Also reports that Cruise Missiles as well towards israel from iran, Israeli Forces are planning to intercept as many of those ads as possible with the help of United States but at this moment, we do not yet know what the results of these attacks may be. Or what the targets are. We have reporters and analysts all over the map as we track this news. I want to get straight to Jeremy Diamond on the ground in jerusalem, who has some new reporting jeremy. What do you learning about . What iran is undertaking in this retaliation right now well, alex, over the course of the last several hours, weve been reporting that iran has launched the waves of drones in the direction of israeli territory more than 100 drones currently making their way aid israel with multiple hours of travel time before they are expected to hit their targets or to try and hit their targets within israeli territory. But now Iranian State media is reporting that in addition to those drones, iran has also fired Ballistic Missiles. That is a much more significant threat facing israel in, for two key reasons. First of all, they represent a more significant threat in terms of the payload that they carry the impact that they can have if they make it through israels Air Defense Assets. But in addition to that, they travel much, much faster than these drones, which were anticipated to take hours before they could reach israeli territories. And so now with Iranian State media reporting that iran has fired those Ballistic Missiles, we could be significantly closer to a potential targeting of israeli territory, whether that will be whether those missiles will be intercepted, or whether they will hit hit their targets on israeli soil is another matter. We know that israel, in addition to its significant Air Defense Assets, has been cooperating very, very closely with the us military, and that both the us military and israel are aiming to intercept many of these various threats from iran, not only above israeli skies, but in fact, i was told by an Israeli Military official earlier tonight that israel is going to try and intercepts these drones before they reach israeli airspace. And certainly they will have that opportunity as these drones are travelling at much slower speeds than these missiles would. And we know of course that the United States has significant Air Defense Assets deployed across the region, including, for example, in iraq which is one of the countrys over which these drones will likely fly over. But this is without a doubt, alex, a very significant moment of tension, a very significant Inflection Point we have been watching this war unfold over the course of the last six months. And one of big question has loomed over this entire war, and that is whether or not iran will be, will come into this conflict, come into direct conflict with israel whether or not this war between israel and hamas could explode into a much more signal inefficient and a much wider regional conflict. And certainly these actions by iran could point things in that direction. But now the question will be, where exactly do these various threats from iran hit . Do they make impact on israeli soil . What are the targets going to be and then how will israel . Bond . Yeah, no doubt this is a turning point. This is a new chapter in this war with these strikes on israel directly emanating from from iranian soil. We are looking at pictures of the skylines of both jerusalem and of tel aviv. It is just after 1 00 in . The, morning there as jeremy was noting, these Ballistic Missiles, in addition to Cruise Missiles, we believe and drones are now flying directly towards israel. And because of how fast they go, we could see some kind of impact or interception in the coming moments, the skull coming to a head rather soon and it is expected according to the white house to play out over the course of several hours. I want to bring in our Clarissa Ward in tel aviv. Clarissa, this is such a remarkable moment. This is not surprise attack we knew to some extent that this was coming that was only the matter of when there were all kinds of different scenarios that were being bandied about. Perhaps the most significant is the one that we are seeing unfold, right now. And that is a direct attack by iran on israel thats right. And it appears to be potentially a significant attack. And so there is a sense that there has been a failure if you will, alex, to actively deter iran from engaging in this. There is a sense of heightened alert at the moment. I think before everyone had expected that iran would feel compelled to retaliate in some way. Now i think theres a very real concern that this portends a significant escalation that we are entering uncharted territory. No one wants to be alarmist here. No one wants to set off a panic but certainly there is a heightened sense of anticipation the israelis have closed the airspace. The war cabinet has been in session. Were staying in a hotel. I just saw a bunch of families who have been leaving for the airport coming back with their suitcases, gps has been scrambled. I tried to look on google maps at currently as that im in beirut, lebanon and everybody is waiting to see what will happen in the coming moments, in the coming hours, we are expecting. As youve been hearing from all the other reporters and analysts that intercepts or impacts could happen anytime from now in the coming moments and certainly in the coming hours, we know that the us has actively been trying to work with israel to intercept any missiles or drones before they actively enter is really airspace. But there is certainly a broader sense here that we are on the precipice of something very different something that nobody quite has their arms around yet, because as much as iran has telegraphed this, as much as it was expected, there is now concerned that it becomes difficult to control what the Unintended Consequences this is of an escalation like this could be. So, as i said before, not a sense of panic, but certainly a sense of heightened alert. And i think many people starting to come to terms with the fact that this looks like a broader, larger, and potentially more significant attack, than had been anticipated. Get it, alex. And a major question right now of what iran is intended targets are. This is, of course, in retaliation for the israeli strike against what iran calls its Consulate Building In Damascus that killed seven senior members of the revolutionary guard, including a top commander. So as chloride chris, it was just saying, this is the long expected retaliation for that strike that took place almost two weeks ago. We now have reporting from Iran State Media that iran has fired its first wave of Ballistic Missiles towards israel. Israeli media is reporting that Cruise Missiles have also been fired i want to show some new footage that we just got into cnn. It appears to show and we cannot verify this, but it is a footage of iranian missiles crossing over the sky in southern iraq heading towards israel. Again, we cannot verify this video, but can see those gloves whos in the sky in basra, iraq from earlier this evening of a parent iranian missiles heading towards israel for now what we know is that it is iran carrying out this attack on israel. Ben ben wedeman. I want to bring you in urine beirut in lebanon which is the home of arguably the most formidable iranian proxy in the form of hezbollah hezbollah yesterday fired dozens of rockets at israel, which theyve been doing for the past few months what concern is there that hezbollah will get involved in this retaliation that iran is kept carrying out right now well, the concern is very high now we heard from a source very close to his butler few days ago that the iranian response to the israeli strike on the iranian consulate damascus, would be iranian, that iran, other allies and proxies in the region would not be involved however, what weve seen is this evening within about the last half hour. According to his bella, which put out a statement, they targeted with according to the statement, Tens Of Cusco Rockets is rarely air and missile defenses. In these occupied syrian Golan Heights. And what weve also seen in the evening isnt intensification of israeli activity, bombardment and hizballah Counter Strikes along the border, as well as a very intense israeli air presence over the southern part of lebanon definitely theres a very real danger that even though we heard the intention that iran would be the author of the response that its allies could very well become quickly involved in this iranian, israeli confrontation. And of course, this is set off much uneasiness here in lebanon. We understand in the southern part of the country, there cuz outside Petrol Stations of People Stocking Up Lebanon has closed its airspace as of ten minutes ago, and at least at the moment they say it will be closed for the next six hours, but certainly lebanon closing its airspace. We know jordan has closed its airspace iraq is closed its airspace so really all the countries around israel are bracing for perhaps something much more than simply an his ready rather an iranian counterstrike to israel. This is really a dangerous moment in the middle east where things could go in a very bad direction if there is not some sort of control by the belligerent parties. And a number of countries have told their citizens not to travel to israel and several surrounding countries in addition to what ben was saying about hezbollah in lebanon, of course, you have the houthis farther south in yemen. And then other products groups in iraq and syria. So israel is to some extent surrounded by very significant iranianbacked forces. I want to bring in our mj lee at the white house. Mj, the president cut short his weekend to come back to washington to essentially manage this crisis thats right, alex. And within the last 30 minutes or so, a us official confirmed to cnn that the president was in the Situation Room meeting with his Top National Security advisors to a to assess the situation. And of course, figure out what comes next. The white house has been in preparing for this possibility for days now, really, in the aftermath of the israeli strikes in damascus that ended up taking out several top of iranian commanders. And there was a notable line in the statement that we got from the National Security council, which said that the expectation was that this attack i was likely to unfold over a number of hours. Certainly suggesting that we expected to see waves of attacks. And of course we have since seen Iranian State media reporting that not only was it drones that were launched against israel, but it was also Ballistic Missile missiles as well. And the other part of the statement, of course, was a reaffirmation and reiteration of what the president has been saying all along leading up to today. And that is the uss commitment to israels defense. And security and to that end, as we have been talking about us officials have been very clear. Again, leading up to today that the us would do whatever it could to try to intercept any weapons, if possible in the region. And that is of course a part of why we had seen us assets being moved into the region in preparation for this very kind of scenario. Now as us officials assess the full scale of these attacks, one of the things that theyre going to be watching out for is whether or ultimately any proxy groups affiliated groups end up getting involved in these attacks with the important caveat that iran can ways sort of predict or even have full control of what these proxy groups always do in the region. So that could certainly lend to even more sort of unpredicted. The deductibility and volatility in the area and i think just one more space that is worth watching too. Alex, is how us official so today, in these last few hours have been a corresponding within communicating with israeli officials, their counterparts, theyre given that at the end of the day, one of the big goals for the us right now is containing this situation if that is at all possible. So will they be urging their israeli counted . For to give a response that is proportional, whatever that might mean for the israelis. So all of those spaces are worth watching. But again, the top focus right now for the president is getting a clear picture of the situation that is unfolding. And then of course, figuring out the involvement in all of this in comes at a moment, of course, where the Biden Ministration is frustration with israel with how its conducting its war in gaza is really quite high. But at the same time where the past few days and anticipation of this iranian retaliation, we have heard President Biden and other top officials repeat over and over again that the us backing of israel is ironclad and we are about to see over the next few hours that backing that support play out as us is expected to try to help israel knocked down these drones and these missiles expected to come from iran. I want to get back to our Jeremy Diamond in jerusalem. Jeremy, we understand that theres a in new development. What have you heard yeah. Like, i mean, in addition to messaging via its military assets, iran is also using diplomatic means and weve just gotten a tweet from irans mission to the United Nations, which is i just want to pause on this real quick, alex, while we verified this this account. But we do know that iran has made clear that this attack is indeed in response to israels strike on what they are describing as a consular facilities the in damascus, syria. We know that israel conducted the strike that killed a Senior Iranian commander as well as several others but certainly iran has been trying to telegraph that its response will come in the context of that viewing that attack on that diplomatic facility as something that is a equivalents effectively to its own territory. Under International Law we are still waiting to see when these israel, these iranian drones and missiles will arrive in israeli airspace. If indeed they make it to their targets. Israeli officials have been telegraphing throughout the night and over the course or so the last several days. That theyre forces and their Air Defense Assets are certainly at a heightened State Of AlertClarissa Ward if youre still with me, could you speak to that all right. Im gonna go back to general Mark Hertling, who was with us. General hurtling to what jeremy was just talking about right there. And the fact that iran says it is carrying out tonights retaliation because of that strike against the alleged consulate in damascus to what extent do you think iran is going to limit its targeting at official Government Military targets rather than what were looking at right now, which is Downtown Tel Aviv its hard to tell, right. And now, alex, i would have thought that this would have been a for tat kind of operation. They hit a consulate which everyone knew from the intelligence perspective was actually a headquarters of the quds force in damascus. It wasnt truly a consulate, it was a building but what were seeing now with the number of weapons in the air that we have been able to count so far it just seems to me this is not going to be the kind of strike you would expect as a Counter Strike you always have to in a military operations, theres always an action than a reaction and a counteraction. I am very surprised at the number of weapons that iran has put in the year. Both the drones and the missiles against israel and again, i think were going to see more from Loving Benign and from the houthis as well as the pmf forces. So this is more than just a an attack to counter one attack that israel had against the quds force do i think its going to hit more than Military Targets . Unfortunately, i do with this number for of a Weapon Systems flying toward israel, they have to hit more than just military outpost or military facilities or intelligence centers. Some of these are going to likely hit civilian populated areas. And i hate to stir that up and to cause fear. But theres just too many weapons coming across the border for them to not hit locations where civilians are. So yeah, it concerns me and what also concerns me as how israel will retaliate if it does and i should note the biggest military target, arguably inside israel is in Downtown Tel Aviv curia, as its known, which is israels pentagon is in a very populated, dense Business Area of tel aviv. So if iran were to go after that target for example, there could be some significant political damage. I want to bring in hagar chemali, who is a former Spokes Person for the us mission to the United Nations hagar. Thank you so much for joining us right now. We know that President Biden has been meeting with