Reports that Israel has carried out attack on Iran

good morning from Jerusalem I'm yalda

hakeim and we've woken up in the early

hours of this morning to learn that uh

Israel has launched an attack on Iran

now we are being told that this attack

is limited there is still very little

information coming out uh but we have

learned uh from various sources that

this strike was limited but the fact

remains that Israel has attacked Iran

almost a week after Iran attacked uh

Israel so the situation here is

escalating and it is a very tense time

let me bring in our Middle East

correspondent Alistair bunol who's here

with me in Jerusalem and Alistar all

week we heard that there might be a

potential strike back from Israel and in

the early hours of this morning that's

exactly what's happened it is the

Israeli government had been taking a lot

of advice from their allies President

Biden saying take the wi Lord Cameron

and the German foreign minister both in

Israel this week also trying to

um gently nudge Israel away from

anything uh that could lead us into the

path of War but ultimately Netanyahu was

clear Israel would always do uh what it

felt was in its own best interests and

in the interest of its future security

and so I don't think there was ever much

doubt that Israel was going to carry out

some sort of response after what Iran

did here on Saturday night and now we

know or we're starting to find out at

least what that response is indeed and

um this is a as you say a a tense moment

and now I mean the ball is very much in

Iran's Court yeah I think so so I again

you know it is the early hours so we

must cave out all of this in that the

news is unfolding and we are learning

more about what has happened but it

looks as though there has been a strike

on an air base in the Iranian city of

Isfahan now I think that is significant

for two reasons firstly it is quite

close to an Iranian uh nuclear facility

I think a research facility now there's

no suggestion that facility has been hit

whatsoever but it does send a message

from Israel to Iran that you know we can

go there if we want to and we're not

frightened to if we're pushed to do so

in the future but secondly the base

that's hit I think is connected to

Iran's uh military aviation industry and

so it wouldn't be a surprise to me if we

learn that perhaps some of the drones

that were flown here on Saturday night

were manufactured or part of the Drone

were manufactured at that Airbase so

that sort of draws a link and

so it suggests that Israel's response

has been carefully calibrated and

thought through Netanyahu would have had

an a menu of options on the table

provided to him by the Israeli Defense

Forces probably at the top would have

been strikes on Iran's nuclear um

facilities and maybe assassination

attempts on senior individuals um and

then it would have been down in sort of

a decreasing scale I would put this

lower down the scale if this is it and

we don't know but if this is it I put it

lower down the scale so the question is

what happens next and that is down to

Iran does Iran see this as an escalation

it needs to respond to or does it

somehow try to downplay it yeah I mean

when we think about uh the the timeline

of the past 6 months I mean we see

October 7 take place and then Israel

obviously uh enters Gaza and launches

their uh operation the war in Gaza

begins just a few weeks after

and then significant things happen like

April the 1st where we saw that

diplomatic compound being Iranian

diplomatic compound being struck in

Damascus in Syria where a senior

revolutionary guard Commander is killed

and then the attack of last weekend and

now as part of that timeline what we're

seeing today I mean we are seeing these

tensions between these two states really

ratcheting up and in the last few days

the war of words really ratchet it up as

well yeah I I I would always be careful

to separate the war of words from from

actual action particularly the Iranians

um will often speak with a lot of

emotion um but actually what they do in

terms of their actions can be far more

careful and far more considered um the

Israelis will deny until they're blw in

the face that what they hit in Damascus

was in any way part of the Iranian

diplomatic compound I've got to be

honest I think even amongst our allies

they don't really have much support in

that argument I think most people see it

as uh saw that as as quite a moment and

they took out um this senior General

connected Iranian General who's

connected to hisbah and six other

Iranian officers

so you know we can argue and people will

argue whether that was the start of it

or not but it was really the start of

this current sort of round of crisis

between Israel and Iran Iran then takes

its time to respond and we saw that what

it did on Saturday night now I think a

lot of people say what Iran did was an

escalation 300 plus drones missiles and

ballistic missiles fired at Israel it

was the ballistic missiles for Israel

were the red line now what four five

days later we have Israel's response to

that and I would read this actually

as lesser I don't see them actually

doing more inre you know escalating

escalating escalating but slightly less

and diplomats have been speaking to this

week what they want to see is that this

crisis would gradually like a Falling

Leaf starts to sort of drift and fizzle

out with increasingly uh lesser events

going on this could be that it could be

that depending on what the Iranians

decide to do indeed um thanks so much

ali uh for all of that and of course we

will be going back to Ali in a moment

for all of his assessment but let's go

live now to Alex Rossy who joins us from

northern Israel and um Alex we woke up

in the early hours of this morning and

and saw that strike which the Americans

are describing as limited uh but what we

did see was Israel has responded to

Iran's attack last

week yeah that's right I mean certainly

the indications from the Israelis were

that they would hit back it would be a

military response bearing in mind it

needs to be a military response to what

happened on Saturday there would have to

be some kind of symmetry to it remember

that what they are doing it's not the

blind use of force it sends signals it's

messaging it's strategic and it's

tactical in nature so it would make

sense that they hit a base uh in Iran

where some of those drones were

manufactured that would have a logic to

it but the fact that it is most likely

Limited in nature also suggests that

perhaps it's de-escalatory there is a

chance here for the Iranians uh to deny

it happened or deny that there was

significant damage and they can now move

past uh this incident um I think the

thing to bear in mind is whether or not

this is the end of it remember we'll

wind back to April the 1st that was uh a

covert strike attributed to the Israelis

and denied by the Israelis part of what

is known here as the shadow War that's

been fought by Iran and Israel for many

years Iran uses what's known as its axis

of resistance its proxies in the region

uh to attack the Israelis now the

message that the Iranians sent was

actually you can't Carry On In the

Shadows anymore you can't attack our

nuclear scientists you can't attack our

Iranian generals uh without there being

some kind of response so do we see this

this over attack which sends the signal

uh to the Iranians that they can't

launch missiles we aren't fearful Israel

says and we will strike back and we will

strike deep in Iranian territory we will

strike a city where drones were perhaps

manufactured where your nuclear program

is but also we are going to carry on

with the shadow war and we haven't seen

that yet does Israel carry on will we

see an attack which is denied by Israel

but actually causes some serious

destruction uh to the Iranian regime so

we we watched that I think underlying

all of this of course is that this

remains an extraordinarily dangerous

moment Israel is facing crisis on

multiple fronts the uh war against Hamas

is far from finished on the northern

border here in Israel there are daily

exchanges there's a low-level war going

on y between hisbah and the Israeli

military that itself is enough of a

flash point to cause a more significant

War which could tumble which would have

its own deadly logic into a far greater

regional conflict so this is a really

dangerous time but we wait of course to

see what the Iranian reaction is now to

this Israeli

attack uh indeed um Alex thank you so

much for all of your analysis there

let's go live now to Alex Crawford who

joins us from Beirut and um Alex uh as

Alex Rossy was saying there in Northern

uh Israel I mean this really is a a

dangerous moment um everyone is now

watching very closely to how uh the

Iranians will respond although uh

Iranian State media is now trying to to

play this down and we've heard from the

Americans that this was a a limited

strike I think everyone behind the

scenes will be doing just that trying to

play it down because certainly all the

people that we've been speaking to over

the past few days those within Hezbollah

those very close to Hezbollah the

politicians here in Lebanon some of

those connected to Hezbollah some of

those just part of the Lebanese

government all stressing that uh they

don't want War uh that also very

carefully underlined they don't fear war

and that it the ball is very much in the

Israeli Court uh we were surrounded by a

number of Hezbollah Fighters yesterday

huge crowds of Hezbollah supporters and

Loyalists at a funeral there are

multiple funerals uh every week from the

crossb exchanges with those uh down

south in uh with against the border with

Israel and all of them very determined

to uh hit back if they saw a significant

attack by the Israelis obviously there's

a long history of distrust between

Hezbollah and the Israelis uh very close

links with Hezbollah and Iran because uh

they even had posters of aahi at the at

the funeral a lot of people professing

loyalty to Iran as well as Hezbollah it

was a a time of of grief to focus on

those who'd been killed in the war

because they feel there are very many

but also to show us and to show everyone

else that they are strong very many of

them saying that they're strong they're

powerful uh Hezbollah itself has a

military and political wing and its

military Wing is said to be far more

powerful than the Lebanese Army so there

was a big show uh for the families for

those who belong to Hezbollah but as

foreigners and as a a foreign media team

there they were determined to let us

know that there was no fear if there was

a retaliation if there was a big uh as

in their view provocative strike from

Israel but certainly behind the scenes

all the political Maneuvers all the

Diplomatic Maneuvers all the attempts

are to try to play this down you heard

the Lebanese foreign minister earlier

this week Yer talking about how the ball

was in Israel's court that they had only

a certain amount of influence over

Hezbollah that if there was a big

provocative strike it would spread out

into a massive big Regional war and

maybe even further that it would draw in

the houthis in Yemen the Mila group in

Syria the Hezbollah linked groups in

Syria as well as in Iraq and of of

course here in Lebanon a country which

has already suffered for many years from

a massive economic downturn and years of

of War now they believe here in in uh

the south of Lebanon particularly that

they are already engaged in a low-level

third front the Lebanese foreign

minister again underlining that that

there is this almost forgotten third

front in this this whole Middle East war

and that is the Lebanese Israeli order

where they are having multiple strikes

it's there's seen a massive increase

since the weekend in the number of of

strikes on the border with uh a number

of of funerals if we gauge the

casualties in that a number of funerals

per day since since we've just been here

and thousands and thousands of people

displaced on both sides of the Border

nearly 80 villages in towns on this side

of the Border in Lebanon in the south of

Lebanon which have had to been emptied

which are now ghost towns because of the

regular firing between the two sides

between Israel and Hezbollah but again

Hezbollah telling us at least over and

over again that of course Hezbollah is

not the same as Hamas they felt they

were a target of the Israelis since

October the 7th because they are seen to

be so close to Iran because they've had

these very fundamental links with Iran

but they very much do not see themselves

in quite the same vulnerable position as

Hamas they are a big strong Army that

once defeated uh uh and pushed out

Israeli troops back in 2006 they feel

now that they have grown developed

become much more powerful built up their

Arsenal um built up their their fighting

force they're not the same as they were

back in in those days in 2006 they

believe they're much stronger so the

whole time that we've been here uh since

the Iranian drone and missile attack

over the weekend they've been constant

uh telling us constant um attempts to

tell us about you know warnings almost

through us to the rest of the world do

not try and attack make a wides scale

large scale attack on Iran and from by

all accounts this could be seen to be

very low scale so I'm sure this everyone

will be working massively behind the

scenes to try and P persuade the

Iranians and also Hezbollah that it is

just that it is too low scale in fact

the first indication from the Hezbollah

leadership is that that is how they're

viewing it that they don't in their

words that the Israelis don't seem to

have a plan that it's clear they don't

have the uh the wherewithal to to make a

big scale attack so they are the the

first first uh uh statements from

Hezbollah is that they they are also are

trying to pass it off as as nothing