Msnbc headquarters here at new york city. And we begin this evenings broadcast with major breaking international news. The u. S. Has carried out military strikes and syria today. Secretary of defense lloyd austin said President Biden ordered selfdefense drags onto facilities in Eastern Syria used by irans revolutionary guard. He added the strikes our response to attacks against u. S. Personnel in iraq and syri by iranianbacked militia grps. Joining me now on the phone to discuss, my colleague msnbc White House Correspondent peter alexander. Peter, what can you tell us about how biden order the strikes and why they were carried out today . Stephen, a first, i think we should put this in the context of what weve been watching happen in the middle east. And as we heard from lloyd austin night, the u. S. Military action, these defensive strikes, if as you describe them, they do come amid the rising tensions in that region with the rising tension between israel and hamas, but also called th
Airstrikes overnight onto locations in Eastern Syria used by irans revolutionary guard, and quote, affiliated groups. Defense secretary lloyd austin saying in a statement that the stripes were a response to a series of ongoing and mostly unsuccessful attacks against u. S. Personnel in iraq and syria by iranianbacked militia groups. That began just over a week ago. And in those instances, millicent used drones and rockets to attack multiple u. S. Installations in the region. The pentagon says those attacks left 21 americans with minor injuries. One u. S. Contractor died of a cardiac event. Now there is a precedent here. The u. S. Is launched similar Aitrikes Including Last March One another u. S. Contractor was syria. By a malicious drone Defense Secretary austin described the launch aquote, selfdefense. Anin a statement called them separate and distinct from the israel hamas conflict. But of course, iran is a backer of hamas. All of, it putting u. S. Forces in a delicate position. Tryi
doses are going to south africa, the single largest shipment to date by the united state to any country. nigeria is the most populous country in africa with more than 200 million people, it has a vaccination rate now of less than 1%. south africa has nearly 60 million people, and the vaccination rate of 4%. last monpresident biden announced the united states would buy and donate 500 million doses of low, to low moderate income countries around the world. that is tonight s last word, the 11th hour with brian williams starts now. williams starts now. good evening once again, i m chris dancing in from brian williams. did 191 of the biden administration. we begin tonight with breaking news from the washington post, critical new information about the delta variant of the coronavirus. the paper has obtained the
therefore, i should be elected. the more chaos, the better for him. look. from a political aspect he s smart to sa said what he did. chris dancing, you re traveling with jeb bush in texas near the border. how is he going to try to show a contrast with donald trump today on this issue of immigration and border security that has been problematic for him so far? reporter: yeah. if you hear him speak, they couldn t be more different in any number of ways. so the reason immigration got back into the news is this whole birth rite citizenship. donald trump wants to get rid of it. jeb bush has been very clear. you re born here, you stay here. he mocks the fact that donald trump wants to deport 11 million people and then bridge back the good ones saying, first of all you can t do it logistically and the cost is prohibitive. and then you have donald trump s immigration plan, and, in fact, his plan when he was talking