Sirens sounding for 'hostile aircraft' incursion in Israel: Trey Yingst

I want to go back to where we start at the top of the broadcast, which is live to Tel Aviv, on the ground in Israel. Trey Yanks to find out what exactly Trey is yearning. What are you gleaning? What are you being told from your position, Trey? Yeah. Hey, Trace. We’ve reached out to Israeli defense officials and others here in Tel Aviv working to get confirmation from the Israelis that they are indeed striking Iranian territory right now. We’ve not yet been able to hear from anyone inside Israel’s Kiriad, their version of the Pentagon, but we do expect in the coming hours, Israeli officials likely to comment on the situation in the Middle East, or at least allude to the activity and response against the Iranians. We’re also following new reports from Iranian and state media indicating that air defense systems were reportedly active in several provinces across Iran. This is significant because it is coming from state media and also an indication that these strikes, as Jennifer reports, could be from unmanned aircraft took place in multiple different locations. We have no confirmation about the specific targets inside Iranian territory, but within the Isfahan province, for example, there are Iranian nuclear research facilities where the Iranians have been pushing advanced program studies and specifics when it comes to uranium enrichment to get the country closer to a nuclear weapon. Also at this hour trace, Iranian state media is reporting that Tehran’s International Airport is closed for the next several hours. As we told you earlier this hour, there were a number of civilian aircraft coming from the Gulf inside Iranian airspace. When these strikes began, they made U turns and headed back toward the Gulf. Understanding this is an incredibly unpredictable situation and if these reports from Iranian state media are accurate of air defense systems active across the territory, they certainly don’t want any civilian aircraft in this airspace. It’s of note here that while these are likely strikes carried out by the Israelis, we’ve not yet received independent confirmation that the United States was alerted ahead of time. But we can use the response from the Israelis just last weekend as a point of reference in all of this trace. Because we saw for the first time in informal coalition led by the United States, that help the Israelis activate not only their air defense around this airspace, but also in Jordanian airspace to ensure that these incoming Iranian missiles and drones last weekend were shot down. And so there was likely some clear coordination with the Americans, understanding that this Israeli response was imminent. And again across this week, you had top Iranian officials, everyone from the supreme leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei at the president, Ibrahim Raisi, to some top IRC officials, threatening an immediate response if there was an Israeli counterattack. So we do know at this moment, and this is according to Israeli officials that I talked with this week, Israeli forces across the country are on high alert, not just the air defense units but also fighter jets in the skies, understanding that Iran could decide to activate further their proxies in the region. Like the Iran backed Houthis in Yemen or Iran backed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. To respond to these strikes tonight that are being reported not just inside Iranian territory but also in Iraq and Syria. Trey, I’d like to get your take, if I can, Trey, very quickly on Hezbollah, because it’s a very good point. Brett brought it up earlier and we although Hezbollah is in the north, we know there has been fighting back and forth since October 7th between Israeli IDEA Forces and Hezbollah. I’m wondering how strong does does the does the defensive posture of Israel get stronger in the northern part of the country while waiting for a potential or possible response from Hezbollah? Absolutely. And I spoke with one defense official this week who indicated the worst case scenario for Israel is an attack by Hezbollah on major Israeli population centers since October 8th. Just a day after the October 7th massacre, you saw Hezbollah involved in the fight, striking northern Israel on a daily basis. Just yesterday, 14 Israeli soldiers were injured, along with four civilians along the border with Lebanon. This was a Hezbollah drone attack that took place, and it gives you just a small sense of the capabilities that this organization has. Over the past several years, the Iranians have been smuggling precision guided missile components into southern Lebanon through Syria. And it’s part of the reason the Israelis have been striking inside Syrian territory over the past several years to target some of these Iranian weapon shipments. They wanted to ensure that they could limit the amount of weapons that Hezbollah could stockpile that would ultimately threaten Israel in a future conflict. Well, we’re at that conflict today, trace. And the real concern is that Iran, in response to a strike inside their territory and the threats of immediate reaction, could use Hezbollah to strike larger population centers like Tel Aviv. It’s part of the reason that Israeli officials over the past week in these briefings, again with top Israeli Air Force and air defense officials, have indicated that not only the Iron Dome, a smaller air defense system, but David Sling, the intermediate system and the aero system that’s capable of shooting down ballistic missiles, have remained on high alert across the country. And then you also have Israeli forces along the border who are ensuring that if there is any sort of attack by Hezbollah, they can respond immediately. The Israelis have tried to build a method of deterrence, a back and forth that when there is an attack by Hezbollah, they strike back heavily with Iranian targets, these targets that are linked to the Iranian regime in southern Lebanon and also in Syria, understanding that these weapons are being shipped in through Syria into southern Lebanon. So again tonight the real threat from Israel has to do with Hezbollah, this Iran backed Lebanese militant group and the capabilities that they have. We understand hundreds of thousands of rockets, missiles and precision guided projectiles that could target major population centers across Israel. And lastly, I know you’ve got reporting to do Trey, but when you talk about Hezbollah, we have you know there has been this back and forth going on since October 7th, so the better part of 6 plus months. But we’ve never called it a war and there has been this theme that right now Lebanon, the economy, there is a shambles and there has been this concern that the last thing that Hezbollah or Lebanon needs is a war. Does that feeling remain in place where you are, Trey? Yeah, Trace. Absolutely. And I’ve reported in Beirut a number of times over the past several years. And there was an understanding from the civilian population that a broader conflict in the region wouldn’t serve anyone. This is an economy that is in shambles. It is a country that does not have independent rule based on the Iranian influence. And so a broader conflict, Israeli officials have indicated, would flatten neighborhoods. It would destroy Lebanon. And so that’s a a real concern. And we understand from Israeli officials, over the past several weeks, some of the American efforts to avoid such a conflict have been intensifying to ensure that if the situation with Iran unravels, the Israelis would be able to ultimately come to a table led by the Americans and deescalate the situation along the northern border as to not go to another major conflict that would last for months and would see a high casualty rate here in Israel. I do want to just break in here trace with a development out of the northern border. As we speak here, sirens are sounding in northern Israel. It appears there is a hostile aircraft incursion over just the past several minutes. I’m looking at the alerts here on my phone, and I’m just going to show you here what they look like. These are red alerts that are going on in northern Israel in a number of different locations. And the alert here trace is for a hostile aircraft. And so this is likely a drone that is being launched by Hezbollah into northern Israel. And again, this has been an alert that has been coming across our phone just over the past five minutes here in Israel indicating that Hezbollah could just be probing air defense in the northern part of the country. This does not appear to be any sort of large scale attack but again just an indication and again this is being confirmed the the first confirmation that we have from the military tonight siren sounding in northern Israel that is coming from the IDF, Israel’s military and and so again Israeli forces have to remain on high alert in northern Israel. Understanding that an Iranian response to these reports of explosions inside Iranian territory tonight could come from a major proxy across the region like Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen or an Iran backed Iraqi or Syrian Shia militia. These militias have been active over the past six months and have not only targeted Israel, but have targeted American forces in the Middle East. Trace. Yeah, Trey, we’re to let you go back and do your reporting. We appreciate it. Trey Yanks, we’ll get back to you at the top of the hours. The news.