the houthis who are carrying out the attacks say that's why they are doing them. and they say clearly as well that if there was a ceasefire, they would stop. now, they may not be telling the truth about that but that is what they are saying. welcome to the programme. the white house says us and british air strikes on houthi sites in yemen have diminished the group's ability to launch missiles and drones. russia, turkey — and the main supporter of the houthis — iran — have condemned the action. we'll bring you the latest on the political and economic fallout. also in the programme — britain's prime minister rishi sunak promises £2.5 pounds worth of new aid for ukraine, as he pays a visit to the country.

we'll bring you an interview with ecuador�*s president in the week —— will have elections on taiwan. we start tonight with reaction to the american and british air strikes on houthi targets in yemen. last night four royal air force typhoon fighterjets took part in the raids, along with us navyjets. this footage is from one of the two uk raf strikes. officials say 16 sites were targeted 16 sites, including in the capital city sana'a. they included what the us called command and control centres, munitions depots, launching systems, production facilities and air defence radar systems. houthi leaders said five people were killed, and threatened to retaliate. the raids were in response to houthi attacks on ships in the red sea, which they say is in response to israel's attacks in gaza.

fighters have been targeting ships with armed drones and missiles and boarding them. the british prime minister called the strikes �*necessary and proportionate�* in order to protect global trade in one of the world's busiest sea lanes. the raids have been criticised by russia, turkey and the houthis' key backer, iran. the turkish president erdogan, accused the us and britain of trying to turn the red sea into a �*sea of blood'. we'll bring you analysis on who the houthis are, why the attacks are happening now. but first, with the very latest, on what exactly happened overnight, and the possible wider consequences for the region, here'sjeremy bowen. in sana'a, the yemeni capital, a huge rally against the air and in support of palestinians filled the city's broadest boulevard. it was organised, the houthis do not allow unauthorised protest, but without question,

millions in yemen and across the arab world are appalled by israel's conduct in the gaza war and regard the american and british air strikes as an escalation on israel's behalf. during the night, the americans launched their attack from a carrier battle group in the red sea. like britain, they had warned the houthis this was coming if they did not stop hitting shipping. the air strikes were intended to show that western red lines will not turn pink under pressure but if anything, the houthis will be even more determined to carry on. this houthi military spokesman said the americans and british were responsible for criminal aggression which would be answered with a tax on all hostile targets on land and sea. the raf released video of its jet taking off for yemen from the british base in cyprus but the british are trying

to distance aimed at opening the red seat from the war in gaza. —— distance air strikes... it's clear this type of behaviour cannot be met without a response, we need to a strong signal that this breach of international law is wrong and people cannot act like this with impunity and that is why together with allies we have decided to take this action. even more emphatically, an american military spokesman told cbs news in the us that the strikes were nothing to do with gaza. it is important to differentiate between what's happening between israel and hamas was happening in the red sea, —— and what is happening... yet the houthi rebels, they are conducting instrument attacks against international shipping, over 50 countries have been affected by this affecting the economic prosperity of multiple nations. but the houthis, whose command is captured a ship —— whose commanders... in the red sea in december, say to support palestinians in gaza

and hit israel's allies. iran provides the houthis with training and weapons and they said the attacks will go on until the fighting in gaza stops. britain and the us oppose an immediate ceasefire in the war. the air strikes, this was the raf raid, are only partly about freedom of navigation in the red sea. the reality is that they are also directly linked to events in gaza and represent an escalation in the crisis that is gripping the middle east. jeremy bowen, bbc news. let's focus now on who the houthis are. the houthis are a political and military group from a sub—sect of the country's shia muslim minority, the zaidis. as you can see, they control a large part of yemen. most of the population lives under houthi areas of control, including the capital, sana'a. its control of the red sea coastlines makes its attacks on commericial shipping possible. the movement formed in the 1990s, against the then—yemeni president,

ali abdullah saleh. it's armed groups are modelled on organisations his brother in lebanon. backed by the saudis, president saleh tired to eliminate the houthis in 2003, but was repelled. the houthi movement has been fighting a civil war since 2014 against yemen's current government. iran is suspected of supplying the houthis with weapons. years of conflict in yemen has led to one of the largest humanitarian crisis in the country. and in from the newsagency that is that the us and uk struck 30 locations in yemen overnight using more than 150 munitions and the newsagency is quoting a senior us official and are significant because they are higher figures than previously disclosed.

general douglas simms told reporters he did not expect a high number of casualties from the strikes on thursday, as the targets include those in rural areas. our state department and washington correspondent, tom bateman, joins me now. we have heard from the white house in the last couple of hours. bring this up to date on the reaction that we are getting from where you are. i think from luton in general since we are getting a bit more of the strike —— makkelie ten in general simms... as it was developing and into the night but i think significantly what he has confirmed is that there has been a further strike by houthi militiamen firing into the red sea earlier today. and that was significantly an anti—ship ballistic missile. that matters because these are among the weapons that the

americans have pointed out that they are not going to tolerate. previously we had president biden specifically making mention of anti—ship ballistic missiles in his statement last night. the point about these weapons is that they have an extremely fast trajectory, basically they are fired in the air and they come back down with the speed which is faster than a cruise missile which means it's very hard for ships to manoeuvre out of the way. when he was then pushed on this, the director of the joint staff, he then went on, he was asked about whether or not there would be further responsible because it is clear now the houthis retaliating. what he did was to talk in terms of the attack on tuesday that was carried out by the houthis which was multiple suicide drone and cruise and ballistic missile attack. this

was the thing that triggered the response by the uk and us yesterday. it appears as though they are setting a kind of higher barfor action by the us and uk to say that it canjust be action by the us and uk to say that it can just be one missile but needs to be a small effect like they saw on tuesday because it is very clear they did expect healthy retaliation to this end is also very clear their actions last night hasn't degraded the houthis capability if they were ready in 12 hours to fire a ballistic missile into the red sea again. these developments are important and among that it takes is into the territory of what the us and uk were trying to achieve which was to deter the houthis from firing at shipping but at the same time walk this long without creating an even greater escalation. we have had antony blinken in the release for a week and that was his message that

as soon as he is back in the us we are seeing a greater risk of further spike across region that is the concern and i've been reading that the us is not interested in a war with yemen but then of the other hand it will not hesitate to use further force to stop any further attacks retaliation from the houthis. that's right and there is this inherent contradiction or difficulty and a dangerous difficulty and a dangerous difficulty in those two positions and i think that gets you into the much more strategic area of what's going on here because it's notjust the risk, the great risk is a military conflagration of the spreading across the region. what we are seeing now is the narrative battlefield escalating and broadening because the houthis presented to their own audience that

they are the ones safeguarding or trying to take on the cause of the palestinians in a military sense. that's what they said they were doing when they were firing missiles into the red sea claiming which has led to ships connected to israel and the kind of thing they have boosted the kind of thing they have boosted the popularity in yemen is in a significant way because of this. there is a policy element which takes you into the wider arab— muslim world and they said they will not stop their attacks until there is an end to the israeli siege on gaza and end upon a ceasefire in place what you're seeing from the west in the uk and us is to say there is connection between what their military action last night and their military action last night and the israel —, swore and they were to differentiate and they say it about maritime shipping but that's not entirely accurate because of course these things are connected. the fact is the us in the uk do not want to

be seen by the arab and muslim world as taking direct military action in the middle east in defence of israel. that draws them in to this conflict and it creates a greater chance of the iranians to be rotting to try and push militarily on the other side so you get the sense of an escalation. that is why western powers are trying to say there is no connection with the war in gaza. tom, speaking from washington, thank you very much for bringing us up to date with the very latest. let's speak to elisabeth braw, senior fellow at atlantic council's transatlantic security initiative. and also an expert on the red sea shipping route. thanks forjoining us on bbc news. are you surprised by the timing of the us — ukjoint action? the timing of the us - uk “oint action? ., . . the timing of the us - uk “oint action? ., ., ., ., , . ., the timing of the us - uk “oint action? ., ., ., . ., ., action? not at all. it was clear to everybody _ action? not at all. it was clear to everybody that — action? not at all. it was clear to everybody that somebody, -

action? not at all. it was clear to i everybody that somebody, meaning action? not at all. it was clear to - everybody that somebody, meaning the us or uk and potentially other countries had to do something when after they warned the houthis in very strong terms at the beginning of january not to conduct any very strong terms at the beginning ofjanuary not to conduct any more attacks against shipping and the houthis still conducted more attacks. it was clear that the us and the uk and other countries needed to do something or otherwise their red lines would mean nothing and that would be very dangerous because then it would mean that whatever the us and uk say, militias and countries and others can disregard so they had to take action and i think the houthis were very aware that this was coming as well. we just heard from presidentjoe biden from miramar coming in that "we will make sure that we respond to the houthis if they continue coming in as they describe this outrageous behaviour." where do you see things going because we are going to get more retaliation is i

expect? and if you read what president biden are saying, that means there will be more of response as well. , ., means there will be more of response as well. ,., .., means there will be more of response as well. ,., .. , . as well. indeed, so we can expect the tit for tat — as well. indeed, so we can expect the tit for tat between _ as well. indeed, so we can expect the tit for tat between the - as well. indeed, so we can expect the tit for tat between the us - as well. indeed, so we can expect the tit for tat between the us and j the tit for tat between the us and the tit for tat between the us and the uk and the one hand and the houthis on the other but i think the real perilous aspect is at the houthis will retaliate even more against global shipping so until now, they have struck vessels that they said were linked to israel. now from their perspective, vessels linked to the us and uk and other countries are part of this coalition are fair game as well and we should remember the houthis themselves decide what constitutes a us linked vessel in the uk linked vessel so they can essentially pick any vessel inside at a british linked vessel or a us linked vessel. so that's one aspect and in the other aspect is that this will inspire other militias or other groups around the world to conduct a similar attacks against global shipping because they

said, look at the houthis, they are getting so much attention, enormous attention from the us and uk in the globalised economy and so we will do that too. find globalised economy and so we will do that too. �* , ., ., ., globalised economy and so we will do that too. �* i. ., ., , globalised economy and so we will do that too. �* i. ., ., that too. and you have a book coming out soon called _ that too. and you have a book coming out soon called goodbye _ out soon called goodbye globalisation which focuses on the vulnerability of global supply chains. we have been talking about the political ramifications but there are huge economic implications because of what's happening in the red sea as well. where do you see that going and affecting global trade? , , . ., ., trade? this is an exhilarating situation between _ trade? this is an exhilarating situation between the - trade? this is an exhilarating . situation between the globalised economy and geopolitics. this latest round of globalisation that a gaffe in the late 80s and early 90s was based on the presumption that countries wanted to get along and backin countries wanted to get along and back in the 90s countries were mostly getting along and so it was possible to have these or to build these globe spanning supply chains

because it was an everybody�*s interests that global trade function smoothly because everybody wanted to benefit from it. what we have now is countries disagreeing and saying i'm going to express my unhappiness with your policies by targeting your part of the globalised economy, in this case your shipping, and it isn't really anything at all the countries or western countries can do about it because we don't have a global police and we especially don't have a global maritime police and without global shipping, the globalised economy will crumble and this is the big fear that i think has become apparent for these red sea attacks. notjust apparent for these red sea attacks. not just for apparent for these red sea attacks. notjust for the apparent for these red sea attacks. not just for the red apparent for these red sea attacks. notjust for the red sea but the vulnerability of our globalised supply chains because what's happening in the red sea can happen in other busy waterways as well and outside busy waterways. find in other busy waterways as well and outside busy waterways.— outside busy waterways. and of course that _ outside busy waterways. and of course that brings _ outside busy waterways. and of course that brings it _ outside busy waterways. and of course that brings it all- outside busy waterways. and of course that brings it all home i outside busy waterways. and of|

course that brings it all home as outside busy waterways. and of. course that brings it all home as to how it might affect people at home and in the high street. elizabeth, thank you very much for taking us through the story. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. the uk economy grew by more than expected in november, according to new official figures. the office for national statistics said the economy grew by 0.3%, after falling the month before. the grown was driven by the services sector, —— the growth... including a boost to retail from the black friday sales. a woman and her former partner have been given life sentences, for the murder of her 18—month—old son. alfie philips died in a caravan in kent in 2020, with more than 50 injuries, and traces of cocaine in his body. sian hedges, will spend at least 19 years injail, while jack benham, won't be considered for release for 23 years. a ferry has had a rather bumpy crossing in the north—western state

of washington in the us. heavy winds were causing waves to overwhelm the parking deck of the vessel. with only a few cars on board and no passengers, the ferry was able to maintain an upright position before heading into port. you're live with bbc news. israel has called on judges at the international court ofjustice to throw out the case brought by south africa alleging that it is committing genocide in gaza. on the second and final day of hearings at the un's highest court, one of the lawyers acting for israel argued that demands by south africa to end the offensive in gaza lacked any merit. when a population is ruled by a terrorist organisation that cares more about wiping out its neighbor than about protecting its own civilians, there are acute challenges in protecting the civilian population.

those challenges are exacerbated by the dynamic and evolving nature of intense hostilities in an urban area where the enemy exploits hospitals, shelters, and critical infrastructure. on thursday, south africa accused the highest levels of the israeli state of nurturing genocidal intent against palestinians in gaza. israel's foreign ministry adviser tal becker said that south africa had presented a profoundly distorted factual and legal picture. south africa is asking the icj to issue an injunction to stop israel's military campaign and protect the palestinian people. meanwhile israel has announced it has made an arrangement with qatar that will allow the delivery of medications to hostages being held by hamas in gaza. the supplies are expected to be given over the coming days. let's speak to nasser al-qudwa, senior member of fatah and former palestinian authority foreign minister, who's the nephew of the late palestinian

leader yasser arafat. thank you forjoining us. you're a former head of the palestinian delegation before the icj. it was many years ago. i wanted to get your reaction to the development we have been seeing recently. we the palestinians are _ we have been seeing recently. we the palestinians are satisfied _ we have been seeing recently. we the palestinians are satisfied and - we have been seeing recently. we the palestinians are satisfied and happy i palestinians are satisfied and happy that south africa is accusing israel of committing the heinous act of genocide. we have been suffering unprecedented heinous action by the israeli army for over 100 days. the gaza strip was almost destroyed completely, there is almost 30,000 people killed in these attacks, let alone the mains and injured and people were buried under the rubble and things like that. suddenly, of course we felt we were alone and we

felt that we lived in a war without rules or international law and enduring israeli officials who are dealing with arrogance and contempt with their counterparts from different countries such as the united nations itself and any of that sort and suddenly there is a ray of hope and an action that might bring israeli officials to their senses to make them believe that they are accountable and that they have to answer for their actions, horrible actions, as horrible as they are, so it's good. it is good and i hope that it will succeed. it's telling also that it was south africa that is bringing the case, this is the country of nelson mandela, the country that defeated apartheid, the country that has the upper moral ground and frankly as suchit upper moral ground and frankly as such it is very important symbolically and we are very thankful for that.

symbolically and we are very thankfulfor that. i symbolically and we are very thankful for that.— symbolically and we are very thankful for that. thankfulfor that. i should 'ust oint out thankfulfor that. i should 'ust point out that i thankfulfor that. i should 'ust point out that israeli thankfulfor that. i should 'ust point out that israel has h thankful for that. i should just i point out that israel has fiercely rejected those claims from south africa. prime minster netanyahu said it is not where have come to perpetrate genocide, it is hamas. that is wrong. even if it was hamas, what kind of logic is this? we are fighting hamas so we destroy the whole state? killing thousands of thousands of people? that is wrong. that is run under international law and under the rules of conflict of all states and nevertheless, the israelis are saying anything and the international media and officials are accepting what the israeli side with any questions. that are accepting what the israeli side with any questions.— with any questions. that has to chance. with any questions. that has to change- i _ with any questions. that has to change- i am — with any questions. that has to change. i amjust _ with any questions. that has to change. i am just putting - with any questions. that has to change. i am just putting their| change. i am just putting their position forward just so that we have their position as well and we want to heard your perspective and of course what south africa things about the case. let's talk about

what happens when this conflict ends because that is a big?. what is the future of a post—conflict gazza? what do you see the future? the future is going — what do you see the future? iie: future is going to what do you see the future? tie: future is going to be extremely difficult. the costs are huge. how do you rebuild a place that has been destroyed totally? as the situation is now as a result of this campaign. nevertheless, we will do it, however, it's important also to end any israeli difficulties because that will make it impossible to fix this because frankly, what the israeli prime minister is trying to do now is to sell a defeat as victory, internally and externally and to the palestinian people in the region and to the united states of

america. he lost the war and unfortunately there are no victors in this war but nevertheless he is trying to present the case as if he won. he wants to re—occupy gaza strip one way or another to establish a buffer zones and to impose the siege on gaza. that is going to make the task ahead of us impossible to achieve and proves again once more that the intent was to destroy gazza and to commit genocide against the palestinian people. they have to withdraw fully. at the moment, the war goes on and we cover what's happening on the ground in gaza every day and you describe some of the suffering that we see day in, day out, and the reason why israel says it's carrying out this military operation is to eliminate hamas and its

capabilities. if israel does seed in taking out most of the hamas leadership and infrastructure —— must succeed, will destroy a the hamas infrastructure and allow to reform is another group? i hamas infrastructure and allow to reform is another group?- hamas infrastructure and allow to reform is another group? i said from the very beginning — reform is another group? i said from the very beginning that _ reform is another group? i said from the very beginning that destroying i the very beginning that destroying hamas or trying to annihilate hamas is not possible. the war will lead to weakening hamas, there is no doubt and one of the as a result is a new hamas that will be established and there will be a new leadership in the new israeli government i hope, although this is for the israeli voters to decide and then hopefully this will open the road for a new solution, a new political solution based on the existence of israel and palestine and the mutual recognition between two states so

that we are not repeating the same process endless process that is, the peace that led to nothing despite the passage of 20 years. nasser, a former palestinian _ the passage of 20 years. nasser, a former palestinian authority - the passage of 20 years. nasser, a former palestinian authority and i former palestinian authority and foreign minister, thank you very much for sharing your perspective on the ongoing development and gazza. i'm back after a short break. good evening. it's been a much colder week with frosty scenes across the uk and at least it has been drier. we do have some rain to come in the north of an out and the first thing tomorrow but no more significantly this waterfront will introduce even colder air surging down from the arctic and strong winds so it will feel better as we head into next week with severe frosts and a greater risk of snow but i will come back to that. in the

meantime, as we go through this evening and overnight, there will be wet weather making its way south dampening the services and as we do go through the night temperature falls close to freezing and below in some spots the ric patch and as we have seen this week the odd fog patch and it may well linger throughout the day on saturday. a lot of cloud under read this waterfront with a few spots of rain but much brighter skies follow for scotland and then northern ireland and the northern england and then brightness in the south does well with the sunny mist and fog when it cleared but we will hold onto fog and wind direction changes and stuff in the north and north—west. but not a particularly cold day on the face of things but i think it will start to feel chilly in that brisk north wind which will bring wintry showers increasingly so as we go into tomorrow night and into sunday. a cold night with frost returning and a little bit more sharply and in the north you can see with longer clear spells here, but sunday we still have remnants of a weather front in the south and a few spots of rain

but it's no we are expecting across scotland already and warnings out for the snow piling up and causing potential disruption. you can see it's colder. these are the areas we think for sunday and monday which will have disruptive snow. initially scotland the risk increases on monday in northern ireland and you can see that yourself and then potentially later on into tuesday you might see a spell of snow moving southwards into southern scotland or northern ireland and northern england and their is a risk of disruptive snow pushing for the southwards which could see five or ten centimetres in the hills. by wednesday, just a hint that we might see snow in southern areas as well as those heavy showers continuing with the snowfall in the north so you can see there are areas where we expect to see most of the snow as we go into next week but not exclusively. there could be snow elsewhere but certainly it's colder as we go through next week.

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. you're watching the context on bbc news. britain and ukraine sign long—term security agreement, as rishi sunak makes a surprise visit to kyiv.

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