America’s role in Yemen’s disaster

• Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Rebecca Rebarich told Axios that the U.S. was not involved in Thursday's strike.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Yemen Stephen Seche tells Axios the U.S. has two primary goals in Yemen — countering Iran and fighting terrorist groups — and the coalition is "addressing these issues on our behalf."

"Why are we going to get in their hair about how they're conducting this war, because basically they're doing our work for us over there."

While the war started under President Obama, the Trump administration has taken a different approach to working with the coalition, Seche said:

• The Obama administration: "We will give you a green light on certain things in Yemen, and if we don't then you stand down."
• The Trump administration: "Explain to us what you need to do — we'll offer some words of caution, some words of advice — but at the end of the day it's your call to make. That is your backyard, it's not ours."

The Pentagon's view, via Rebarich: "The U.S. military support to our partners mitigates noncombatant casualties, by improving coalition processes and procedures, especially regarding compliance with the law of armed conflict and best practices for reducing the risk of civilian casualties. The final decisions on the conduct of operations in the campaign are made by the members of the Saudi-led coalition, not the United States."