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Israeli Air Defenses Intercept Some Incoming Iranian Strikes; Biden Meeting With National Security Team Is Still Ongoing; Explosion In The Sky In Multiple Parts Of Israel, West Bank; Israeli Air Defenses Intercept Some Incoming Iranian Strikes; Biden Meeting With National Security Team Is Still Ongoing. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired April 13, 2024 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:00]
MARK HERTLING, FORMER UNITED STATES ARMY OFFICER: It certainly could be a cruise missile that's entered into Israeli airspace.
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN HOST: All right. General Mark Hertling, everyone else, I want you to please stand by. We have much more coming up. Our special live coverage of this breaking news in Israel continues right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN BREAKING NEWS.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Wolf Blitzer in Washington. We're following the major breaking news at this hour in the Middle East.
Fears of a wider regional war are heightened once again in one of the biggest escalations we've seen since the Israel-Hamas War began just over six months ago.
Our team on the ground in Jerusalem hearing explosions and sirens just moments ago as intercepts are happening in the skies above.
Dozens of Iranian drones are heading for Israel right now, maybe more than a hundred. It's a very, very delicate moment, very, very dangerous indeed, and reportedly, waves of ballistic missiles from Iran are heading towards Israel as well.
They are more deadly and they fly much faster. Both Israel and the United States say they will aim to intercept as many of these drones and missiles as they possibly can. But this much is already certain.
These attacks directly from inside Iran and indeed the suspected attack from Israel to which Iran says it's responding. Have these two nations, both with a lot of military power, as close to all out roar as we've seen in recent memory. And that could have far reaching implications within the region and certainly well beyond the region.
MARQUARDT: Our reporters and our analysts are standing by. They've been covering this from all over the world, including our Nic Robertson in Jerusalem.
Clarissa Ward in Tel Aviv, Ben Wedeman in Beirut, and both retired Colonel Cedric Leighton and David Sanger here with us here in Washington.
Let's start with our chief international correspondent, Clarissa Ward. Clarissa, some dramatic scenes in Israel tonight. What are you seeing?
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, here in Tel Aviv, we haven't heard the sirens. We have heard distant booms of intercepts in the distance.
You heard from our Nic Robertson, seeing some of those intercepts lighting up the night sky. I do think it's very important to emphasize that so far, we do not have any indication that there have been any impacts.
We are hearing from the IDF. They have told people across the nation to be very vigilant. They have told people in certain areas to stay close to protective shelter, to go immediately to the shelter if they hear the sirens to wait at least 10 minutes.
And they have focused primarily on the areas of the Golan Heights, Dimona, Eilat, Nevatim. These are strategically relevant and important sites. They are the home to the Nevatim airbase, which is where the F- 35 fighter jets are based. Dimona, of course, where there is a nuclear reactor.
And everyone, essentially, really kind of holding their breath now, Alex, and waiting to see what the night will bring. We expect there to be waves and waves as this attack could go on for many hours.
We, in this hotel, went down to the lobby. We saw a number of people had brought their pillows down to the lobby. They wanted to know where the shelter was. The people in the hotel told them that wasn't necessary.
At this stage, we saw people who were coming back from the airport because the Israelis have closed Israeli airspace.
And there is a sense, most importantly, as we'll just touched upon, that this is an unprecedented moment in this conflict. It is one that many had desperately hoped to avoid.
The Iranians have telegraphed that it is now over in their eyes, but it remains to be seen how the Israelis will take that claim, what their response will be, whether there will be some kind of a retaliation, whether that is a direct attack or an attempt to deter further attacks.
A lot of moving parts and a lot of anxiety about what could take place next.
BLITZER: Clarissa Ward, thank you very much. Clarissa Ward's in Tel Aviv for us.
I want to go to Jerusalem right now. Nic Robertson is on the scene for us. Nic, and we all heard the sirens going off in Jerusalem as someone who's covered these kinds of situations in Israel over the years. It's pretty unusual for the sirens to be blasting over Jerusalem. Normally, when Arab countries or various proxy groups launch rockets and missiles towards Israel, they aim towards Tel Aviv or Haifa. But not necessarily Jerusalem, given that it's a holy city for Muslims and a lot of Arabs live in Jerusalem as well.
So it's pretty unusual that the sirens are now first going off over Jerusalem as opposed to, let's say, Tel Aviv.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERTIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It is, Wolf. And, again, I'll restate it. I don't think anyone was expecting that for exactly the reasons that you say, reemphasizing again, of course, that we're not aware of any impacts on the ground here or any casualties in Jerusalem.
[19:05:04]
But it does appear that those weapons systems that were being intercepted, those Iranian missiles that were -- and drones or whatever they were. Again, we don't have details on what they were, that were intercepted in the skies above us here this evening, that they perhaps were not intended to target here. The likely possible target here could be, obviously, the Knesset. But again, that is the densely populated area.
But we don't know that. We don't know what's being targeted. So they may simply have been flying through to somewhere else, but just to fly them over a city like this with so many hundreds of thousands of people dangerous in itself.
And I think one of the things that I'm reflecting on, what we've seen here this evening, and trying to understand what we've witnessed, these intercepts, we were seeing them come from multiple different directions. So it was hard to triangulate what was incoming missile or drone, and what was intercept.
But the -- one of the large incoming missile systems that appeared to sort of glow white, that was something much bigger, much more different than what we've seen -- that what we've seen coming, let's say, from Gaza.
And again, to re-emphasize that these missile systems flying over this city and around Israel tonight are much more dangerous, much -- have much more explosives on board and have specific targets programmed into them. This makes them incredibly dangerous.
But again, this is potentially, because it's gone quiet here now, the first wave that we've witnessed and the IDF has said they expect their potentially to be more waves.
But to your point that these came in over this city is quite staggering, Wolf.
BLITZER: It certainly is. It's quite dramatic that all of a sudden the sirens are going off in Jerusalem, which means if people who are in Jerusalem, whether they're Israelis or Arabs or whoever they are, that's a warning to them, go into a bomb shelter or a safe room where you're staying right now, because you don't know where those missiles are going to be landing, what they're going to be doing.
Even if there's an interception, the Iron Dome, let's say if they intercept these incoming rockets or missiles, once they're exploded in the skies, they come down. And I've been there when I've seen the shrapnel, the metal that comes down and that could be extremely dangerous to anybody who was outside, who happens to be on the ground.
So I want you to be very careful over there, Nic. We'll get back to you.
Oren Liebermann is joining us right now. He's getting some new information on these Iranian drones that are being intercepted by the United States. What do we know, Oren?
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPODENNT: Wolf, it is an ongoing effort by U.S. forces in the region, in Iraq, Syria and perhaps elsewhere, to continue to try to intercept these drones.
This has been a process that has played out over the course of at least a couple of hours here since the first reports of Iranian drones being launched came into us.
We reported in the last hour, according to two U.S. officials, that U.S. forces had intercepted a number of these drones, and now we know that process is ongoing.
We've got a short statement from a defense official, just a short time ago. I want to read this to you here, it says, in accordance with our ironclad commitment to Israel's security, U.S. forces in the region continue to shoot down Iranian launch drones targeting Israel.
Our forces remain postured to provide additional defensive support and to protect U.S. forces operating in the region.
Now, what's not clear at this point is what types of U.S. forces and military assets have been used to shoot down this drone. There was a tanker, an aerial refueling platform that we saw on flight tracking websites some time ago.
That's indicative of U.S. fighters up and active in the region. Of course, a tanker wouldn't simply be flying around and certainly -- not under these current circumstances. So it's possible that these were intercepted by U.S. aerial fighter jets, or it's possible that they were ground-based aerial defense systems that intercepted these drones, or both. That's the type of information we're still looking for at this point.
But crucially, that effort to continue to intercept these drones that have been coming in for some time now, and we see the interceptions over Israel, that effort is ongoing by U.S. forces in the Middle East.
Wolf. BLITZER: Yes. The Israelis are clearly relying a lot on the United States to help intercept a lot of those incoming drones with rockets and missiles on board, as well as those cruise missiles that may be coming in as well. This is a joint project from the United States and Israel.
And it's significant, Oren, the head of the U.S. military Central Command was just in Israel, coordinating with the Israeli military. Tell us about that.
LIEBERMANN: He's in Israel and has been fairly often since the beginning of the war some six months ago. But this trip, this latest trip, was moved up. He remains in the region, but crucially, he was in Israel for a couple of days, meeting with senior Israeli military leaders, the Minister of Defense, the IDF Chief of Staff to coordinate a response and to make sure that the Israeli and U.S. militaries are on the same page here that they're communicating, that they know what options they have available in terms of defense.
[19:10:19]
There's obviously farther out the U.S. assets. And you'll hear there the sirens warning of incoming fire. There are obviously the U.S. assets in Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere. And then there's Israel's own layered aerial defense.
The Arrow 3, which is primarily, but not only a ballistic missile defense system. The David's Sling, which is more of a medium range aerial defense system, very similar to the U.S. THAAD missile defense system that we've seen positioned around the world.
And then, of course, the short range is the Iron Dome. Wolf, you and I, Nic Robertson, and so many others have seen that.
But the question is how best to layer that, how to coordinate the U.S. and an Israeli response to make sure you catch as much of this as possible. It very much looks like Iran was trying to overwhelm the quality of Israel's aerial defense systems and U.S. aerial defense systems with quantity, simply overwhelming these systems.
And we've seen that happen in the past. The U.S. and Israel seems trying to coordinate the response to make sure they intercept as much of this as possible before it gets to Israeli airspace. And then, of course, if needed, intercepting over Israeli airspace as well.
BLITZER: Israel's air defense system, as you and I well know, is very, very intense, very sophisticated between the Iron Dome, the Arrow, David's Sling. They've got a lot of major capabilities.
And when they're backed up by the United States, which has significant military capabilities, anti-aircraft capabilities in the region right now, it's a very, very impressive --
LIEBERMANN: Absolutely.
BLITZER: But when those sirens go off in Jerusalem and the folks over there, hundreds of thousands of people hear those sirens, they -- their immediate instinct is to rush off into a bomb shelter, protect their kids, protect their families, and stick it out inside those bomb shelters, which are in every major building in Israel right now. We'll watch that unfold.
Oren Liebermann's at the Pentagon.
I want to go to the White House right now. Our correspondent, MJ Lee has been monitoring what's going on.
I take it President Biden has been huddled in the White House situation room in the West Wing of the White House with his top national security advisors. Give us the latest. What are you learning, MJ?
MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, initially, this was supposed to be a quieter weekend here at the White House. President Biden was supposed to spend most of the weekend in Rehoboth Beach. But he ended up cutting that trip short and return to the White House earlier this afternoon.
And I am told by a White House official that he remains in the situation room right now with his top national security advisors to assess this situation and, of course, figure out what comes next.
You know, the White House has been preparing for this very possibility for a number of days now in the aftermath of those Israeli strikes in Damascus that took out a number of top Iranian commanders.
And you'll notice that in the White House statement that we got earlier tonight, it said and reiterated the U.S. support for Israel's security is ironclad. And to that end, as Oren was just reporting on, that is why we are seeing, of course, the U.S.'s involvement here and working to intercept some of these weapons that have been launched by Iran.
And it is a part of why, of course, we saw in recent days, the U.S. moving extra forces into the region and getting them in position in preparation for exactly this kind of scenario.
And I think, Wolf, it is also just worth underscoring that this state- on-state conflict between Iran and Israel was exactly the kind of scenario that U.S. officials had very much hoped to avoid, given the real volatility and unpredictability that this could potentially usher in.
And I think that is why one thing that we should be watching out for very closely in the coming hours is any indication of what U.S. officials are advising Israeli officials to do in response to these attacks that Iran has launched.
You know, at the same time that we are hearing from the White House, and it is being reiterated that the U.S.'s commitment to Israel's security is ironclad. At the same time, the U.S. also wants the situation in the region to very much be contained. So, again, those conversations that have been going on over the last few hours, the last several days, certainly worth keeping a very close eye on, Wolf.
BLITZER: MJ, stay -- stand by at the White House and we'll check back with you often. Obviously, the president meeting with his top national security advisers.
Right now, they've been meeting for hours and hours. This crisis is continuing. And it looks like it's about to get even worse. We'll see what happens. But, MJ, stand by.
I want to bring in Fred Pleitgen right now. He's our correspondent who recently was in Iran. You've done a lot of reporting from inside Iran over the years, Fred.
[19:15:08]
Give us a little sense of the Iranian mindset right now, why this is happening.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think it's a very calibrated response from the Iranians and certainly something that seems to have been in the works for a couple of days.
We've heard the Iranians essentially telegraph this with a lot of the phone conversations that the Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir- Abdollahian, has had with some of his European counterparts, but also, of course, with some Middle Eastern counterparts as well.
And if you recall, Wolf, in 2020, when the U.S. assassinated the top Iranian general, Qasem Soleimani, we heard something very similar from the Iranians back then as well.
Actually, I was in Iran then and I was called in to the Supreme Leader's military advisor and he said to me, look, the Americans killed one of our top generals. We are going to respond and it's then up to the U.S. whether or not it concludes there.
And certainly if we're looking at the statement now that we saw from the Iranian representative to the United Nations, it seems very similar where we keep that hearing that sentence that we've repeated a couple of times on the air here as well.
The Iranians saying the matter can be deemed concluded. That doesn't mean that their retaliation is over yet, but essentially what the Iranians are saying here is, look, you attacked our embassy. You killed a lot of our top military officials inside that embassy. We are going to retaliate and then it's up to you whether the matter has concluded or not.
So certainly what the Iranians seem to be saying here is that the ball is now in Israel's court, whether or not it's going to strike back and then possibly obviously the situation getting even worse.
I think one of the other things though, Wolf, that we're also seeing and which certainly I've seen over the past couple of years, as I've been reporting from Iran is that a lot of Iran's especially missile systems, but their drones as well are a lot more capable than many people in the West thing.
I mean, one of the things that we have seen, over the past couple of years, is the Iranians capable of shooting down a U.S. reconnaissance drone over the Strait of Hormuz.
But I'll also, if we look at this drone and missile strike now, some of those images that Nic Robertson has been bringing us with those drones and possibly also cruise missiles as well, making it all the way into Israeli airspace and clearly also putting Israel's air defense under pressure at least as well.
We heard from Oren, of course, that the U.S. is also apparently involved in trying to shoot some of those projectiles down. That certainly does seem to show that the Iranians have a, first of all, a pretty large arsenal that they can fire at the Israelis and at anybody else, but also that the accuracy that the Iranians seem to be achieving appears to be considerable as well if there's several areas in Israel that are under threat of being targeted.
So, certainly, the Iranians on the one hand showing that they can retaliate, but also showing that they are very capable of hitting targets very accurately over a long distance, which is, of course, something, Wolf, as we've been reporting, and as you know very well, the Iranians have been developing for quite a while.
That missile program that they have and the drone program that they have, those are really the cornerstones of their modern military with which they say they can put the U.S. in the Middle East under pressure and clearly Israel as well, Wolf.
BLITZER: Fred, very quickly, before I let you go, in that statement that the Iranian permanent mission to the United Nations released. There was a pretty lengthy statement and very detailed.
One thing jumped --
PLEITGEN: Mm-hmm.
BLITZER: -- out at me. I want to get your assessment of what the Iranians are threatening right now.
They said that in the statement at the end is a conflict between Iran and the rogue Israeli regime from which the U.S. must stay away. That's at all caps. U.S. must stay away.
PLEITGEN: Yes.
BLITZER: So what is -- what is the Iranian threat to the U.S.? If the U.S. continues to intercept incoming drones, missiles or ballistic missiles or other Iranian targets coming towards Israel, what is the Iranians going to do? Attack the United States?
PLEITGEN: I don't think they're going to attack the United States. But one of the things that the Iranians have been telling me over the past couple of years, and this comes from people in the Revolutionary Guard, but also in the Iranian military, is that they've been saying, look, the U.S. needs to understand with all of their assets in the Middle East that next to almost every American outpost, next to almost American -- every American base or at least in the vicinity, there is a militia out there that is loyal to Iran or at the very least has ties to Iran.
So the Iranians certainly believe that they can put the U.S. under pressure in the Middle East. We saw that after Qasem Soleimani was assassinated in 2020 when the Iranians fired back at an air base in Iraq, the Al-Asad air base.
Where also, they gave ample warning before they did that, but they were able to target that fairly easy from Iranian territory. So, of course, the U.S. has assets in various places in the Middle East. The Iranians are saying those assets could be under threat if the U.S. continues to assist Israel.
[19:20:02]
Now, of course, the U.S. is not going to stop assisting Israel. And I think that the Iranians are very much aware of that as well.
But I think as far as this strike here is concerned, the Iranians are saying, look, they don't want the U.S. to get involved on, at least, as far as some sort of retaliatory strike, if the Israelis chose to do that.
I think some of the messaging that we've seen tonight from the Iranians has been pretty remarkable where they've come out and said that any country, if the Israelis now want to strike back, any country that allows, that opens their airspace for that, or their ground space for that, would be under threat from Iran as well.
So, certainly, the Iranians are messaging that they are extremely serious about this, while at the same time saying that they're giving Israel an off-ramp and saying, look, these are the strikes and retaliation for the hit on the embassy. It's up to Israel now whether or not it ends here, Wolf.
BLITZER: All right. Stand by. We're going to get back to you, Fred Pleitgen, with his expertise on what's going on in Iran right now.
I want to go back to Jerusalem. Nic Robertson is on the scene for us. And, Nic, I understand that something pretty extraordinary. You're seeing fighter jets circling overhead Jerusalem. Is that right?
ROBERTSON: High in the sky, Wolf. You can just pick them out in the dark up there, waiting, loitering, flying loops in the -- in the night sky above Jerusalem.
It appears that they're waiting for the possibility of more intercepts to come. We're not hearing any more sirens. We're not hearing any more intercepts. But the fact that those fighter jets are flying in the sky over Jerusalem, at this time, is unusual. It is clearly related to what's happening here right now.
The intercepts that we saw before General Hertling suggested that he believe that they were being some of the intercepts we were witnessing were intercepts by fighter jets. The fact that we're seeing the fighter jets up there now certainly brings additional credibility to his already very credible words.
But I think that's what we're witnessing here tonight. Multiple layers and levels of Israeli air defense systems.
But, again, the fact that these missiles, these Iranian missiles, could reach this city relatively long way inside of Israel, even with the United States aircraft in the air giving additional support. And potentially, we may learn more in the coming hours about additional support from friends and neighbors in the region about how their airspace may have been used to defend Israel.
But the fact that so many intercepts were necessary over Jerusalem is a mark of just how many missiles Iran has fired here. And the fact that we didn't hear any direct impacts that we're aware of, yet, indicates how successful Israel's air defense systems have been so far this evening, it appears.
But, of course, IDF, very clear, they are expecting more waves of attack overnight tonight, Wolf.
BLITZER: And I take it the Prime Minister and his cabinet, his war cabinet, they are beating right now. They're dealing with this crisis coming up with potentially an Israeli response.
What are you learning on that front?
ROBERTSON: They are meeting, Wolf. And this, of course, will be a key factor that the prime minister will have to give all due consideration to.
Clearly, the Iranians are trying to get in ahead of it and say, look, we struck you because you struck us.
But at the moment, you know, even if there was pre-advanced coordination or messaging by the Iranians to two U.S. officials, the sort of thing that was going on prior or after the United States killed Qasim Soleimani in January 2020, even if that was going on, this is still going to be a very, very big and consequential political decision for the prime minister who has a propensity to want to project power, a war cabinet or a -- or a government -- governing cabinet that feels the need with military commanders who feel the need to project that power, to continue to signal to Iran that it cannot act in this way and particularly view the threat of their big proxy to the north of here in Lebanon as an ongoing threat.
So this is going to be a very, very big decision facing the Prime Minister and he will be evaluating it in that room right now as he watches and learns about how the IDF and the other services here in Israel are handling this very big threat from Iran tonight, Wolf. BLITZER: Huge threat going on right now. We'll see what the Israeli response is going to be and I assume it will be intense at some point. We'll get more on that.
Everybody stand by. Our special live coverage of this situation in the Middle East and it's a horrible situation. We'll continue right after a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:29:51]
(SIREN) (EXPLOSIONS)
BLITZER: This was only moments ago in Jerusalem, in Jerusalem, when the sirens were going off as these missiles and these rockets from Iran were flying overhead and Israel's air defense system, the Iron Dome, among others, was going off to try to intercept as many as they can.
But all of the folks who live in Jerusalem, we are hearing these sirens and when you hear these siren in Israel, as I can testify, you go into a bomb shelter to try to protect yourself, protect your family, your kids, and everyone else.
This is just moments ago. We don't know if any of those rockets or missiles from Iran, from the drones or the cruise missiles actually landed and caused any significant damage or injured people, killed people.
But we will be finding all of that out very, very soon. We are told that this is moments ago, a very dramatic moment over the skies of Jerusalem.
Ben Wedeman is joining us right now. He is joining us from Beirut. Normally, Ben, I would have anticipated that if the Iranians were going to retaliate against Israel for Israel's strike against those Iranian generals in Damascus, Syria, I would assume that one of their proxy organizations like Hezbollah, where you are in Lebanon or the Houthis in Yemen, would have done the work for the Iranians.
This isn't really the first time that Iran, I believe has launched strikes against Israel from Iranian territory themselves, but correct me if I am wrong.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's correct, Wolf.
This is the first time, this is certainly a turning point in the decades long hostility between Israel and Lebanon. Now, but we do know, for instance that Hezbollah made it clear, very soon after the April 1st Israeli strike on the consulate in Damascus that the response to that attack, we heard this from Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, as well as other sources close to Hezbollah that the response would be strictly Iranian. And that is what it has been so far. Now, this evening, we know that Hezbollah put out an announcement that they had fired what they said were tens of Katyusha rockets at Israeli air and missile defense positions in the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights and we also know from sources close to Hezbollah that the intention is that if it escalates beyond the immediate Iranian response that we've been seeing in the last few hours, that indeed Iran's allies and proxies in the region would become involved, would escalate.
But at the moment, what we are hearing from, for instance the Iranian Permanent Mission to the United Nations, that they consider that this is it. This is the conclusion of their response.
Now of course, missiles and cruise missiles and drones are still perhaps on the way. But the Iranians have made it clear that as far as they are concerned, that is over.
But in the preceding days, we have also heard the Israelis basically saying if Iran attacks from Iran, Israel -- then Israel will respond. And this is now -- the real question is, what comes next?
Will the Israelis respond strongly as they have vowed to do. If that's the case, then there is a real danger of a major region-wide escalation involving Iran and all its many allies in the region -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Ben Wedeman in Beirut for us. Ben, standby.
I know you've covered this region for a long time, we will get back to you. I want to go back to Nic Robertson in Jerusalem.
We've been showing our viewers, Nic, the video from moments ago, the sirens going off over Jerusalem. You can see some of these rockets, these missiles flying overhead, some of Israel's air defense system, the Iron Dome, among others, going off, intercepting some of these rockets and missiles.
You're getting some new information. What else are you learning? What else are you seeing right now?
ROBERTSON: Yes, I am hearing fighter jets off in this direction. I was just telling you a few minutes ago about fighter jets that was circling above us, but what we saw about a minute ago was a bright red light shooting off in that direction, and then you could hear the sound of a fighter jet, sort of turning on its afterburners it appeared and zooming off towards the distant horizon.
It gave the impression that the fighter jet had just got instructions. There's something out in that direction, get out and meet it fast and I am hearing the sound of the jet again.
So it could be that the jets that we are seeing here are moving off to another area to where they are seeing another wave of drones coming in. But there are several jets I am hearing circling here at the moment. This is a new situation for us to try to assess here. It is very clear that the fighter jets are involved in shooting down these slow moving drones and other missiles that are incoming, as a very effective tool for the Israeli Air Force to do that.
[19:35:05]
And so the fact that we are hearing the jets again right now over Jerusalem seems to indicate that there may be another wave on its way here at the moment.
Of course, if that happens, Wolf, we can expect to hear the sirens. I am not hearing a new siren alert go off at this time. It is very quiet here.
As you know, you know Jerusalem very well. This is a city that often has a hubbub in the background traffic, people talk even late at night, even tonight, on a Saturday night, you would hear that. It is very quiet tonight. Very few cars out on the streets.
And I think that's perhaps why we can hear so clearly the fighter jets are above us, Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, next, standby, we are going to get back to you. In the meantime, be safe over there. We heard those sirens going off. They're not going off right now, but moments ago, we will be showing our viewers the videotape, a very, very scary moment over the skies of Jerusalem right now.
I want to go to Alex Marquardt, our national security correspondent.
Alex, the president has been meeting with his advisers. His national security advisers over in the Situation Room at the White House, they released this picture, you just see this post from President Biden: "I just met with my national security team for an update on Iran's attacks against Israel. Our commitment to Israel's security against threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad," and tell our viewers right now, Alex what we know about the US military's involvement in trying to prevent these Iranian drones and cruise missiles and other rockets from coming in over Israel.
What is the US exactly doing in the US military?
MARQUARDT: The US military and the US intelligence community, Wolf, in that photo, what you were seeing was the director of the CIA, Bill Burns speaking with the president next to him was Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence and those are two people who have been focused for the past two weeks on trying to figure out what Iran would do in retaliation for that Israeli strike in Damascus.
How would Iran go seek revenge against Israel? And it is arguably the most dramatic option that Iran chose tonight of the various scenarios that could have played out, Iran tonight directly attacking Israel from Iranian soil in anticipation of something like this, the US military had moved more assets to the Middle East. We understand that they've strengthened Air Defenses. Of course, they are US troops and US Air Defenses all across the Middle East. There are also a number of naval ships in the Red Sea, in the Gulf of Aden, in the Eastern Mediterranean, all in anticipation of what we saw tonight.
But Wolf, we have been talking to our sources for the past two weeks trying to figure out what Iran would do, and it really only came into focus yesterday that Iran could indeed carry out tonight's attack from Iranian soil.
CNN reported yesterday that a number of military assets, including drones and cruise missiles, around a hundred cruise missiles were being moved in Iran. That was certainly an indication of what we saw tonight, and I am really struck by this, the two facts, Wolf, that Iran is claiming that this is over. That's according to their mission at the United Nations.
At the same time, Israel and the US and the support role of very, very much dealing with what is still incoming, those drones. We believe they are also cruise and ballistic missiles.
It remains to be seen whether Iran is done firing everything that it intends to, so far as our correspondents have noted, it does not appear that anything has hit its target. No craters, no blast, no destruction, death.
But this is far from over, despite those Iranian claims, what you're hearing there, those sirens, those interception, Israel is still very much in a defensive posture.
So it also, we will see what Israel decides to do in the coming hours in terms of a response. We will see whether Iranian proxies decide to take up a supporting role with what Iran is doing right now.
But no question, Wolf, we are turning a corner here. This is a new chapter, not just in this war, but in terms of the animosity, the rivalry between Israel and Iran -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Yes, you're making a very, very important point, indeed, a new chapter in this entire situation.
Alex, before I let you go, we know the US military is involved in helping the Israelis shoot down, destroy these incoming Iranian and drones and these cruise missiles, these rockets. Are, they -- is the US doing that outside of Israel or the West Bank for that matter, as they are coming in over Jordan, or they are coming in over Syria or Iraq.
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Are US military capabilities going after these drones, and these other missiles and rockets over these territories as well or waiting until they get closer and closer to Israel?
MARQUARDT: There is certainly an intention, Wolf, to try to strike down whatever they can before it gets to Israeli territory. There are US troops in Iraq, in Syria, in Jordan, and then of course, in those various bodies of water that I mentioned.
And so there is every intention to use a huge variety of anti-aircraft systems, aircraft themselves to try to intercept the variety of weaponry that Iran is sending at Israel tonight.
Those drones, however, slow moving, those are certainly among the easier things that can be taken down by the United States and Israel, we've got reports before those sirens went off, before we saw those interceptions in Israel, that indeed the US had already helped to take down some of those drones beyond Israeli airspace.
It is not exactly clear what path those drones and those missiles are taking, but you do have these American assets arrayed all across the Middle East and all across the region to make every effort possible to try to strike down what they can before it gets to Israel -- Wolf.
BLITZER: And I assume that was a source of a great discussion that the commander of the US military Central Command had with the Israeli military over these past few days. At what point would the US try to destroy incoming rockets and missiles, and at what point would the Israeli Air Defense System over Israel proper would they take charge over that that mission, which is clearly a very, very sensitive important mission as well.
Alex, standby. We are going to get back to you.
We are told by the way that the president's meeting with his top national security advisers in the White House Situation Room has concluded, but we are also told, it could reconvene later.
They're watching all of this very closely. The stakes for the United States right now are enormous, obviously, the stakes for Israel are enormous as well.
I want to bring an Aaron David Miller right now, former State Department Middle East negotiator.
Youve been involved in this region for a long time, Aaron. Give us a sense, a historic sense of what is going on right now. The fact that Iran, with a huge military capability is launching rockets and missiles against Israel from Iranian territory and they are not simply relying on their Iranian proxies, whether Hezbollah or the Houthis or others to do the work. They are doing it directly themselves.
Give us a sense of how significant this is.
AARON DAVID MILLER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: You know, not to trivialize, Wolf, but it reminds me -- and thanks for having me. It reminds me of a line from Wizard of Oz when Dorothy says to her little dog, Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore.
And frankly, I think this is quite extraordinary, historic.
You know, Israel and Iran, as you know, Wolf, have been at each other in what the Israelis describe as the campaign between the wars, shadow wars, Israeli striking Iranian nuclear scientists cyberattacks, both against Iran and against Israel, tax on Iranian shipping and strikes as we've seen in Damascus on top Iranian revolution and guard corps commanders.
But this, a direct attack using drones, cruise missiles, the Iranians claim ballistic missiles.
I don't know if that's accurate. Who would have thought that cruise missiles would have preceded the drones and no reports about the kind of missiles that the Israelis and the Americans are tracking.
And so, I think this is extraordinary, whether its transformative, I think will depends right now on how the Israelis are going to respond.
I am reminded of 1991 when the Iraqis, Saddam Hussein launched 43 scud missiles at Israel and then Secretary of State Eagleburger was sent by Bush 41 to try to persuade the Israelis not to respond.
Here, in what was an extraordinary act of restraint agreed on the assumption that the Americans would take care of the rocket launchers, that launch the scuds which they did eventually.
This time, however, Wolf, I think it is going to be very difficult for this Israeli government, because even if there are no casualties, even if there is no damage, the Iranians have set a new precedent essentially now, from now on, if the Israelis go after IRGC members, wherever they are, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq even if they are on running sovereign territory, Iranian military installations or embassies.
Now you have a precedent for the Iranians striking Israel. The question is really, I think what the government is going to do and then if in fact they do strike Iran proper, will the Iranians respond and will Hezbollah, which could inflict a much great level of pain, I think quickly on the Israelis with their inventory of high trajectory weapons. What does Hezbollah do?
So, that's the key question right now in my mind.
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BLITZER: And if Hezbollah does that, and as all of us know, Hezbollah dos have a huge number of rockets and missiles in their inventory in Southern Lebanon, which not only could Haifa, relatively northern part of Israel, Qiryat Shemona, the town along the Lebanese border, has already been evacuated, tens of thousands of Israelis have left Qiryat Shemona, but those rockets and those missiles that Hezbollah has in South Lebanon, they not only could reach Haifa, but I am told they could reach Tel Aviv and some of them might even be able to reach the southernmost point of Israel, a lot.
What do you know about that?
MILLER; I mean if you remember, Wolf, the summer of 2006, which is the last major confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah, the Middle East's most preeminent military power, Israel, the northern half of that country from Haifa to the Lebanese border was shut down for 33 days, and that was when Hezbollah had a relatively crude inventory. Now, they have anywhere up to 150,000 high trajectory weapons of varying ranges and validity and precision that could cover most of Israel.
That raises a very serious question about Israeli deaths and casualties and Israeli response in Lebanon, which is going to be directed against Lebanese infrastructure with many, many, many Lebanese deaths and casualties.
So in coming days, or maybe even sooner, Wolf, that's the critical -- that is to me is critical issue is you know, is Benjamin Netanyahu going to be restrained, picking up enormous points with the Biden administration if he were not to respond? Easing US-Israeli tensions, which are already eased, any thought of conditioning or restricting military assistance to Israel as a consequence of what is going on in Gaza.
I think, he is now gone.
And one last point, Gaza is now secondary and the tragedy here is, any prospects of an Israeli hostage for a prison deal.
I think already very slim, it is going to be very, very difficult to put back on track because Hamas will wait to see how much regional chaos Iran and Israel can cause, which is precisely what they want.
BLITZER: This is really a dangerous moment right now in the Middle East and those of us who have covered it for a long time.
I appreciate what potentially could go on in the olden days and let me get your quick reaction.
Aaron, in the olden days, an Israeli government would launch, what they used to call a preemptive strike, let's say against Hezbollah in South Lebanon tried to use their air power to destroy as missile and rocket capability as possible on the ground.
I anticipate though that that is not necessarily going to happen this time, but what do you think?
MILLER: I mean, I think the Israelis, again with one front war in Gaza and another in Lebanon, the Israelis are prepared and they've had 16 years to prepare.
I think if Hezbollah opens up with its inventory, the Israelis wont on a massive ground, sea, and air campaign and unfortunately, Hezbollah will suffer, but worse still, the Lebanese public is going to suffer.
BLITZER: Right, the people of Lebanon will suffer in the process as well. All right, Aaron David Miller, we will get back to you. Thank you very much.
Nic Robertson is in Jerusalem for us. We are now hearing -- what -- about an injury on the ground as a result of the interception of these rockets and missiles coming in from Iran over in Jerusalem, the shrapnel coming down and injuring someone. What do we know about that?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: A 10-year-old boy, Wolf, south of Jerusalem in the Negev area. So not in the city, but of course the danger is there, very severely injured is what medical authorities are saying at the moment, that he has injuries to his head.
Now, these do appear to be shrapnel injuries from the interceptor missiles, and I remember standing in Sderot watching the interceptors perhaps a mile, a mile-and-a-half away tinkle to the ground. Tinkle as they impacted that the tarmac road that was close to us, that the shrapnel could travel such a distance.
And when we went out to look at it and see what it was, it was tinkling on the ground. These were lumps of metal that would cause severe injuries and that is what appears to have happened here.
So not an injury to this 10-year-old boy as a direct result of a missile itself, but the interceptor, which of course is why the IDF is telling people in those areas the area where he is that they need to stay close to their shelters, close to their protected areas.
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Because even though these bigger missiles coming from Iran are being intercepted, the shrapnel from the interceptions that themselves can be dangerous and tragically dangerous as well, and this boy obviously have been taken to hospital now and his condition though is severe, Wolf.
BLITZER: Yes, it is a sad situation. I was in the border between Gaza and Israel a few years ago when another war was going on and I remember standing there and the Iron Dome would go off and destroy an incoming rocket or missile coming into Israel. But the shrapnel, the metal that came down from that destroyed missile, it was so powerful, there were huge holes in the ground and I can only imagine if some of that hit a person, the damage that could be done.
So it is one thing to see those missiles destroyed because if they're not destroyed and they hit a populated area, it could kill a lot of people, but it is another thing, once they're destroyed, they've got to come down, all of those -- the metal and the shrapnel that potentially could kill people on the ground as well.
Standby Nic, we are going to get back to you. Colonel Cedric Leighton, retired US Army, is joining us right now. You're a military analyst. What's your assessment of what is happening on the ground militarily and over the skies, and not only of Jerusalem, but elsewhere in Israel?
COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, Wolf, one of the big things about this is that this is really a change as Nic was mentioning in his reporting and Alex had mentioned as well, this is going to really change the way in which the armies of the Middle East face each. There is going to be a different style of warfare. There is going to be in essence, using swarms, what the Iranians have talked about for a long time.
Now, they are actually putting this in into practice and were seeing, I think maybe they have learned some lessons from Ukraine where some of the things that have happened in the Ukrainian war are now being used, transferred by the Iranians to Israel.
And I think the key thing here, Wolf, is that with the way in which the Iranians are doing this. They are kind doing a multi-layered attack. That multilayered attack is going to have a major impact on how your defense systems are structured as well.
Right now, the Iron Dome, Arrow, David's Sling, those Israeli systems seemed to be fairly effective, very effective actually against the Iranian attacks as far as we know at the moment. But clearly this kind of volume that they're dealing with is going to impact how these systems are designed and how intelligence is the integrated into their radar picture.
BLITZER: Because the Iron Dome is very effective, the Arrow Air Defense Missile System, very effective. David's Sling, another system very effective. But if hundreds of these armed drones are coming in and cruise missiles and other sophisticated rockets, it gets pretty complicated.
LEIGHTON: It really does, and because one of the key things that you have to think about is if you're going to be a military operator, like a radar operator for example, and you're looking at an incoming picture, you see what is going on, you see all the different inputs that you get, and you have to discern which one of these is something that you have to attack, which is something that you can and let go or ignore, which are things that you can postpone until later.
And those are decisions that have to happen in basically split seconds and that is where systems like the AWACS patriot missile batteries and of course, the Israeli versions of all of that really play a large, large role.
BLITZER: Significant role indeed.
David Sanger, our friend from "The New York Times," is with us, a CNN national security analyst.
One thing that worries me and I hope -- I am worried about it, but let me get your thoughts. Iran is pretty close. I am told to developing a nuclear capability. How close are they right now because if Israel retaliates, none of us knows what Iran might do?
DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: What we know about this, Wolf, is that the Iranians shipped most of their nuclear fuel out after the 2015 agreement with the Obama administration after President Trump decided to pull out of that agreement, they have slowly began to build back-up and they probably have enough now for about three nuclear weapons. But it would take them probably six months, maybe a year to actually fashion it into a weapon. I think the bigger fear here now is that if we are really at the cusp of a new age, one in which there are direct strikes back-and-forth between Israel and Iran, the temptation for Iran to race ahead with a nuclear program could be pretty high.
Until now, they've been moving steadily, slowly, but they haven't been racing toward it as far as we can tell, and that has been an interesting bit of restraint.
There is a second thing we are looking for and it gets really to what Cedric just said, if it turns out that these waves are one and done and that a few hours from now, we are not seeing more coming.
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Then, I think its a signal from Iran that they had to go out and do something, but they don't plan to get into a situation where the Israelis are under pressure to go take the next step.
If on the other hand, this is followed by cruise missiles and others, then it truly is an effort to overwhelm the system then that's a very thing.
BLITZER: What if it is followed by proxies like Hezbollah or the Houthis taking aim at Israel?
SANGER: It complicates it a lot and particularly complicates it because President Biden and his aides have been on the phone to Prime Minister Netanyahu and others saying, let tonight be it if there are no significant casualties.
BLITZER: Yes, and that's it. That the Iranian mission at the United Nations put out basically said that the matter can be deemed concluded right now.
SANGER: So that's a really important signal, but I am sure in the Situation Room, they're looking at it.
BLITZER: Yes, they're looking at it very, very closely.
Lots at stake right now. Everybody stand by. Our special live coverage will continue after a very quick break.
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