"We reviewed the support for the Arab Coalition when we came into office, we determined that it was the right thing to do to support them in the defense of their own countries but also to restore the rightful government there," Mattis said.
Mattis added that the US’s aim in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...is to keep the "human cost at an absolute minimum", and that this is where they engage with the coalition.
"In Yemen, as a general statement, we stay out of the war ourselves, and we are focused on defeating ISIS and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
...the latest incarnation of various Qaeda and Qaeda-allied groups, including the now-defunct Aden-Abyan Islamic Army that boomed the USS Cole in 2000...
, that’s where we conduct operations," Mattis said.
He added that the US aims to get the Yemen issue to the "UN-brokered table as quickly as possible".