Special live coverage. Im Kaitlan Collins, The Middle East is on the Brink Tonight as the world is watching and waiting to see what is really prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus definition of payback looks like after this rock. Oh god, okay, guys, we got to get off the roof. These are cup iran, that prc is really sky earlier today. On the ground, the sound of Air Raid sirens, 180 missiles in all launched during the assault, sending millions of people racing to bomb Shelters Israel says tonight that the iranian strike had no impact Air Defenses ended up intercepting many of those missiles that were fired by iran. Though i should note, some did land in the central and southern parts of the country, one or one and missile Hit A School and central israel in this burst out of iran is just the latest moment in a year that has been filled with many of them test you want. Israels warplanes assassinated, has Hezbollahs Leader just last week, months after erasing hamass political leader from the battlefield. And now tonight, israelis Prime Minister says, iran has made a mistake with this attack and has also dramatically underestimating their determination to retaliate. We have cnns reporters posted around the Globe Tonight from Tel Aviv to beirut. Even at the pentagon covering every single Breaking Development on this fastmoving story. I want to, start with cnns Becky Anderson and becky obviously as were looking at all of this, the major question as it stands right now is how and when israel is going to respond to this attack yeah, absolutely. I mean, its just after an oclock in the morning here in israel, and people waking up to a country largely intact after what was an unprecedented iranian ballistic Missile Attack on its Military And Security infrastructure, the teams here in Tel Aviv and those of our teams, not just around israel, but around the region, were witness to what was really the most remarkable attack has as missiles came piercing through the Sky Issue described it, those sirens were wailing. This was around 7 30 in the evening, so around about 12 hours ago, this was an attack which had been warned of the u. S putting out a statement earlier on in the day suggesting that an imminent bliss thick Missile Attack was imminent from iran. But when it came it was ferocious as many as 200 ballistic missiles disgusted Scale And Scope of this plea. Absolutely extraordinary and bigger in Scale And Scope given the use of these ballistic missiles and the attack here back in april, which was pretty much fought it. Now, as you rightly suggest most of these missiles were intercepted by both the israelis and the americans. They saying coordination with the israelis and allies around this region who helped. But as you rightly point out, some of those missiles did end up hitting the ground across israel and in the West Bank soundly, one palestinian in jericho losing their life and there have been other casualties. Now, the sites its targeted, Mossad Headquarters just on the fringes of Tel Aviv here and a couple of the very strategic air bases. One to the south where the assessment on damage is still ongoing. But the idf has said its Air Force still has full operational ability. And as you rightly point out, the warnings are that retaliation will come not just against iran and well speak to that in a moment, but also against hezbollah. And overnight we have seen further attacks by israel on targeted attacks they say on beirut in its Southern Suburbs. They say reports suggests the idf standing this up that two senior hezbollah commanders have been assassinated. There despite the fact that we havent yet seen the Return Palliation by israel on iran, and that could be, for example, on nuclear facilities on its oil infrastructure, on its Counter Strike facilities, those Launching Pads from where these missiles were launched we do continue to see the ai the israeli operations against hezbollah, iranbacked hizballahs assets in beiruts caitlin. Yeah, were watching it all very closely. Becky anderson, youre alive until v if you get any word of an a response from israel, what theyve decided will obviously come back to you as we check in. Throughout this hour i also want to go to beirut. Thats a refined Cnns Jomana Karadsheh and lebanon jomana, obviously theres a real question there earlier i was talking to ben wedeman. He was describing celebratory gunfire as iran was launching this attack against israel earlier. Its still not knowing what the impact of that was going to be whats the latest on the ground now . Well, you know, kaitlan that gunfire that ben described it, gunfire, some fireworks coming from the Southern Suburbs of beirut. It was pretty limited, pretty small the Southern Suburbs is where has had a heavy presence in the past. You still have a, lot of supporters of the group in the Southern Suburbs. So really no surprise seeing that sort of moment of celebration that they had with the iranian attack on israel considering the heavy blows that the group had has incurred in recent days. But overall all the mood in this country is one of Apprehension And Anxiety i mean people are very, very concerned about what is coming next as that attack the iranian attack on israel was unfolding. It did appear for a bit like there was a low in the airstrikes that have been pretty much continuous in different parts of the country mostly in the south than the eastern region. And here in the Southern Suburbs. But within hours of the Attack Ending in israel, it seemed that the airstrikes resumed again with reports coming in from Southern Lebanon of intense strikes there here in beirut, we began seeing Evacuation Orders being posted by the Idfs Arabiclanguage Spokesperson on his account on x telling the residence of a number of neighborhoods in the Southern Suburbs to evacuate and shortly after that, we began seeing and hearing airstrikes. There is unclear what specifically was targeted. These really military said that it is going after hezbollah targets and infrastructure and facilities. There. But keeping in mind and kaitlyn, that was these warnings from the idf for coming in at about midnight until 3am. This is a time where you would expect most people are sleeping, not really. Looking at Social Media so many people may have not seen these warnings and those airstrikes started soon after that thats a really good point about when those warnings are coming. And if people are asleep, but jomana, the other question i have is as iran obviously often wouldve rely on its proxies like hezbollah to carry out its attacks, to serve as a deterrence from israel, maybe responding to forcefully to something like what . What happened today, given what israels been doing over the last several weeks, though, not only going after hezbollah leaders but also where hezbollah stores, its weapons according to the idf. Is there a sense even know about what hezbollahs capabilities are in this moment . You know, kaitlan, thats the Big Question right now clearly, its leadership, its Command Structure has been pretty much decimated in recent days. And a lot of these Storage Facilities where they have stored their weapons have been hit but as well as known to have according to estimates, to have been storing 100 to even 200,000 Medium And Longrange missiles. So its unclear at this point how much of that has been destroyed while it would seem that it is significant hits that its taken in recent days. I think everyone is waiting to see what happens in the coming days since those attacks have increased here we have seen the groups still carrying out attacks, still launching a medium range missiles, even longer range missiles and ballistic missile obviously interests. It was intercepted a few days ago in Tel Aviv, but it is still carrying out these attacks on i think their focus right now, kaitlan is going to be on preparations for close combat when weve heard the israeli military saying that they have begun these incursions into Southern Lebanon. And this is something that in the past really its, its what hezbollah is known for this guerrilla warfare. So they are probably beginning to prepare for this were seeing this happening now. Jomana karadsheh in beirut. Thank you for that report. Well check back in with you. Also want to go to the pentagon. Now, thats where we find Cnns Correspondent oren liebermann, or when this happened in april, the u. S. Was able to kind of tell netanyahu and the israelis to take the win based on what . Irans response had been and that it hadnt actually, they were not really that successful with their the 300 missiles are some that they fired that day. Whats the Sense Tonight of how much, how much influence the u. S. House on what israel does next here from this perspective, the attacks are viewed as substantively different. April 13 was a mixture of drones and ballistic missiles. More drones, and thats what makes this attack much more powerful, even though there was a smaller number here only 100 at ballistic missiles, but there are far more powerful than the drones that were launched back in april. There it seemed to run and was more sending a message that they were willing to attack israel. Youre right that most of that was intercepted and President Biden pushed prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take the wait essentially to say, look, the attack didnt do much damage. Israel had a limited response in iran that was much the same way it was essentially sending a message to iran that israel could strikes sovereign iran if it wanted to. Now, this attack much larger and the expectation is that israel will carry out a much larger response. And weve certainly already seen that threat coming from netanyahu, from the idf and from others. So the expectation is that this one will be bigger. Israel showed in april that it could Attack Iran. Now the question will they go after iranian nuclear facilities . Will they go after Irans Oil and Natural Gas thats essentially the lifeblood of a Runza Economy right now. So the question, what will they do, President Biden huddled with his top aides to try to get a better sense of what the possibilities might look like and how they will play out, not just israels response but how iran might retaliate for that. Very complex discussions to try to figure out how this goes. The u. S. Has made clear they want to talk to israel about what this might look like over the course of the next several days. So likely those conversations are already happening, but its a question of when and how big does Israel Go here and what role would will the u. S. Play in that response if any of us making it clear that they will back israel when it comes to air defense. But offensive. Thats a whole different question yeah. And we know theres a lot of us troops in the region more have been moved there in recent days, oren liebermann. Thank you for that. Joining me now, is the former Defense Secretary, a former chief at the pentagon, mark esper. Thank you. So much, mr. Secretary, for being here. I want to ask you about something that Barak Ravid of axios is reporting. He is one of the best reporters on what is happening in The Middle East. And he says tonight that israel is expected to launch what they are calling a significant retaliation against iran what do you think that could look like . Well, good evening, kaitlan. Its good to be with you yes. Look, i do agree that israel is going to respond likely significantly i think what you could see would be airstrikes against the Military Facilities at the highend their nuclear facilities, they could go try and attack the ballistic Missile Production facilities and maybe there air, their Missile Launch sites. But we also have to keep monday could expand it, broaden it by going after economic targets such as Oil Refining facilities in the golf. So much remains to be seen, but this is clearly a new day in The Middle East until the question is not just how israel responds here, but if israel strikes iran itself not just a proxy of iran. And in a significant way, going after its nuclear capabilities, going after an energy facility, maybe an assassination. I mean, the iranian Supreme Leader was taken into hiding. Basically the other day because they clearly are fearing for his safety does around then respond to that and we just see this continue to go back and forth as The Middle East is put on the brink even more than it is already yeah. Well, first things first, iran breached that threshold in april when it shot though at that point in time, over 300 missiles and drones and a Cruise Missiles at israel. And that cross that threshold at this point in time. So i think the fact that if israel decides to respond to Attack Iran directly, yes, iran may respond, but the fact is iran does not want a wider war. I think at this Point Theyve realized they cant certainly cant win it. And theyve once its again proven that their missile capabilities, which which we paid close attention to when i was in office, is rather feckless. Its the second time they struck last night with over 180 missiles and they were completely proven ineffective. So i dont know what iran has left to respond with their proxy groups have been decimated made it in southern israel with hamas has blood on the ropes. We see today this morning, israel still pressing and will continue to press into Southern Lebanon. And weve seen no other reactions out there with the houthis are out there, but israel struck them the other day, so we could see a tap protect for tat response. But at this point in time iran is signaling that it does not want a wider regional war. In fact, caitlin was struck me about last night was after the attack, what they rOn And said was, were done. This is a response for the killing of Haniah Nasrallah and others. But there was no mention the fact that they might attack if Israel Goes further into lebanon. So they left there hezbollah partners hanging out there so remains to be seen, but i think at this point in time, were all going to watch and see what the next move is. By israel and of course, haniah was that major leader of hamas. Azrallah, the leader of hezbollah, that there was recently killed major blows to both hamas and hezbollah it sounds like youve kind of thing based on what weve seen have irans capabilities the decimation of the leadership of hezbollah that israel may have freer reign than it did an april to respond here to go bigger. And its response potentially oh yeah, absolutely. I kaitlan, you hit the nail on the head, but going back to april was a different strategic strategic situation. At that point in time, they were still fighting. Israel was still fighting hamas in gaza. You still had Ishmael Haniyeh in charge you had Yahya Sinwar there as well . The same, time in lebanon, you had hezbollah intact its leadership is intact they still have anywhere up to 150,000 rockets and missiles and drones. And now you have a situation months later where the leadership has been decapitated from both hamas and Hezbollah And Youve had several iranian irgc leaders killed as well. And so i think at this point in time, gaza in gaza, they have the situation pretty well under control and has blocked in the north. There. They are on the ropes and so the fear that if iran, if israel responded to iran and iran with tap its proxy, hezbollah to shoot, tens, 20s, Tens Of Thousands of missiles against israel. That seems to be far less of a concern at this point in time. And so thus as you said up front, israel has a much for your hand. And as you said in your earlier at the tee up here, it appears that hezbollah has been so decimated both the elimination of there for leadership and their inability to conduct Cant Command and control that we arent seeing much response from them in the north when it comes to rockets and missiles yeah. Secretary esper, we just got finished watching the Vice President ial debate here tonight between senator vance, governor walz, both of them did not really answer a question about whether they as an administration would support a preemptive Israeli Strike on iran. Obviously, thats an important question, but i want to ask you about something else that Donald Trump said today that is relevant to when you were serving as his Defense Secretary, he was asked about us troops who were injured during an iranian attack in 2020 on a base in iraq listen to what trump had to say to reporters what is injured mean . Injured means you mean because they had a headache, because the bombs never hit the fork. There was nobody heard other than the sound was loud and some people said that hurt and i accept that you were the Defense Secretary at that time is that how you viewed it . Just traumatic Brain Injuries of us soldiers as headaches yeah thats thats obviously not accurate. We talked about this afterward. I wrote about this in my memoir. We went through that entire night trying to get an assessment of what the damage was done to our harm done to our troops. I think at the time that iran launched 13, 13141516 missiles or so at the Al Assad Airbase and our troops defended extraordinarily well. But when we got up the next morning, we had no injuries. Traditionally, as you would know, but over time, we came to learn as troops did selfreporting and really came to reported some of their symptoms that we had to dozens over 100 cases reported in several worst, very serious traumatic Brain Injuries. And this is what this is a new a new harm from war that weve learned from the conflicts in Afghanistan And Iraq where concussions, where large blasts, much like were experienced in the ballistic Missile Attack and Al Assad can create traumatic Brain Injuries that theyre unseen. If you will casualties of war. And it took some time to discover these again, but eventually we over 100 troops reported injuries as some of them were very serious. I remember visiting a soldier at Walter Reed Hospital Couple of months later and talking about the attack and what he experienced its and so its quite a traumatic night. Yeah. I dont think they would classify it as just a headache. Secretary espe