There are fears this morning of a Widening Conflict in the Middle East after iran unleashed a barrage of 118 missiles on israel. Aerial assault swiftly prompting israel to Promise Retaliation which could push the Middle East closer to a region wide war. There is no war in the Middle East. Israel cannot reach. Theres nowhere we will not go to protect our people and protect our country. Good morning. This is fox is ongoing coverage of the Crisis And Conflict in the Middle East. Im Jonathan Hunt live in los angeles. The u. S. Helped Israel Defeat irans attack by intercepting about a dozen missiles while Israels Defense systems took down most of the rest of those missiles. Irans escalation in the Middle East, a big talking point, as you would imagine, at the first and only Vice President ial debate. Both tim Walz And J. D. Vance trying to make the case that their ticket is best suited to calm tensions in the Middle East. You saw it Experience Today where, along with our israeli partners and our coalition, able stop the incoming attack. But whats fundamental here is that steady leadership is going to matter. We have to remember that as much as Governor Walz just accused Donald Trump of being an agent of chaos, Donald Trump actually delivered stability in the world, and he did it by establishing effective deterrence. The iranian attack and the israeli response to it was witnessed firsthand by our correspondents in israel. Among them was Nate Foy. He joins us now live from Tel Aviv. Good morning again, nate. Good morning, jonathan. So hezbollah terrorist israel continue exchanging significant fire across the border as israel continues with its limited ground offensive today. And theyre actually bringing in additional troops to supplement those that are already in Southern Lebanon. Right. Take a live look at beirut, where overnight israeli airstrikes continue and really pounding the dahiya neighborhood. Thats where hassan was killed in an airstrike on friday. Israels focused on taking out hezbollahs weapons capabilities in comes you mentioned it after a massive ballistic attack by iran overnight targeting them. Assad headquarters and several air bases here. 180 ballistic missiles raining down on southern and central israel. The Air Defense systems here, with the help of regional partners, shot down, many of them. Some hit the ground below. There are no reports of injuries, although in the West Bank there are reports of One Palestine in being killed by falling shrapnel. We know a Town North of Tel Aviv, 100 homes got hit there, damaged as a result of it. And south of Tel Aviv, a building that is a school was hit. But again no injuries. Minutes before this strike. Take a look at this next video. There was a Terror Attack in jaffa in Tel Aviv. Police responded to the scene and immediately had to deal with two emergencies at once. Literally minutes before a run launched its ballistic Missile Attack. People riding a train like this through the Jaffa Area of Tel Aviv got to this stop. The doors opened and two Terror Fist opened fire with an automatic. They killed six people and injured nine more. I mean, you can see the storefronts here have arabic and hebrew. Theres a mosque right here behind me. Its known for tourism, but the terrorists chose to terrorize our civilians here. So the numbers have been updated this morning, jonathan, to seven people being killed, 17 injured. One of those people who was injured seriously is an israeli soldier. Now await Israels Response to irans Missile Attack. And Tel Aviv specifically has now been targeted five times in the past week. This is a city that generally safer than other places in israel, but certainly over the past week and definitely yesterday, the war felt very close. Well send it back to you, jonathan. Yeah, it certainly was close. You and so many people throughout israel, nate. We are grateful to have you there in Tel Aviv this Wednesday Morning. Joining us now is dan fleischer, former Idf Paratrooper and member of the Heritage Center for national security. Dan, i want to get your reaction first of all to what we are hearing. Yet 100 homes in this town that night mentioning 100 residences damaged. Just i think about ten miles northeast of Tel Aviv. Shows you and presumably that was shrapnel rather than a direct hit from a ballistic missile. It would have done a lot more damage than that. But it shows you just how dangerous this is for israelis and what they are going through with these kind of attacks. So how do you think israel should respond . Yes, well, good morning, jonathan. And israels was going to respond forcefully and strongly. Very different than it did back in april when, as told by the biden administration, to effectively take the win. And in this case here with this attack right now, israel is able to absorb the blow largely because of its Air Defense system that it used the arrow two and three. And David Sling Air missile Defense System in partnership with the united states and also israels passive defenses such as its residents, its citizens, knowing to take shelter during an attack such as this. But we can expect a forceful response because the game has changed in the Middle East, particularly the last few, when israel has taken the offensive to hezbollah, has taken hassan nasrallah, its leader and most of its leadership, iran now is fearful that its regional empire of proxies is falling, that they are losing them one by one. First hamas and hezbollah next. So iran wants to it wanted to attack israel to not only send a message again after the response of killing of nasrallah, as well as Ismail Haniyeh a few months ago, but also to relieve pressure on hezbollah because it is that israel will make good on its promise and destroy the terrorist organization. And dan, as of this morning in israel and more specifically in lebanon, youre for some of your former colleagues in the idf on the ground in lebanon, seeking out and attempting to destroy hezbollah positions and hezbollah personnel, obviously, how difficult a mission is that and how determined are the people that you served with to complete mission . Well, certainly im in touch a lot of them right now. And while they would rather be anywhere else, the border of lebanon, theyd rather be home with their families, particularly as the jewish people get ready to celebrate our new year this evening. But the fact is, they are honored and proud to be able to defend the state of israel and defend. And they have a tough task ahead of them. Weve already known that Special Forces Operations have been in Southern Lebanon clearing a route for the broader Ground Invasion to relieve pressure the northern communities. Israeli government a few weeks ago made it a clear aim of this ongoing war to return its residents to the northern communities. Remember, 80,000 israelis, israelis had been forced as internally displaced refugees from their homes since october 8th. Now the aim is to push hezbollah far enough back north into lebanon, notably by the litani river, a demarcation about 20 miles north of the border. So israels residents can live peacefully in their homes. The guys who i served with have a tough task ahead of them. Certainly but theyre welltrained for it. And dan, what do we read into the word we get this morning from the israeli military that regular infantry armored units are joining those Special Forces units inside lebanon. Does mean this is widening significantly or is this just supplementing the troops already there . This is supplementing the troops that are already there. And with most Ground Incursions that the idf has done into gaza or or to lebanon in the past, youve youve led with special to go after specific targets, those that are staged close to the border to neutralize them and pave the way, if you will, for the larger ground force, which includes a combination of infantry and mobile and mobile and armored units. So its really expanding the war right now, not in a in a way thats commensurate with the War Aim that israel has and really to go after hezbollah in Southern Lebanon. Its a similar situation to gaza, where hezbollah is embedded among the civilian population, not only with their arms, their terrorists, as well as the rockets and other munitions they fired at israel. So you have to go almost house by house, Village By village, to really extricate them from from the southern part, the country. And also theres the tunnels that they have built over years to try to carry out another October 7th Missile Attack into israel. You need many more arms and forces to go in to try to extricate them and destroy them. And thats why youre seeing now broader infantry movements. Former Idf Paratrooper dan fleischer, wonderful to have your insights this early Wednesday Morning. Thank you so much, dan. Meantime, the first and only Vice President ial debate happened, of course, hours after irans major missile strike. Now. On domestic issues, both candidates wallets and vance touted a new future for the united states. And they touched on key voter issues. Fox News Correspondent Ashley Strohmier joins us live now. Hello again, ashley. Hi jonathan, last night, republican senator j. D. Vance and democratic minnesota Governor Walz went head to head in the first and only Vice President ial debate. Both reinforce their Running Mate Stances on a slew of issues. They spoke about israel, the border and abortion, among other key issues. And at one point they even shared a moment of empathy about gun violence. But the border and immigration was a major talking point. Vance saying a lot of what can help the issues at the Border Start with Law Enforcement. Listen to all the gross majority of what we need to do at the southern border is empowering Law Enforcement to do their job. Ive been to the southern border more than our border czar, Kamala Harris, has been. And its actually heartbreaking because the border agents, they just want to be empowered to do their job. Of course, resources would help, but most of this is about the president and the Vice President empowering our Law Enforcement to say if you try to come across the border illegally, youve got to stay in mexico. Walls, on the other hand, seem to blame trump. Instead of lining out how would solve the problem that for years he had for years to do this and he promised you, america, how easy would be . Ill build you a big, beautiful Wall And Mexico will pay for it. Less than 2 of that wall got built and mexico didnt pay a dime. Okay. So Senator Vance also wove Border Crisis into the Issue Scene in springfield, ohio. Thats a town recently in the news regarding haitian migrants in the u. S. Illegally. Youve got schools that are overwhelmed. Youve got hospitals are overwhelmed. You have got housing that is totally unaffordable because we brought in millions of illegal immigrants to compete with americans for scarce homes. The people that im most worried about in springfield, ohio are the american citizens who have had their lives destroyed by harris open border. And perhaps the most heated part of the debate was when January 6th was brought up. Saying in 2016, Hillary Clinton said the election was stolen by putin because the russians bought 500,000 worth of facebook ads while saying in response January 6th was not facebook ads. Jonathan, actually, thank you so much. Joining us now again for, reaction to the debate. Democratic Consultant Julian Epstein and Fox News Contributor And Research fellow at the hoover institution, kieran skinner. Julian, it struck me that j. D. Vance was particularly strong on. The border, which is obviously an issue that both Governor Walz and Vice President harris have a difficult time talking about because of what has happened over the last three and a half years. Well, he was very good on border and the polls have shown anywhere between 70 and 80 of voters do not like what Biden And Harris have done with respect to open borders. Now, the democratic refrain that is you could support the bipartisan Lankford Legislation and that sort of theyre out on this. I think thats going sort of a Rabbit Hole for the democrats. And i have advised publicly written about this, as you know, jonathan, but they shouldnt be making that argument because. I think its sort of an empty argument given that that legislation would allow two and a half million migrants per year, which is about the number of migrants that are coming in right now. And the president has the inherent authority as Commander In Chief to shut the borders down. A Supreme Court has has has affirmed that. So i think that is i think that is a mistake for democrats. I think the Big Question on this debate now, jonathan, is the consensus will be that i think j. D. Vance won. You know significantly not a slam dunk, but he won the debate. I think the consensus is that Donald Trump lost the debate a month ago. And the question is, will Donald Trump let this debate, j. D. Vance won be the last word or will his sort of ego get the better of him and make him want to have one last debate with Kamala Harris . I think thats sort of an interesting question that well be watching the next week. Yeah, that that is a very interesting question indeed. Karen, do you think former trump would be well advised to do another debate or ill advised to do another debate . I think either way, Donald Trump will win a debate with Kamala Harris. It happens again. J. D. Vance hit it all out the ballpark on on his debate, his one and only debate with his his opponent because he showed Poise And Discipline and he revealed himself to be very different from what many in the media and the Chattering Class have said about him. That gives some momentum to President Trump to go back in and be more specific about policies he put forth. I think on the issue of the border, j. D. Vance did particularly well because he tied it to Law Enforcement and Law And Order issues. And that resonates with many americans because. The Border Crisis is a 50 state crisis. Not just those on the physical border. He made that very clear. So i expect that trump, if he goes into another debate, will use some of what j. D. Vance provided as a foundation for the next discussion. Julian, do you think that President Trump would have the discipline to follow, if you like, the j. D. Vance model as laid out in last Nights Debate on would he is he too distracted by attacks that would inevitably come from Kamala Harris . Well, look, i think he unraveled the first debate when Kamala Harris said people walk out of his rallies and there were easy things for him to come back with. Kamala harris said it was the worst economy since the great depression. Well, that wasnt true. Trump could have come back and said we had 1. 4 inflation. We had 3. 4 unemployment. Precovid, and we had 4. 1 economic growth, which are incredible numbers. I think you cant deny that trump economic results, but he didnt come back with any of that on the border. He could have said what i just said, which is the president has the ability to do it. And the legislation was way too porous. It was sort of easy comebacks, even if the debate was unfair and i think it was the abc debate, i think was unfair and was partisan. But thats no excuse for him, not able to come back. Look, i just think j. D. Vance has a Superior Intellect and i just think he showed such an incredible facility. I think he i think hes far an above any of the other three candidates in the race. And again, i think its going to be an interesting questiOn And its going to be an Ego Question for Donald Trump. Will he let j. D. Vances Performance Tonight be the last word or will he want to have the last word . He generally wants to have the last word. So this is an open question. Yeah. Karen, do you think it makes a lot of difference to what we watched last . I think it does. But let me just speak to what julian said a moment ago here. I see it differently. I dont see Donald Trumps performance in the first debate and possibly the only debate as a disaster. I think he was ganged up on by not just his opponent but by the the moderators of that debate. And thats a hard place for anyone to be. And very few politicians could survive that kind of attack. But he has the attack all the time. And whats remarkable about former president Donald Trump is that he survives all of these attacks. And as president , he faced them and as president , he got the abraham accords, which really began to neutralize iran. He had iran a very contained environment through the maximum pressure, cant campaign. Oil revenues were down under him, moved the embassy from from Tel Aviv to jerusalem. All of these things that no other president in the 21st century has been able to do. Help us understand that china is a system wide threat, not just a very specific threat. It goes On And on. This not a failed presidency or a failed president. But he was being attacked all the time. The better he on policy, the greater the attack. So i would respond to the president ial debate in that context. Let me let me get julian respond to that real quick. 30 seconds, julian. So i think the debate was unfair, but i think for somebody like Donald Trump to complain about the refs, he should be larger than that. He should be able to fact check the refs and he should have been able to have good comebacks and then have all all of the polls showed that trump lost that debate. In fact, nate silver, i think, is very fair minded. Had trump b