. hey, everyone. it s 4:00 in washington, d.c. i m in for nicolle wallace. a close eye on a volatile situation in the middle east u.s. forces across the region bracing for possible retaliation after airstrikes against iranian-backed houthi militants in yemen. on thursday streaking dozens of targets, more than 60. at 16 different locations across yemen according to the u.s. favors. houthis say at least five were killed in the strikes. the attacks are a response by the u.s. and its allies what has become a slow slimmering crisis and drawn the administration s attention in the last few months. after october 7th with the attacks in israel, ships have gone to the red sea sites of one of the most crucial shipping lanes in the world. hijacking a ship operated by a japanese company. houthis say they re actions are in support of hamas and the ongoing conflict in gaza and say they ll continue their attacks until israel ends its campaign. moments ago president biden answering question
thank you. the senior diplomatic correspondent for the huffington post. joining us now is the ranking member congressman mooeks of new york. thank you for being with us. a lot of talking from democrats and republicans about whether or not this military action required congressional report being undertaken. your thoughts? i will say that the president did advise members of congress, i being one of them, required to the strikes that this was appropriate given the threat, the immediate threat to our commercial ships in the area as well as our personnel in that nature. so i look forward to continuing to work with the white house to make sure we know what is planned going forward. and continuously involved in that regard. so i think the white house has done and agree with the strike they made.
they issued very stern public warnings to the houthis. they also consulted with the allies and many of our partners because they were partners that participate in these strikes. they also consulted with congress. i was glad to hear the ranking member meeks reference the advice that was done before the strikes took place. i think the administration wanted to make sure there was not going to be any further escalation. is it going to deter the houthis, it s questionable. i tend to doubt they are going to stop these attacks. but the intention was also to degrade the capabilities that the houthis have which have been provided by the iranians over the last several decades. these are ford mid-able as far as drones and missiles. they can do things in the air, on the seas, and so i think this is something that the united states takes seriously because of its role in trying to ensure the international navigation and