sandra: a short time from now, expected to get an update from the white house and jake sullivan as the fighting between israel and hamas picks up in intensity at this hour and as the pentagon ramps up the response of the dozens of attacks from iran-backed terror groups. sandra smith in new york. afternoon by now, john. john: call it afternoon at this point. good to be back with you. i can see you are still enjoying the weekend. john roberts in washington, this is america reports . american troops from across the middle east have been under attack day after day for nearly two months and criticism has grown from both sides of the aisle, president biden may be taking the problem a bit more seriously than in the past. sandra: u.s. carrying out a drone strike in northern iraq, killing five iranian proxy fighters. that strike came just hours after iran-backed houthi rebels attacked several commercial ships and a u.s. destroyer in the red sea using drones and ballistic missil