Hello. Im kris jansing and there is Breaking News at this hour. The u. S. Military announcing it launched two air strikes on two locations over Eastern Syria used by iran guard and troops. The defense secretary said the launches were against ongoing iranian backed Militia Groups that began just over a week ago. In those instances militants used drones and rockets to attack multiple u. S. Installations in the region. The pentagon said those attacks left 21 americans with minor injuries, one u. S. Contractor die of a cardiac event. Now, there is a precedent here. The u. S. Has launched similar air strikes in Syria Including Last march when another u. S. Contractor was killed by a Militia Drone in syria. Defense secretary Austin Describeded the overnight launches as, quote, selfdefense and in a statement called them separate and distinct from the hamas conflict. But of course iran is a backer of hamas. All of it putting u. S. Forces in a delicate position, trying to protect personnel while avoiding a larger war in the middle east. As Secretary Austin put it in his statement, quote, if attacks by irans proxy forces continue, we will not hesitate to take further necessary measures to protect our people. Lets go right now to nbcs Courtney Kube in washington, d. C. With the latest. What can you tell us about these strikes and do we know what the targets exactly were . Reporter we know more about the targets now. There were two facilities. One was a Weapons Storage Facility and another was an ammunition storage area. According to a senior u. S. Military official, the individual could not tie a direct link between the actual weapons, mainly drones, being used on these attacks against bases housing u. S. Military personnel in iraq and syria over the last eight or nine days. The official couldnt say those exact weapons our produced or stored or anything at these locations, but the official did say that he is confident that the strikes will impact these iranian backed proxy groups ability to attack u. S. Forces, that these strikes would have that impact. The strikes were were carried ought by two f16s. They used manned guided Mission Tuesday carry them out. They are still doing a Battle Damage assessment and cannot say yet whether there were any casualties caused by these strikes nor whether there were any iranians present at either of the locations. And why thats kind of striking to me, kris, is because the statement we got from defense secretary lloyd austin tonight was explicitly tying these facilities to the Iranian Revolutionary guard corp and the groups sorted by iran. And when i pressed this defense official and military official and irans direct role in these attacks on u. S. Bases over the last week or so, the officials would not tie a direct link between iran directing those attacks but did not call on iran to to tell those proxy groups to stand down. So, of course, for our viewers who arent totally familiar with all these attacks, there have now been 19 attacks since october 17th against facilities in iraq and syria. So f as you mention they have been largely unsuccessful in that they have not caused mass casualties. There have been upwards of two dozen minor injuries, and there was one American Contractor who suffered a cardiac event during the airraid drills. But so far, the attacks have been largely unsuccessful. Now, the concern here is if they continue, one could be successful and then we could see a real escalation of the situation there, kris. So this is as they see it a deescalating tactic, but having said that talk a little bit about the conversations that have been going on since these u. S. Service member and the contractor were injured and ultimately the contractor died of a heart attack, a heart event, and now when this action was taken, courtney. So the hope here is that this will deter future attacks against bases, and so one thing we can look back on that may be evidence this could work as a deterrent is back in march. There were a series of attacks against u. S. Bases in iraq and syria at the same time, and in that case a u. S. Contractor was killed by one of these attacks. The u. S. Took the strikes in syria very similar to this taking out facilities they said were storage, Weapons Facilities and there might have been some places these iranian backed proxy groups were putting together weapons, and thats had a real impact. So since march this sort of activity has been virtually nonexistent. It all picked up again last week, last wednesday when we started seeing a pretty steady stream of these sorts of attacks. I will say these attacks have been largely marked by drones. So drones attacking these bases. Again, most of the drones have been shot down by base defenses. One thing thats also striking is we had seen Drone Attacks in the past, but most of the previous attacks historically have been by mortars, rockets, indirect fire. So its a tactic using these drones that has really seemed to have caught on recently, but the question is will it deter tonights strikes, deter future actions as they did in march . And again, all we can watch and see. I will say if we do see this consistent stream of attacks against these bases, i am confident that the u. S. Military will continue to take strikes like we saw today. One thing they dont this to be tit for tat. Nbcs Courtney Kube staying up late with us tonight. Thank you so much reporting from washington, d. C. I want to go now to nbcs andrea mitchell. Obviously, andrea, the concern along has been a risk of escalation in the region. They were very careful to say with these strikes they are not directly related to the israelhamas conflict. But talk about the larger concerns and also the ongoing diplomatic efforts to make sure that things do not get worse. Reporter thats exactly the point, kris. Tonight when the strikes were announced, the Secretary Of State was in a Dinner Meeting after all day meetings or Afternoon Meetings i should say with chinese counter parts, these high level meetings long awaited for high level China Official to arrive in washington since the administration took office. And clearly this is aimed at setting up a bilateral meeting next month with president xi coming to san francisco. Importantly what Secretary Blinken said add the United Nation on tuesday is when he met with wang yi this week and the meetings will continue tomorrow morning, he wanted to push china to talk to him, to urge him to pressure iran not to widen the war between israel and hamas. China needs iranian Oil Essentially for its economy. And any wider cop flict that engages iran or potentially u. S. Forces in a wider war between israel and hamas, would inevitably raise oil prices and essentially constrict Iranian Oil Exports and certainly would affect chinas economy. So its very much in chinas economic interest to pressure iran which has very close economic ties and military and diplomatic ties and not engage. So it is part of the fullcourt press Secretary Of State and the president is engaged in not to get involved because iran prefers to work through proxy. And hearing about the Iranian Revolutionary cause and very closely connected has the targets. Now, a Senior Administration official told me tonight when asked how this can affect the diplomacy pardon my voice, kris but a Senior Administration official said this was directly a deterrent as described by the pentagon but then it was directed at facilities used by the Iranian Revolutionary guard and affiliated to strike at u. S. Forces. The official i spoke to was connecting it directly to retaliation but using saying it was deterrence and to deter any further strikes against u. S. Forces. Nbc news chief Foreign Affairs correspondent andrea mitchell, thank you for sharing all the information youve been able to gather tonight. We appreciate it. I want to bring in Nbc News Tehran Bureau chief and correspondent reporting tonight, talk to me about what youre hearing over there and any reporting you have from your sources on the ground. Hi, kris. Well, there hasnt been any reports here on iranian media about a strike on facilities. Ive also been looking at all the websites that are affiliated, and so far theres no mention of this. But this is not something particularly unusual, kris. Iran has all its proxies spread across this region. One of the main areas they have proxies in is in syria. They have the militias working for them and also the backing of the Assad Government in syria. Thats a strong hold for them. And over the years the u. S. And israel have hit numerous facilities that iranians operate from in that region. These are iraqi or syrian militias that work out of these bases, and from time to time there would be supervision from iranian commanders or senior irc commanders. In the past when the u. S. Or israel has attacked any of these bases commanders have been killed in the attacks iranians have talked about it. I think this is key right now in the coming hours to see who has been killed there, if irgt commanders were killed and see if iran shows a reaction to that. If Senior Iranian commanders, this has happened many times before. But if somebody quite high up was hit in this strikes, iran may show a reaction. But this is also clearly a warning from the white house for iran not to try to open up another, not to target u. S. Interests in the region. There have been a string of attacks by iranian militias in this region. Almost 20 of them in the last ten days. And this is clearly a warning to the iranians who control, who are the patrons of all of these militias in the region not to take things any further. Were going have to see what irans reaction will be. Obviously a key question will be whether they heed that warning. One of the things if youve a chance to listen is Courtney Kube was saying they were very specific about not saying they could tie these strikes against american troops to iran directly or at least they werent giving any indication of that. But im thinking about the meeting that was held, what, less than 48 hours ago in lebanon. The leaders of hezbollah, islamic jihad, hamas, were all sitting under a photo, a very large photo of the ayatollah, right . Thats right. And not just ayatollah, both ayatollah homeni, the founder of the revolution, and thats a clear indication those are their bosses, thats who they take orders from. Thats where they get their money, their funding. Everything comes from iran, and thats no big secret. The head of hezbollah said we take all of our orders, we take all our spiritual direction from iran. Hezbollah is an iranian creation. Iran created hezbollah in the early 08s, so this is more than, you know, closely connected. Theyre interwoven with one another. Yes, there may be times people are correct and say this wasnt a direct order given from iran, but they dont need to give direct orders. Theres an understanding between them what needs to be done at what time. These are very intricate proxies that have been builtup over decades, and they know what to do. They have a mission, and they know what to do and know what time to strike if necessary, and they dont necessarily have to ring up iran and get permission because theres a tacit understanding between all the militias and iran how to keep this region on edge. Let me just ask you briefly. Were just about out of time, ali, but seeing nothing so far would you expect to cici reporting on this regionally, and if that does happen what would be the spin on it . The reporting would depend on if iranian assets were hit there. If iranian if there were Senior Iranian commanders there, iranians would probably report it, but it depends on what their reaction would be. There have been other times when the u. S. Has hit bases there and iranians have turned their head away and not reported it. But when Somebody Senior has gotten up there, they have reported it. And then the reaction would be either to turn their head away or not do anything about it or step up attacks against interests in the region. If theres a retaliation by militias in iraq, in syria and or anywhere else by u. S. Forces. Nbc News Tehran Bureau chief, thank you for joining us. And coming up more u. S. Strikes in syria and military analysis with retired Four Star General and a National Security expert. Well be right back. Expert well be right back. Has no idea shes sitting on a goldmine. Well she doesnt know that if she owns a Life Insurance policy of 100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. Even a term policy. Even a term policy . Even a term policy find out if youre sitting on a goldmine. Call Coventry Direct today at the number on your screen, or visit coventrydirect. Com. Were watching for new developments in the middle east at this moment as the u. S. Has launched air strikes on two targets in syria it says were used by iranian Backed Militias who have struck u. S. Troops in the region with drones and rockets. U. S. Officials saying those attacks on u. S. Positions injured nearly two dozen americans. And the response is narrowly tailored and in selfdefense. All this as iran has threatened the u. S. For its support of the Israeli Offensive against hamas and gaza. The u. S. Warning iran and its militias to back off as tensions in the region remain very high. Joining me now retired fourstar u. S. Army general barry mccaffrey, a vet on of the vietnam war and battled in the persian gulf. It is great to have both of you here late at night. He says, quote iran wants to deny its hand and use its role in these attacks against u. S. Forces. We will not let them. Did the administration under these circumstances as you see it, general, have any choice but to respond . No, this has been building up some 19 attacks and essentially in the last 10 to 15 days. 21 wounded. Clearly iran was signaling to draw our attention away from full support of israel. They are clearly orchestrating the hezbollah forces, 100,000 some odd potential terrorists and north of israel. In hamas 30,000 potential fighters, the houthi militias. They struck u. S. Elements in both iraq and syria. They have been threatening to u. S. Naval forces at sea, and so i think the biden administration, which does not want escalation of this war, was essentially signaling with Military Power to stop it. Its not over. This thing is going to get worse before it gets better. But i think with an appropriate and restrained response by Secretary Austin. Clearly, kevin, President Biden had been under increasing pressure to push back against armed groups supported by iran. And this week he did warn the u. S. Would respond if there were further responses. And in fact an official said three more attacks came today meaning thursday to that 19 total that the general just talked about. But let me go back to the key question that ali arouzi raised, will these strikes have an impact. If the impact is as small as preventing strikes on key paces and certain areas, then if the impact some commentators and observers are wanting is some major shift in u. S. Strategic footing against iran, for now, no. As i said these most recent attacks doing my homework quickly today where all this news is breaking and reminding myself some people missed there was an attack at a u. S. Air base at a Military Facility at the Northern Edge of the airport. I talked to troops and reported there several years back, but as recently as spp, about a week as the hamas attacks in israel happened, the United States had announced a Helicopter Raid into Northern Syria to kill one of the leaders of isis, and those raids historically over the last several years have come from frequently that base. So theres an active war going on already. The isis war is not over. Its much, much smaller and in the background. And Central Command has been trying to get some attention for this over the last year or so. So the retaliatory strike today follows specific strikes in northern iraq, in kurdistan targeting locations where the u. S. And fighting isis, and iran is on the other side of that. Yes, it can be very narrow if thats all the United States is trying to do for now . These are places they could not find on a map or should people have necessarily encyclopedic knowledge where u. S. Military bases are. But kevin brings up a good point. So if you could help put into context these attacks against American Forces, dod says from october 17th through tuesday, u. S. Coalition forces were attacked ten separate times in iraq, three times in syria. They used a mix of drones and rockets. October 18th, two separate Drone Attacks against u. S. And Coalition Forces stationed at t