We are in jerusalem. It is day 21 of the war between israel and hamas. We are covering Breaking News. We were notified about an our ago that the United States has struck targets, airstrikes in syria. What they are saying is the two facilities were near abu come all syria. According to a senior u. S. Defense official they say one was a Weapons Storage Facility and the other was an ammo storage area. These are in syria, not iran. The strike back, of course, does not have anything to do the Administration Says with what is happening between israel and hamas. What it has to do with is the proxy groups of iran targeting u. S. Forces at these military installations in syria and iraq. There have been 16 of these attacks in the last eight days. In those attacks at least 21 servicemembers were wounded in some capacity. Most of them were minor, but some of those are temporary brain injuries. That is a big concern. Today, the United States struck back. Our or two of our breaking News Coverage. Lets begin with Lucas Tomlinson live in tel aviv. When you hear about the targets that the u. S. Military went after today, what do you think of the strategy and the targets themselves . Reporter the u. S. No doubt wanted a proportional response which is why the target was selected at abu come all. Thats a border town in Eastern Syria along the border of iraq. It is where isis made its last stand a few years ago. It is largely ungoverned space. In terms of the weapons used you had f16 flying out of the squadron from the new Jersey National guard. They just arrived in the region not too long ago. You want to use those jets as opposed to launching a tomahawk cruise initial as you can see from the map. You can shoot tomahawk Cruise Missiles from the red sea flying over saudi arabia and jordan and iraq. You generally have to have permission from those countries to do that. If the mediterranean were to shoot tomahawk she would also have potential overflight issues over lebanon. That could anger hezbollah on the ground. What the u. S. Wanted was a proportional response and why death has always been a redline for the United States. Not that the u. S. Contractor died of a heart attack while sheltering in place in iraq. There is no question moves to strike back were getting ginned up at the white house. After 16 attacks on u. S. Forces in the last 10 days, pressure was building to respond, trace. Lucas, i want to quickly get your take because i know you study this stuff and you are a student of military warfare. Do you think that when you go or if jennifer goes to this and we should have her in the next 10 or 12 minutes, this pentagon briefing, what is the focus from the pentagons point of few and what is the focus of your correspondent . In that meeting what are you trying to glean for us . Reporter what was notable is at the pentagon right now is blaming iran for these attacks. They are not hiding that. We just heard from jennifer saying that irans fingers are all over this according to senior u. S. Military officials on this Background Call with pentagon reporters. They are placing the blame on iran. After 16 attacks on u. S. Troops over the last 10 days, like i said, death has always been a redline for the United States. After the contractor died the pressure was there. It is notable the pentagon and white house are going out of their way to try to separate this strike from the ongoing Israeli Hamas wore. They want to keep these things separate. That is why israeli Officials Say u. S. Forces are needed in the region. Thats why the antiballistic Missile Systems are going in. Thats why the Eisenhower Striker is going and. Ike is still a few days out from gibraltar. More forces need to come in the region. They want that to be a check on iran. Thats where the u. S. Is needed critically. Thats where israeli officials have been telling us on the ground the last 20 days of the war. Israeli official said they can handle the war against hamas and hezbollah but they need u. S. Forces as a block to iran. Lastly lucas, you mentioned that iranian fingerprints are all over this reported by Jennifer Griffin. According to jennifer the u. S. Did noti asked this question of her earlier and they said everyone would be in the loop. The u. S. Did not inform israel of the u. S. Airstrikes in syria. Do you find that surprising . Reporter i dont find that surprising at all because whats again you saw the statement by defense secretary lloyd austin. They want the strikes and this part of the conflict to be separate and distinct from the war between israel and hamas. Tricky to do, no question they are related. The u. S. Wants to make this about defending its people. After the u. S. Contractor was killed recently the pressure was there for the u. S. To strike back. That is the redline. It is called self defense. We heard it from Secretary Of State antony blinken. You talk about defending u. S. Troops and that includes contractors. That american was killed and the pressure is there. A proportional response. When you hit an ammo dump in Eastern Syria, right now its about 6 00 a. M. Here. They probably wouldnt likely have a lot of personnel at that ammo dump at 5 00 a. M. Or 6 00 a. M. Besides a Security Guard sitting there, he will not be killing personnel. You will send a message. This is certainly a message you are destroying the ammunition that could potentially be used against u. S. Troops. Its a proportion response. Syria is a target. These are largely ungoverned spaces in syria. Proportional statement but a bold statement nonetheless. We will get back to you as you get more in information. Lets bring in former navy s. E. A. L. Who trained with Israel Defense forces, cameron hamilton. Great to have you on here. We have been talking to you for the past several nights and what is happening in the war. You are well versed in this area and wellversed on the war. The u. S. Striking syria, your thoughts on that . The Ammunition Area, just so we are clear on this, was an Ammunition Area and a weapons storage area. Cameron . Thanks for having me again. Unfortunately this is a growing escalation in the region. Most of us stand unified in solidarity with israel. We dont want to see this conflict ramp up. As a result the United States has brought in a lot of forces as a deterrent to keep other national and state out of the conflict as we see now. American forces have been targeted. There is a perceived sense of weakness. Many different organizations within the region such as what we are finding within Southern Syria as well as other locations are targeting American Forces because they believe they are able to pressure us and distract us from being able to provide aid and support to israel. What we see here is likely a deterrent. A very strong deterrent to Critical Infrastructure such as ammunition and things that would be used to target either the israelis or american personnel in the region. What do you think irans response to this is . Thats a complicated question. Ultimately what we see here with iran is they keep the fisa elsewhere so the focus could not be on tehran. They barely have control of their own nation. The secretary of that region are about to unravel. The only thing that can unify much of this region under a common cause would be an all out war against israel and perhaps the United States. Thats what i believe iran is trying to push for. I think the environment of what we see with this administration is one that projects weakness and instability in the region. Therefore i think irans goal is to prop up these lone wolf actors and or Proxy Organizations that are sponsored by them to really wreak havoc in the region in a way that has some degree of plausible deniability. In reality all the intelligence we are seeing very clearly shows the groups aligned with radical extremism from iran. Standby. We will get some Breaking News. Breaking news former chief National Security correspondent Jennifer Griffin who just came out of this meeting with pentagon officials. Jen, what have we learned . Reporter what we learned is a pair of u. S. F16s that carried out the strikes on two irgcn affiliated facilities. One was a weapons depot, another an Ammunition Facility where ammunition was being stored for those munitions that were being used to fire at u. S. Bases in the past week. There are about 19 attacks so far against u. S. Forces. Thats the number we were given by a senior u. S. Defense official just moments ago. It was two f16s. There is no Casualty Figure that has been given in terms of any individuals who were at those bases. But there were, we are told, individuals affiliated with the irgcn proxy forces who were at the facilities earlier today. That according to a senior Military Official. The facilities were located near albo cabal in the southeastern part of syria near the iraqi border. Most of these attacks in the last week were at bases inside iraq. U. S. Bases inside iraq. So these facilities we dont have much in terms of bomb damage assessment. It was two f16s that carried out the strikes earlier tonight. Trace . Did they talk at all about reaction . Did they talk about further responses if the reaction is not what they expect . Reporter they absolutely, both the senior at Military Official as the defense official said that if teheran does not get the message that there would be further strikes. They are hoping that iran would have gotten the message and delivered that message to its proxy forces. But the senior Military Official who was on the senior Defensive End so that was on the call just moments ago with pentagon reporters said that irans fingerprints are all over these attacks on u. S. Bases. This is the most direct that i have ever heard the pentagon and any u. S. Administration in terms of pointing to irans involvement in these proxy attacks on u. S. Forces. Its a very significant escalation in terms of rhetoric. But they are hoping to deescalate by carrying out the strikes. They called them discrete precision strikes. They did say that if iran does not get the message, that there will be more to come. They were very clear that they want this to be seen as distinct from the israelhamas conflict. Israel was not informed in advance and this is separate from that conflicts conflict. This is simply a reaction to the targeting and attacks on u. S. Forces, trace. I also want to read from the statement earlier. I think we have full screens now from the statement that defense secretary lloyd austin put out earlier tonight after the strikes took place. One says, this with the important part to me, quote, the United States does not seek conflict and has no intention nor desire to engage in further hostilities. But these iranian backed attacks against u. S. Forces are unacceptable and must stop. Iran wants to hide its hands and deny its role in these attacks against our forces. We will not let them. That is from Lloyd Austin Policy Statement earlier tonight. He added that they will not hesitate to strike again if iranian proxies continue threatening u. S. Troops. , quote, they are separate and distinct from the ongoing conflict between israel and hamas and do not constitute a shift in our approach to the israelhamas conflict. We continue to urge all state and nonstate entities not to take action that would escalate into a broader regional conflict. That from lloyd austins statement earlier tonight. I want to pick your brain. People forget that you stood where i am standing for many years for Fox News Channel as the Israeli Bureau correspondent. You know the middle east better than anybody. I am curious. When you talk about the administration telling iran to tell their proxies to stand down, is there a direct connection between iran and the proxies . Are there some wildcards in these proxies that could fire off more attacks as a result of this u. S. Strike tonight without irans approval . Or is that deemed bad behavior from iran . Reporter from my experience, and you remember i was based in israel from 1999 to 2007. We covered the last time there was a major conflict between hezbollah and israel in 2006. Yes, there is a connection and these proxy groups do take their orders from the irgc generals and from iran itself. But we also know they are not always the most disciplined law. There could be somebody that takes matters into their own hands and fires a rocket when they are not supposed to. But for the most part, i will say that hezbollah as well as these proxies that are fighting inside syria, they tend to be more disciplined than even some of the groups we have seen in gaza where there is sometimes a competition between hamas and Islamic Jihad or the martyrs brigades. Thats where you start to get sometimes unruly behavior where they are not listening, for instance, to iran. It will be very interesting to see. I think from officials i have spoken to, they do expect the iranian proxies to perhaps fire again on u. S. Bases. They expect to probably have to go back and deliver another message. They are trying. Again, this is low on the Escalation Ladder because they recognize this can escalate very quickly and they want to contain this. They are hoping iran gets the message. But they do not want this link to the israelhamas conflict. Im not sure how that will go down in the middle east. They are trying to keep it distinct from the israelhamas conflict. Id like to get your take on the northern Israel Border. I remember you and i in 2006 on top of that building doing fox report as the rockets were going around us. I was shaking but you were cool as a cucumber. Are you worried like steve is worried. Are you worried about this thing, hezbollah coming in and firing and escalating they are firing at Northern Israel . Reporter my understanding based on people i have spoken to and the latest intelligence is that hezbollah does not want to get into a fullblown war with israel. What you have been seeing, however, his little pinprick strikes and Rocket Attacks by hezbollah to show solidarity with the palestinians and to show hamas and the rest of the region they are not sitting this out. But since you and i were there in 2006, hezbollah has more than 100,000 mediumrange and perhaps even some longrange rockets and missiles that have been placed there by the irgc with the help of iran. They have a large missile arsenal. It will be very significant if they do decide to get involved. It will be much more than what we have seen in recent days. I believe we will not know whether hezbollah wants to get involved until we see the reaction when and if, mostly when, the israel the ground incursion into gaza begins. That is when all eyes will be on the northern front. It could be that the plan all along was to wait until israel goes into gaza and to try to then stretch the Israeli Military by firing on the northern part. As of Now Hezbollah has made some pinprick kind of attempts to challenge israel. But its not what they are capable of. They have more than 100,000 missiles stored up there in southern lebanon. Jennifer griffin, exceptional reporting as always. I appreciate it. If you get more news, let us know and we will bring you back on. We will go to Army Lieutenant colonel brian davis. We are live here on set in jerusalem. Jennifer griffin was just talking about the ground war. Not sure if you heard her talking about the ground war. Hezbollah will kind of decide their next move based on israel does in the ground war. You believe what happened tonight with the United States striking targets in syria might play into that time . Obviously this is the eyes of iran, whether they view this as an Escalatory Move with their control of hamas. The Wall Street Journal has reported that israel was holding back on its invasion in part because they wanted the United States to set up the Patriot MissileDefense System at those bases to protect our troops in case of more attacks that they were expecting once the Ground Invasion began. In my mind, they dont attack the United States if those Defense Systems werent in place. Obvious a thinking iran would strike back. That could tell us something about the fact that the Defense Systems are in place. The Ground Invasion could be closer. The second thing i am thinking about are the 224 hostages. Does this change the terms of the negotiations . In the last 24 hours we have