LIVE BREAKING: IRAN STRIKES ISRAEL - Continuing Coverage

hello welcome to cbn's continuing

coverage of Iran's attack their drone

attack on Israel thank you all who are

joining us who are watching Chuck

holton's live stream just moments ago we

appreciate you all being here this is

cbn's continuing coverage and I'm joined

Now by cbn's George Thomas George is in

Romania right now so it's very late I

think 1:00 am there appreciate you uh

taking the time to continue this

coverage we're going to be hearing from

cbn's Chris Mitchell as well who's in

Jerusalem and he is working to get to a

location right now a safe location that

he can uh join us on this stream so stay

tuned for that we'll have Chris on as

soon as we can George so the situation

is this Iran has launched they've said

they've launched dozens of drones but

then that report is up that was the

initial report now it's up to hundreds

of drones and and missiles and Rockets

but a lot of them are slow moving we'll

get into the details on this so they say

this attack is likely to unfold over

hours time because they don't go very

fast takes a while to get there so a lot

to unpack here George where do you want

to start well I mean I think you know it

reminds me so much of the events leading

up to the war in Ukraine the US

intelligence uh back then was it it was

coming Fast and Furious and and the

United States was uh pretty much two

weeks before the war in uh in Ukraine

and Russia's invasion of Ukraine they

were putting out guys the intelligence

uh almost every day warning of a

potential attack on Ukraine and we see

the same Playbook uh in the last uh what

I would say 72 hours uh in relation to

the uh potential attack by Iran on

Israel we have seen an escalation of

that uh information from the White House

which is very very you know again

reminiscent of what I saw uh during the

uh during the escalation of the war

between Russia and Ukraine the same kind

of intelligence and so the United States

has spent the last three days guys

really four days really timing this

according to the end of Ramadan there

was this expectation uh that that Iran

would respond uh to the attack that the

Iran that the Israelis launched against

uh this high ranking uh revolutionary

Guard a military operative who was

working in Syria uh the Israelis

basically accused him of launching

multiple attacks across the border into

Israel was very much a part of the

calculus of what was happening in Israel

as relates Visa the war against Hamas

and so we've been seeing the sort of

steady drip of information and then in

the last 24 hours uh President Biden

went on on on on live television saying

again once again warning again dramatic

escalation because you knew that this

was very very serious and the potential

of an Iranian response uh to this

Israeli attack was imminent again the

United States we have not seen this

before keep in mind we've not seen this

before and it reminded me so much guys

of uh the events playing out in Ukraine

why because I was in Ukraine two weeks

before the war started on February 24th

on 2023 I was in Ukraine and I I would

hear this constant drum beat that the

war was going to happen the US had the

intelligence they knew it they knew this

was going to happen and we saw the same

thing happening uh in this situation

again the United States warning uh tahan

uh that any kind of response would be

met with not just Unity with Israel but

also a potential escalation

uh in the in in in the in the conflict

in the region I I think guys listen this

is a game changer I mean I cannot I

cannot emphasize why this is a

GameChanger why because for the longest

time uh Iran has used its proxies uh in

the Middle East uh for the longest time

be it in Iraq in Syria they have used

their proxies those who uh adhere to the

uh to the the mullah in in Iran uh you

know and and they have used their

proxies be it Hamas be it Hezbollah be

it Syria be it Iraq to launch their

attacks against the state of Israel but

this is very very different because we

have if the reporting is accurate

between 400 and 500 of these Shahed 136

drones and I'm a little bit familiar

with this because just a few weeks ago

guys I was in Ukraine reporting from the

port city of adessa about Russia's use

of Iranian made Shahed 136 drones and in

essence how uh very in uh very cheap uh

to to manufacture uh very easy to deploy

and also very lethal and in the process

of my reporting from adessa i f focused

on a family that was uh a husband who

lost his wife and four-month-old baby

from the city of adessa uh the Russians

have been notorious at using uh this uh

particular drone the shahad 136 in its

deployment in across Ukraine and it's

been a menace it has been a menace for

the ukrainians they have gone after

these Shahed drones have gone after uh

the power plants the electrical grid the

water supply in Ukraine and so that's

what we have uh potentially approaching

Israel in the next couple of hours and

um and and I've got some very serious

concerns about uh what what lies ahead

in the next few hours guys all right and

uh if you're just joining us Dan Andre

here with CBN joined by cbn's George

Thomas who is in Romania and um we just

are following up Chuck Holton live

stream he covered some of this as well

and we will continue to bring you all

the information that we have on this

this drone attack this missile attack

launched by Iran George can you talk to

me a little bit and and by the way for

you in the chat we're going to try to

monitor the chat there's so many of you

in there already

14,000 um I just put question in big

caps and we will try to flag as many of

those questions as we can I saw one in

there earlier asking if any of these

missiles have hit yet any of these

drones have hit yet yeah uh want you go

ahead with that one first I had more to

ask you typically look I think the good

thing look I mean let's let's be real

here Israel has the Israel in

conjunction with the United States and

our allies in the region have the

ability to track uh these drone uh

flight path and and they typically can

travel the Shahed 136 can travel up to

about 1200 miles easily within the

within the uh the the the strike zones

so to speak of of Israel so Israel is

clearly monitoring this here's my big

concern right my big concern is that if

you launch about 400 to 500 of these

drones simultaneously and they typically

for example when I was in adessa I

landed in adessa about a day and a half

after a major attack on the port city of

adessa they had launched about eight of

these kamakazi Shahed 136 drones from

the Crimean Peninsula into the city of

adessa now that's eight okay that's

eight and the ukrainians were able to in

intercept uh six of them uh they weren't

able to intercept two of them two of

them ended up hitting

a a residential area and I ended up

doing a story about the family that was

killed in the process so just multiply

that by what 40 if you've got 300 to 400

of these uh uh Shahed 136 drones coming

at you it's a little bit more

complicated here's the other thing that

I'm also concerned the flight path it I

mean it's supposed to take you know what

what, 1200 miles from tan if it's coming

straight from tan into into Israel the

big concern guys that I have is that in

the next in the next couple of hours if

if the Iranian proxies in Syria and Iraq

and then also Hezbollah just about a

week ago guys I was uh reporting

exclusively from inside Hezbollah

territory in South Lebanon my big

concern is that if all of these guys all

of these actors decide in the next

couple of hours to launch this massive

uh uh uh drone missile um um a mortar

attack from the south from the north

from the East uh we could be we could be

facing some really really challenging

times uh ahead hours ahead for Israel uh

if it's 300 to 400 that's a massive

amount of drones coming at you into the

Israeli airspace but then combine that

if Hezbollah decides in the next couple

of hours to time it so that you know at

around the same time that drones are

hitting Israel in you know a couple of

hours if they launch mortar attacks I

was doing a story I was interviewing one

of the leading experts on Hezbollah

sarit zahav who has who lives probably

about 2 three miles kilometer miles away

from healah positions in the northern of

northern part of Israel and her big

concern was these infrared um uh

anti-tank missiles new tech technology

that the uh that hisbah has launched in

the last well six seven months since uh

the attacks on on on on Israel from

Hamas you know these infrared guided

missiles anti-tank guided missiles uh

cannot be stopped by by the Israeli iron

dorm so just imagine your you're getting

hit from multiple possessions this is my

big concern whether in conjunct with the

United States whether the United States

and Israel will be able to fend off all

of these multiple missile ballistic

drone motor attacks from all of these

areas all right jge just one thing I

want to ask you I'm looking I'm watching

the comments here and um uh Shane or

Michelle I don't know which one it is

Shane or Michelle Shepard they um ask

will the they have specific units but

the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Italy and

the US quick reaction force will they be

called on I mean I guess the major thing

is Will other uh other countries like

America be involved in trying to thwart

these attacks I know you just covered uh

some of that as well so that was one

question we had and then I had another

one George which was this um why so

deliberate we we know about this I don't

think I ever can recall and I know it's

the type of weapon that's contributing

to this but I don't ever recall being

like all right there's this tack

unfolding and it's going to take a

couple of hours and uh it just feels

very telegraphed I mean it's either the

worst surprise attack in history or they

they wanted to make this known to

everybody uh very clearly so uh those

couple questions what's the level of

involvement going to be for the other

nations including America and then why

so deliberate here by Iran yeah

fantastic questions guys I mean really

is the good thing is that uh you know

since October 7th the United States

along with our NATO allies and other

Western allies have positioned strategic

um U Assets in the Mediterranean you

know in in in essence to send a very

clear signal not just to uh Iran but

also to also to Hezbollah and the

various proxies keep in mind uh since

October 7th since the horrific attacks

by Hamas on Israel on October 7th uh the

United States as well as our allies have

positioned uh various Assets in the

Mediterranean to really send a very

clear signal to all of the the players

in the in the region look listen if

you're going to launch any kind of an

attack against Israel uh the United

States as well as Great Britain and

other allies will get involved and they

have positioned those assets the United

States uh is very much involved in the

region be it whether it's in Syria in

Iraq uh we have our assets we will

continue to use those and call upon

those and and I think there was this

anticipation of uh look n none of this

has caught the United States by surprise

I mean if if it is I mean my goodness uh

you know I would call into question

those who are at the light switch are

you guys really aware of what's going on

clearly the United States knew the

position knew the possibility of this

escalating into a regional conflict it

was gearing up look the the the tea

leaves were there uh you know people say

well what's been happening since October

7th be it the proxies who were launching

attacks against uh us as well as other

International uh uh cargo coming through

the sus Canal the houthis were launching

attacks against these vessels coming

through this very strategic part of the

of the world a lot of Commerce coming

through the suest canal so so we know

that this the potential of this

happening was very very real uh so so I

think a the United States is prepared as

well as our allies I think what is what

is a little concerning to me personally

having spent time in Israel having spent

time in Ukraine and just having gotten

out of of South Lebanon is this idea of

of of of of a

multi-front um uh attack against Israel

one of the big concerns that uh that

serit zahav uh uh one of the leading

experts in in in Israel on Hezbollah was

she had seen in the last a couple of

weeks an uptick of arms smuggling uh

through the various conduits that Iran

uses be it from Syria from Iraq and Via

Jordan in fact uh in fact right after

October 7th when I went into Israel uh

to report on the massacre a couple of

weeks later uh you know I did a story

about the various weapons that was

flowing into the West Bank and the big

concern is that Iran was using its

proxies the sort of network of of weapon

smuggling that was coming through Syria

coming through Iraq and then coming

through the Jordanian border into the

West Bank and the big concern is that as

Israel was focusing on uh Gaza would a

second front open up on the West Bank uh

right and this idea that that that

Israel would be cons would be dealing

with a second front immediately Israel

went in cordoned off the West Bank began

to focus on that the jordanians

obviously helped because Israel and

Jordan have have a relationship as they

have had uh historically with Egypt it's

a tenuous relationship uh Jordan the

king Hussein has been playing since

October 7th the sort of you know back

and forth uh trying to keep the

Jordanian um uh uh uh Community uh you

know calm calmed them down in the face

of all the things that was taking place

uh in the Gaza Strip so the big concern

is that you know that that that Israel

could deal with not just retaliation

from the West Bank obviously now from

the North and then from Iran uh and then

its proxies but again this is really

important we knew this was coming the

potential of this happening we've been

talking about it we've been reporting

about it but the game Cher here the big

game changer here is that Iran instead

of using its proxies has launched a

direct attack from Iran that is huge and

the time timing of this and what kind of

missile technology they will choose to

launch in timing of these drone attacks

and could this potentially overwhelm

Israel uh at a time when it's dealing

with again a multiple front that is the

big concern yeah it certainly is good

points there George and if you're just

joining us cbn's George Thomas there in

Romania talking about this attack that

Iran has launched on Israel I'm cbn's

Dan Andros thank you so much uh for

being here on our continuing live

coverage for those of you with Chuck

hton and now George and I and we have

Chris Mitchell on the way uh and I saw

in the chat here those asking for

prayers for cbn's Julie stall and um

Chris Mitchell and their team there in

Israel because we don't know what's

going to happen with this attack and

it's on the way uh as George was talking

about there these Jones on the way and

you know one thing I want to know uh

somebody I think MZ username in the chat

mentioned this question and it's more of

a point and I had the same one George

and um would be interested to get your

reaction to this it's a subtle thing but

it's something that the mainstream media

does all the time in situations like

this with Israel they're calling it a

retaliatory attack and this is how MZ

rephrases after six months of Iranian

proxy attacks against Israel including

October 7th how can they label this a

retaliation that is one of those

frustrating things that the mainstream

media sort of does that that it's a

subtle thing and people just sort of

read the news but it leaves the

impression that Israel is just out here

attacking Iran exactly yeah and again

you know this this this attack that the

Iran that Israel obviously they did not

uh take credit for but I think everybody

in the International Community and it

you know it has the sort of the

fingerprint uh of of of an Israeli uh

operation and and they're very very good

at it taking out this very high ranking

irgc uh commander in downtown Damascus

right next to uh next to the Iranian

consulate uh again what what the

Israelis have done as I have seen in

South Lebanon having reported from

inside Hezbollah uh territory just about

a week week and a half ago uh you know

they they're going after these

individuals who have been very much a

part of the the the the the attacks that

hasbalah launched shortly after uh the

massacre on October 7th in um uh you

know in support of Hamas on October on

October 8th they know these various

locations where they launch their

missile attacks against this is Israel

defending itself in the process uh this

is not a retaliatory attack they went

strategically after this particular

individual that Israel claims was a

mastermind was involved uh in the

various uh operations within the Gaza

Strip but also more importantly uh

inside of uh of South Lebanon uh and

within the Hezbollah territory and again

you know obviously that's the narrative

that that Hamas and Hezbollah and Iran

would like to uh would like to view this

at but again you know it's it's it's a

GameChanger for Iran to take such a step

because wow I mean this is a huge risk

on their part right this is a huge risk

on their part keep in mind you know we

have a population

within Iran that is not necessarily 100%

supportive of the of the regime in Iran

because I've been inside Iran I've

reported now granted it's been quite

some time but I don't think a lot has

changed uh inside Iran I mean this is a

beautiful country that is yearning for

freedom and when I reported for for cban

news from inside Iran many many years

ago uh the Iran from many years ago has

not changed guys uh till to 2024

remember we had the um we had the huge

demonstrations the huge protest against

Masa amini the brave woman in Iran uh

two years ago who decided to take off

her her veil uh who took off her her

hijab uh in order to protest against the

Islamic regime uh keep in mind these are

the Iranian people uh today inside of

Iran who are pushing the envelope uh

pushing against the mulas of Iran so so

I would I would suffice to say having

reported extensively on Iran over these

many many years uh and having visited

Iran uh you know this is this is

something that the Iranian people don't

want uh it is uh it's it's something

that runs contrary to the populace uh

and and uh they want to live in Peace

and Freedom uh and it runs contrary to

what uh what the Islamic regime and the

mulas are are urging for so it's a very

different it will be interesting to see

in the next couple of hours how the

Iranian um Street uh responds to this

let me also add this very very important

caveat uh guys very important to realize

having spent time in South

leanon the

Lebanese they do not want war with

Israel they don't they are in an

economic mess their economy is in

tatters uh they just you know a couple

of years what what was it four three

years ago four years ago when that

massive explosion at the Beirut B uh

Beirut uh um Port that I mean I was just

there guys just a just a couple of days

ago in Beirut and it destroyed this

beautiful you know Lebanon is called the

Paris of it used to be called the Paris

of the Middle East Lebanon does not want

the majority of Lebanese people do not

want war with Israel and I and having

spent time in South Lebanon uh amongst

the people for 10 days reporting

exclusively from inside Hezbollah

territory I can tell you without a

shadow a doubt they do not want war with

Israel in fact uh many of the people

that I spoke to uh said to me very

openly and they were not afraid to go on

camera and in fact they've gone on

public television in Lebanon saying to

Hezbollah very boldly did you ask us as

Lebanese citizen whether we want to go

to war with Israel did you consult us

and they resoundingly said no this war

that is between Israel and Hamas has

nothing to do with Lebanon leave us out

of it so the point that I'm trying to

make here is that is that both in tahan

and in Beirut and in South Lebanon the

populace the people do not want war with

Israel that is the truth and and and

they do not want that they don't see

this as as their war that this is

something that deals with Israel and

Hamas it's got nothing to do with Iran

nothing to do uh with

Lebanon all right all right cbn's Dan

Andros here joined by cbn's George

Thomas who's in Romania we are talking

about if you're just joining us this

attack an unprecedented attack direct

attack here by Iran on Israel sending

hundreds reportedly of these drones and

uh missiles at Israel so uh we're and

they're slow moving so they're taking a

while to get there as we talked about a

very deliberate sort of attack here and

so we have these reports as they're

going so we're going to be talking to

cbn's Chris Mitchell here in a little

bit as well from Jerusalem from Israel

uh and so as soon as he's able to and

he's in a safe spot we will we will go

ahead and bring him into this live

stream there's 31,000 of you on this uh

stream and we're so appreciative you are

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well if you want to Super Chat there's

so many people chatting if you'd

definitely like us to catch your

question go ahead and send a Super Chat

that would be a donation to CBN we would

certainly appreciate that as well and we

did get one from Kevin frell and Kevin

asked this in his super chat and thanks

for that Super Chat by the way Kevin

really appreciate that he asked uh to

you George what is the possibility of

these drones having biological chemical

or even nuclear ordinance on them yeah

probably not nuclear ordinance uh the

possibility of of chemical biological is

is is there is that potential but I

hardly think so uh because we haven't

seen that kind of Technology uh utilized

by by the Russians in in in Ukraine uh

but who knows we we're living today you

know on on April 13th at least here in

uh in Bucharest Romania uh you know

we're we're in a different kind of world

today uh as we see these uh drones being

being launched directly from uh from uh

from inside of Iran uh the potential for

those chemical and biological yes but I

I think more more of it is is uh you

know is Iran sending this message that

it's it's uh it's getting involved

directly involved after many many years

of using its various proxies uh in the

in the region uh and it's directly

getting uh you know directly getting

involved in in the process uh so I I

wouldn't be very concerned uh

immediately the other thing that I'm I'm

also I that I would be I'm more

concerned about is the use of ballistic

missiles coming outside of uh of Iran

this is this is huge uh again I cannot

stress the sort of concern that I have

of all of these coming at Iran rather at

at Israel at the very same time and

whether the United States and Israel in

conjunction with the various technology

that Israel has deployed over the many

many years uh in order to deal with the

existential threat that it faces from

the region whether it can handle a

barrage of these U uh of these attacks

from multiple uh multiple uh locations

that's the that's the big concern for

sure all right again breaking news here

we've got Iran attacking Israel and we

got another question here George from a

username Astro in the chat asking will

this attack put Iran in big trouble and

as I said yesterday with Chris Mitchell

George I'll hop on my Soap Box real

quick here uh real quick and then get

you a response but I've had that similar

thought and I thought the reason

potentially one of these attacks is

happening why is Iran so bold now and

part of it could be and I'd like your

reaction to this as well George the fact

that Hamas blatantly launched a horrific

terrorist attack on October 7th on

Israel and we see the response from the

United States has largely been one of

calling on Israel to restrain itself

basically criticizing Israel for its

response to it and so if you're