Iran attack on Israel: IDF says 'majority' of 200+ drones intercepted | LiveNOW from FOX

and welcome back here to live from Fox. I'm Andrew Craft. We are approaching the end of the hour. It's a good place to reset where we are on this very scary and frightening night for Israelis across the country. from the north to the south and the positive side of all this is that the IDF

says

that with the help of the United States it has

intercepted

most of the projectiles that it faced coming from Iran, they are

drones

, ballistic cruise missiles. missiles here too, so let's restart, trust like we have so much, from Fox News Foreign Affairs correspondent Trey Yst in Israel with an excellent report.

He has just presented this report. Let's see Israel putting its forces on high alert Saturday night closing. its airspace as Iran launched dozens of

drones

and missiles into the country the

attack

in retaliation for an

attack

on Iran's consulate earlier this month that killed two top Iranian generals Iran blames Israel for that attack, although the Israelis have not assumed responsibility, rumors of war have spread. making rounds in the intelligence community since Israel prepared its defenses in response to the attempt to shoot down the drones before they reached Israeli airspace. Israel also ordered residents in several areas to stay near bomb shelters.

This is a severe and dangerous escalation of our defensive and offensive capabilities. The highest level of irritation is a post on to Fox that they have already shot down at least one Iranian. President Biden returns to Washington on Saturday night convening a meeting of the National Security Council, the White House remains committed to Israel and

says

firmly in a statement that the United States will stand with the people of Israel and support their defense against these threats from Iran before. this Iran had only attacked Israel through proxy forces and avoided direct attacks. Tonight's event fueled fears about the possibility of a broader regional war in Tel Aviv Trey on Fox News Trey thank you very much in the meantime, did you see that photo and tre's report, I think it's worth showing it to you one more time, that's a meeting there in the Situation Room.

President Biden says this. I just met with my Homeland Security team to get an update on Iran's attacks on Israel. Our commitment to Israel's security against threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad. and if maybe we could take the full photo, I just want to point out who's in the room. See CIA Director Bill Burns. See Director of National Intelligence ail Haynes. You also see the Secretary of State, Anthony blinking, uh, and on the other side. the table next to President Biden, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, next to him, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General CQ Brown, also there, so the team is of Homeland Security fully focused in the Situation Room, playing out some of these scenarios.

We're also going to continue to play out some of these scenarios, but I think it's safe to say from the reports that the bombing of Iran is largely over, as well. I think that's significant, it's worth noting that Let's reiterate that and repeat it together with our guest, the foundation for the defense of democracies, expert and our friend Hussein Abdul Hussein, joins me, Hussein, thank you for being here with us here at such short notice, but we know that you study. this region of the world so well that you are very well informed about this and that is the news now at the end of the hour um that the bombing is over is over are you hearing that too well?

It seems judging by the history of time. when Iran claimed that they responded to the US removing kasim sumani, they did, they had a similar pattern, they fired the missiles and at the same time their foreign minister at the time, Jaad Zarif, said it was all over, so I see a repeat now through the UN, so in my opinion this seems to be over for now. I think we'll probably be waiting to see what Israel's response would be, but that will be a completely different story. Do you know who said yesterday that we listened to the president?

President Biden, when asked about Iran's plans to do this, with a one-word response, simply said no, clearly, Iran didn't heed that message, it was a failure of deterrence by the House. Biden's White here or it was Iran. I'm going to do this anyway, remember all last week. We US officials have been working through back channels to reach Iran and tell them to stop. They did not heed those warnings. They were useless in retrospect. Do you think it's okay? I think now is the opportunity for this Administration to show what it means when it says don't do it and show that it is consistent in its message and show that it really supports Israel, what we heard tonight and what we have been hearing in the last few days, so Iran clearly did not listen to Washington even though we were told there were many conversations in the channel between the two sides, now it is up to this Administration to show us what it means and what the consequences would be when Iran does not listen to what says the United States and when Iran tries to bring the entire region to the brink of a full-scale war.

War only in the entire region, not in small areas, from Iran to Israel, probably with other actors involved. north, southeast and west, what about America's role in all of this? Obviously, they were instrumental in helping Israel intercept most of these drones. Will we be involved? Will we play a role in Israel's retaliation? Do you think I think there is a lot? of space for the United States to engage in retaliation without our military getting its hands dirty or involved in war, there is a lot of support, logistics technology, aerial refueling, you name it, there are a lot of tools, facilities and resources. that we can make available to our Israeli allies without the US military getting involved now.

I think this is why Iran said out loud that we are going to war or we are going to attack Israel, but the United States is not a part of this. and it is better for the United States to stay out of this so that the Iranians realize that if they attack, the United States will support them in one way or another. I think that's something that scares them to the point that they understand the extent of our resources, so we'll see if you know what kind of support we offer to Israel as they prepare their response?

Will the relationship with Biden and BB recover after this? Do you think this will become another rallying point for the Israelis behind BB Netanyahu? Well, I think it's best for both sides. Put politics aside and stick to politics and focus on what's at hand: the Iranian danger to the Jewish state, and I think as long as we think clearly, there's no need to think about who is in charge in Washington or who is in charge. in Jerusalem, uh, we're in the Allied Nations, regardless of who the ruler is here or there, so I think if this kind of thinking is, you know, persists, I think you know things will be fine, but there's the fear that we can We always come back to politics, each side will try to cater to their own national audience and I think you know fortunately I don't see that happening now, but if we do go back, that's not something I would like to see, at least I want to. post this tweet Alon Levy, the government spokesperson there for Israel with this photo, uh, says Prime Minister Netanyahu is on the phone with President Biden right now after the late-night war cabinet and security cabinet meetings there, so, each side is putting out their respective photos and media about some of these conversations and phone calls that have taken place, you know, we would be remiss if we didn't mention the Israel and Hamas war, the war that is currently going on. ongoing in Gaza, how does this relate to Is this so indirect and tangential or is it directly related to what is happening in Gaza?

Help us make those connections, if there are any. What we know is that all of this we see tonight started because Iran planned on October 7th. Israel pulled out the Iranian general from the rgc, general zahedi, who was in Damascus meeting with six other generals, this is the guy that Hamas theologized by saying that by thanking him for being the guy who helped plan the October 7 massacre, so we know that Israel went after him for his role on October 7th and that is why we are here now, now that the war in Gaza has taken a bit of a backseat with Israel making so many gains except the RAF, I think the focus has shifted in you know what. what we all call the head of the octopus now we are no longer dealing with weapons isra is not dealing with weapons either Hamas orah now the focus is on Iran itself and we see the war that is now happening between Iran and Israel, without representatives between them, okay, what about operation Rafa? uh that's completely off the table, it's completely sidelined after tonight or Israel will move forward with this.

I don't know, this is off the table and I think Israel is de-escalating the war in Gaza because clearly now Hamas no longer has the ability to harm Israel, the Israeli population or the Israeli economy, but this doesn't mean That the Hamas problem has gone away and this does not mean that what we see in Gaza right now is sustainable for either side in the long term, so I think Israel can put Gaza, the Gaza war on the shelf for now. to deal with Iran and I think this is best for Israel, now us? I'll focus on Iran and after that, you know, I think if Iran is attacked, if Iran will attack it to some extent, whether it's on a political or military level, I think we'll see Hamas act and behave differently.

Hamas acts and behaves that way because they think. that they have the support of a powerful party that is in Tahan, I think that if things change in Iran itself, maybe that will be reflected in Hamas and the RA in the future, okay, yes, I want to repost that tweet from Alon Levy with the BB photo there, on the phone with Biden, we are getting more reports on this phone call. Hussein, according to Jackie Hinrich at the White House, an administration official says the call ended and lasted about 25 minutes before we left him. You go, I mean, what do you think was said in the phone call?

Well, in my opinion, 25 minutes is a long call, it's comprehensive, you know, it doesn't seem like you know whether jokes were just exchanged or not between the two parties, so they must have talked about things in depth. I think probably U BB nobody offered their assessment, offered their next plan and listened to what President Biden had to say. I wouldn't say there's much disagreement, at least judging by the public statements from both sides. I think, more or less, he probably got the blessing of the United States for whatever Israel plans to do next, Iran, okay, Hussein Abdul Hussein with the foundation for the defense of democracies.

Thank you for taking the time tonight. Can't. Thank you very much and we will talk soon.