Israel begins retaliatory strikes on Iran: Report

and good evening, I'm Trace Gallagher, it's 10 p.m. m. on the east coast at 7:00 here in Los Angeles and this is a breaking news edition of Fox News, in the evening

report

s come in that Israel has begun its long-awaited

retaliatory

attacks against Iran, we are now following these events and we are hearing that explosions have been heard over Iran proper as well as southern Syria and explosions heard over Iraq, we do not know if any areas of Iraq were hit, we believe there were some explosions in southern Syria and there are

report

s of the possibility of attacks in southern Iran. near natans and forto nuclear facilities remember that these are the facilities that are said to be places where nuclear weapons can be produced.

They also have a uranium conversion facility in the East and this is also in southern Iran and there are reports that there have been air

strikes

in that area as well, let's live on land now to Tel Aviv, that's where Trey yinx joins us live Trey, what are you listening to? What are we learning? Yeah, hey, Trace, good night, we're following reports from the air region right now. attacks taking place in Iran, Iraq and Syria, the Israelis at this time have not confirmed that this is retaliation for the massive Iranian drone and missile attack last weekend, but this is what we know, some The media quotes US officials and, again, these are preliminary reports based on For the information we are gathering at this time, we have reached out to Israeli defense officials and are awaiting comment.

Local media report explosions in the Iranian city of Isvan. Isvan is located about 200 miles south of the Iranian capital of Ran at this location. There is an Iranian nuclear facility. There are also reports of activity elsewhere in Iran. This is important because remember that the initial reports leading up to tonight had to do with what could be a limited Israeli response to this large-scale attack carried out last weekend by the Iranians, so in terms of the targets that are likely were hit in any type of attack and retaliation by the Israelis, we are considering nuclear research facilities, in addition, any type of IRGC locations throughout the Middle East in places like Syria and Iraq and then backed by Iran.

The Israelis seek to send a message to Iran if they are confirmed to be behind these attacks to never attack directly from Iran. territory towards Israel and also to ensure that they will maintain control of their proxies throughout the region, the big concern here has to do with Iranian nuclear aspirations and I want to unpack something very important here, Trace, because if it is confirmed that Isvan was one of Tonight's targets for the Israelis in this retaliation are significant for two reasons that we will point to in June of last year, when the UN nuclear watchdog was concerned because they went into a probe and found uranium particles enriched up to 83%. . just below the 90% weapons-grade material line, indicating that Iran is getting very close to being able to create a nuclear weapon.

Other watchdogs over the past few months have said that the Iranian breakout time for such a weapon is basically zero and this means that Iran In response to this, they may not react militarily, but they could say they are changing their nuclear doctrine. Another important note here goes back to when we looked at the Iranian attack last weekend. Iran, for the first time in their country's history, fired at Israel directly with what appeared to be Shahab ballistic missiles: these are the missiles that if Iran created a nuclear warhead, they would use them to target any country in the world and they used this missile last weekend without a nuclear warhead and they were successful in targeting Israel, so again tonight we are I can't confirm the reports at this time, but initial reports indicate explosions in Iran, Iraq and Syria, and this comes on the heels of the threats of Israeli retaliation following the Iranian attack last weekend that included ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones, and if I can ask you about the diplomacy here Trey very quickly because there were reports that came out of kter today that said that the United States said that they would approve Israel going to Rafa for a mission in Rafa if they did not retaliate against Iran, so do you understand that it seems like Lately today, the United States was not aware of any information about this attack or is it just too early to tell know, but we must keep in mind that the Israelis were coordinating closely with the Americans and an informal coalition to respond to that.

Iranian attack with ballistic missiles and drones last weekend. This is an important note here because in the past there have been no formal agreements for the United States and others to shoot down incoming missiles or drones toward Israel, but there was a clear coordinated effort and agreement According to briefings I participated in with senior U.S. officials. Israeli Air Force training for the mission to shoot down these missiles and drones took place for months before the Iranian attack, so we have reason to believe that the Israelis have been in close coordination. with the Americans and that they would inform the United States before any type of action against targets in Iran at this time and you may be able to hear on high that the civil airspace over Israel is not closed, but we are following and tracking civil flights towards Iran. and I can confirm that some civilian aircraft actually returned from the Gulf, were heading towards the Iranian capital of Tan, and turned around amidst these reports of Israeli attacks on Iranian territory, the Israelis will certainly want to act with the decisive actions they desire. catch the Iranians off guard, unlike what we saw in the weeks prior to the Iranian attack on Israel, because once again the Israelis seek to send a clear message to the Iranians that any type of direct attack on Israeli territory would not be accepted .

I want to point out something else after a briefing with Israeli Air Force officials: They say they are on high alert throughout the country for fear of Iranian retaliation. Everyone from Iran's Supreme Leader Ayah Kamay to President Ibraim RI and some senior IRGC officials made clear this week that they would react immediately as they called to any kind of Israeli response to the attack over the weekend, for what the Israeli air defense as we speak Trace is on high alert throughout this country, from the Iron Dome that would receive fire from places like southern Lebanon with the attack from Iran. the largest proxy in the region, Hezbollah and then some of the largest air defense systems like David Sling and the AOS system that we saw here in Tel Aviv during the Iranian attack last weekend actively intercepting some of those drones and missiles incoming ballistics.

The question tonight is. What were the objectives in this apparent Israeli response to last weekend's Iranian attack? Again, the Israelis have a variety of targets they could attack not only within Iranian territory but throughout the region, understanding that Iran's IRGC has bases in places like Iraq and Syria and we are also supporting Shiite militias operating in those. areas that give them what Fox News has described as octopus tentacles throughout the Middle East that extend Iranian influence not only to threaten Israel but also American forces throughout the region because, as we have seen since the massacre of the 7th October and the regional tension that followed numerous attacks on US bases throughout the Middle East, so part of this response will likely strike fear into these Iranian-backed Iraqi and Syrian Shiite militias that are operating throughout the region and, if It is confirmed in Isim this city which is about 200 miles south of Tan, this would be significant because it shows that the Israelis are intensifying their attacks against Iranian nuclear facilities.

You may remember that in 2020 it was November 2020, the Israelis in a covert operation killed Iran's top nuclear scientist, Muhammad Fahar Sadi. Now, this is a man who was responsible for years for Iran's nuclear program and its developments toward a nuclear weapon. Remember when the 2015 Iran nuclear deal collapsed. Iran began enriching uranium closer and closer to weapons-grade material and the biggest concern for Israel was that they would ultimately create a nuclear weapon and then attach that warhead to a ballistic missile. like a missile that was fired towards Israel over the weekend and they would target the Jewish state with a projectile like the one that I understand the breakout period ranges from zero days to a matter of days and possibly even a week, according to international observers, and Israel's concern is that they could use this enriched uranium to create a nuclear bomb that would target this country and so on.

It would not be surprising if the target was on this important research facility inside Iranian territory and again the Israelis have made it very clear that everyone, from Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the country's defense minister Yav Galant and others, They already have their targets chosen inside Iran. and they are capable of increasing pressure on the Iranian regime if there is any type of response to this Counter Strike after last weekend's attack carried out by the Iranian Trey Trey Yanks. Excellent information, wait if you want it. For you as a guarantee of news Hello, Sean Hannity, here, click here to subscribe to the Fox News YouTube page and see our hottest interviews and most compelling analysis.

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