but why the flare up now? all of these things are interconnected, and that s why it s really dangerous right now. so the big question now is, could this red sea conflict become the next war in the middle east? first of all, let s start by looking at what has actually been happening in the red sea. in mid november, 2023, the houthis, an iranian backed rebel group in yemen, began targeting commercial shipping off their coast. so, who exactly are the houthis and what is it motivating them? the houthis, who are a so called rebel group in yemen, they hail from the north west of yemen. they have been very active in this area for about a decade. it s only now that we re noticing because our global trade is being impacted. they hijacked this ship called the galaxy leader and they fired missiles and drones at others. us and british warships went to their defence. the houthis vowed revenge. the world economy, every economy will suffer if ships keep coming under attack in this illegal
wider conflict. the latest from the region is coming up on cnn. but first, why do we keep giving donald trump exactly what he wants. tonight on laura coates live. but donald j j trump got exactly what he wanted today. and i mean again. a giant megaphone to call the 370 million dollar civil suit against him, say it with me, we all know the phrase, a witch hunt. but as you know, this is an unconstitutional witch hunt. its election interference at the highest level. but then in the courtroom, right in front of the very judge who is going to decide just how much he has to pay. again this is not a jury trial. no dye audience, he s talking to the person who is going to decide how much he has s fraud case. so maybe you want to want your words, saying, quote, this was a political witch hunt, what s happened here sir is a fraud on me. and that is donald trump s closing argument. the world of bach, or the 370 million dollar box stop here. now i want to bring in former trump
at the rafah boarder crossing near the gaza/egyptian border. the you haven t seen this video, it came in a short while to cnn. it shows crowds running as gunfire is ringing out in the streets. meanwhile, fears of a growing escalation in the middle east are also on the broadcast this evening. an iranian drone struck a commercial ship in the indian ocean on saturday. a u.s. defense official says a fire broke out on the chemical tanker with nearly two dozen crew members on board, but no one was hurt. the strike comes as newly declassified u.s. intelligence suggests iran has been deeply involved in a series of houthi rebel attacks on ships in the red sea. we have reporters covering this. will rippley is live in tel aviv with more on the outbreak of violence at the rafah crossing, and more than gunfire, will. it seems like out-and-out chaos breaking out outside that crossing area. what can you tell us? reporter: a lot of factors lead up to this. the rafah crossing is one of the
of evidence, of wrongdoing. the white house is calling it an illegitimate and unjustified move from republicans. plus, hill harper is on the ballot in michigan. we will talk to the good doctor after about why he decided to run for the u.s. senate in this critical battleground state. i am symone sanders-townsend, and i have something to say. after a weeklong truce, the fighting has intensified again in the israel-hamas war. more than 700 people have been killed in the gaza strip, according to the hamas-run health ministry, since that truce with israel fell apart on friday. that israel defense forces or idf has shifted its military operations to southern gaza, in order civilians to evacuate. if you remember, just weeks earlier, israel urged gaza residents to evacuate to southern gaza from the north overnight the idf says it targeted weapons stores, command centers, and hamas naval assets. and the destroyed 500 tunnel shafts in civilian areas it says were used by
U.s. led airstrikes against multiple houthi targets in yemen. president biden tonight calling this a direct response to unprecedented attacks by the houthis against international ships in the red sea. biden warning the u.s. will not hesitate to take further action to protect international commerce. to discuss what these stakes really mean. retired colonel cedric leighton, i m so glad that you re here, i want to start with the basics for a second because everyone does not have the same level of familiarity as you do in your expertise. who are the hutus that we re talking? about laura i think this is really important because the houthis are group, some people think of them as an ethnic group did not really an ethnic group, but they were iran back rebel group in yemen. who emerged in the 1990s out of the yemeni civil war at that time. at that they control basically