Breaking news. We are getting official word from the White House what youve been seeing play out live in israel. As Israelis On right now sheltering in place and sirens are blaring across the country after iran begins launching missiles into that country. Hello and welcome, everyone. Im Sandra Smith in new york. John im John Roberts in washington. Good to be with you. This is america reports. The situation unfolding before your eyes. Getting word of the shooting in the southern part of Tel Aviv, the area called jaffa. Light rail train car. Multiple casualties. Being investigated as a terror attack. Sandra lets get to Trey Yingst in the middle of everything. Jaffa, israel. What is the latest you are hearing and seeing . Theres a massive ballistic Missile Attack on 14 right now against israel. The iranians are Launching Waves of missiles toward israel. We have seen interceptions here or over the city of haifa that sits about 17 miles from the border with lebanon. As we speak, i can see the alerts coming in on my phone all over this country. Right now. They are coming in so quickly you can even scroll through them. All over at the same time. Tel aviv, jerusalem, iran is launching an unprecedented attack against israel in realtime. Weve seen israels most advanced Air Defense System coming off of the skyline of the eastern part of this country. It israel as a country of just over 9 Million people. The vast majority of israelis right now or in Bomb Shelters, it is missiles rain down. It comes as the country is not only at war with hamas and Islamic Jihad inside gaza, they are now fighting a Ground War in Southern Lebanon against irans largest proxy of hezbollah. I can feel the alerts going off in my pocket. This country has not seen in the attack at this level since april. At least, according to the information we have now, this appears to be of a much larger caliber. Ill tell you why. Back in april, israel and the united states and coalition partners had a Heads Up. Iran is making it very clear they were going to respond to an israeli strike against an Irg See official at their embassy in damascus,syria. In the attack that they launched in april, we saw a wave of drones. Those take about two hours to get here from iranian territory. It gave this country not only time to get jets in the sky to the east over jordan and shoot down some of those incoming drones in missiles but also those Coalition Jets to get in the sky. Ballistic missiles take 12 minutes to get from iran to israel. Over the past 30 minutes we have just seen these waves of missiles striking different areas of israel. We dont know exact how many of them have actually landed at home many have been intercepted because the attack is still ongoing in realtime. Im reading the list. Its hard to describe just how many areas of israel are under attack. Its fair to say the entire country is taking Missile Fire at this moment. When we talk about the interceptions taking place, the Arrow System is capable of shooting down incoming Ballistic Missiles but they dont have an unlimited supply of interceptors. Iran is clearly, by sending waves of missiles trying to overwhelm israels missile Defense System likely in response not only to the response the killing of us on this relic of the leader of hezbollah. Also an Open Tab for the iranians. The death of the leader of hamas killed in an explosion in the iranian capital of tehran over the summer. The nine Duration Ceremony for the new iranian president. To recap, what we know at this moment, there is a ballistic Missile Attack unfolding as we speak against israel. Its been launched from iranian territory. Im just going to grab these notes here for my producer. Irans revolutionary guard saying the Missile Launches are in retaliation, as we just talked about, for the killing of haniah. Hassan nasrallah, Secretary General of hezbollah killed an israeli strike in beirut over the weekend. Also for another top iranian official, this is the Deputy Commander alongside nasrallah when he was killed in the lebanese capital over the weekend. Im going to read these notes, as we are talking. There are multiple stories unfolding at the same time. Were also getting an update about the Shooting Attack that occurred earlier just south of Tel Aviv just before this Missile Attack began in jaffa, to the south of Tel Aviv, a newly built Light Rail station. Saw those images and reports according to first responders of two gunmen on the scene. Now local medics are saying four people were killed in that Shooting Attack. Seven wounded. Two shooters neutralize. That is according to first responders and that is confirmed by local police in Tel Aviv. So again, as we follow these two developing stories here out of the region, a significant developments on the ground. The iranians launching ballistic Missile Attack against israel and waves, trying to overwhelm israels missile Defense System. Currently the arrow Defense System, their highest Tier System is intercepting some of this incoming fire. Its a system thats been used since the beginning of the conflict that started nearly a year ago with the October 7th massacre. It has now unraveled into a broader regional war. At this point the real fear for the israelis and for the americans is that this will unravel further. As part of the reason you have Coalition Forces around. I as we are speaking here, i want to open the message feet i have with a top israeli Defense Official who likely responded to two questions i asked over the past several minutes. According to an israeli Defense Official, the israelis are speaking with their counterparts. Just for this ballistic Missile Attack began, this top israeli officials have the israelis were coordinating with cincom, an indication that americans have some level of knowledge this was going to take place. The israelis and the americans were observing iranian activity beforehand. Thats why theres a level of alert issued to the israeli people through israels communication, Homefront Command that warns people to go to shelters and stay close to protected areas. This source goes on to say they are bracing for a Widescale Attack that is currently unfolding including the center of this country and as we have seen this attack is not just charting the Cen Center of isral but the integrity of the jewish state. To give you a chance to catch your breath, i had the graphic made up of the alert system. Lets put it up. This is an app we get on our phones here. Folks in the Middle East and those of us who have been. Literally the entire country as far south as the southern tip of the dead sea and all the way up almost to the border with lebanon is bright red with all of these alerts. Dozens and dozens and dozens of alerts as these missiles have been coming in. So far, trey, the good news seems to be based on what we are seeing from your video there in the live video that we have of Tel Aviv, we are not seeing anything that looks like missiles that have impacted in any significant way on the ground. No fires in the downtown area. It looks like the missile Defense Systems have been operating as they should. Dont forget as well that back on April 13th when the iranians last tried this, theres a large collision that involve the israeli War Planes as well as the united states, the u. K. france and jordan. Who all worked in a coordinated fashion to take down a lot of these projectiles before they got anywhere near israeli airspace. As you pointed out, a lot of those were drones in the early waves of the attack. Ballistic missiles, they are a different thing because some of those traveling the upper atmosphere if not out of the atmosphere itself and you cant get an aircraft high enough to intercept those. That would have to rely on the arrow 2 and 3 systems. But the initial observation at least from looking at our live pictures, we dont know how many more how much more of this is yet to come. In the response for the killing of haniyeh. Arianne sat on this for a long time because that was two months ago. We dont know if theres more waves of missiles going but there doesnt seem to be a lot of damage in israel which is a good thing. Your thoughts. Absolutely. Israels Air Defense is significant and they have these arrow Defense Systems spread throughout the country in a way that if the Worstcase Scenario of an attack would take place that they would be able to at least try to intercept it and as we are speaking there are sirens sounding along the israel lebanon border. This is an indication and i can confirm its not coming from iran, that hezbollah is Firing Rockets into northern israel. Again, the israelis are taking fire right now as we speak not only from iranian territory but from their largest proxy, hezbollah, and Southern Lebanon. I want to read you update here on my other phone. According to the israeli airport, authority, israeli airspace is close. Takeoff and landings at the international airport outside Tel Aviv have been stopped. Its a indication that the israelis want to ensure that Civilian Aircraft is safe in this area. Also that the airspace could be compromised in the hours ahead. As we look forward to the threats on the ground, the iranians when they launched this attack didnt launch it all at the same time. As you saw life here, they were Firing Missiles in waves. Two things to consider. The first thing has to do with the on the Ground Military Activity of irans largest proxy that sits about 17 miles to the north of here. Hezbollah. Hezbollah has an arsenal of missiles and rockets that they have used to rain down on israeli cities over the past year. And they are still firing on cities like Tel Aviv earlier today. Hezbollah fired on Tel Aviv. The thing you have to consider, the question at hand as we covered the developing story is how the israelis will respond to this massive Missile Attack from iranian territory. We have heard from israels prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israels Defense Minister over the past weekend they have said things like if iran decides to respond to the killing of hassan nasrallah, they will pay a heavy price. We should look at april and what the israelis targeted when they responded to the April Attack against israel. When the ballistic and Cruise Missiles were launched from iranian territory that in april, the israelis responded by striking the Air Defense Systems outside of one of irans largest nuclear facilities. I spoke with israeli officials after that in Tel Aviv and asking them why. Beyond the obvious reasons. They said they wanted to send a message. They wanted to send a message the iranian regime that israeli jets and missiles have the capability to hit iranian targets including their nuclear facilities. This is the x factor. As we talk about the development on the ground with his unfolding ballistic Missile Attack, what appears to be in the low hundres of Ballistic Missiles fired toward israel. According to irans irg c, response to the killing of hezbollah leader and the hamas leader. Israeli officials, some of the belief that this is an opportunity for israel. They have watched iran not only develop their Missile Program thats now being used to target israel, as israeli officials warned of the past several years but their real concern is their nuclear program. According to top nuclear watchdogs, the iranians are striven to enrich uranium very close to weapons grade material. This means their Breakout Period for a nuclear bomb has been reduced to weeks. If they have the ability to create a nuclear weapon and attached to a ballistic Missile Theyve just shown tonight can reach israel, it is a catastrophic situation for this country. The coming hours and days will be significant to watch what the Israelis Response will be. As we continue to follow the development on the ground here we are also watching the developing story and we will see if you can get the map Back Up of jaffa, just south of Tel Aviv where officials have updated that eight people were killed in that Shooting Attack that began before the Missile Attack from iran started. John so much happening all at once. Trey, youre going to let you stand by. I wanted to take a look at this statement from iranian State Media that you read. Irg see, islamic revolutionary Guard Corps in response to the martyrdom of haniyeh. Hassan the swallow and a third, we targeted the heart of the occupied territories. If the Zionist Regime reacts will face questioning attacks. The fact they use the word targeted in the past tense might be an indication this is over. Theyre also saying its not just for haniyeh but for nasrallah and another as well. Basically saying to israel, saying dont respond, we will hit back again if you do. I dont know your thoughts about whether this is over or not. Theres also the Question Of, does israel just let this go . Does israel respond as well, noting that after the Takeout Of Nasrallah, iran moved the Ayatollah Khamenei to a safe undisclosed location. Trey. Israeli officials are not likely to let this go. They dont want the dynamic to change. Despite the fact that we are clearly stepping upon regional escalation ladder. If we can zoom out here for the second. We look at the 30,000foot view of the situation on the ground, israel over the past year has been directly battling iranian proxies, not just on the ground In Gaza with hamas and Islamic Jihad, thats one front. Also with hezbollah in Southern Lebanon which overnight we saw as the israelis went into Southern Lebanon on the ground, we were actually embedded overnight with an israeli Commando Unit as they went to a Hezbollah Position near to the israel lebanon border. Then you have the iranbacked houthi rebels in yemen, a third front that this week was active as they fired a Ballistic Missile at Tel Aviv. Then you have iran itself tonight firing Ballistic Missiles toward israel. And they you have the west bank, the iranians have been pushing weapons and support toward hamas and Islamic Jihad cells there and then you have iran backed iraqi and syrian shia militias. Its a seven front conflict. The israelis feel they have to come according to officials, escalate to deescalate. Thats the current policy of the israeli defense in Tel Aviv. We dont anticipate that will change. John thats what we are seeing in lebanon as well. Weve got to get some information from stateside. Standby. Sandra, back to you. Sandra waiting on update reminding Viewers Response from the White House, there is a roofing that was originally scheduled for 1 30 p. M. Eastern time. That would be about 14 minutes from now. We will see if thats happening. If so, what the response is from the biden White House. State Department Briefing is expected top of the hour, 2 00 eastern time. We are starting to get some Brandnew Reaction from congress. Senator Lindsey Graham is calling for an attack. He says its a breaking point. Hes urging the biden administration a target iranian oil refineries, says Hes Oil refineries need to be hit and hit hard because that is the source of cash for the regime to perpetrate their terror. Youre watching obviously the Night Sky in israel. Okay. This is what was to happen late in the last hour. When the Missile Attacks began. Youre going to watch the Night Sky light up. Lets watch together. [sirens wailing] [explosions] sandra Israeli Army confirms nearly 200 missiles were launched from iran. Irans revolutionary guard is saying the Missile Launches are in retaliation for the recent killings of leadership of hezbollah. Lets bring in chief national Security Correspondent jennifer griffin. What shes hearing right now for the pentagon. Hi, jennifer. Hi, sandra paid President Biden called a meeting of the national Security Advisors of the Vice President harris to live the White House. That was earlier today. We learned Defense Secretary Lloyd austin spoke with his counterpart in israel earlier today. It was a second time they had spoken in the past 24 hours. Obviously u. S. Military assets are on high alert. We have just learned the airspace over israel, jordan, and iraq has been enclosed. That suggests there could be more activity in the air. Of course, u. S. Warships in the eastern mediterranean, uss cole, uss arleigh burke, and the us Uss Bulkley among others. They have onboard Missile Interceptors so crucial back in the april time frame. Give a host of u. S. Warships In The Red Sea as well as the Uss Abraham Lincoln that is closer to iran in the arabian sea. So that is a lot of firepower that the u. S. Military has in the region, in addition to 40,000 u. S. Troops as well as squadrons of f22s, f15s, among other aircraft that will be utilized in the event that there are more waves of attacks on israel. The question now, as trey has pointed out, how will israel respond, theres been a warning from the Irg See from the leaders of iran saying do not respond. It is unlikely that israel will heed that warning, we have heard the Supreme Leader plans to lead Friday Prayers in tehran on friday of this week. Thats a very unusual move by the Supreme Leader, he does not do that frequently. The last time i can remember him doing that was after the killing of the Irg See general qassem soleimani. Tensions absolutely high. There are multiple fronts and the pentagon is watching clo closely. Sharing information in realtime. Counterparts, u. S. Central command coordinating all with Israel