Free text. Now chasing life with dr. Sanjay gupta. Listen wherever you get your podcasts hello, everyone. Good morning to you and welcome to this special hour of cnn this this morning, im Amara Walker and im Danny Freeman in for victor blackwell. First of all, well be back next saturday for now heres what were working on for you this Morning President ial Debate Drama overnight, former President Trump says he will debate Vice President Kamala Harris in september. But on his very specific civic terms, his debate demands coming up. And who isnt going to be Vice President harris is in the final stages of choosing her Running Mate will break down the leading candidates in the veepstakes and florida on alert this morning, a Hurricane Watch is up for part of the state as a tropical system closes in, Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is tracking it all itS Perhaps the largest movement of us forces to the Middle East since the early days of the gaza war, the growing fears of Irans Retaliation to
least a half a dozen targets now largely in eastern syria have been picked by u.s. forces right now where the focus seems to be on getting those that were behind the attacks on those u.s. soldiers, killing three of them and injuring better than 40 last sunday. that was then. the attack is on now. we re told it s a widespread attack zone. but there s some wondering about the sites that were included in this. that these proxy sites, again those sponsored by iran, are the oned targeted. so far no such moves in i ran itself as though some expected. let s get the latest from jennifer griffin, what she s hearing at the pentagon. jennifer? i apologize. we have dan hoffman with us first from moscow. what you know of this right now, what can you tell us and what do you think? yeah, you know, syrian media reports that six targets were struck as many as six or seven may have been killed. take that with a grain of salt. this is the initial forray by the united states. they re hitting t
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
actually striking and hitting a vessel. ~ . ., ., ., . vessel. we are aware of the incident bein: vessel. we are aware of the incident being reported vessel. we are aware of the incident being reported in vessel. we are aware of the incident being reported in the gulf vessel. we are aware of the incident being reported in the gulf of- vessel. we are aware of the incident being reported in the gulf of aden, l being reported in the gulf of aden, that this could be a us affiliated vessel transiting west. the good news that there is no injuries are casualties at this given time. and the vessel is able to transit. what the vessel is able to transit. what other details the vessel is able to transit. what other details do the vessel is able to transit. what other details do you the vessel is able to transit. what other details do you know? - the vessel is able to transit. what other details do you know? these are just initial reports, what else can you tell us about this
why now and where will it lead? we ll speak to the national security council s john kirby about all of that straight ahead. plus, just three days away now, the final stretch for republican candidate in iowa. how they re hoping to get people to the caucuses with even a foot of snow potentially arriving. and it s not just in iowa, that snow is coming down hard across the midwest and the great lakes. we ll have a full forecast of what to expect there and across the country. hello on this friday, it is 10:00 eastern. i m ana cabrera reporting from new york. we begin with that breaking news, what could turn into a major escalation of the conflict in the middle east. the united states and the uk launching strikes against houthi targets in yemen hitting airports, military bases and weapons facilities. these strikes in response to weeks of attacks by the militants on commercial ships in the red sea, and now the houthis vowing to retaliate saying those involved will, quote, p