All right we are learning a little bit more about these uh joint attacks conducted by the United States and Great Britain on Hy Rebel sites in Yemen with us right now Major General Patrick Ryder of course the Pentagon press secretary Secretary General very good to have you what can you tell us about how involved these were it seems a little bit more.
Involved than we earlier thought yeah thanks very much for having me Neil so what we had last night were uh multinational uh strikes conducted by the United States and the United Kingdom with support from Australia Bahrain Canada and the Netherlands and these strikes were very specific to Target capabilities that the houthis have been.
Using to conduct attacks against international shipping and Mariners in the Red Sea uh so far uh our initial assessments are that we had good effects uh but we'll continue to assess going forward again the goal here is to disrupt and degrade their ability to conduct these kinds of attacks going ahead in the future now I understand.
Maybe from your briefing earlier sir that uh the US has at this point destroyed or degraded more than 25 missile facilities since January 11th uh they've had follow-up attacks so the fear is they've got other means or areas from which they can attack us um I I know that's sort of like a a pin prick strategy you can't you know get to all.
Pin sites but um what do you say about their ability to attack you know us element ship inurance in the Red Sea now how much has that been degraded yeah so as you highlight uh since January 11 uh we assess that we have successfully destroyed or degraded uh over 20 missiles uh and 25 missile launch and deployment facilities as well.
As a variety of other capabilities to include Coastal Radars uh unmanned aerial vehicles um a aerial surveillance and weapon storage areas so all of that uh combines to to degrade and and disrupt their ability to conduct these kinds of attacks going forward now we do know that the houthis maintain capabilities additional capabilities uh.
And would not be surprised if we see other attacks in the future but what we're what we're doing here is putting a cost on those attacks uh and essentially uh making it very clear that there will be consequences so going forward we'll continue to work with the International Community uh to again put this pressure on the houthis uh with the ultimate goal.
Being that the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aiden are safe and secure for international shipping s today was our first chance to see Lloyd aity delivered virtual remarks uh in his first public appearance since his hospitalization many have been scrutinized that and wonder what what is his health status is he permanently out of the hospital what.
What can you tell us yeah so thanks very much for asking well the secretary is recovering well he continues to work from home and perform his duties from there as he recuperates uh conducting Physical Therapy you know post Hospital uh and so we of course uh wish him a speedy recovery and and a return to the Pentagon as as soon as he can but as you.
Highlight today was the 18th Ukraine defense contact Group which brought together more than 50 Nations to focus on what we need to do to continue helping Ukraine defend themselves against Russia's illegal and unprovoked aggression um secretary his looks notwithstanding it's someone concerned that he he looked still under.
The weather it would be an understatement of someone who's in the hospital as long as he has but that he is still according to you conducting these operations not only addressing the Ukraine matter you just alluded to but these followup attacks join or otherwise on on hoodie Rebels yeah secretary Austin uh of.
Course resumed his full duties January 5th uh and has been conducting and actively engaged in departmental operations leading the department uh and and as evidenced by last night uh continues to stay very actively engaged in uh implementing the national security policies of our nation so I'm sorry if I'm slowing on the take sir is he back.
At his defense department offices or is he doing this from home yeah again as as I mentioned just a minute ago there he's continuing to perform his duties from home uh and we've look forward to him returning to the Pentagon as soon as possible has there been any discussion of his stepping down uh no right now again he maintains uh.
His focus on carrying out his duties as Secretary of Defense uh and ensuring that our nation remains safe and uh the president still has full confidence in him and on these follow-up strikes and all still confidence in in the secretary leading those strikes commanding those strikes yeah thanks Neil I'm not going to speak for the president but I think.
You've heard him uh and the White House communicate the president's confidence in Secretary Austin again uh there are lots of things happening in the world right now as you've seen uh and secretary Austin remains squarely focused on executing his duties as the secretary defense and protecting our nation all right then finally sir on the.
The hoodie Rebels and their resilience to a lot of attacks not all they are degraded with each and every attack but not to the point where they're unable to attack and that's led many of these Shipping Lines and and oil tanker parent companies who've been with me on my business show to say pretty much to a man and Company sir they don't want to.
Risk going back in that area um for fear of this happening again even if there's a task force accompanying them they just don't feel safe what do you tell them well you know certainly that is a decision that each company needs to decide on its own uh but what you saw here again was the houthis began to conduct these attacks back in mid.
November right and despite multiple warnings from many nations uh and despite the fact that you had 14 Nations plus the United States issue a statement in early January warning of consequences they've made the decision to continue conducting these attacks uh and so there is a cost to that uh and again our goal here is to ensure that those Mariners.
That those companies are able to Transit this International Waterway safely and that the impacts on the global economy uh are removed uh and so again we'll we'll continue to stay focused on conducting that mission deterring those attacks uh should we need to but one would certainly hope that the houth uh stop and stop now General thank you very.
Much Major General Patrick Ryder the Pentagon press secretary secretary thank you again hi everyone I'm Brian kilme I want you to do me a favor I want you to click to subscribe to the Fox News YouTube page this is the only way that I know for sure that you're not going to miss any great commentary any great news bites any great interviews coming your.
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