms by israel and the united states. i'm not sure that it will completely overwhelm it. they're very well prepared, they are already intercepting the majority of these missiles. but it is, it's a very strong response for, for, in response to what happened, but also, by

the way, based on the iranian regime's history in responding to alleged israeli assaults. there have been over two dozen israeli attacks, including attacks by drones, assassinations, and cyber attacks. within around. 2010. and so why this attack in particular? why did this one motivate the regime to behave this way? and i think it's a mix of factors. i think part of it is, the regime itself is not very popular among iranians right now. they need to do something that they believe will show public support. number two, i think they genuinely believe that they, their had was fourth, and that they want to show, they want to show israel and the united states, don't mess with us. but the fact is, i just, i highly doubt, as the experts have said, that israel will not respond. even if there isn't significant damage, i expect israel to respond. and thirdly, i would say that it's, it's, they're taking advantage of a situation, this, this low boil regional war, as

colin mentioned, to pursue an attack of this kind. but i do believe it has crossed the threshold a little bit into suicidal, because it is a very significant escalation, what iran is pursuing right now. >> do you think, kareem, do you think that this may end up being a miscalculation by the iranians part? and i mean that from the global perspective of israel, certainly after six months of war in gaza, had certainly begun to lose its standing, even among the united states. the conversation about conditioning aid to israel was gaining momentum. there were reports that the white house was increasingly frustrated with benjamin netanyahu . but literally in the span of hours, that dynamic has once again shifted in favor to israel being as, right now, as the recipient of these attacks, as the victim in this case. that now the ironclad support that we hear so much about from the united states and western allies will come to israel's defense immediately, and once again, netanyahu survives this international isolation that he

was increasingly coming under. >> well, as you know better than i do, events are so fluid in the middle east, and yes, the world, now, the conversation is perhaps no longer focused on what israel's doing to the palestinians, but what, what iran is now doing to israel. i think one of the, the two of the key countries to watch here are russia and china. even the two countries are often times lumped together, i think they have very divergent interests in the middle east. i think russia benefits from chaos, and perhaps the interrupted flow of oil, because russia is an oil exporter, but china, on the other hand, really wants regional stability. they don't want the flow of oil from the region to be disrupted. and china is iran's most important commercial strategic partner. and so the question is whether the chinese will now try to

intervene diplomatically with the iranians to exercise restraint, because certainly a full-blown regional conflict is not in chinese interests. >> having sat in those diplomatic conversations that have taken place, was there a scenario in which we could have avoided what has happened today diplomatically over the past six months? people have been warning from day one, we've heard it throughout the evening that once october 7th happened, the region was heading towards this direction of a direct confrontation between israel and iran. could this have been averted diplomatically in other ways through this administration? >> that's a bit hard to say, because apparently right before this happened, the iranians had signaled, quote, signaled, the washington, d.c. that they were going to pursue anything that was going to be significant that would have caused, would have created a cause for retaliation. and, and that's clearly not the case. and the diplomatic wheels had been really rapidly working in

the run-up to what you're seeing right now. so if you look at the, if you're talking about just the last week, when you saw the u.s. sharing intelligence as they were receiving it about what iran was planning, and they had been doing that for about a week, that's a strategy on the part of the biden administration that by pushing this out public and saying to iran, we're watching you, they're trying to thwart the attack from even happening. and that clearly didn't happen. and so, but the diplomatic wheels had been turning, and none of that, none of that had worked. if you're talking about the greater past six months, it's a bit of a different story, because on one hand you could say that, that the white house could've maybe twisted netanyahu's arm. they knew that the israeli military had been pursuing strikes occasionally outside of israel's borders, but the fact is that the white house didn't have much leverage in that as it is. when you had some, when you had certain attacks, you had the, you had the washington saying, you know, we don't want this to

escalate, please don't do this. and so no, i think the answer to your question is that i don't see a diplomatic effort that really could have prevented what you're seeing right now. >> colin, how does the iran attack tonight on israel factor into or change the dynamics of israel's war in gaza? >> well, again, you know, the intent could be to deflect from how poorly things are going in gaza. i think, you know, at least from an american perspective, you're likely to see intense pressure after this to get some kind of a cease-fire, some kind of a hostage deal done. i just don't think it's likely. you know, people have speculated on how likely or not it's been over the past couple of weeks. this puts the conversation in a different level. i think it's going to be very tough to roll back from here, especially if the -- now continue pressing the issue. you know, karina mentioned russia and china as two

countries to watch. i would say even closer toward home to the region, let's look at what happens in jordan, if the jordanians are involved in any way, and lebanon, right? particularly if hezbollah becomes even more active than they've been. there's a real potential for lebanon to get dragged into this conflict more than it has been already. >> all right, colin, kareem, please stick around. we've got a lot more to discuss throughout our breaking news coverage. next up, 400 and dan leavy on how we got here, and where this next goes. next goes. and did all i could to prevent recurrence. verzenio reduces the risk of recurrence of hr-positive, her2-negative, node-positive, early breast cancer with a high chance of returning as determined by your doctor when added to hormone therapy. diarrhea is common, may be severe, or cause dehydration or infection. at the first sign, call your doctor, start an anti-diarrheal , and drink fluids. before taking verzenio, tell your doctor about any fever, chills, or other signs of infection. verzenio may cause low white blood cell counts, which may cause serious infection that can lead to death. life-threatening lung inflammation can occur.

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we are continuing to monitor breaking news out of the middle east tonight, with iran launching a retaliatory strikes against israel. just moments ago, the israeli military spokesperson, daniel hagai, saying intercepted , quote, the vast majority of incoming missiles, and are continuing to intercept dozens of attack drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles. he said a number of missiles fell inside israeli borders and caused minor damage to a

military base no casualties. all this comes as tensions in the region has been coming to a boiling point since october 7th him and israel's subsequent war in gaza. here to break down how we came to this point, today's daniel levy, resident of the u.s. middle east project. he is also a former israeli peace negotiator. daniel, it's great to have you with us. so let's start with the impact of this move by iran. what do you see happening next, what do you see, the way israel and america assess the day after? >> well, i think the coming hours are going to be full of a lot of fear and a lot of, well, how do we tackle this? the israeli side, i've been following what's been said there the last few hours. on the israeli side, i think the narrative will be, iran threw everything at us . what a failure. the deception systems have worked very well. and the americans have been

with us, and we've even had some arab states help intercept these. i think on the iranian side, they will say, we broadcast exactly what we were going to do, when we were going to do it. by the way, you had some israeli commentators acknowledging that, that this was perhaps not intended to cause damage. and i think that, that is what's going on here. i disagree with people we've heard earlier on that this has change the parameters. this feels like it was not intended to cause destruction. it was to send a message. the iranians, i think, will stay we've tested the israeli systems now, we've shown that we can get there. we weren't intending to do more military targets. were those that were targeted. those arab countries that have been involved in helping israel will, i think, look very bad in front of their own publics. i think this is going to further escalate, for instance, the anger in a place like jordan. israel has been shut down to a certain degree.

schools are going to be closed for the next days. the u.s. will say, we stood by israel, and here's the question. what does that mean in terms of what comes next? first of all, we knew before this happened that neither around north america wanted a regional escalation. netanyahu carried out that provocation on the iranian embassy compound on april 1. and we've known for months that the way you de-escalate the region is to end the catastrophe, the horrendous killing of civilians in gaza, this operation that israel has conducted. and so the question is, do we go back to the heart of that equation of stopping what's happening in gaza, or are we going to now see in the coming hours, days, a further regional escalation, with an american administration that may well be cornered and dragged into something if it escalates, unless they draw a line under the spirit

>> do you think, to go to the heart of the question that you just posed, that the israeli government, with this particular prime minister, benjamin netanyahu , expanding the war into syria, going after these iranian generals, crossing that threshold, has dragged the united states into this corner and put this biden administration into a corner where it is always going to publicly defend israel when it comes to external threats, certainly the iranian threat. but incapable of getting israel to stop its war in gaza? they've already, i think, done the tremendous damage to the u.s. globally with its continued support, with the conveyor belt of weapons to israel through this gaza catastrophe, 40,000 dead children, catastrophic hunger, the worse the u.s. has seen since it established a food security system of classification. so that's already happened. but as to the regional

conflict, i don't know. whether that was the intention behind pacific marketing. was is a target of opportunity at that damascus compound? netanyahu is still, you know, earlier on this evening, before all this happened, people in israel were out on the streets protesting. i'm not suggesting that they're protesting against what's being done in gaza, but there is a fault line in israel over what priority should be accorded to the hostages, whether more should be done to get a cease- fire deal, whether netanyahu is taking measures that are going to blow back on israel. so i think the question going forward is, will the u.s. look at this and assess? iran actually went to the u.n. i know, look, i know that the narrative is -- i don't think it helps our analysis if we go down that track. this islamic resolution wouldn't have been in power almost 50 years if they were

suicidal, as some people seem to claim. the iranians went to the u.n. they said, we want a condemnation. that didn't come. they then told us what they were going to do. it's quite an unusual thing. and they've now issued a statement which essentially says, we're drawing a line after this. will the u.s., whatever they're doing publicly, will the u.s. be saying to israel, not only do we not want to see a further escalation, and there's been talk on the israeli side already tonight, will remove the escalator he in response, or can they keep this within something that does dial it down? so is the response on that front going to dial this up? and what happens next in gaza? i think the israelis, even before tonight, were quite competent that the biden administration is still not going to put on the table the very real leverage it has to dial things down both in the region and in gaza, and i think that's the question, what that next step will be.

>> so it, when you look at the israeli government and its composition right now, and certainly the most extreme, most far right in its history, some have been agitating for direct work with iran. we heard from the former israeli ambassador to the u.s., michael oren, saying he has been one of these people, saying the rules of the game should be changed when it comes to iran . do you think the rules of how israel responds to iran will be changed as a result of this, given the fact it is the first time iran has directly attacked israel? >> i certainly would not rule that out. i think there's a real question that the israelis will have to ask themselves, which is, was this really iran doing it's worst? you still had hezbollah escalating in a very measured way. so i think with israel's continued war in gaza, do they really want to open up this

second front? and there will be those making that case. you're absolutely right. and this has been borderline an obsession for prime minister netanyahu through his career. however, i think many in the military would also be saying this is not the time, mr. prime minister. and, and this, this may be crucial. i'm not saying it will be defining. the dynamics inside the israeli government are, most of those hard-line ministers, what their obsession is is displacing, eradicating, or moving the palestinians. that's what they're interested in. they want to see more of the kind of agitation we saw in the west bank earlier today. we saw settlers rampaging. they want to see more of this destruction in gaza that made their plans quite clear. so, in a way, there's a dynamic here as well over, do you get lost in something with iran , where many of these mr. sirs, they want to see, to put it about me, because that's what they're talking, the killing in

rafah. >> do you think that this is a distraction from israel's lack of a better word failure to achieve its own stated objectives in gaza, which have been to release the hostages and to destroy hamas militarily lexi after six months, it is clear that the hostages have not been released militarily. they have not been able to destroy hamas completely. and some have suggested, within israel, and security experts within israel, that this dynamic of changing the front away from israel and gaza to israel and iran in the north distracts or hides or conceals the failures to achieve those two objectives in gaza. >> i think it would be hard to pull that one off, because people are exercised by what's going on in gaza. first of all, that's where, you know, israeli troops are deployed. people have family there. that's where the hostages are, as you've said.

that's why you have people back on the streets protesting. that is where israel has done tremendous additional damage to itself. you have a case in the international court of justice of israel possibly having violated the genocide convention. so i think unless, unless this moves to an all-out regional war, in which case, yes, all bets are off. but if it's, if it's this tit- for-tat, if it's just this escalation, that i don't think it will be able to distract from gaza, and i think that's a very real question to be asked, because as you and other has have done, i mean, we have been looking at six months. the cost benefit calculation? and many in israel, and i say this surprises me. mainstream commentators have been looking at that six months ledger and saying, this has not gone well. rather than total victory, commentators said, this is looking more like total defeat.

that may be an exaggeration. but the balance of forces does not look good for israel. the reputational, moral, legal damage this has done to israel. so netanyahu may be looking for a distraction. this name be a very high bar in terms of where he seeks. >> before we go, i do want to ask you about the increasing settler violence against palestinians in the occupied west bank, and that dynamic that is unfolding there. we saw an israeli teenager that was found dead, presumably killed by palestinians, a palestinian teenager, in return, killed, presumably by israeli settlers that are going on these rampages. this is all happening against a very volatile background, only escalated by tonight's attack from iran. what do you make of the internal dynamic that is taking place not in gaza, not on the front with syria, lebanon, and iran, but in the west bank? are we reaching a tipping point there with the land confiscation, the settlements, and these attacks? >> well, of course, if we end up having a conversation for

october 7th, we would've been talking about the extent of the provocations in the west bank, and part of the backdrop to where we are now is whether it in, in jerusalem or the west bank, the extent to which this israeli government, in a much more extreme way than its predecessors, but also, there's a lot of continuity there, was pushing for further palestinian displacement, entrenching control and then making life a misery. what we have now, and i spoke to people in the west bank earlier today when, when i thought that that would be the thing that i be focusing on in my thinking today, people tell me it's a boiling point. the security cooperation, and they're saying collaboration between the palestinian security forces and israel while this is going on, the amount of anger, hundreds of palestinians have been killed in the west bank. thousands arrested. so it's yet another tinderbox, and it's not one that anyone needs, but it's one that we

talk about settler extremism. it's important, but is also important to remember that there is no settler state. the settlers are funded, the land is confiscated, the roads are paved, the infrastructure is delivered by the state of israel. so there's no settlers without the backing of the state of israel. and they have that backing. >> daniel leavy, thank you so much for your time. i greatly appreciate it, as always. next up, an update from the white house and the pentagon. don't go anywhere. n't go anywh. they're just so delicious. with better nutrition, too. for us, it's eggs any style. as long as they're the best. eggland's best. when my doctor gave me breztri for my copd things changed for me. breztri gave me better breathing, symptom improvement, and reduced flare-ups. breztri won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. it is not for asthma. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. don't take breztri more than prescribed. breztri may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis.

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(thinking: eddie, no frasier, frank... frank?) fred! how are you?! fred... fuel up to 7 brain health indicators, including your memory. join the neuriva brain health challenge. i love that my daughter still needs me. but sometimes i can't help due to burning and stabbing pain in my hands, so i use nervive. nervive's clinical dose of ala reduces nerve discomfort in as little as 14 days. now i can help again. feel the difference with nervive. welcome back. we are following the breaking news in the middle east tonight. the israeli military saying iran has launched missiles in more than 100 drones towards israel. our producers in the country sent us this footage. flares shooting through the skies over jerusalem. moments ago, the israeli military spokesperson, daniel hagari, gave an update on the intercept, interception of those missiles and drones. watch. >> so far, we've intercepted a

vast majority of incoming missiles by israel systems. so far, we've intercepted and are continuing to intercept dozens of attack drones, as well as cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, outside of israel's border. a number of iranian missiles fell inside israeli territory, causing minor damage to a military base with no casualties. >> this comes weeks after suspected israeli strike on the iranian consulate building killed two of -- top commanders. let's go to washington now with an update from the white house, the pentagon, and capitol hill. i wasn't going to bring into a conversation nbc news correspondent bree. the meeting at the white house, the national security council, including the secretary of state, lloyd austin, the secretary of defense, as well as the director of the cia, bill burns, what can you tell us about that meeting, and

where the united states goes from here? >> evening. the president biden cut his weekend plans short in rehobeth beach to rush back here to the white house. we're told that even before he returned, he was receiving updates about the situation there in the middle east. now, there is significant concern about this coming a wider conflict. president biden holding this high-stakes meeting in the white house situation room with his national security team. the president posted a photo of it on social media. now, you can see that secretary of state antony blinken, defense secretary lloyd austin are among those there in the room. we're told that vice president harris, she is traveling. she attended by secure video. now, president biden is stressing that his commitment to israel's security against threats from iran is ironclad. the biden administration has been on high alert, and even warned that this retaliatory strike was likely to happen. so here's what we know from

u.s. officials so far. they say that iran's attack started with more than 100 drones headed toward israel. the administration's expectation is that iran will also launch dozens of cruise and ballistic missiles, targeting israeli government sites, but not targeting civilian or religious sites. now, as you mentioned, all of this comes after iran vowed to attack following an israeli strike on its embassy in syria earlier this month. back to you. >> all right, nbc news pentagon correspondent courtney qb is also with us. courtney, what are you hearing about the collaboration between the u.s., the israeli military, perhaps other allies in the region, including the jordanian military, which, according to reuters, had said it would be involved in any attempt to shoot down drones that violated airspace, even if they were on their way to israel? >> yeah, and remember, the u.s. has air defense systems in northern jordan as well that could be used, and we don't

know yet, but i suspect we will hear that some of the systems there were employed to take out some of these probably drones. they're not necessarily the missiles, but we're waiting to hear all those details. what we do know is that the u.s. military, who has assets in the region in iraq, in syria, and then in the seas, in the oceans surrounding that area, so that's the northern red sea and then into the eastern mediterranean. we know that the u.s. military has shot down a number of drones that were headed, believed to be headed towards israel. we're still working on those numbers. i don't think we'll get a lot of fidelity on that tonight candidly, and we'll see if we can get more in the coming day. in addition to that, we know now that around and fired off a number of missiles, and the u.s. military was involved in intercepting some of those. it's another thing we don't have the details on yet. we're still working on that. but at the end of the day, it's fair to say that the u.s. military was involved in helping to defend israel against this attack, and the reality is, they've had days to be ready for this, but the

military already had most of these assets in place. the air defense systems that i just mentioned in northern jordan, they also have been in southern and eastern syria. they have been in iraq. and then, of course, there's the naval assets. some of those u.s. navy ships were repositioned in recent days, specifically to be in place and to sort of add to some of those capabilities. these are things like the uss carney, uss destroyer that has, in recent months, spent much of his time shooting down projectiles, including missiles and drones, from houthis firing them from yemen, in some cases, believed to be even firing them towards israel from yemen. so the military had all of their, their assets in place for months, in many cases, and then in recent days. but we're still waiting, though, for any kind of specifics about what exactly, numbers of what exactly they did here. >> all right, courtney, stay with me. i want to come back to brito for a quick update. bree, i know that there were some u.s. congress numbers to

have responded to the iranian attack, including the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell putting out a statement. walk us through that. we anticipate the reaction to the the u.s. is, you know, committed to israel's ironclad security, but walk us through what the reaction has been from capitol hill, given all the dynamics that have been playing around israel over the past couple of months on capitol hill. >> reporter: well, so, we have heard from several lawmakers, and there has been really bipartisan support reaffirming the u.s. commitment to supporting israel. now, when it comes to the u.s. response, senate minority leader mitch mcconnell did release a statement saying that president biden must lead an international effort to impose sufficient costs on tehran to compel an end to its aggression. now, mcconnell is also among those who say congress must do its part. we know that legislation has installed on capitol hill when it comes to backing israel and providing more support, or at

least financial support to israel. so we also know that last week, members of the senate and house intel committee, they did receive classified information about iran's planned attack. so some lawmakers save today's strike escalates the need to approve emergency aid to israel. we're told that the house will vote next week on legislation, that they're saying supports israel. we don't know exactly what that means as of right now, but officials also say that lawmakers are expecting to be brief next week from the biden administration about iran's attacks. >> courtney, i wanted to go back to a point that was mentioned early on our program by the former israeli consulate general to the u.n., and that had to do with the surprise that the united states, certainly the secretary of defense, lloyd austin, felt when israel carried out this strike against the iranian generals or commanders in

damascus. it caught the u.s. by surprise. has there been any indication as to whether or not the united states, from the sources you been speaking to, expect israel to share with the united states, or perhaps relate to the united states what it intends to do in the wake of tonight's attack? >> reporter: you know, i have to say, and i think this is a narrative that's going to emerge even more in the coming days, but there has been a tremendous amount of diplomatic back channeling ever since the strike in damascus more than 12 days or so ago. and the main message by the u.s. and u.s. allies, and a lot of the gulf nations, has been, to both sides, to the iranians and to the israelis, not to let this escalate. so i, i can, i am confident that the u.s. is conveying to israel probably almost in real time that they, they cannot have some sort of ask a literary response to tonight's retaliation. the big question mark is still

exactly, what has iran hits tonight? what is the battle damage assessment? we don't know that. we heard a little bit that you just played from the spokesperson for the idf. he acknowledged that at least one israeli military base was hit. so far, the early reports is that there was no major damage and no casualties, but again, it's dark in israel. we're going to get more and more information in the coming hours. but i am confident that the u.s. is using all of their leverage to, to do everything that they can to encourage israel not to respond forcefully. i will say, israel takes, back to the strike in damascus, israel takes a lot of strikes in syria. we just don't hear about them. a majority of the time, the israelis, the idea don't even acknowledge that they're doing it, but they'll go out after shipments of hezbollah, advanced missile parts, and resupply of hezbollah coming from iran. generally going in through

syria. the, the standard operating procedure goes back to the d confliction that we were speaking about earlier, and that is that the israelis will tell the u.s. oftentimes just when the planes are in the air that they are conducting some sort of a strike, and give them a sense of where they're flying. and it really is just for d confliction of the airspace, to make sure that there's no miscalculation, that nothing happens. in the case of damascus, we are told that that d confliction did occur, it just happens right at the last minute. there are a lot of defense officials and u.s. officials who we've been speaking to in the ensuing days you've really been casting or asking questions about the israelis and the strategic value of this strike in damascus. obviously, they took out some senior iranian officials, including an iranian revolutionary guard corps leader. but what's the timing right? that's one of the questions we're hearing a lot more and more. >> yeah, and to your point, throughout the course of the evening, we've been hearing as well, courtney, from the egyptian government, the saudi government. certainly the egyptians have a very close working relationship with israel to the saudi's now have medic relationship with

iran. both of their countries hurting their respective counterparts to exercise restraint and to not let the situation escalate. to your point as well, that the u.s. is doing that with israel and elsewhere in the region. courtney mccue as always. brie jackson, thank you. and as we were mentioning, that breeding between president biden and his national security council has now concluded after nearly two hours. we'll continue to monitor that of element for you as we get it. we'll have more of our continuing coverage after a quick break. stay with us. there there ♪ i take once-daily jardiance ♪ ♪ at each day's start! ♪ ♪ as time went on it was easy to see ♪ ♪ i'm lowering my a1c! ♪ jardiance works twenty-four seven in your body to flush out some sugar. and for adults with type 2 diabetes and known heart disease, jardiance can lower the risk of cardiovascular death, too. serious side effects may include ketoacidosis that may be fatal, dehydration that can lead to sudden worsening of kidney function,

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that were carried explosives and ballistic and cruise missiles have been fired towards israel in that iranian attack just hours ago. minor damage done to a military base in southern israel, no casualties reported as of this hour. both back with me. let's talk about, now, what happens here, and what the united states does going forward. we heard from our pentagon correspondent reporting, based on her conversations over the last several days, as the developments following the attack on the iranian generals in damascus played out, that the u.s. was exercising, we were calling on israel to exercise restraint. do you expect those calls -- in the coming hours and days? >> reporter: yes and no. and so, what i mean by that is that with what you have right now, on one hand, you're going to have the administration's

goal, and this has been the goal from the beginning, you've heard them say this talking point over and over again, which is that at any cost, they want to avoid a widescale regional war. and that is going to remain the case. certainly during election year. and in general. i mean, you see that the administration does not want to get itself involved in anything. and so, at the same time, it is unlikely that they're going to be able to have israel not respond to what happened today. and so, they will likely, behind closed doors, say, and i want to stress that it will be behind closed doors. i don't think, publicly, you're going to see the u.s., at this stage, say, oh, iran just launched this assault, and israel, we're asking you not to respond at all. they're probably behind closed doors going to say, however you respond, let it not be something that involves into a massive, into a massive war. and then you're going to see all the wheels in motion of all the diplomatic partners involved on both sides to try and temper both sides after that. i, but i do expect israel to respond in some way, and that

then, you're going to see the calls for restraint after that. >> kareem, when you look at the past six months in their totality, that includes the u.s. slowly getting more and more involved in this, on one hand either to defend israel, or, in other cases, it is the target, the direct targeting of iranian proxies as we saw in jordan, as courtney mentioned that the killing of those three americans. you look at what's happening, for example, also in the red sea with the houthis. how concerned should we be that the united states is slowly being dragged into this war against its own will? >> reporter: well, the issue is that our vacuums in the middle east are not filled by norway and denmark. and so, at the moment, iran is dominating five arab nations, syria, lebanon, iraq, yemen, and gaza and the palestinian territories. and they thrive in this atmosphere of chaos. and so, as much as the united states wants to focus on china,

wants to focus on russia, neglecting the middle east is, is not going to really improve anything. and i think, you know, your earlier guest, simon, my old friend daniel beebe, he said that, you know, essentially, this was meant to be a symbolic attack by iran on israel. and i think it's really too soon to tell. we'll know more, obviously, in the coming hours. but whether this attack was symbolic or not, this iranian regime's identity is going to be premised on opposition to america and opposition to, to israel. and we really can't, you know, simply wish that away. you know, they're very powerful country, and they have strong resolve to try to get it america from the middle east and replace israel with palestine. >> we have about 45 seconds

left. we could spend an hour talking about this, but certainly the concern as well from the region, the countries, egypt, saudi arabia, jordan, the uae, close u.s. allies all across our watching this. what are they thinking, what are they doing tonight to prevent this from escalating? >> reporter: well, they're probably, certainly all of them concerned. you know, you showed a picture earlier of the national security room and the cabinet, the meeting that had just concluded, and typically when you have those meetings, right afterward, you're going to have a flurry of phone calls between the united states and all of those countries and israel. and, and certainly those countries are going to dial into the united states and say, hey, what shall we do, what should we do, how can we prevent this from escalating further, who to talk to whom? and, and so none of them are going to have any interest in seeing it escalate further, but as, you know, as kareem mentioned, iran really holds, holds power in a number of

these countries, in lebanon, syria, iraq, gaza, as you mentioned, the palestinian territories. and, and these are, that's, you mean that israel is surrounded by enemies. and so the gulf, the gulf countries, qatar, perhaps, saudi arabia, perhaps a little bit, could talk about talking to iran on their side. >> right. >> reporter: but it's going to be very tenuous. >> all right, we're going to have to leave it at that. take it to the both of you for joining us throughout our breaking news coverage this hour. that does it for me. our coverage continues up next with jose diaz-balart after a quick break. quick break.

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