up in such a conflict? it s important to separate the different parts here. when hamas attacked israel on october the seventh, shortly after that, the us sent additional capabilities in the region, in support of our regional deterrence efforts. and so, those capabilities provide us with additional assets to be able to respond to a wide range of contingencies. what we re seeing near yemen, in the red sea, is the houthi rebels attempting to exploit this situation. but ultimately, at the end of the day, affecting over 50 nations that are sending commercial shipping through this vital waterway and so, we absolutely do not want to see an extension of the conflict in gaza broader in the region, and we ll continue to work hard on that. but at the same time, we can t allow the houthis to continue these attacks, putting innocent mariners lives at risk. and affecting the global
at response and, ultimately, execution options, once the president gave the authorisation to conduct these strikes. and then, yesterday, secretary austen was the one who gave the order to the us central command commander to go ahead and execute the strikes and he monitored it real time from his hospital room with access to full communication suite. and so, he s been very actively involved and continues to monitor the situation. we have to leave it there, major general, but thank you so much forjoining us on bbc news. thank you, i appreciate it. live now to military expert and former us marines chief of staff in europe, colonel brendan kearney. very good to have you on the programme. thank you for joining us. we are seeing there have been fresh strikes in yemen and us officials are saying this is not a new target but a further strike against a prior target. what do you think we are seeing? we are seeing? well, this is routine- we are seeing? well, this is routine. this we are seein
to listen to the warnings that have been given to them over the last two months. so, in order to see if they are going to comply now, we re going to have to do start the military action and i think that could take place any time in the next 3-5 take place any time in the next 3 5 days and we willjust wait and see. if they start up firing missiles and sending drones again at maritime shipping, then i m afraid there will be a new round of attacks on yemen. if will be a new round of attacks on yemen- on yemen. if you look at the statement on yemen. if you look at the statement that on yemen. if you look at the statement that was - on yemen. if you look at the statement that was released on yemen. if you look at the i statement that was released on thursday night by the white house, the president didn t mention the fact in that statement that iran has provided intelligence, training, hardware as well to the houthis in their efforts. why do you think that is? well, ou why do you think
us officials sayjust under 30 sites were targeted in the initial strikes, including in yemen s capital city sa naa. the us and uk led strikes focused on what the us calls command and control centres, munitions depots, launching systems, production facilities and air defence radar systems. houthi leaders said five people were killed. the pentagon says the houthis responded with an anti ship ballistic missile but it didn t cause any damage. houthis warn of more retaliation. the strikes were in response to houthi attacks on ships in the red sea, which the houthis say is in response to israel s attacks in gaza. fighters have been targeting ships with armed drones and missiles and boarding them. before the reports of the latest strike on yemen, i spoke with department of defense press secretary major general patrick ryder about the impact of the strikes. you mentioned some allies in the region are concerned about a wider conflict. is the us already caught
now. but honestly, i don t know if he is afraid of them or he is afraid that he is going to upset them. all of that is completely irrelevant. his inaction has been unconscionable and he s now responding to pressure from the congress of the united states and i m sure to our allies from around the world that something had to be done and i think he is very reluctantly taking action. hejust got is very reluctantly taking action. he just got back he doesn t want to do it. i condemn him for that. that is absolutely dereliction of duty and he should be held accountable, most likely at the polls this coming year. we accountable, most likely at the polls this coming year.- polls this coming year. we ust have about fl polls this coming year. we ust have about one i polls this coming year. we ust have about one minute i polls this coming year. we just have about one minute left - polls this coming year. we just have about one minute left but if you say the president have not been active enoug