Today, the Defense Department ordered an aircraft carrier to remain in the Middle East.

That means the U.S. will maintain two carriers in the region, in part because of the ongoing war against the Houthis in Yemen.

For seven weeks, the U.S. has been bombing the group that it labels as terrorists in response to its attacks on commercial and U.S. ships.

Nick Schifrin speaks to a senior member of Yemen's internationally recognized government.

The Houthis are an Iranian-backed rebel group that in 2014 seized the capital, Sana'

and much of the country's northern highlands and coast along the Red Sea.

Most of the rest of Yemen is controlled by the internationally recognized government,

which has fought the Houthis with the support

of a Saudi-led coalition that failed to defeat the Houthis

with seven years of U.S.-backed airstrikes.

Beginning in November 2020,

Houthi rebels launched more than 100 attacks

on commercial vessels and U.S. Navy

ships.

The Houthis claim to attack ships linked to Israel in solidarity with the war in Gaza, but their

targets were much wider.

Earlier this year, during a Gaza ceasefire, the Houthis paused their attacks.

But when Israel blocked humanitarian aid to Gaza and restarted the war, the Houthis started targeting Israel again and vowed to target ships.

In mid-March, the U.S. started a new bombing campaign that for the first time targeted Houthi leadership,

vowing to continue it until the Houthis stopped their attacks in the Red Sea of vital trade corridor.

To discuss this, I'm joined by Mustafa Noman,

the Vice Foreign Minister of the internationally recognized Yemeni government.

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