Good evening. Its 5 a. M. Jerusalem. This is Fox News At Night. There is word coming into Fox News At Night that the United States has conducted airstrikes in syria. Lets get to our chief National Security correspondent jennifer. We broke the news moments ago that u. S. Warplanes made airstrikes in syria against Iranian Proxy Forces that had been firing on u. S. Bases more than a dozen times in the past week. We now have a statement from the defense secretary, lloyd austin those strikes what are being described as irans Islamic Revolutionary guard and affiliated groups inside syria. These were precision selfdefense strikes theyre being described as on two locations in Eastern Syria. Way told by senior military sources this is very similar to the kind of strike that we saw in the march 23rd time frame when the u. S. Had to respond to multiple strikes by Iranian Forces so we know f15 and 16s were involved. The statement from the Department Of Defense reads that the United States does not seek conflict and has no intention nor desire to engage in further hostile advertise but these iranian backed attacks against u. S. Forces are unacceptable animus stop. Thats a quote from the defense secretary tonight trace. I also learned earlier today that the president took the decision earlier this week to carry out these strikes. There were a number of reasons that tonight was the night that the warplanes the u. S. Warplanes decided strike those target, but the pentagon has been in discussions with the white house all week since this constant ramping up of almost daily attacks attacks by Iranian Proxy Forces. Im told if they do not get the message, more airstrikes will follow. Jennifer whats your takeaway from this . Youve covered the pentagon a long time and these situations weather we see a robust Security Measure Put in place at some of our Military Installations in the middle east. You talk about these strikes the last 8 days, 16, do you see a robust Security Presence in the wake of these strikes . Trace i think what we have been seeing in resen days and perhaps one of the reasons for delays up until this moment has been all those bases in the middle east, we have 900 u. S. Troops in syria 2500 troops and embassies in iraq. All have multiple ways to protect forces there but we have seen Defense Systems including the High AltitudeDefense System which deals with Medium Range Missiles and rockets. Those have been sent with along with a number of patriot batteries. We have seen other navy vessels move into position. We have seen the uss Thomas Hudner has put down, the uss baton has moved into position in the red sea for defensive purposes as well as to send a message to iran that the Uss Eisenhower thats on its way to the gulf you have the uss ford the Carrier Strike group a very, very advanced strike group in the Eastern Mediterranean all within striking distance of those iranian proxies. We are told it was u. S. Warplanes that carried out these strikes on Eastern Syria but its not to say in the coming days there wont be more strikes particularly if the iranian proxy groups strike back at u. S. Bases. The question was asked im wondering i saw ought the Pentagon Briefing and there were briefings all day that the State Department briefed and you had john kirby and Brigadier General briefing. Were they had indicating maybe this was about to get underway jennifer or is this a total surprise . Well first of all, we have been watching this for some time and i think there was some misunderstanding out there through the lack of action. I know from my sources that there have been meetings at the white house for days now as to how to respond and there were plans in place, the president signed off on those plans earlier this week, but certain conditions had to be right and you also have to take into account the geo political environment in the middle east. Its extremely complicated with whats happening in israel and in the gaza strip. The u. S. Does not want these strikes to be linked in any way to the conflict between israel and hamas. This is separate. This is about the attacks by Iranian Proxy Forces on u. S. Bases and they are this should not be viewed as part and parcel of the israelihamas conflict right now. The problem is that in the middle east it could get linked and the statements from iranian leaders in new york visiting the united nations, including the foreign ministry, minister, is ramping up the rhetoric, and right now, the u. S. Is hoping that iran gets the message that theyre serious, they will continue striking these Iranian Proxy Forces if these attacks on u. S. Bases and personnel continue. You make a good point because the nexus is there. You talk about iranian proxy groups, hezbollah one of them, hamas another one so even if you try to separate what happened with the u. S. And syria this is going to be conflated. Ive been covering this beat a long time and the way the pentagon describes attacks when they carry out airstrikes in syria against forces that might threaten their forces and their troops. Its rare that they link them so directly to iran. Usually they find ways to describe this militia and not link it directly to iran. Different now theyre linking it to iran and you heard Brigadier General ryder at the podium today very direct theyre holding iran responsible for these proxy forces, theyre not differentiating so theyre really hoping to a, prevent the israelihamas conflict from spread to go the rest of the region and theyre hoping that hezbollah takes notice of the strikes that took place inside Syria Against Proxy groups backed by the irgc, The Rain Yain Revolutionary Guard and hezbollah thinks twice before launching any strikes into israel, opening a second front in that war. Yes, its a very good point jennifer. If you get news raise your hand, we will put you on. Great reporting as always. You talked about the Northern Front, jennifer mentioned getting hezbollah involved. Steve harrigan is in the northern part of israel where hezbollah would fire rockets into as maybe a result of this. Steve i just want to get a kind of feel for what youre seeing up there. Anything unusual . Are you hearing any word of these u. S. Airstrikes in syria and anything out of the ordinary or you hearing maybe a beefed up Security Presence in the northern part of the country . Trace, just to set the scene on where we are right now, just about a mile behind me are some hills of lebanon. A typical day we could smoke rising from those hills. It was israeli strikes on hezbollah positions so as far as hezbollah striking into israel goes that is already a regular and daily occurrence up to 2030 times each day so theres a limited low scale fight going on at this between hezbollah and israel. The hope is on many sides this wont escalate and get worse. Right now the choice of weapons tells you a lot. Habs has more than 150,000 rockets many advanced and guided missiles and theyve been firing close range weapons antitank missiles into israel, israel striking back with airstrikes and artillery so low level fight, not the most powerful rockets but worries day to day theres fighting and killing at least 5 Israeli Soldiers killed and a few hundred hezbollah fighters killed. Public funerals in beirut last week almost on a daily basis. When you talk about low level steve whats the definition of high level . Are we talking about longer range missiles . Are we talking about the number of total strikes in day . What do you believe is the definition of ramping this up coming from hezbollah into israel . It certainly is a strange idea of a low level war or a contained war, but for a people who really watch the scene here, that is what theyre calling it. Theres death. Theres fighting. Theres rockets on both sides but those numbers are official the Single Digits each day. More escalation by hezbollah something they could do could mean serious destruction of israeli infrastructure serious death of civilians and massive retaliation by israel about what could happen to hezbollah and what could happen in lebanon if the strikes are major if they go beyond this point. We are talking to the tune of billions of dollars of destruction in lebanon, trace. You covered a lot of wars steve and we have noted that in some of these types of occasions in the past and im wondering because the United StatesPresident Biden has said we dont want this war to expand. We do not want this to become a regional war or even one step bigger and do you find it unusual that in this situation, the United States kind of threw the first punch or not the first punch because syria these proxies have attacked u. S. Forces 16 times in eight days but the u. S. Struck back in syria. Does it surprise you at all . I think its worry some. Jennifer talked about not linking it to other things but people watching is uhoh now the suspect striking syria. Its one more and seems to many people amateurs just watching a major step and a real worrying step as we are seeing step by step, more people involved in the fighting and with u. S. Airstrikes in syria for the common viewer i think that is a very worrisome step. Steve we will get back to you in moments. General anthony tata retired Brigadier General, i want your take, the u. S. Launching airstrikes into syria clearly in response to iranian proxies going after our military institutions wounding 21plus Military Members some of them members experiencing temporary Brain Injuries. What do you think of what happened tonight . Yeah, trace, great to be with you. I havent spent a lot of time in this region. The iranian proxies in the shia million tan groups in hamas they want to attack u. S. Interest and u. S. Personnel. They did so a week ago. The president i think rightfully responded in kind. The question is, what did we disrupt was, did we attack . Did we disrupt their capability to continue to attacked our personnel in the region . Iran is behind this. The administration has been very slows to acknowledge that iran is behind this. I think today with kirbys press conference and other comments made by the administration, theyre coming to the realization they cant have it both ways by appeasing iran helping israel and helping u. S. Servicemembers in the middle east. Its going to be con flated with the average joe on the middle east saying this is the United States coming in to help israel because it does have that sort of tangenteffect of being able to attack into the golan and israel. General you said we dont know exactly what the targets were. My question would be does it matter . Is there a target theyre going after or a statement from the United States . Well, yes trace i think it does matter. The shia Militia Groups that have attacked our troops we want to first and foremost soldiers sailors airmen marines in that area so we want to disrupt their cape bill. We want to do more than just make a statement. We want to deny them the right, the ability to get in there and harm our people and disrupt our ability to conduct our operations in the middle east so thats fires and foremost. Now, im assuming that these were well designated target, well placed targets and that we had some effect on our Air Force Navy Et Cetera are good at doing this kind of thing when they fly and target, they do well and im proud of the men and women that have conducted these operations. I wonder, sir if you look at some of these report, i was reading reports where you have members of hamas that are actually in russia. You have the Iranian Foreign minister in russia. If theres an interest on your end as to why these people are in russia as to what role that russia wants to play. Is there this feeling that russia wants to be the mediateered in some of this, that russia wants to get a bigger platform in some of this going on in the middle east . Whats your thought on that, certified . Yeah, trace i dont think russia wants to mediate. I think they want to help drive the United States out of the middle east. I think they want to inflict pain on the United States and israel by extension. This is alls about irans influence. Iran is providing drones and other munitions to russia there is an alliance with this administration has allowed to happen, alliance between china, iran, russia and Even North Korea less of a factor here to ossify and come into a very Crystal Clear existence where theyre supporting one another. And so, russias best interest their Self Interests are best served by the United States getting a black eye here so theyre going to do whatever they can to help that happen because we are do that in ukraine because this is geo politics, real politik at its finest. Im wondering if the United States is trying to make a statement. In the a one op. Stop the proxy. Stop going after our Military Installations. What if it doesnt stop . What if you have these groups going back after or military even more robust . Then what, sir, do we respond with another attack . It seems like we are now on a bad path. Wait, we are on a bad path and that bad path started in afghanistan two and a half years or so ago and the weakness that has been demonstrated has result in iran and others flexing their muscles and taking advantage of the vacuum and so, where we are today is that weve got to really confront the dilemma that we are in. We have really two dilemmas here. We have our interests in the middle east, which include israel, and then israels, the attack on israel by hamas. Theyre really two separate problems but will be conflated and if the real issue is if we push on iran and russia and china perhaps get involved and now we are talking not just israel, hamas, gaza, we are talk regional perhaps global conflict with multiple Nuclear Nations involved. If these proxy groups in Syria Lebanon or where ever respond, is it one of those things that you can tolerate it for a little bit . What happens if iran in some capacity responds . Does that change the equation here, in your estimation . Well, i think iran has been covertly involved. They had trained hamas before the hamas invasion of israel. Right. They supplied all the weapons. We know this. We know this. So its overt involvement from iran and so what step they would take beyond what theyve already done, i think would just be sort of insult to injury, and we have enough justification cause means to act right now against iran and its just a matter of calculus of what steps do we take, what are those Hair Triggers branches and sequels, if we do this what happens . What does the enemy choose to do . Because the enemy always gets a vote. General, if you would stand by i would appreciate it. White house correspondent jackie with more breaking news on. This i was fascinated youre still in front of the white house. I was watching the Press Briefing with john kirby and he said this is a direct message to iran. Follow up on that for us and give us an idea if that was telling at the time you heard it. Well, trace, you know yesterday in the rose garden, the president said that he delivered a warning to the ayatollah not to attack u. S. Troops with its proxies or itself, and we didnt get a lot of detail how exactly that warning was delivered because u. S. Does not have diplomatic relations with iran so today we were trying to get information how that warning came about, did it come after u. S. Troops were injured in those proxy attacks in iran and syria last week . Did it come through a third party . Kirby said a direct message was relayed and thats as far as he could go. He also when i asked where is this response the president said would come if these attacks kept continuing on our troops and they continued and he said yes he did say that but he had did not want to elaborate on any response that would be coming. He said he want to telegraph any punches but the decision would be the president s alone and the timing and manner of it would be up to him. We can gather he made that decision and Jennifer Griffin reported that he made that decision actually earlier this week, which sort of explains why we are getting cagey answers from the administration as responses to criticism especially from republicans why the hesitation, are you going to jeopardize u. S. Forces by signalling weakness and not giving Immediate Response