00:00General Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the Houthi rebels today, gave a speech in which
00:03he said that British, I'm sorry, U.S. and British airstrikes have had no effect at all
00:07on the group.
00:08Could you comment on that?
00:09Well, they started with a certain amount of capability, and now they have a less amount
00:13of capability, so that's just factually incorrect, but...
00:18The tempo and severity and damage caused by the attacks is increasing, and obviously the
00:22stress that the U.S. Navy is under is increasing, too.
00:25So what's the end point here?
00:27Well, again, as I said on Tuesday, you know, the ultimate objective here is to ensure freedom
00:33of navigation through the Red Sea and to continue to work with the international community to
00:38safeguard mariners that are transiting this area, and we'll continue to do that.
00:44And again, you know, the more that the Houthis continue to do these types of attacks long-term,
00:52it is going to also, and in the medium and near-term, it's going to continue to have
00:56significant impacts on their own citizens, the people that are living under Houthi control
01:02in terms of the ability for aid to be delivered to Yemen, the environmental impact on the
01:08Red Sea, as well as the economic viability of that region.
01:12So again, you know, we're not looking to get into a full-scale conflict with the Houthis.
01:17Our focus, again, continues to be on freedom of navigation and safety of the maritime corridor,
01:23and that's what we'll stay focused on.
