DEVELOPING: Major ESCALATION in Middle East | China's role 'DEEPLY CONCERNING'

So, a new front. A new front is. escalating in the Middle East. As. Iran-backed Houthi rebels ramp up their. attacks on Saudi Arabia against civilian. sites. A ballistic missile targeting. Riyadh was intercepted yesterday. And. now the Wall Street Journal reports the. Houthis are building an advanced missile. using Chinese-supplied parts. I hope. everyone's watching and listening to. that. President Trump saying he's. considering whether the US should strike. Saudi should join Saudi strikes against. the Houthis, which could pull America. into another front in the war. He'll.

react to his retired four-star general, Fox News senior strategic analyst Jack. Keane. So, do you think what's the right. move for the president to do? Or what do. you What's the move you hope he makes? >> Well, we're going to have to deal with. the Houthis for sure. They are quite. formidable. Whether he does it now or does it later. Likely later, given the circumstances. we're in with a Netanyahu election. coming and a election here in the United. States. I think realistically that's. where we are. So, our audience. understand the Houthis are not just.

another proxy. I mean, they are an Iranian-backed. proxy. Iran is the anchor. Iran goes. away, these all of these proxies begin to go. away. So, that's the good news. Eventually, I think we're going to. finish Iran. But, in the time being, so. our audience understands, 2014, Shia-based insurgency topples the. government. in Yemen. They begin to hit Saudi Arabia after. that. Saudi leads a 10-nation coalition. against them in 2015. Some of those coalition members fall.

away after year, two years, three years, four years After seven years, they don't. defeat the Houthis. The Houthis are at the seven years at. 200,000 strong, and they sign a truce in. 2022. with Saudi Arabia. >> Yep. >> Now, they are north of 300,000. Some. estimates are 350,000. This is a formidable force that Saudi. Arabia, even with a coalition, a small coalition. of US targeting, provided intelligence,

Israel providing some. covert operations, we don't know exactly. what that means. Likely not going to defeat them. Likely have to deal with them. when and if we go back to major combat. operations, which I think is inevitable. They will have to be on the on the dance. card. >> And we know there's about 200. intelligence officers that we have. helping out the Saudis on logistics and. things like that. And they want us to. get involved militarily. I'm very curious to see what you think. about the straight. The Iranians this. week had decided to hit a bunch of.

merchant ships. They're trying to slow. down things on the straight and they've. been successful. Why are they being. successful and was that surveillance. ship that was guiding evidently the. attacks that we blew up? Is that going. to make a difference? >> Yeah, what happens, you know, the enemy. always has a vote. So, we took away. their radars, their sensors, their. ability to see the straits remotely. And that's shut them down. Now they've. got fast attack boats out there as. spotters. designating targets for their missiles,

for their drones, etc. What Cooper needs, the admiral in charge. of Central Command, decision needs to be. made. Do we go in there and clean clear. that up now or do we wait till we go. back to major combat operations? That. Those are the decisions in front of the. president. And I And we're still moving. So, Iran needs to understand. We're. still moving ships through. the Straits of Hormuz right off the. coast of Oman where we've got that. opened up, that lane. >> Uh General, there's a there's a a story.

yesterday that said for the last 2 days. uh Ukraine's been blind. Uh they have. not had intelligence sharing with the US. and when it comes to Starlink, it's been. cut off and they are not not making it. diminishing their ability to hit Russian. targets. Has that changed over the last. 2 days? >> Yeah, I think two things happened. The. Ukraine's. When Russia launches missiles, when. anybody launches a missile in the world, based on our capabilities worldwide, we. know there's a missile launch and we. know where it's headed. So, we've always. done what? We've given them advanced.

warning, missiles are coming. That gives. them early warning, get the people in. the bunkers, in the subway systems. We. know where those they're coming, they're. attacking the people. in Ukraine. Putin has been unable to. defeat Ukraine military and he's not. going to defeat them. He's trying to. defeat the Ukrainian people. He's killed. 15,000 civilians Brian this year, up 55%. from last year, and he's continuing to. do it. So, not getting that advanced. warning and get the people in time into. those bunkers is an issue. I've been.

told that's been fixed. The second thing. is Starlink gives the Ukrainians, when. they're intercepting drones and missiles. coming in, it gives them the the capability to move. their drones, our drones, Ukraine's. drones at great speed to be able to. defeat an incoming missile that's moving. at great speed or jet-powered a. jet-powered drone that's coming at great. speed. That capability was reduced and. making those things not effective. I've. been told that's been fixed. So, this.

was a temporary thing. Why and who uh ordered that or why it. took place, I don't have the answer. But. the good news is it's fixed. >> Elon Musk said it wasn't him. He said uh. that's not my call. So, uh he said don't. look at me. Uh lastly, there's a Reuters. report that says the US military is. using the mother of all bombs on the. next attack. I imagine pickaxe in Iran. Uh should we go back to military action? Is that what it's going to take to. neutralize that nuke site that we have. not touched yet?

>> Yeah. Well, we do know this. The. Iranians, and there's no surprise here, have been conducting some activity at. their deep buried sites. Iran's. certainly uh still committed to a. nuclear weapon. That they're not going. to change. This regime will not change. When we finish this once for all, they. will not have any nuclear capability. >> Fighting escalating between Iran-backed. Houthis and Saudi-backed forces over the. past week with the terror group. targeting Saudi Arabia using drones and.

even ballistic missiles. This as the. Wall Street Journal reports the Houthis. are building an advanced missile using. Chinese parts, raising new concerns. about Beijing's role in the conflict. Joining me now is the director of Asian. Studies Center at The Heritage. Foundation, Jeff Smith. Jeff, thanks for. coming on and talking to me about this. You know, I first I want your thoughts. on the latest strikes that happened. Wednesday morning. You know, there's. been two. There was one earlier this. this week as well. And at what point. does the US step in? Like how long do. they let this go?

>> I think it's a great question. I mean, the Houthis continue to demonstrate that. you can cause a lot of damage and you. and you can wreak a lot of havoc with. just a little bit of missile capability. So, the idea that maybe they're getting. the the ability to build even more. advanced ballistic missiles and that. this is coming from China is deeply. concerning. It's It's deeply concerning. >> Yeah. >> I mean, this has been an escalation ramp. the Houthis have been going up and it. began with satellite information coming. from China. Now it's moving to missile. parts and we've even had targeting.

information provided by China that has. resulted in the death of US troops. I. mean, we need to draw a red line. somewhere. >> I mean, and that's the that's my next. question. Why is China even getting. involved? Because you think that that. they always worry about their bottom. dollar. It's all about money with China. And I feel like this could damage their. economy if they get, you know, too cozy. with with the Houthis. And and I just. don't know what China has to gain from. it. >> Well, it's got a few things to gain from. it. It's Iran has been a big partner of.

China's for many years now. Unfortunately, and the Houthis are a. proxy of Iran. And so, China through. Iran has been helping the Houthis. In. some ways China is meddling anywhere. that it undermines US interests and. forces the US to divert resources. elsewhere. You know, I just don't buy. this idea that the Chinese state isn't. aware of these activities. The you know, that these are somehow some rogue actors. and that it can't keep tabs on people. that are making ballistic missile. components. You can bet if they were.

making overthrow Xi Jinping pamphlets, the Chinese state would have found them. in about 30 seconds and they would be in. a gulag or they would be exterminated. So, I just don't buy it. It's a choice. not to know what's going on here. >> So, do you think that this is really. just China trying to undermine the US? >> I think that's a part of it. Maybe. they're trying to also in part buy off. the Houthis. I mean, I don't think it's. a coincidence that the Houthis haven't. been targeting Chinese ships. So, you.

almost get a two-for-one here. You get. the US to divert resources and attention. to the region. You help out your partner. Iran and maybe you buy free passage for. Chinese ships transiting the region. >> Do you think we're going to see more of. these strikes? Um is it just going to. become commonplace where we see it, you. know, all day, every day or every week? >> I sure hope not and I don't think we can. continue to operate like this and really. this is the world's problem. I mean, you. have a a rogue regime in Yemen that is.

essentially firing off missiles into an. international straight, firing off. missiles into neighboring countries, causing all manner of havoc. This is an. This is an area where the world needs to. unite and come together and say enough. is enough and begin imposing costs and. that really is going to start with the. Houthis supply chain and what we. increasingly find is that most most of. the Houthis material is now coming from. China. It's not a coincidence. >> Right and you know, we we all heard the. president say they were considering.

joining in on these strikes with Saudi. Arabia. Do you think it's time that they. get involved and how much involvement do. you think there should be? >> I think we have to put an end to this. And you know, I think strikes is a part. of it, but drawing up the the finances. and the supplies to the Houthis is. really going to be how we attack this on. the back end. Because the Houthis are. showing, you know, if you have a. committed group that wants to cause a. little bit of chaos, it's not that hard.

to fire off a couple missiles. You. really need to go after the supplies on. the back end. You need to squeeze their. patrons. And I don't think we've good. done a good enough job doing that yet. >> Okay. Interesting take there, Jeff. Smith. Thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Todd. >> Be sure to like and subscribe for all. the Fox News latest on YouTube and catch. full shows streaming now on Fox 1.