retired air force colonel cedric leighton joins me now. colonel, good morning.ays great to start the week with you. how close are we here? and how would the u.s. react if there are some sort of attacks on u.s. troops in the region? obviously, it could come from many places that were not directly related to the israeli-hamas conflict but obviously, tensions are heightened. how do you think the u.s. would respond if there were an incident? >> yeah, good morning, kasie. good to be with you. what's called the force protection, and secretary austin talked about that, anytime you put forces potentially at harm's way, the biggest thing a commander does, they take a look, how can i protect my troops? if they were to be attacked, if there were something, you know from any of the possible players in the middle east or anywhere else, i think the response from the u.s. would be pretty strong and separate swift, as long as they can figure out who did the attack, conducted the attack. that's the key thing. the intelligence would have to be really good in determining where the

here with me now, cnn's hadas gold and colonel cedric leighton. in hearing what he had to say about the conditions of being in compliance or going along with president biden has said, the conditions about hostages being released, the idea of how to ensure that the aid is not going to be essentially taken and siphoned off by hamas. is it realistic to think that could actually be a condition that could be met before it gets there? >> well i think it is possible, but there is no peacekeeping mechanism, there are no troops on the ground to keep anybody away from these stores. any mechanism to prevent hamas from going after these things. so it is a bit touchy and i think because there are no mechanisms of enforcement, i think it will be a bit of a problem, laura. >> you mentioned the international community, obviously he seem to be vigilant somerset as well as, well if their collective way to get this done? >> i think the only mechanism right now would be the united nations who does have a presence there. it will be really difficult to do that in a tim

colonel cedric leighton, everyone.next, the other trump lawsuit that just is days away that could potentially keep him off the ballot in at least one state. donald trump has been sued in new york, indicted in georgia, florida, manhattan, and, washington d.c.. you know about all those cases, but there is a case you may not be as familiar with, or may not even know about at all. it is a very consequential one, and argues that trump is constitutionally disqualified from holding office, again. it all hinges on the 14th amendment, which, and short, says that anyone who, quote, engaged in insurrection or rebellion after taking an oath of office to defend the constitution is forbidden from holding public office. colorado is one of the states that is suing to block the former president from the 2024 presidential ballot. joining me now? colorado secretary of state janet griswold. jenna, so glad to are here today. i am interested in this case for a number of regions -- reasons. people have not been as focused on it, but it is ve

back to cnn military analyst colonel cedric leighton. erin reported that six rockets broke through the iron dome. it's not infallible. talk through that. >> so basically, phil, what you see every system is vulnerable. i can't emphasize that enough. when you see the iron dome in full effect here, you are able to see it take out some of the incoming rockets. the problem that you have is they can handle about 80 rockets per battery. once you get beyond that, once the system is saturated you have a whole different situation here. and so you can tell, you know, when the rocket strikes occur, when hamas is doing -- conducting these rocket strikes, they can go all over israel and do this. most of the time these rocket strikes are intercepted. however, every time they saturate the system and the system isn't ready to take care of the trajectory as it comes to assess where it's going on any other anomaly you get an impact and the kinds of things you see in ashkelon and several other cities right around here. and the reason for that is the system

i want to turn now back to cedric leighton.onel lleyton, erin's point there i think is so important in terms of just how tightly -- we talk how tightly condensed gaza is, but israel itself in where they are both in the midst of a fight right now with hamas and gaza, which is expected to expand, but also as they keep an eye on the north, there have been back and forth shots exchanged with hezbollah. obviously keeping an eye on the west bank, syria as well. talk about the regioni itself ad just how small for which israel is operating in. >> yeah, phil. this is incredibly different perspective. as erin was mentioning, ukraine kind of like texas in terms of size. this we're talking like basically delaware and bit of maryland right here. so in essence what you've got here is a country that from where erin is here to go up here is about an hour's drive. another three hours or so you get up to the northern border, perhaps even less depending on how fast you can go. and this gives you an idea that when you're in a country like this, yo

let's go right now to cnn military analyst retired colonel cedric leighton. he's at the magic wall. also peter bergen and kimberly dozier as well. let's begin with a cedric because what is happening exactly on the ground right now? others still fights in the streets of israel? >> yes there are in fact laura and let's take a look at this because there's some interesting things that have developed here. the location of the festival that everybody talks about where the 260 people were killed is right about here just about southwest of the area. all these towns have had folks from hamas actually showing up in each of these areas. some of them still have pockets of hamas fighters in them, others have been cleared and the israelis are saying that they have pushed out most of them now. but the latest briefings from the idf defensive forces say they still have some areas where they are fighting in one or two elements. that is one area where you can see there's hasn't been quite cleaned up yet basically laura. >> israel is saying the, government is saying that over 4000 rockets were actually

stew colonel cedric leighton, thanks for joining us. we'll have more on all the breaking n news comingng up. stay with us.

we are going to have to leave the conversation there, colonel cedric leighton. thank you very much. >>> hundreds dead. thousands more wounded since the intense fighting between israel and hamas began a little more than 24 hours ago. a spokesperson for the israeli defense forces joins us next with the latest. is it possible my network could take my business to the next level? it is with comcast business. powering all your devices with gig-speed wifi. and you get fast downloads and uploads. pick it up! pick it up! oh we got this! because it's powered by the next generation 10g network. more speed for your business? it's not just possible. it's happening. get started for $59.99 a month for 12 months. plus, ask how to get an $800 prepaid card with a qualifying internet bundle. comcast business, powering possibilities. >>> i'm becky anderson. as the israeli defense forces strike targets in gaza, the group says it is, quote, ready if fighting extends beyond the area. israeli communities in gaza have been evacuated as the idf carries out what they vow will be a severe

let's bring in senator cedric leighton. i get your take on how he framed that, what's he saying or not saying there. >> good morning, i think he's leaving his options open. when you look at israel and united states, it's really rare for u.s. troops to even come close to going into israel. now, there's been training between israeli forces and american forces in the recent past. in fact, just in the runup to this particular event, you know, over the last about eight or nine days ago now. and that, you know, shows that there's some mobility between u.s. and israeli forces. one possibility is that u.s. forces would be used in a hostage rescue, but in a humanitarian role. that's one possibility. the other possibility, of course, is rescue. but normally, the israelis would want to take that responsibility themselves. and make sure that they were in control of any hostage rescue operation. >> well, that's interesting. i mean, what do you think that u.s. special forces could -- i mean, you're basically saying that there's nothing r

. >>> joining me is cnn military analyst and retired air force colonel, cedric leighton, good to have you with us >> thank you it's good to be with you >> israel amassed over 300,000 troops along gaza border. almost double what russia amassed along ukraine's board before launching its invasion. what are your expectations to how this will unfold in the next 24 to 48 hours? >> that's an interesting comparison between what happened with russia and ukraine and what is probably going to happen between israel and hamas in this particular situation. in this war, i think what the israeli are going to do is they're doing it now. is softening up the targets by bombing them. and using both entirety as well as aerial bombs to move the hamas fighters in a certain direction. of course, they're always moving civilians out of the northern part of gaza into the southern part. so what they're trying to do is in essence clear the city of as many as possible. then they plan to go in and try to rid the gaza city area at least of hamas fighters. if they can do that, they will effectively have broken the ba

. >> and joining me now cedric leighton. always good to see you, sir. we keep going back to this thing i've been to gaza so many times i cannot count, but it's one of the most surveilled areas in the middle east. this comes out of the blue in a military sense, israel blind-sided. talk about that failure and why you think that might have happened. >> i think this is one of the classic failures of technology. when you look at your experience when you went to gaza you saw the techniques the israelis had, the equipment, the devices they used. and we know there were other things they were doing in terms of monitoring radio traffic, telephone traffic, all those things. what hamas did, what their leadership did is apparently moved off the normal modern communications links we take for granted every day and went back to what you did in the 19th century, face-to-face meetings. they went and used couriers instead of going in and using the telephone or cellphone. and that i think played a large role in doing this. they seemed to be very patient, hamas, in terms of

joining me now is retired air force colonel cedric leighton, so, colonel, a lot of these stories were reported in the atlantic magazine by jeffrey goldberg and in the book the divider by susan glasser and peter baker but they were on background. now we have trump's longest serving chief of staff confirming on the record, his name attached to them, and expressing abject disgust with donald trump for those attitudes. you're a veteran. what's your response? >> well, you know, every time you hear something like this, jake, you're amazed that somebody like that could have actually been the commander in chief, and it doesn't matter about party affiliation or anything like that, or ideology even, but what does matter is taking care of the troops. one of the key things that's instilled in commanders is that they must take care of their troops, and that should extend from the lowest level commander like a platoon level command all the way up to the commander in chief. and when that isn't done, that really affects morale. it affects the ability of the force to move forward. it affects everythin

i'm joined by cnn military analyst and retired air force colonel cedric leighton.nk you so much for joining us. i do want to start with this because the second stage of the war, can you give us some sense of what that means? we have seen that there are israeli troops on the ground as opposed to just the airstrikes that they have been conducting. >> yeah, good morning, sara. the big difference here is that this is the ground portion of the war. at least the initial ground portion. so in the first phase of the war you had the air campaign. you had what amounted to offensive aerial operations being conducted against targets in gaza, specifically gaza city, a little bit to the south of that. for the most part, there were, of course, strikes around -- and near the rafah border crossing on the southern border with egypt. now the second phase, what's going on here is they are moving in elements of the israeli ground forces. so the israeli defense forces, ground component, is coming in. that is also being added to by a naval component as well as continued air support. so t

>>> with us now cnn military analyst retired air force colonel cedric leighton.l, we appreciate you being with us. i want to talk about the timing of this attack on hroza. dozens and dozens of civilians killed, an attack on a grocery store. the timing of this at the very moment when republicans in the u.s. are talking about blocking new aid to ukraine. what does that tell you about how much vladimir putin fears or frankly does not fear now international outrage over his actions? >> yeah, i think, john, good morning, i think he's looking at this basically as if he's really in control of the stage right now. he is thinking that he can act with impunity, he thinks that he can make any decision, a tactical or strategic, without fear of any consequences from the west. and right now he's gambling that the dysfunction in the u.s. congress is going to carry over into our ability to provide aid to ukraine and if we don't provide the air defenses that volodymyr zelenskyy has been asking for, that's going to create a real problem for the people of ukraine, especially during

let's bring in military analyst colonel cedric leighton. thanks for joining us. to start with the concerns for escalation, we've seen u.s. assets move into the region. how real is this concern right now? >> it is pretty real. good morning to you. when you look at the whole region right here, you've got so many different areas that you can actually look at from the standpoint of what could potentially harbor possible threats against u.s. forces. and that includes of course hamas and gaza plus forces in lebanon, syria, iraq, iran, and of course down south in yemen. so all of these areas could potentially harbor places that could affect u.s. troops in the region. and in fact they have done that because they have gone after targets, u.s. bases, that have been targeted in places like iraq and syria and that of course has been a significant aspect to this deployment of u.s. forces as well as the overall balance of forces easte. >> everyone was struck by what secretary austin said yesterday. but also secretary blinken said there is a likelihood of escalation by iranian

cedric leighton, we appreciate it, thank you. >> you bet. >>> a cnn investigation into where hamas militants trained for their attack on israel, how it appears they were able to do it in plain sight, not far from israeli troops. >>> and former israeli prime minister, will join us from tel-aviv. stay with us. is it possible my network could take my business to the next level? it is with comcast business. powering all your devices with gig-speed wifi. and you get fast downloads and uploads. pick it up! pick it up! oh we got this! because it's powered by the next generation 10g network. more speed for your business? it's not just possible. it's happening. get started for $59.99 a month for 12 months. plus, ask how to get an $800 prepaid card with a qualifying internet bundle. comcast business, powering possibilities. . >>> more israeli strikes under way in gaza and we're learning more about how hamas was able to execute saturday's terrorist attack inside of israel. a senior hamas official says they were preparing for the invasion for two years, and a cnn investigation shows militants trained in

colonel cedric leighton, we very much appreciate the perspective. thank you, sir. >> you bet, boris. >> still much more to come. our special live coverage of israel at war continues after a quick break. >>> happening right now house republican members are huddling behind closed doors trying to find a way to end internal division and elect a new speaker of the house. majority leader steve scalise won the conference's nomination but sources tell cnn he still has a ways to go from having enough votes to get the speaker's gavel. let's take you to capitol hill now with cnn chief congressional correspondent manu raju. manu, bring us up to speed. where do things stand right now? >> reporter: yeah, behind closed doors right now steve scalise, the house majority leader and nominee to be speaker of the house, is trying to salvage his bid to run this chamber amid this paralysis that has been going on for more than a week after that unprecedented vote last week to oust kevin mccarthy from the speakership facing that right-wing revolt and votes with democrats to

joining me is colonel cedric leighton. good to see you. i want to start with a thread we saw from ben wedeman in lebanon, and it's on hezbollah. we heard a number of terrorists struck targets in lebanon yesterday as well. what ben said is they're not fully in this. they're not intervening on behalf of hamas, but in his words, doing enough to keep israel on alert. why do you u tthink to this deg they're involved but not a lot. >> good morning, victor. the placement of what hezbollah is doing is quite interesting because they're helping hamas in the sense they're diverting israeli forces to the north. in essence, they've done that successfully. they're putting out small-scale attacks in the direction of israel using rocket fire, you know, some other things that are keeping the israelis off balance just a little bit, and, of course, there's some infiltration across the southern border, so that's just enough to keep people interested and occupied, and it also forces is rah i wills to move more of their forces to the north, more than they would

cnn's orrin lieber mann is with us, as is retired air force colonel cedric leighton, and they are going to break down where this is happening. >> dana, thank you. col colonel, when we talk about the palestinian territories, we are talking about the west bank and gaza. but here, we're just focused on gaza, where israel controls the sea, the northern border and the eastern border. how could have that happened to catch israel so offguard? >> yeah, that's a really great question. what you're looking at a is really small area of territory. so densely populated, but the fact of the matter is, the palestinians, were really looking how to circumvent israel intelligences. they knew they had to get off the phones, use couriers and other more primitive means to communicate with each other. when they did that, they were able to, it looks like, prevent the israelis from really learning what they were up to, and that, i think, gave them the element of surprise in this case. >> you say primitive means, yet israel is known for its ability, frankly, its spy technology, from the air or signals intercepti

. -- cedric leighton is with us now from washington. 's good to see cedric. >> good to be with, the john. >> okay, so the israeli response so far, just over a week, it looks very familiar to previous conflicts with hamas in gaza. high number of palestinian civilians, especially get children are being killed by the israeli airstrikes which have targeted hamas infrastructure as well. residential areas have been shattered and destroyed. this time, though, when the air strikes stop, that won't be the end of the military operation has been in the past. next come is a ground incursion, or expected ground incursion. one of the israelis been doing from the air for the past week or so with regard to that looming ground offensive and what is your sense of timing here? how much longer will the air campaign last before they go in on the ground? >> yeah, john, those are great questions. really what is happening is they are softening up the target, as we would say in the military, and what the israelis are doing with their air campaign, as it currentl

. >> colonel cedric leighton and kimberly dozier, thank you very much. >>> still ahead, why president biden is urging the people in israel and jordan to leave immediately, but as israel strikes, there are protests across the arab world. we're live in jordan next. israel and jordan to leave >>> for the first time since the israeli hamas war started, gaz has finally opened a border. supplies in the 20-truck convoy are provided by the crescent nation. on these trucks include medical supplies for 1,200 people and trauma bags for more than 230. >> this comes as things continue to deteriorate and there's desperation from hospitals. as we heard from clarissa ward, there's no fuel on these trucks and the hospitals are running out of feel for the generators. the united nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs tell cnn there are more than 1 million people displaced in gaza and more than half a million sheltering in dire conditions inside u.n. shelters. israel is urging its citizens to leave jordan and egypt as tensions remain high. anti-israel protests have spread across the

. >> kimberly dozier, colonel cedric leighton, thank you. >>> still to come, the united nations overwhelmingly approve a resolution as victor was alluding to, calling for a cease-fire between israel and hamas, but will either side even consider agreeing to it. is it possible my network could take my business to the next level? it is with comcast business. powering all your devices with gig-speed wifi. and you get fast downloads and uploads. pick it up! pick it up! oh we got this! because it's powered by the next generation 10g network. more speed for your business? it's not just possible. it's happening. get started for $59.99 a month for 12 months. plus, ask how to get an $800 prepaid card with a qualifying internet bundle. comcast business, powering possibilities. >>> the israeli military is beefing up its offensive against hamas and gaza. it says it's determined to continue ground raids in the coming days. >> this morning the idf launched more air strikes which they say killed several hamas operatives. one of them was the head of hamas' aerial assets overseeing the organization's para glide

. >>> joining us now, cnn military analyst, retired air force colonel, cedric leighton.bviously that system has done extraordinary things for protecting israel over the years. this kind of attack we have seen over the last 48 hours is unprecedented for the multipronged nature of it. >> it sure is, anderson, and one of the things to note about the attack is the missiles that the hamas sent into israel, they actually had a fairly short flight path. their trajectory was limited. that made it more difficult for the iron dome or frankly any other system to intercept those missiles and rockets, so it was a pretty hard task for the iron dome system anyways. but the fact that the missiles came in in such a -- you know, in such a low distance and altitude, that made it a little bit harder for the iron dome to pick up many of them. >> in terms of, you and i talked earlier about the hostage situation, the taking of the -- this is hamas's -- which is ruling in gaza, this is not just, you know, random fight e ers. this is the government of gaza kidnapping israeli civilians and holdin

colonel cedric leighton is joining us as we stay on these images. the fact that hamas and other groups -- kim dozer, global affairs analyst, the fact that hamas is still after almost three weeks now of incredibly hew bombardment by israel is still able to fire rockets that were a number of sirens here in tel aviv throughout the day, more so than we've heard in many days, and respond even now at this late hour, what does that tell you? >> well, israeli and u.s. officials have told us they thought that hamas had spent at least a year planning this, at least a year stockpiling the kind of weapons they would need for a sustained response to whatever they trugerred israel into doing, and you see what israel is doing in response is not at least initially the blitz charge into gaza that we all expected but rather what seems like an approach, taking a bit of territory at a time and choosing a few targets at a time and then what we find out from the israeli defense forces the next day is they list a number of different targets. no one overnight operation is

cedric leighton, thank you so much. we'll take a short break and our coverage continues. this one would require tactical intelligence on in a level, even though their strategic situation is not good. >>> the department of defense now announcing additional support to israel. our white house reporter pr priscilla alvarez has more. >> this will include fighters to the eastern mediterranean. it's important to underscore this is a deterrence and a show of force. what president biden made clear to prime minister netanyahu is that there is more assistance to follow. this is something officials have been working on feeverishly behind the scenes in looking at what military aid might be provided and what requests are coming in from israel. this is more complicated because of the function on capitol hill. there is no sitting house speaker and that will potentially cause issues if there is need for congressional authorization for additional aid and that makes this a, quote, unique moment and part of it is officials have to look at what's achievable behind the scenes and to start they

cnn military analyst cedric leighton says this is consistent with a malfunctioning rocket. and then just around six seconds later an explosion was seen on the ground. the camera is going to pan down. right there. we can't say that that rocket in the sky is related to that explosion on the ground, but we have geolocated, again, that explosion to the site of the hospital in gaza city. now, eyewitnesses have described bodies and parts of bodies strewn all over the strike site. the health ministry, which is controlled by hamas, claims that almost 500 gazans were killed. the new u.s. intelligence assessment today says that number is lower, closer to 100 to 300. they still call it a staggering death toll. and then there was this extraordinary press conference. doctors at the hospital surrounded, as you can see here, by the dead and the injured. we've seen all kinds of charred vehicles strewn across the parking lot at the hospital. we have seen damage to the buildings. you can see these windows have been blown out. but nothing that we have seen has been leveled. we've seen belongi

cnn's military analyst cedric leighton is joining me now. great to see you, as always. you know, what do we think about what is going on there at the -- at that rafah crossing? it is puzzling to me, maybe not so puzzling, i suppose, that it would immediately sheet down again after these trucks get in. >> well, jim, that is puzzling. it's not the way i would have envisioned something like this happening, especially when there's such a dire need of supplies by the population in gaza, especially the folks that are waiting at the border there, so -- you know, obviously, there's a lot of diplomatic mash nations happening here, and those are really a problem, because people are suffering, people can potentially die, and the fact of the matter is is that the diplomatic background that needed to happen for this wasn't completed. all the spade work that normally gets done in these areas couldn't be done for various reasons, some of them we probably don't know about. but the basic idea is this, that the egyptians don't want the refugees. on the other hand, the israelis don't want

let's bring in colonel cedric leighton. thank you for being here. i want to bring people up to speed who maybe haven't been watching the news wait we have. when wea were on set yesterday afternoon, we got news that palestinian health authority saying that hundreds had been killed at the hospital. the idf was blamed. the president's meeting with arab leaders in the region set for tomorrow were canceled. there have been protests that have exploded across the arab world in response to this. but now there is a back and forth over who is responsible. idf is saying we did not do this and they doare citing drone footage of this parking lot with burned out cars. essentially there is an argument about who did this and what this evidence shows us. as a military professional when you look at these images of the burned out cars, do you see an aerial bombardment from israel or do you see something that indicates that this was a rocket that was misfired by the palestinian's own side? >> good morning. one of those things where you have to look at several different

i want to bring in cnn military analyst and retired air force colonel cedric leighton. director james clapper is also back. he's a retired air force lieutenant general. colonel leighton, i want to broken with you. i want to understand, what we know about where the israeli troops are moving and will be coming? >> laura, that's a great question. tonight we have about 300,000 israeli reservists that are actually deployed on the border. and so where are they, actually? >> this is probably a pretty good indication right around all of these areas right here. it's we're you'll find israeli troops concentrated and what are they concentrating? with equipment. like these tanks right here. they have tanks, personnel carriers, and other equipment they can potentially used to go into gaza, and that i think is going to make a big difference in what they could potentially do it with some kind of ground incursion on their part. >> it's hard for people to imagine just how densely populated gaza is. we've heard about it, we have been hearing about comparisons that are drawn. tell me abou

t let's bring in military analyst and retired air force colonel cedric leighton.olonel leighton, as we heard from rafael, israel says it's killed more than 30 hamas leaders since october 7th. would you consider that a big dent in dismantling hamas, especially including the sizable death toll in gaza, or do you think there's still a long way to go? >> well, jake, there's definitely a ways to go. but it is a sizable dents. and especially when the leadership that has apparently been killed includes a chief or deputy intel chief and the air chief and some -- probably some of the planners that were associated with the operation on october the 7th, it's significant. and it really does put a dent in hamas' capabilities. having said that, it's pretty clear that hamas has a capacity to regenerate itself. the sbench probably relatively deep, but it is something that they would have to overcome, this deficit, in order to really resume effective military operations against israel. >> israel says or more specifically the israel defense forces saying that gaza's largest hospita

let's bring in cnn military analyst and retired air force colonel cedric leighton. this is stunning and concerning what happens next. what where you expecting israel's response? >> amara, what we're going to see is a lot of aerial attacks like the one that you just showed the video of. that one appeared to be along the gaza and israeli border. and we're going to have the israelis go after the infiltration routes that the hamas fighters are using right now. so the israeli intelligence is working overtime at this particular point in time. israeli air force is sending its jets up in the air to respond in the way that you see. but they're also going to go after the command and control targets of hamas. so any headquarters-type installations, any areas where the leaders of hamas are concentrated right now, the israelis will go after those areas. that's part of the standard israeli practice. and they will also be using ground forces to probably go into parts of gaza. that will be a very difficult operation because gaza is not only very crowded, it's basically a complete s

joining us now cnn military analyst, retired air force colonel cedric leighton.hank you so much for joining us. as you know, the idf says one of its soldiers was released during ground operations in gaza overnight. does her release, this israeli soldier, does her release show that this second phase of this war is actually working? do you expect we will see more hostages released in the coming days? >> well, i think there will be a lot of luck involved in that, wolf, but it's certainly a positive development. one of the key things to look at here is the fact that this seems to have taken place in a ground operation so probably not as the result of hamas releasing her, but of the israelis being able to go in and through special operations tactics and some type of special operations team, whether it was from the military actually going in and freeing her. so that is significant. we obviously need to know more details about that, but my suspicion is that it was a release of that type where the israelis went in and found her using intelligence or plain operational luc

. >> joining me is retired air force colonel and cnn mittry analyst cedric leighton. i imagine that you agree with the lone democrat who voted against the stopgap bill because of the fact that ukraine aid was left out. do you agree this will embolden putin? >> i do. good morning to you. i think one of the key things when it comes to what congressman quigley said is that if you take aid out, if you don't put it into the package that, you know, in terms of the financing for the federal government, it really becomes a problem because it sends signals. it emboldens putin. it emboldens xi in china. one of the key things is that the money speaks volumes because what it does is it comes -- weapons that can be used for the ukrainians. the ukrainians can use to prosecute their counteroffensive and that the ukrainians can use, most importantly to defend theov sovereignty of their country. >> and broader, geopolitically, this underscores america's wavering stance on ukraine, right, especially when it comes to 2024 depending on who will become president in 2024. how do you think

all the cnn military analyst, retired air force colonel cedric leighton. you know, i want to really tap into both of your expertise because it is a vast. robin, beginning with you, president biden gave this oval office speech. what was your reaction to it? >> well, it clearly this was a domestic pitch to get the american people disappoint to wars in which the united states is deeply involved as a major arms supplier, as a major diplomatic force standing behind governments in kyiv and tel aviv, jerusalem. this is a moment where the united states, he has to make the case. he made it in very strong terms. the question is whether the american people, because of their own emotional feelings or attachments, want to support him in what is likely to be a long term on both sides and whether the emotions of the moment overtake, as we have seen, not only the united states but around the world. >> we are seeing the numbers, cedric, and you look at it and there is the request to be invested in to long term scenarios. ukraine, israel. he makes a case? >> i think he did.

. >> i want to bring in colonel cedric leighton if i can. colonel, you're an air force colonel, am i correct? >> that's right, jake. absolutely. >> so the reason i ask is because i believe that the idf feels that they have reached basically or are about to reach the end of their -- the capabilities of the efficiency of the air campaign, of phase one of this war on hamas. that they've reached the maximum that they're going to be able to do to hamas leadership and to the infrastructure of hamas' for want of a better term their war machine, their ability to wage war against israel, from the air. and they started in recent days to talk more about the miles of tunnels that hamas has spent literally 20 years building underneath gaza. and, in fact, the min sister of defense galant said today in a briefing on the record something along the lines of all the money that went into gaza over the years, did they build a university? did they build a factory? no. they built tunnels and rockets. and they really describe this elaborate network and describe th

. >> here in studio with me now is cnn military analyst colonel cedric leighton. and wolf, colonel leighton, i mean, the activity that we're seeing especially in nic robertson's live shot right now, these explosions coming after last night's intense bombardment, what are you see, colonel? what do you make of this? >> i think this is one of the most important aspects of this particular phase of the phrase of the operation. when you think about what benjamin netanyahu and the israeli defense might bester said, this is the -- minister said, this is the next phase. this is the second phase. what are they doing? basically what they're doing is they're coming in in these areas right here, primarily focused on gaza city, but potentially also here. and they're moving forward in these directions and doing so incrementally. they are softening up the target area where both tank fire, artillery fire, as well as airplanes used in bombing missions, using specifically pre-sessions-guidedmmune -- precision guided munitions or pgms. that allows them to soften the territory here an

. >> kimberly dozer and colonel cedric leighton, guys, thank you very much. >>> we're staying on top of the breaking news. the reaction from the region, much more coming up, after a quick break. test. test. test. testing. >>> world leaders are racking to the shocking violence in israel this morning. many calling for calm and restraighten. in the middle east, egypt, turkey and saudi arabia are calling for a stop to the escalation. while iran is expressing support for the hamas attack on ceryls. in europe, spain and italy are condemning attacks and both sides of war in ukraine are commenting. russia's deputy foreign minister calling for a cease fire and ukraine expressing support pour israel in its right to defend itself and its people. here in washington. they're strong support coming from democrats's republicans on capitol hill. in terms of support for israel. we're also getting statements so far from several republican presidential candidates, including trump, desantis expressing strong support for israel in this war against hamas now as well. to our viewers thanks very much for wat

with us now is cedric leighton. it's extraordinary story.he was one of the people guarding on the lookout watching videos, et cetera, right there on the border between israel and gaza when she was taken. the fact that we know that israel used special forces on the ground, that they have this intelligence to get her out, does that mean she's the first of what may be many more rescued this way? >> well, one can certainly hope, poppy. good morning to you. but, yes, when it comes to private ori megidish she was actively rescued in a special operation. what that means the israelis went in deliberately looking for her. they had the intelligence they needed to prosecute this target as we would say in the military. she was in northern gaza based on what we know. this was a joint operation between the israeli defense forces and isa or israeli security agency. otherwise known as shin bet, the domestic intelligence agency for israel. >> colonel lleyton, this begins as the ground invasion begun. u.s. special operators have been with them in the course o

i want to bring in cnn military analyst, retired air force colonel, cedric leighton. colonel, i'm glad you are here to help try to explain, and unpack. because we hear this news, and of course we all begin to lean in, are these strikes the prelude to a ground invasion in the coming -- at this point hours? >> well, especially with that warning that they were reporting about the u.n. being told and also interestingly enough, the department of public safety and gaza that were being told to evacuate people south of gaza city. that becomes very interesting because the areas but the israelis told the u.n. and the gaza police to evacuate from are the most populated areas of gaza. and you are talking over 1 million plus people. that would indicate more than the actual bombing itself. that warning would indicate that that is a prelude to a possible, and the very least, incursion into gaza. whether or not it is a full blown invasion. that remains to be seen based on what comes next here. but i think that what we are seeing is the beginning of something like this. it is -- a lit

the >> colonel cedric leighton, cnn military analyst, a retired air force colonel. good to have you with us, and good to see you again. these rallies continue to promise more, what they are calling, targeted raids into the day ahead. what do they hope to accomplish in advance of this kind of offensive? >> paula, good to be with you. the big thing they are trying to do is find out where hamas fighters, actually, our. with targeted raids, they're somewhat similar, in concept, to reconnaissance in force. they're going forward, they're taking a look at what is out there. they, with targeted raids, also know a bit more from an intelligence perspective. they're going in, and trying to find leadership elements, perhaps tunnel entrances, other aspects of the hamas infrastructure that they could, perhaps, take advantage of. of, course they're looking for any weak points out there. that is what they are doing. of course, as they move forward with those tanks, that becomes a critical element for the israelis. what they are trying to do is find good ways to move their forces, t

colonel cedric leighton, thank you very much for joining us. we'll be right back with much more on this breaking news. >>> we're continuing to follow the breaking news out of israel and gaza right now, at least 40 israelis are confirmed dead by the israeli government, more than 900 israelis are wounded right now, that according to the israeli health ministry, after a surprise multi-front attack from hamas, on israeli soil earlier this morning. israel is responding with air strikes on gaza, palestinian officials say at least 198 palestinians are dead, and more than 1,600 others are injured. we don't know if those deaths are hamas fighters or gaza civilians. i want to bring in idf international lieutenant colonel richard hectare, joining us right now. thank you very much for joining us. first of all, what can you tell us about the situation on the ground right now? can you give us an update on what's going on? >> so again, i have been looking at all of your reports and they're pretty much on the dot on what is happening. what i can confirm is tha

we are now joined retire d colonel cedric leighton.t to start with the idf saying there's no on going fighting on the ground. what do you make of that? >> so, good morning, fim. i think one of the big things to look at here is the nakt they've kind of done their mopping up operations and they've stopped what they needed to do. so, when you look at all the different aspects here, like all of the efforts that the israelis have been able to do when it comes to attacking things in gaza, they've basically done this in addition to the fact that they've been in essence dealing with attacks in all of these areas within israel itself. so what you're seeing here, phil, is the fact that they think they have mopped up everything here at least to the extent where things are more or less safe or safer than they were when the -- this attack first occurred. but every single one of these areas right here is one in which the israelis had to either clean things up or move in and take out hamas fighters that were coming in this way. >> can you speak to wh

. >> all right, colonel cedric leighton, aaron cohen, we'll be coming back to you throughout the course of the morning. >>> white house national security council spokesman john kirby is with us. john, thank you very much, admiral kirby, for joining us. i want to begin, we just heard those very important remarks from secretary austin, and they continue. i want to begin with what israel is directing people that live in northern gaza to do. they are saying go south. i think we have the sound. it might not be ready yet, but we spoke with the head of the -- one of the colonels of the idf who told us immediately. he said the evacuation needs to take place immediately. this is more than a million people, and the u.n. says that's impossible. does the administration think it is possible? >> well, i think we're going to be careful not to get into armchair quarterbacking the tactics on the ground by the idf. what i can tell you is we understand what they're trying to do. they're trying to move civilians out of harm's way, and giving them fair warning. now, it's a tall order. it's a million people,

of this could play out in the next several hours, let's bring in cnn military analyst, colonel cedric leightongreat to see you as always. i guess what are your thoughts right now? we understand the prime minister benjamin netanyahu went down to the front line and essentially said the next stage is coming. i think that tells you all you need to know at this point. >> absolutely. with netanyahu going in like this, jim, and talking to the troops kind of in a commander in chief moment, if you will. >> sure, . >> with all of them and really telling people here's what to expect, i think he's probably piggybacking on what his subordinate commanders are doing, and that's the kind of thing that i think would really play into all of this as this region really finds this major boiling point right here as being a center of attention, but other things, of course, going on in the north and potentially other areas as well. >> and how do you -- is there a way to anticipate how might this play out in the next stage, if there is a ground incursion, what that looks like in the northern part of gaza? >> well, in

. >>> for a closer look, i'm joined by cnn military analyst colonel cedric leighton.olonel, we've been discussing the issue of the potential refugees that could be made in gaza if they do flee. talk to us about what evacuation even looks like in gaza right now, about 1 million people in that part of the territory. where do they even go? >> yeah, that's going to be the real question. and you know, let's take a look at the evacuation zone as we know it right now. because when you see the types of things that can happen here, you've got this area in the north. there are about 1.1 million people that are in this area at this point. what's going to happen, abby, is they are supposed to, according to what the israelis have told them, go down here toward the rafe crossing right here at the egyptian border. so their ability to do this kind of thing is going to be limited because they don't have a human karen corridor. >> give me a sense of the conditions, both the space up here and how far they would need to travel. >> basically, we're talking about 25 to 30 miles down this w

joining us now to discuss cedric leighton as well as security analyst kim dozier. ank you so much to both of you, cedric, look, i know there are people out there who think that there's just one easy answer that we can just share right now. but, obviously, in the situation like this, it's not that simple. go ahead. >> yeah, that's right, jake. one of the key problems that you have is, you know, what was being targeted. was this in fact an israeli air strike. and of course, that looks like that was really the case. and when you have a situation where there are a lot of civilians, it really complicates the targeting mechanism. and the whole targeting process. so, i would really like to know, you know from a military standpoint, what the israelis were targeting. did they think that there was a hamas entity in the hospital, and even with that, you know, what kind of justification would there be to do this kind of a strike. it's something is that, you know, really different from how we do the targeting process in the u.s. air force, at least it appears to be. and that is

. >>> i want to bring back in our military analyst colonel cedric leighton.an you give us a sense of where that strike took place in ashkelon? >> yeah. that is right here. that strike occurred right in the -- look like right in the city center of ashkelon which is a fairly large city in southern israel. so central israel. jeremy is right about here. that indicates that what you're seeing on the one side in ashkelon is mirrored by stuff that is happening here in gaza. so you've got all kinds of activity going on here. clearly this war is heating up at this particular point. you have a lot of things happening. iron dome trying to intercept missiles as they approach ashkelon. may have been successful with that. but you have all kinds of things happening that indicate ground movement in addition to aerial movement and that's complicating the picture at the moment. >> colonel lleyton, stay with us. we'll come back to you throughout the course of the hour. >>> i want to turn now to the biden administration response. president biden confirming that americans are kno

and our military analyst cedric leighton says this is consistent with a malfunctioning rocket. and then six seconds later, this camera is going to pan down, and we'll see an explosion on the ground. we have also geolocated that to the hospital. we can't say that the rocket we saw up in the sky is related to the explosion, but we have geolocated this spot to the hospital. and then we have seen the aftermath. eyewitnesses have described bodies, parts of bodies strewn all over the place. the health ministry, which as you know is controlled by hamas, they have claimed almost 500 gazans killed. this new intelligence assessment that we saw today, they say the number is lower, closer to between 100 and 300, on the lower end, they say. but of course, it is, as they say, a staggering death toll. anderson? >> and what about from the aftermath? anything more we can learn? >> lots of aftermath video. we've seen all kinds of charred vehicles. we have seen damage to the buildings. you can see windows blown out to the hospital. but none of the buildings have been leveled. this one is pockmark