jon: the rumors of war swirled in the intelligence community for at least a week, and now it appears they are coming true. iran has launched dozens of drones in an attack against

israel apparently in retaliation for israels reel's strike on iran's consulate in syria two weeks ago. good evening, i'm jon scott, and this is a special, expanded edition of "the fox report." ♪ jon: israel will shut down its air space for domestic and international flights about 30 minutes from now, and israeli defense forces spokesperson says the strike originated from iranian territory. the drones will take hours to arrive in israel. israeli forces are on high alert and will sound alarms if and when those drones approach israel. trey yingst is live in tel aviv with the latest. trey. >> reporter: yeah, jon, good evening. an unprecedented moment in the middle east. of iran has launched a direct attack against israel. there are dozens of drones in the sky right now headed toward this country. according to our sources,

israeli jets have been dispatched, the israelis hoping to hoot down some of these drones -- shoot down some of these drones before they etch reach their air space. moment also comes at a time where american forces are in the region, and they have pledged to help the israelis defend against such an attack that is taking place p. we do understand israeli air space will close in about 30 minutes to commercial aircraft. the jordanians have already issued a notice to airmen, closing their air space. and right now reuters is reporting that the jordanians have declared a state of emergency amid the tension escalating across the middle east. iran reeves pollution their guard corps confirming they launched this attack, and the israelis are meeting at in this hour here in tel aviv, israel's version of the pentagon, to determine an israeli response. remember, this all started earlier this month if when the israelis targeted the iranian consulate in da maas if cuts, syria, killing two top iranian

generals and five members of iran's e revolutionary guard corps, and tonight the israelis determining how they will respond. the home front command here in israel responsible for alerting civilians about the state of emergency across this country is have limited public gatherings and canceled all educational act at this points. we do -- activities. we do expect these instructions to be updated as these drones get closer to israel and the reports about additional missiles being fired toward israel develop. jon. jon: trey, i know these are all brand new developments and you probably haven't had a lot of time to spend on the street, but do you get a sense of what the need is? to look at the background behind you, looks like life goes on as normal in tel aviv. >> reporter: absolutely. for days defense officials here have been preparing for this attack, and they have been trying to keep the public calm. everyone from the top military spokesman to israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu have come out with similar statements telling the mix to remain calm

and that -- the public to remain calm and that israel is prepared. the israelis have a variety of tiered air defense systems, not only the iron dome for short range rockets and missiles, they also have david's sling, an intermediate missile defense system, and also the arrow system that is capable of intercepting ballistic missiles. the israelis are expected to use some of this missile defense as the drones and possible missiles get closer to the their territory. but again,s israeli sources telling fox news tonight they have dispatched fighter jets. they are in the air as we speak, and they are going to try and shoot down some of these attack drones that are headed toward israel. according to reports, these are iranian shahid drones used by the russians in ukraine supplied by the iranians. they are very simple designs, but they are used to differ a payload toward either military or civilian targets. we do not know what the iranians are trying to hit with this swarm of drones. it will take them hours to get here.

and the concern from israeli forces tonight is twofold. one has to do with the possibility that the iranians will try to time this attack so that when the drones arrive in israeli air space, today will also have launched ballistic and cruise missile toss arrive at the same time and try to overwhelm israel 's missile defense, and then the other x factor, jon, has to do with iranian proxies across the region; namely, the iran-backed houthis in yemen who have the capability to launch drones and missiles themselves. and, of course, iran-backed hezbollah in lane nonthat has been -- in lebanon that has been at a slow and continuous war with israel since october 8th. hezbollah has the capability to target major population centers including jerusalem and tel aviv where we are reporting from tonight. so again, the israelis are determining at this hour what their response to this attack will be, but this attack is very much ongoing as we speak. it is unprecedented. we are in uncharted territory right now as iran has a launched a direct attack against israel.

jon. jon: yeah. trey yingst reporting live from tel aviv doing a great job. thank you, trey. so as tensions escalate, president biden has cut his weekend short to meet with his national security team at the white house. that's where jag key heinrich is. she has the latest live from there. >> reporter: well, jon, it was just yesterday that president biden issued that warning to iran, don't, at the same time saying he expected some action from iran sooner rather than later. now that it's underway, he has cut short his weekend stay the in rehoboth, he's landed at joint base andrews and is on his way back to the white house via motorcade. that means we won't get a chance to ask him any questions as he enters the white house. typically we would do that if he was coming by helicopter e, but he will be in a motorcade, so we won't be able to approach him. he's going to be having a key meeting with the principal actors from his national security council including

secretary blinken, secretary of defense lloyd austin, the chairman of the joint chiefs, also the cia director, homeland security director, direct of of national intelligence, senior advisers and also the national security adviser, jake sullivan, and the nsc coordinator for the middle east. they're going to be watching what is happening, discussing that what they expect the targets to be inside of israel. and, of course, based on what happens in the next few hours, communicating with israel to make sure that whatever response they give is proportion name. the u.s. has been clear that it stands with israel and will help israel defend itself. but also the u.s. has been trying to avoid further escalation in the region. national security council tell us they expect this attack to unfold over a matter of hours. the president has been regularly updated as he made his way back from delaware, and he's also been talking to u.s. partners and allies.

we are waiting for our questions to be answered by the national security council on which allies and partners he's been communicating with and if they are also going to be supporting israel potentially in any efforts to intercept the the incoming that's headed their way. also the vice president, kamala harris, and biden's e chief of staff are going to be joining this situation room meeting by secure video conference. they're going to be watching what develops there. we do is have, as jennifer griffin has been reporting on our air, assets positioned in the middle east to be able to assist israel if it becomes overwhelmed in whatever response is headed its way. we have not yet gotten any indication from the national security council that there are other launches coming from other areas in the region except for what we already discussed coming out of iran. but, of course, we're watching for that and also any intelligence on what the intended targets are and if that would include civilian areas. so we are waiting any update that the white house, national security council can offer us as

we watch this all unfold, jon. jon: know that, you know, this is the first time -- this is an historic attack, it's the first time that iran has a launched an attack from its own soil on israel. it has preferred to use with its proxies like hezbollah and hamas to do the dirty work up til now. is anyone at the white house expressing surprise? i had read intelligence evaluations that said they would be surprised if iran launched an attack from its own soil. >> reporter: well, the reason that it is surprising is because in the past when you've had iranian proxies basically doing the work of iran, that insured that whatever retaliation follows isn't happening within iranian territory. and that a further stokes -- that further stokes the disruption in the region that really iran does want to see. they want to see the fighting happening in other areas because that also ramps up the concerns of all of their proxy groups and

sort of rallies them together. but having this come from iran itself is certainly unusual. the president did say yesterday that that he expected it to happen sooner than later. so there was obviously intelligence that this was something that they were watching. now that it has begun, how the u.s. responds to that, how israel responds to that is going to be carefully considered and proportion nate to whatever casualties -- proportionate to whatever casualties may happen. jon: all right. jacqui heinrich reporting live from the white house, thank you. let's bring in jamil jafferer now, executive director and founder at the national security institute and former associate white house counsel to president george w. bush. take on that point for me, if you would. iran has never before attacked israel directly. this is the first time they have done so. what's the significance, in your

mind? >> well, it's obviously a huge step for iran to take. they've been hitting israel through proxies for the better part of a decade, going after u.s. forces in iraq and syria, hitting commercial shipping in the red sea. but to go directly toe to toe with israel is sure to provoke a response and not just from israel, but potentially9 from the united states. we'll certainly take action to defend israel, as the president said, if we need to. but it may go further than that if, in fact, israel feels the need to responder to this iranian aggression. -- respond to this iranian aggression. scrn jon we're looking at the map as you're speak ising. you've got iraq and jordan between riles and iran. israel and iran. would there be an overflight by israeli jets, or would you expect some response using disevils? what kind of counterattack might israel launch? >> there's certainly a possibility that the israelis could decide to overfly that territory. there's a variety of methods they could use. the first question though right now is how are they going to

knock these drones out of the sky. there are photographs, the times visualized photographs of these drones flying over the land of iraq. the reports are right now dozens. the normal iranian tactic so send many, many of these, try to overwhelm the air defenses, so we'll see how many they've sent. these are the same ones that have been used against american forces in iraq and syria, used against ukrainian forces in the russian war. the iranians have given these drones to them. they're also used by the houthis in yemen against saudi forces. so these are sort of the classic iranian attack drones, the suicide drones that will -- they have the about 110-pound warhead on them that could cause significant damage particularly if they get through israeli air dependences. jon: you've got u.s. forces in the mediterranean sea and presumably they're going to be able to with radar sweeps and so so forth take down some of these drones as well, right? >> that's exactly right. the u.s. just moved into the two

ships into the mediterranean, we were told but u.s. forces at least one of them has the aegis missile defense system, a very fast automated system that can select targets and prosecute them rapidly are. along the lines, as trey was saying, of david's sling and iron dome. so these systems actually can work pretty well in concert together to take out whatever iran puts up. so i think we're looking at a situation depending on how many of the iranians have launched where israel could effectively defend itself. but there's also the possibility some of these get through. and if, ultimately, people die in israel as a result of this iranian attack, you will almost certainly see a significant if israeli response. the question then becomes what will the united states do if, in fact, iran directly kills israeli civilians inside of reels? jon: i suppose it's difficult to crawl into the minds of the mullahs in iran, but something made them decide to launch this attack, again, from iranian territory which they've never done before. are they just that angry about what happened at their, consulate?

are they thinking that now they are strong enough to make this attack work? why now? >> well, look, i think they think that israel and the u.s. are distracted, don't want a war with them. they are assessing that the u.s. will not end engage based on our prior activity, the fact that we haven't engaged in ukraine, that we haven't directly gone into the war with a hamas, the fact that we're not effectively pushing back against china and taiwan and the fact that we whiffed back in the obama administration on the syrian red line are. iranians assess the u.s. won't engage except to defend israel, and they believe israel's distracted with the war with hamas and the attacks by hezbollah. and so they're thinking maybe they can get away with this and pond on this attack on their -- respond on this attack on their consulate and the killing of qassem soleimani a few years back after american soldiers were killed in iraq and syria. jon: but, you know, this changes everything. i mean, from if now on iran is going to be open to israeli

attack, and the israelis have plenty of weaponry. i mean, they might seem distracted, but it doesn't seem like they're going to let this simply be a bygone. >> no, that's exactly right. particularly first reilly civilians die. and the israelis have a very long memory. they have a history of hunting down those that kill israelis all over the world. they will go to any length. and the israelis have demonstrated the capability to operate inside of iran. we've seen a lot of iranian nuclear scientists over the years blow up mess tier yously because israel has the ability to operate inside of iran. so we'll see if they go directly toe to toe to a military confrontation or use other meth dolls, but if a single israeli civilian dies, there will be a significant israeli response. jon: they promised a significant response after then-president trump smoked the leader of their revolutionary guard corps, the israelis essentially got his replacement a week or two ago, about two weeks ago.

they promised a big response against the united states, but there really wasn't much that happened. are they more bark than bite, do you think? >> well, that's historically been the case. the is that when the u.s. responds aggressively and demonstrates that we won't be pushed around, most nations around the globe don't want to go toe to toe with the united states, and i think the iranians are is tame. -- the same. do they feel the need to respond, it look like the answer is, yes, and now we'll see if they're going to really try to pick a real fight. we'll see how big this attack is. you're right when you say they didn't come after us after soleimani, they tried a few small attack, none had an impact, so we sort of let it lie. that may be how this plays out particularly if israelis knock down all these drones. of. jon: so if you're advising this white house, this pentagon, how -- what should the u.s. stance be? do we wait and see what the missiles to? do we wait and see how many of them there are? what's our response?

>> well, look, i mean, i think the u.s. has got the right response thus far, we will do whatever it takes to defend israel, and that's right. the problem is the reason we keep seeing these things is the united states is viewed as scared of our own shadow, not being serious and not being willing to respond, being unwilling to use our military might. in the last decade and a half the only real time we've taken the fight directly has been the killing of osama bin laden and al-zawahiri, but then the killing of qassem soleimani. beyond that, we've been taking it on the chin, our allies have been taking it on the chin, and we have yet to respond. so i think the iranians and others assess the u.s. is unwilling to be in the fight. if this administration can demonstrate they actually have the courage of their convictions, that would make a difference. jon: well, the administration has essentially said we don't want to see a wider war in the middle east. >> i mean, this is exactly the problem, right? the administration wants to talk about defending israel, doing the right thing, protecting

americans. but when push comes to shove, they don't appear to be willing to put their money where their mouth is, and the entire world sees that. they see that in ukraine, in taiwan, and hopefully they won't see that here, but i'm worried that is the case. and that's the challenge we're facing because the united states doesn't act like a world superpower even though we have one and we haven't, to be honest, for the last decade and a half, unfortunately, jon. jon: is this all about that airstrike that the israelis launched on the consulate in syria, the iranian consulate in syria which might as well have been called an iranian military base this? >> look, i think that's part of this, but i think there's a longer story here. obviously, the iranians have been coming after israel and the united states for a long time. this is just another step. they assess they can get away with it. the question is, can they. and if they can't and the u.s. and israel and our allies effectively respond, we won't see this happen again, but if we don't, which has been the problem now for a long time, iran's going to be tempted to press the hine and try to go further and further. it's like a kid, right?

if you don't discipline them, they'll take advantage and test your boundaries. that's what the iranians are doing right now. the israelis will respond. the question is, what will the u.s. do? jon: jamil jaffer who worked in the bush administration and knows a lot about a, obviously, national security -- [laughter] thanks very much. >> thanks, jon. jon: let's bring in brent sadler now, retired navy captain, a former pentagon official and a senior fellow at the heritage foundation. brent, what kind of assets does the u.s. navy have in the mediterranean right now? if. >> well, thanks for having me on today. there's actually several forces that are in the eastern med. your earlier guest mentioned aegis-capable destroyers, of course, being deployed into the theater. but the most significant if naval presence is down off the horn of africa in the southern stretches of the red sea engaging the houthis, and that's the carrier strike group along with its, again, aegis-equipped destroyers which can defend

against ballistic missile and air threats. so any threats, and we know the houthis just announced that they're getting into this attack as a well, those attacks can also be detected and likely intercepted before they get anywhere near israel. jon: we don't know how many drones iran has fired toward israel. we do know that it is expected the take several hours for them to -- to take several hours for them to the reach whatever targets are preset in their electronic brains. but would you expect that american forces in the mediterranean will be targeting those drones and trying to take them out, or will we leave that up to the israel is? >> the forces in the red sea have, and i would anticipate if they do indicate, if they pick up any houthi or they pick up these drones from iran that take a really far south route, they probably will get intercepted. those are that are coming across jordan or syria, those are very unlikely to be intercepted by forces, and there's really no need for it because the bulk of

the defenses are the iron dome9 that thes's reallies have in place -- that the israelis have in place. these drones as mentioned earlier are well known to the israelis, they are slow moving. but again, the real threat is if this is actually just one part of a multifaceted saturation attack. in other words, coordinated with cruise missiles which we know from earlier released statements from the pentagon and the white house that the iranians were placing for launch. but most troubling is the use of ballistic missiles which would only give minutes of notice. and, again, that's that what the iranians responded to our killing of soleimani years ago. jon: right. i was going to say cruise missiles are one thing. they are fairly slow and fairly easy to take down, but a ballistic missile -- and iran has a lot of them -- a ballistic missile is another threat entirely, right? >> absolutely. and when you combine a swarm of drones that are meant to

distract or to suppress air defenses coordinated with a cruise missile attack, it was dangerous -- it's dangerous. and if you add in a ballistic missile attack which is a very complex type of missile attack to coordinate but not that hard if you time it just right, you can actually have a much more dangerous pebble of overwhelminf overwhelming even the best of adversaries' defenses. that's the rub are. if that's what the iranians are going to be doing in the next hour or two, that is not just an escalation, that is a significant challenge. and that very well might likely draw the u.s. more into a direct support of israel. jon: well, if memory serves, the israelis' iron dome protective stocks were badly decimated when hezbollah launched -- and a hamas, primarily -- launched so many missile strikes on israel last year. are you confident that those numbers are back up to where where they should be?

do they have enough iron dome missiles and other interinterceptors? >> okay. yes, i think that the stocks actually have made some -- i mean, some have been restocked. but the time between the beginning of this attack until now it's very unlikely that the israelis have the full arsenal of the weapons that they need. and, again, this is turning into an attrition of the defenses. and so what's really, in my mind, why the iranians would choose to launch a very easily-detected and slow moving attack. that is still in my mind as to why they would do that. jon: so your, from the standpoint of an ex-pentagon guy, an ex-navy guy, what should the response be here? >> well, i think right now the u.s. is positioning forces. it's too late. to give our president the most -- the maximum number of

options to support israel or to respond to any iranian take. because it's important to note that the iranians have also threatened the u.s. in this current, this current escalation. the statement was that if any u.s. forces are intercept or interfere with their attack, they will be targeted in kind. so we have to be ready to respond. and most certainly should not be deterred by the iranian threat from defending our israeli allies. if any of those missiles pass by our own forces. jon: all right. brent sadler, former pentagon official, thank you. finish. >> thank you very much. jon: so iran has apparently launched dozens of drones in an attack against israel apparently in retaliation for israel's strike on iran's cons list late -- consulate in syria two weeks ago which killed a number of military leader. our trey yingst is in tel aviv right now where they are waitins

of this launch. trey. >> reporter: yeah, jon, good evening. right now if israel's war cabinet is meeting in tel aviv, israel's version of the pentagon. they are determining what the israeli response will be to this ongoing attack. your last guest raised an important point. the understanding is that this will be a multilayered attack. the drones that were launched from iranian territory could just be the initial push from the iranians. they could fire things like cruise or ballistic missiles which would require the israelis to engage these missiles with some of their more advanced air defense systems eni colluding david's shrink -- sling on the arrow intercept system. right now israel is on high alert. we understand according to our sources there are israeli jets in the sky right now. the hope for israeli military officials is that they'll be able to intercept some of these drones before they reach israeli air space. the americans over the past several days have made clear if the israelis need help with this

air a defense, they could potentially try to shoot down some of the projectiles coming if from iranian territory. the real concern though tonight for israel is the possibility that iran times this attack so that the drones arrive at the same time as cruise missileses and possibly even ballistic missiles trying to overwhelm israel's air defense systems. it is part of the reason the jordanians have declared a state of emergency in their country, they have closed their air space. and also in just about five minutes the israelis will close hair air space to civilian -- their air space to civilian flights, concerned that the coming hours will be incredibly difficult as air defense is active over israeli territory and the israelis brace for the possibility that proxies like the houthis from yemen or hezbollah get involved in the fight. jon. jon: all right. trey yingst in tel aviv where a nervous nation is awaiting the arrival of those cruise missiles

fired from iran, trea, thank you. we'll check back in with you later. let's bring in ellie cohim aen, a former special deputy envoy to combat anti-semitism under former president donald can trump. if elie, to you what does it mean that israel, that iran decided to launch for the first time ever missiles from its own territory against israel? >> jon, you know, the islamic republic of iran has really cornered themself because they, on the one hand, have had their arab proxies fight this war on their behalf against israel for years now, and at the same time they have been spreading their radical islamist doctrine that they want toe eliminate if israel. and if so when the israelis eliminated their most important general after soleimani, after president trump's elimination of

soleimani and with israel, the iranians were now stuck in this corner where they need to respond in order to look like a brave, brave warriors to the arab world and to their proxies. and at the same time, they're keenly aware of israel's incredibly strong military capabilities and the fact that should israel choose to respond in a strong manner, they could actually cause the toppling of this regime right now. jon: this all goes back to october 7th, and i wonder what your thoughts are on, you know, did, did iran gamble and, you know, make a huge mistake in the israeli response to the october 7th massacre that all of a sudden now iran finds itself sort of in the position where they, you know, assuming your logic is correct they have to launch a strike like this from their own territory? >> jon, you know, it definitely started with october 7th. and if like you said, it was the

deadliest day for jews since the holocaust. and so certainly the iranians, i don't know that they expected that the israel would have such a strong show of force in gaza as we've seen the idf, you know, really in action i think beyond what anyone imagined their capabilities in gaza and how well they've conducted that war. but again, with the elimination of -- by the israeli, the iranians are now in the position where if they don't respond at all, they're going to seem like paper tigers in the arab world. and on the other hand, they have toal bait this very carefully. -- calibrate. my belief is9 that the biden administration might be hoping to restrain the israelis from the level of response that israel might want to be conducting right now. we did see -- we didn't see, for example, a preemptive strike from the israelis, and i have to wonder why that hasn't happened. i believe israel would have

liked to do that type of operation. but in the meantime, the iranians have to be very careful what they to because, again, israel has tremendous capability i don't need to remind our audience that israel's a nuclear power state, a nuclear weapons state. and if it gets to the point where the israelis feel like they're in an existential war, who knows where this could lead. so i believe the islamic republic regime this is has a lot at a stake here, and they would be well advised to be very careful what they do next. jon: would you -- the fact that israel was able to take out zahidi and the head of the revolutionary guard corp.s and a number of top military leaders in that airstrike suggests that israeli intelligence is miles ahead of the iranians'. they must be senatorring about that as well. >> exactly right -- smarting about that. >> we've seen israeli intelligence all over the middle east, syria, lebanon be incredibly precise. but, of course, in iran as well. and i think this is the part

that's most shocking for the iranians, how many senior iranian figures the israelis have targeted, you know? their nuclear scientists, their high-level irgand, again, off an iranian soil. and so the iranians know that israel seems to have incredibly goodg eyes and ears within the country, and i have no doubt the iranian leadership themselves are very scared right now. but again, you know, beyond the concerns of individuals in the iranian regime is the very power that they hold over the country right now. i have to tell our audience that just a few hours ago the iranians put out the morality police on the streets of the country. so it's an interesting situation there right now. they're launching an assault on israel, and they're putting the morality mison the streets of their own country -- police on the streets of their own country. i believe it's because they expect that perhaps the iranian people might take to the streets in a moment like this, in a

moment of war, and so they have their morality police ready to attack iranians. and so they know themselves how vulnerable they are. jon: the toppling of that regime would be welcome in capitals around the world including washington, d.c.. ellie cohanim, thank you very much. >> thank you. jon: as tensions escalate, president biden has cut short his weekend trip to meet with his national security team at the white house. jacqui heinrich is there live with the latest for us. >> reporter: well, we know, jon, that the president came back to the white house, walked straight into the oval office. he was outside the shouting distance, so to speak, to where the pool of reporters who track the president's movements could have gotten any questions to him. so we have not heard from him yet. we also have not gotten any sort of a paper statement from the president since all of this has unfolded. we have been hearing from the national security council. they said that president biden has been continually briefed,

and he's going to be meeting shortly with a number of his national security advisers including the defense secretary and secretary of state, the cia director, the homeland security director, the national security adviser, jake sullivan, and the nsc coordinator for the middle east, brett mcgurk. tantamount, or key rather, to what they're watching is exactly what happens here. measure the scale of the attack, trying to coordinate with israel to be sure that their response is proportionate. because the u.s. does not want to see this escalation in the region happen. and there were reports a couple of days ago because the u.s. was watching this, you had the centcom commander in the israel coordinating with israel because this attack from iran was anticipated. trying to make sure that the u.s. and israel were closely aligned on any response that may happen because there was reportedly some us from ration at the pentagon that the

u.s. was -- frustration that the u.s. was in the dark ahead of this suspected israeli strike in syria that took out a top irgc general that has, had prompted everything that we are seeing right now coming from iran. and so the u.s. wanted to be in lockstep with israel to insure that whatever happens next is going to be closely coordinated and supported with the u.s. another thing that they're going to be closely watching for is the risk that u.s. troops in the region are facing. a big reason why the u.s. was reportedly upset that we didn't know in advance about this damascus strike was because it put u.s. troops in the region in a risky position. and when the president was asked on his way to are rehoboth yesterday if he is fearful at all that american troops are going to be attacked -- because that the threat that iran made if the u.s. were to get involved in this -- his answer was i'm always concerned about american troops. so we are waiting and watching for any statement from the white house. there's been a travel photo lid

called here. all that means is that we don't expect to see the president publicly, but we do know that situation room meeting will be happening shortly. the president, upon returning to the white house, went straight into the oval office and that the you have his closest advisers and the vice president dialing in remotely to watch all of this as it unfolds. jon: for those who might just be tuning in, we know that there are dozens of cruise missiles launched from iran presumably headed toward israel. we don't exactly know how many, we don't know their targets, but it is going to be a significant attack. and the first of its kind against israel -- that is, the first of its kind launched from iran against israel. if the attacks don't wind up doing that much damage, would you expect that the israeli response and perhaps the u.s. response would be more muted? >> reporter: well, i'm not one

to, you know, read the tea leaves so to speak, but i think that what has been made clear is that the u.s. and israel don't want to open the door to a war with iran. nobody wants to sees calculation in the region. to sees calculation in the region. and that sort of an outcome, if this were to devolve into something, a wider regional a conflict is exactly what the u.s. and israel both want to avoid. so the u.s. has been trying to insure that whatever israel does is in response to the attack that is coming its way, is bro portion nate and measured -- proportionate and measured in a way that wouldn't further jeopardize the security of the region. that being said without having seen yet the impact of this. and certainly also what the targets are. and if that includes civilian areas or if it's limited to sort of the acceptable terms of a war footing where you attack other

military installations, that will factor into the decisions that are made. jon: jacqui heinrich covering the white house and the national security council which, as she said, is meeting there now, thank you. let's check in with jamil jaffer, executive director and finder at the national security student, former associate white house counsel to president george w. bush. finish you just herald jacqui say that the u.s. and israel are said to be in lockstep on this conflict with iran, and yet it wasn't that long ago that president biden was saying that israel should, you know, back off its attacks in gaza which are in response to an iranian-led, you know, slaughter of israelis on october 7th. can they be in lockstep, i guess is my question. >> well, one can only hope that when an ally like israel being attacked directly by an

adversary like iran, that the united states and our ally governments are in lockstep. we should have been this entire way. the idea that we've seen the senate majority leader, chuck schumer, calling for the departure of the israeli prime minister in the course of a war with a terrorist group in gaza, hamas, backed by iran is obviously, you know, crazy on its own. and now that there's a direct attack by iran, the first ever of its kind against israel, it's good that we're in lockstep on the defense of israel. the question now comes if israel chooses to respond and if israeli civilians die and israel chooses to respond, will the united states and the white house remain behind israel if, in fact, that's what coit. s -- will we act ily defend our allies in the region and go on a war footing if need be as well? this administration has not shown that kind of stamina or wherewithal. we'll see if they have it now. jon: the israelis and jordanians

have a reasonably close relationship in the middle east. jordan, we have heard, has closed its air space. does that mean if israeli jets were to overfly jordan, how would jordan respond to that, do you think? or do you know? >> it's a good question. it's not clear why they closed their aair space. one could read it as protecting civilian aircraft against these iranian drones that are likely to come across both jordan and iraq. it may also be an opening for israeli fighter jets to come across into jordanian air a space in order to have a clear space to go after these drones. we don't know for sure what it means. we'll see over the next hours what happens. whether, in fact, israeli jets are able to go into or jordanian air a space and go after these drones before they reach israel proper. jon: we know that that the general was the head of the iranian revolutionary guard corps, he was killed along with a bunch of other top iranian military leaders on that strike on the so-called iranian consulate in syria.

first of all, describe that consulate for us and, secondly, the u.s. is said to be upset that we were not alerted to that strike. should we have been? >> well, i don't think so. i don't think we -- i'm not sure we gave anybody a heads up when we were taking qassem soleimani out, and we took him out in baghdad on the runway there. and we were afraid, of course, they would let the iranians know, and he would escape. it's no surprise the israelis didn't give anybody a heads up either. this guy, mohamed reza, you know, was a commander of the lebanon if corps of the -- lebanon corps of the iranian revolution their -- quds force. this is the second time in that job. he first got appointed back in the late '90s, so he's been the guy operating attacks against iran, against allied forces in the renal from lebanon for a long time -- in the region. it's no surprise being the commander of the lebanon force that he was there as well in syria, in damascus. and to your question about this

consulate, let's be honest about what these iranian consulates are around the globe. even though they're denominated as diplomatic facilities, what they are are a military hub. and in the case of syria and lebanon, they're essentially arabian forces there guiding the proxy -- iranian forces guiding the proxy forces like hezbollah that are attacking israel directly are. the idea this was an innocent facility, a diplomatic attack that we were dilling -- killing diplomats, that was completely false. we, the israelis i should say. and this is a legitimate thing given that iran has been attacking israel through its proxies for a long, long time including as recently in the last weeks and months with the hamas attack and the attacks from if hezbollah. jon: jamil jaffer, the head of the national security institute, thank you. >> thanks, jon. jon: once again the middle east is on high alert. iran launches major drone attack directed toward israel. for more let's bring in fox

chief national security correspondent jennifer griffin. jennifer, what's the latest? >> reporter: i'm hearing from sources in the region that there's a lot of noise in the air over jordan which, of course, is israel's neighbor and stands between us -- it, iraq and iran. so as those drones and cruise missiles begin, are making their way toward, through air space towards israel, i am being told from official sources that it would not be surprising if jordan shot down anything that was fired through very dane january air space. that would be seen as a breach of the sovereignty of jordan if the iranian missiles or drones flew through jordanian air space. so i think all eyes right now on jordan. i think what we are clear about at this point is there's been a clear intelligence picture emerging all week that the white house, pentagon and u.s. central command have been privy to about iran's intent to launch an

attack with about 100 one-way attack drones similar to what iran has been providing russia for use in ukraine. and possible missiles. we're hearing cruise missiles at this point. cruise missiles are, fly slowly, so it is likely that they could be intercepted. it was clear that the target will be, from the intelligence reporting this week that the target will be in the less populated areas in the north and south of israel. that's high you've seen reports from the u.s. embassy telling americans to not leave tel aviv, jerusalem or the more populated areas. my guess is that the target could include targets in the golan heights and perhaps in southern, the southern desert of israel if the drones or missiles can get through israel's formidable missile defense systems, which is unlikely. if we've seen, as we've seen if ukraine missile defense systems, the patriot, hinges that israel has -- things that israel that even ukraine doesn't have, the iron dome, the arrow, the

david's sling, these can handle drones and missiles coming into israel. the u.s. has worked for years, decades even to help israel have a very, very strong missile defense system. they can shoot down iranian drones, and most missiles that might be fired at it especially these slower-flying cruise missiles. that intelligence, the likely iranian response down to the exact window of timing, has been briefed to the president all week during multiple principal and situation room meetings, i'm told, and shared with the israelis. hence, u.s. central command general erik kurilla's trip to israel at the end of this week to coordinate with the israelis, their defense, and to insure that israel has all the latest intelligence as well as defensive measures to defend itself. jon, the outline of the retaliatory attack has been clear for days even down to the window of time in which the attack would take place. this comes as no surprise to the u.s. government or to israel. they've been in close communication, and general kurilla, i'm told, is no longer

in israel but still in the region. jon: so what happens if the iron dome and david's sling and other, you know, patriot missile batteries and so forth, what happens if they take down virtually all of these drones? iran has taken a terrible gamble here because, you know, they're going to be -- again, this is the first launch against israel from iranian territory. what happens if nothing happens, essentially, jennifer? >> reporter: well, i think what you're going to see in the coming hours, jon, is you're going to see quite a light show. you're going to see the night sky lit up with missiles from israel's missile defense shield, you're going to see -- you have israeli war planes as well as, i would guess at this point in time, jordanian war planes in the air to protect jordanian sovereign territory. i think you're going to see ed of that -- ed of -- evidence of that missile defense being deployed. the danger is, of course, when you have a hundred drones coming

in, swarming the way they plan to, is does one of those drones get through. and if one drone gets through, does it actually hit a target that could kill israelis and cause israel to have to then respond and then the retaliatory, escalatory ladder begins. and that is why the u.s. military is on high alert right now and you have a very, very careful, you know, everybody's in a watch and wait mode. but if everything goes as planned, the missile defense systems in israel should be able to handle these drones as well as these cruise missiles. it's notable to metathat it has been reported by israeli officials that these are cruise missiles that have been fired if from israel. those are much slower flying than ballistic missiles. and i think that is calibrated by iran, again, to make a point. they can use this video and the fact that they launched an attack on israel for the first time in risk -- history from iranian territory, they can use that a for propaganda purposes for their domestic audience. and that's what this is all about, to -- if iran wanted to

attack israel and have all of its proxies, the houthis as well as hezbollah with strike at israel simultaneously, you would see a very different picture than what we're seeing right now. obviously, everybody's on tinder hooks. there's, there are a lot of unknowns here, but as of right now this is unfolding the way i think most people have expected in recent days. jon: all right. so you talked about, you know, perhaps trying to mobilize the population and, you know, the iranian mullahs showing video of strikes on israel and saying, hey, look what we with did. but they are not particularly popular in their own country right now. i mean, the iranian leadership is not particularly popular. it's hard to believe that these attacks would essentially get them anything. >> reporter: well, what it gets them, jon, is it gets them the fact -- they are able to say to their population that while we sustained a very serious

attack on our consulate and senior iranian revolutionary guard generals by israel, that we retaliated, that we retaliatedded with, by striking israel from or attempting to strike israel from iranian territory, they are able to say that they didn't just sit back and take that attack and leave are it unanswered. so all of this is about, is a calibration, i think, by the iranian regime, the iranian regime for all a intents and purposes based on conversations that i've had in reporting this week week with those u.s. officials as well as western intelligence officials who have access to iranian thinking, they do not want a wider war, they do not want a war with the u.s. they want the u.s. to not intervene. and my guess is this is a calibrated response and that israel is prepared. and that the u.s. has insured that israel is prepared. what will happen in the coming

hours, we'll have to wait and see. but as of right now,s this is, there is a very strong missile defense shield around israel and air force is activated, up in the air, and, you know, based on what we've heard so far israel's prepared. and the u.s. is there providing the latest in up-to-date intelligence to make sure that nothing gets through and that this is not, this does not escalate or widen into ad broader war or con 234reubg9. jon: israel is ready for bear, it would seem. jennifer griffin reporting for us live. jennifer, thank you. for those who have been watching that center screen which is looking out over tel aviv and you see that flash right there in the center of the screen, when i first saw it, i assumed it was some kind of a patriot missile or a, an iron dome taking out some incoming iranian missiles because if you're just joining us, iran has launched dozens, perhaps hundreds of fairly slow moving cruise

missiles aimed in the direction of israel. we do not know when they will strike. it takes them several hours to transit jordan before they can actually reach israeli space. that flash in the center of your screen, however, is an electronic thing. i don't know exactly how to describe it, but it is not a live explosion of any kind in the air, it's just a bit of the electronics that we use to bring you these pictures live. let's bring in jonathan sander now, the senior vice president of research at the foundation for defense of democracies and a former counterterrorism analyst at the u.s. treasury department. so how would you assess, jonathan, speaking of defending democracies, how would you assess u.s. support for israel on this very tense night there? if. >> well, so far so good. we're hearing the right rhetoric coming out of the white house. i know there was some tension about whether or not israel should have struck or shouldn't

have struck that senior irgc official last week, but i think israel a had very little choice in the matter, and i do believe the biden administration has come to understand that because the irgc has been behind all of these strikes coming from the various militias when it's the houthis, hezbollah, hamas and groups in iraq and syria. i would say that even more heartening right now though are reports that just came through from the arabic news channel just a few moments ago suggesting that the u.s. has actually started to shoot down some of the drones that iran fired in the skies over iraq and syria. this is, of course, good news because it means that they're being targeted before they reach israeli air space, before the israelis have to deal with the question of whether they try to shoot down some of these, these missiles or drones in, for example, your dane a january air space or iraqi air a space which could trigger some complexities with israel's neighbors who may

not want to take part in all of this. so to have the u.s. do this with the coordination of central command, i would say this is very good news, indeed. jon: do you think iran made a bad gamble here launching from its own territory toward israel? do you think that they somehow thought that president biden's chiding of the israelis to kind of back off in gaza meant that there would not be vivid u.s. support for israel in this circumstance? >> look, i think it was really a terrible misread on the part of the iranians. the fact that the biden administration was disagree requesting with israel over tactics in gaza did not mean that the u.s. was willing to throw israel under the bus as it relates to israel's survival in the region or its overall strength seeses a see iran or any of its proxies -- vis-a-vis. so i think they've made a terrible mistake by firing out of iran itself. this has opened itself up to attacks by attack -- israel into

iran. and that could include, by the way, some of the nuclear sites that the israelis have been threatening to strike as well as other strategic targets that the iranians would be loathe to see destroyed. and, of course, the ace aprillys have -- the israelis have tech that would allow them to hit with greater precision and be able to enter into iranian air space more undetected than whatever iran is going to try to pull off here right now. jon: all right. jonathan schanzer, thanks for your expertise. >> my pleasure. jon: if you're just joining us, a swarm of iranian cruise missiles launched within the last couple of hours toward israel said to be numbering in the hundreds. we don't know and we do not know their targets. they apparently have been engaged by some u.s. anti-drone forces and perhaps a number of them have been shot down. we will not know until they head for their intended targets, and we'll see whether any of them

are successful in getting through israeli and u.s. air defenses. let's bring in senior congressional correspondent chad pergram. chad, it is this week, right, that the congress is supposed to take up an appropriations bill that would provide more munitions to israel? >> reporter: well, keep in mind that the senate approved a multi-genre bill here for israel, ukraine and taiwan back in the middle of february. and i should note that house speaker mike johnson indicated yesterday, quote, we're going to get the fisa bill done today, and then we're going to move on to the next priority, but he never said what that next priority was. and i addressed the speaker about this, and he said this is a very complicated matter and and a complicated timeline. again, the pressure if lately has been trying to get aid to ukraine. but after the events of this afternoon, you could certainly see where people could say, hey, we really have to get this done for israel and ukraine. getting it done for israel is probably a little easier in the house of representatives.

but by the same token, if they're going to have to do something for israel, they're going to have to do something for ukraine. that's just the way the politics are going to work out here. ken calvert, a republican congressman from california, just i put out a statement in the past couple of moments here, this was an unacceptable education calculation in the middle east. people like steny hoyer, former house minority if leader, one of the biggest advocates also weighing in on this. the other thing this is going to bring into question is what the role of u.s. troops in the region is right now. you know, you have troops there with sort of an undeclared mission. this is where multiple administrations have used what's called the war powers resolution of 1973 to justify sending troops overseas. and if this were to get into a bigger conflagration, what do you do? i mean, congress has the authorization in the constitution to declare war. we have only done that 11 times, haven't done that since the early 1940s against romania. what they have relied on mostly

over the past several decades, and this goes back to the thorpe kin golf -- tonkin gulf resolution, aums, but also they've done just the war powers that an administration is given. the constitution kind of submits war powers in article i and article ii, and on the presidential side what they've done is used some of these old authorizations for the war in afghanistan and also for the war in iraq are. 2001 and 2002 congress -- both of these. and even though when they are in some other areas of the globe and other types of conflict, they lean on those -- [inaudible] so it's a little bit early to start looking at that. but that has to be something that's in the calculus as well, jon. jon: all right. chad pergram, chief congressional correspondent, senior is, chad, thank you. >> reporter: thank you. jon jon let's check in once again with jamil jaffer, executive director and finder at

the national security institute, former associate white house counsel to president george w. bush. jamil, the iranians are said to be feeferl of a direct israeli strike on their own territory. if that's the case, why would they take, you know, why would they gamble and launch these cruise missiles from their territory? it just puts a big target on their backs, does it not? >> exactly right, jon. it's a real question why they've decided to go down this road. the iranians have made a long sort of history, a long career of using proxies in the region around the globe. they use groups like hamas, hezbollah, other terrorist group, palestinian islamic jihad, the houthis in yemen and conduct these attacks. everyone knows it's the iranians. the president has called out the iranians for attacks on american soldiers many times. the problem is they're using proxies, they're able to avoid getting a direct response often times. now they're putting the israelis in the position of having to respond to them. it's an interesting decision by the iranian leadership. we'll see now whether in fact

the israelis do take a response and whether the u.s. backs them in that response and what that looks like. i think it's all going to turn on whether these missiles are knocked down, how many they sent and whether it's a real serious attack. if it's a serious attack and missiles get through and civilians die as we a talked about earlier, i think you will see a serious israeli response, and iran's put themselves in a very bad position. jon: this is one of the most telegraphed attacks that i've seen in recent memory. i mean, u.s. and israeli intelligence officials have been talking for a week at least about the likelihood of this attack coming even this weekend. so it would seem like iran expects some kind of a response. i've read where if they hit, for instance, the golan heights which israel seized after one of the wars and it's not a huge population center for israel, if they hit the golan heights, would that be or or considered sort of an acceptable strike that israel wouldn't

necessarily, you know, pound iran into pieces for? >> yeah, that's a great question. i think you're right, i think the iranians must feel the need to respond whether for domestic purposes or international purposes, they feel the need to respond and, therefore, they've been telegraphing this for weeks. very sod. you -- very odd. you don't usually see the president of the united states saying i expect an attack within 24-48 hours. that suggests very good intelligence reporting or the iranians have telegraphed, that allows the israelis to prepare and knock the missiles down. we'll see if if this is not a large scale attack op or against golan and not a part of israel, not tel aviv or jerusalem, it may very well be the case that israel doesn't feel the need to respond and we just sort of move on from this. but i do think if a single missile gets through, israel will have to respond, and it will be ferocious. jon: all right. so, well, i had a question --

[laughter] and i just lost are it. again, it's waiting game. we have to wait and see what happens, how many of these missiles get through and where they are targeted. >> that's exactly right. i think that is the key question, is iran trying to actually kill israelis, are they trying to just make a point that, hey, look, you hit our guy, he's a senior quds force commander, you know, we're going to now push back and demonstrate to you that we're mad, or are they really trying to start a war wees reel? that question, the that calibration will come into play in the next fur -- few hours. and we'll see how successful the u.s. and israelis are about knocking down missiles, sounds like the u.s. is already taking action, the uss carney there going after some of these things with their aegis systems. jon: jamil jaffer, thank you. >> thank you