 Good afternoon. Hi, everyone. Good afternoon. Sorry, it's getting started just a few minutes late here. Just a few things at the top, and then I'd be happy to dive in and take your questions. So earlier today, the Secretary arrived in Jakarta, Indonesia, to attend the 10th ASEAN Defense Minister's Meeting Plus. While in Jakarta, he will conduct an ASEAN United States informal meeting to discuss opportunities to expand the ASEAN United States Security Cooperation one year after the elevation of the ASEAN-US relationship to the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. He will also meet with regional counterparts to express the United States' deep commitment to working alongside allies and partners in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific. Also earlier today, Secretary Austin approved a request from the DC Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency to provide 30 DC National Guard personnel to support the DC Police Department during the March for Israel on the National Mall. These 30 guardsmen will be unarmed and will provide traffic and crowd management support to DC police from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. today, and will remain under the Operation and Administrative Command and Control of DC National Guard. The Secretary has additionally authorized the activation of approximately six guardsmen from the DC National Guard's Civil Support Team. These guardsmen will similarly be unarmed and will remain under the command and control of the DC National Guard while providing support to DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services. For more information, we would refer you to the DC Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency. And finally, turning now to our forces in Syria and Iraq. Since October 17th through today, we are tracking that there have been 55 attacks on U.S. forces. There have been 27 attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq and 28 attacks in Syria. And an update for you from last week on injuries. We are also tracking 59 U.S. personnel who have received injuries in the TBI or non-serious categories since these attacks began. Approximately 27 personnel have been evaluated for TBI and 32 for other non-serious injuries. As of today, all 59 have returned to duty. And with that, I'd be happy to take your questions. Tara, you want to start us off? Yes, thanks. To just start with Syria, can you give us any additional information on the air strike that happened over the weekend? What sort of battle damage assessment was there? And did that strike result in casualties on the ground? So something that we are continuing to do is battle damage assessment, but I don't have anything to read out in terms of casualties. As we mentioned over the weekend, we are aware that there were IRGC-affiliated members in the proximity of the facilities that were struck by our aircraft. But I don't have more on casualty numbers or anything else to read out. So you don't have a sense of how many people were in the area? And then just one more on the summit that's taking place. Much has been said about maybe the potential takeaways from this will really be mill-to-mill and maybe improved mill-to-mill relations. Sorry, I'm checking out the president. Okay. Yes. What has the secretary communicated as far as what would be basically a good deliverable to help restart this relationship? Well, as you mentioned, this is the president is leading the summit, which is starting tomorrow. And so I don't want to get ahead of anything that the president might announce or any outcomes from that summit. We've stressed from the very beginning that we believe mill-to-mill cooperation, coordination, and communication is important. Right now the PRC does not have a national defense or a minister of defense. And so at the 80 a.m. plus that the secretary is at starting tomorrow, we don't have any indication that there will be a meeting happening between the secretary and his non-designated PRC counterpart yet. So there are no plans for the secretary to sit down with anyone at this point. But again, I'd let the president's meeting that's happening tomorrow. I don't want to get ahead of that. Just one last. Can you characterize the state of the relationship right now? Are there any conversations going on? Any sort of deconfliction line talks? Are they picking up at all? Are we even trying? I mean, we continue to be both publicly and privately continue to engage with the PRC. We are certainly committed to having an open line of communication and mill-to-mill communications with the PRC, but we just haven't had that resuscitated from their end. Jen. Sabrina, about a week ago, Iranian-backed Houthis downed an MQ-9 Reaper drone, a U.S. drone, $32 million drone. So far there's been no response by the U.S. and the Houthis are saying they will threaten Israeli ships in the Red Sea. Isn't the lack of response by the U.S. military inviting more aggressive actions by the Houthis? Yeah. Thanks, Jen, for the question. I wouldn't say that it's inviting more aggressive for the response from the Houthis. We've seen the Houthis do this before. We've seen one of our MQ-9s shot down before in the past. I'm not saying that we're not going to respond. We always reserve the right to respond at a time and place of our choosing, but I just don't have anything to forecast for you right now. I mean, as you know, our main goal is to contain and to make sure this conflict is contained within Gaza. Right now, that's where we see it. We see the conflict remaining within Israel and Gaza and between Israel and Hamas. So as of today, I'm not going to broadcast any response or get ahead of any response that the Secretary or the President might want to take, but I think we've been pretty clear in our message when it comes to deterrence, and we haven't seen this conflict wide enough. We're not deterring the Houthis. The Houthis are continuing to fire missiles toward Elat. They're threatening ships now. I don't understand how a deterrent message is being received by the Houthis if there's no response to downing an MQ-9. Well, you have to remember that one of our ships did take action when the Houthis did fire missiles that were headed towards Israel. We did engage in that. We did bring those down. Again, I'm not going to get ahead of any action that the Secretary or the President may or may not take. We have a very robust presence in the region right now that is sending, I think, a very strong message of deterrence. And while I certainly hear your question, we always reserve the right to respond at a time and place of our choosing. Yeah. Thank you, Marina. A question and then a follow-up on an earlier question. There's some reports in Arabic language media today, I went to accounts from Gaza, where witnesses are saying that they've seen troops speaking English to each other and American flags on their uniform. Can you give us an update generally on what U.S. forces are doing currently in Israel and specifically can you respond to the claim that there's potentially U.S. troops on the ground in Gaza? Well, I can't respond to that specific claim. I haven't seen it, but what I can tell you is that there are no U.S. forces on the ground in Gaza. Thank you. Carla. Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you. And then to follow up on that earlier point with the Chinese and the U.S. military communications, you said that there hasn't been any reciprocation. Now, does that date back to the LOC visit in 2022 or when was the last time there was any reciprocant communication? I would have to take that question in terms of when the last time there was a mill to mill communication. I mean, the secretary has not engaged with his counterpart. And as you know, that position is vacant around the speaker's visit, I'm not aware that there were communications ongoing with the PRC, but it's something that I can take that question and get back to you. Carla. Thanks. Back to the attacks on U.S. forces, sure, Iraq and Syria, I have three questions. First, will the Pentagon acknowledge that deterrence is not working with Iran? Second, why is the U.S. not hitting targets in Iraq when it has been proven that there are weapons facilities and weapons being used against U.S. forces in Iraq? And then third, does this building still an obligation to strike any and all Iranian and Iranian-backed weapons storage facilities to protect forces in Iraq and Syria? So many questions. Okay, so starting at the beginning, your first question was, do we think deterrence has failed? Was that... I'm not going to acknowledge that deterrence is not working. When it comes to Iran. So again, Carla, this war we want to see contained to Israel and within Gaza. We do not want to see a wider regional conflict. Because of today, that has not happened. We have not seen this war spillover into other neighboring countries and into the region. In terms of attacks on our troops, separate issue, we are in Syria and Iraq for our mission to defeat ISIS. We have seen Iran and Iran proxy groups continue to attack U.S. forces because we know Iran doesn't want us. We know Iran does not want to see U.S. forces on the ground and in the region, frankly. And so we saw this back in March. We've seen this before where they attack our forces. On the issue of deterrence, just taking a step back, is deterrence working? We feel that it is. We have not seen this war spread into a wider regional conflict. We have responded with the—we conducted three different strikes. We responded most recently this weekend. And again, we will always reserve the right to respond at a time and place of our choosing in the future. Does that understand? The strikes that happened, that we've done three rounds now, they're not to prevent attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, they're to prevent escalation of the conflict. I think again— Is there anything to prevent the strikes against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria? I guess I'm trying to understand. So the strikes that we are taking is to signal and to message very strongly to Iran and their affiliated groups to stop. That is the purpose of those strikes. And we are seeing— Because they keep striking. I understand that. But again, I think we are being very deliberate on how and when we conduct our strikes against these groups. And I think that Iran is certainly seeing that message. And I'm sorry. I don't remember. You had a third question. Sure. Sure. So why is the U.S. not hitting targets in Iraq? And does the building feel an obligation to strike weapons facilities if they know that they're there to prevent attacks on U.S. service members in Syria and Iraq? So in terms of why we aren't hitting where we're hitting, we're hitting places where we feel we can make the most impact. And just this weekend, you saw us hit a training facility and a safe house that also operates as a headquarters node. So we feel very confident in targeting and precision of these strikes. And just because they're in Syria does not mean that they're disrupting access to weapons, access to capabilities that these groups have interrupt. And I'm sorry. You're a third part. You kind of explained it. If you know of a facility that has weapons, do you feel, does this building feel that they have the obligation to strike it, to prevent enemies from using those weapons to target U.S. forces as they have done on a daily basis? Well, I think as you've seen, we've taken action. We've hit weapons storage facilities. And it's important to remember, the facilities that we hit are now destroyed. These groups cannot go back to these facilities and take weapons out because they're gone. So we feel that we are being very precise with our targeting and ensuring that we can inflict the most damage to these groups and their capability. So General Writers said exactly two weeks ago that the mechanism by which the U.S. is providing military intensive Israel is different from a legal and budgetary standpoint in comparison to the military assistance to Ukraine. How and why and also what figure we're talking about in military assistance to Israel, like millions, billions, tens of billions, what is it? Yeah, no, so thank you so much for the question. So in terms of what General Writers said, I don't have much more of an update to provide you in terms of the dollar amount right now. What I can tell you is we are providing assistance to Israel through very different mechanisms than how we provide assistance to Ukraine. So Ukraine, you're seeing the PDAs or the USAI drawdown authorities that we are using. Israel is mainly through FMS, FMS, and then direct contracting that Israel does with private commercial companies. So again, I don't have that amount in front of me right now, but the mechanisms of which we are providing it to Israel is different from Ukraine. Can you get into why that mechanism can flow over the other mechanisms that's been provided to Ukraine as a specific reason? Different countries, different mechanisms, different relationships that we have with each country. Again, Israel had, before October 7th, a very capable professional military. Ukraine is building up to being a very capable fighting force in their counter-offensive. They were attacked in February of almost two years ago, but Ukraine needed the support to build up their military that Israel already had. So again, the funding mechanisms and how we're supplying aid. It's two different countries, two different wars, and again, two different areas of responsibility. So it's a little different. I haven't heard any figure. Do you think we're going to be able to find out how much need to have been provided to Israel? Yeah, something that we are, of course, I know General Reuters spoke to this, it's something that we're working towards. I just don't have that right here at this moment. Yes, Joseph. In the record on the MQ9, I hope you said that it was about Yemen territory. Yeah, the MQ9 was operating in an international airspace when I was shot. I believe it just wasn't going to be salvageable at that point. We know that the Houthis did make an attempt to try and salvage some of the remnants and they also were not successful. So it just wasn't salvageable at that point. One other one, on military assistance to Israel, we've seen targeting civilians and journalists in Gaza. Well, that's quite a ringtone. That was, yeah. Oh, my gosh. It's also expanded beyond those borders. Yesterday, there was a group of Lebanese journalists targeted in southern part of the country. The reporters said that they had coordinated that trip with the Lebanese armed forces and the UNP's keeping force in Lebanon. So this came about a month after a Reuters journalist was killed. They also say that was done by, as a result of the Israeli strike. So what's the final doing to ensure or push the Israeli military on this aid and provide to make sure that it's not targeting civilians and specifically journalists? Well, we certainly, I mean, I think you asked me this last time and I'll reiterate that we believe that freedom of the press and protection of innocent civilians is incredibly important during this time. Incredibly important when people are on the ground in Gaza, reporting on what's happening on the ground. And then, as you mentioned, I think it was you referenced Lebanon with some of these journals, journalists were stationed. Again, you know, we are going to continue to urge for Israel to continue to uphold the laws of armed conflict, humanitarian laws. And again, we know that this is an incredible. I don't burden is not the right word, but told that it takes for journalists to cover these what's happening on the ground. And it's incredibly important that their safety is protect. Yeah, in the back. Yeah, so two part question. The president said yesterday that hospitals in Gaza must be protected. Is the US telling Israel not to attack hospitals or to shift away? It is operating at these sites. And then second, do you have any conclusive intelligence that these hospitals are legitimate military targets? So we've been very clear with. I think you've seen in the readouts that the Secretary has had with Minister Galant that we believe that the protection of innocent civilians is not only a priority, but it must be upheld. And so you've seen in our readouts time and time again, that is something that the Secretary continues to emphasize with Minister Galant in all of his calls. And you've seen that from from the not just this department, but across this administration. I think what Jake Sullivan said yesterday is exactly what we keep reiterating to our Israeli counterparts is that we don't want to see a firefight. In a hospital, we absolutely believe that hospitals should be places where people seeking medical treatment and tension need to be. And those places should be protected. But you have to remember that. And, you know, we do have information that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad uses some hospitals in the Gaza Strip, including the Al-Shifa Hospital, as a way to conceal and support their military operations and hold hostages. They have tunnels underneath these hospitals. And so Hamas and PIJ members operate a command and control node from Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. They have weapons stored there and are prepared to respond to an Israeli military operation against the facility. So this is I'm just telling you what we, as the intelligence community assesses, is happening in Gaza City. How Hamas is using these hospitals to operate. But absolutely, we do not want to see a firefight in a hospital where there are innocent civilians. Fadi. So you thought of having forces on the ground, right? So I take this intelligence assessment is gathered based on information provided by Israel. Sorry, what I just read out, that's from our intelligence community. So do you have any assets inside Gaza? We have no assets or boots on the ground in Gaza. So there's no gathering on the ground. How about this? That's right. So you have no one entering the hospital to verify this information? We have no boots on the ground in Gaza. How was that assessment, you know, how did you conclude that assessment based on information received from your Israeli counterparts? Well, I'm not going to get into more specifics on how our intelligence is collected. What I can tell you is there are multiple agencies, as you know here within the department and across the administration, multiple agencies that collect and assess and analyze intelligence. But I'm not going to go into any further details on how that intelligence is gathered. Are you confirming that you have no assets on the ground or assets entering these hospitals to basically confirm information you're sharing? I will say it again. We have no boots on the ground in Gaza, Louis. I'm sorry, Jared, and then I'll come back. What you just read. Yeah. That just sounds different to me. It's more expansive than what Mr. Sullivan said yesterday. So am I correct in saying this is new information that you are providing to us? Yeah, that is. New language that being assessed by the US intelligence community. This is newly downgraded information that we felt was important to get out today because there have been a lot of questions about the hospital and how Hamas operates. And so it was important to get out there for you all. Clarify and invite any questions here. So this is an independent US assessment separate from the Israeli, their own assessment or this information that they provided to you within you to analyze. Yeah, I'm just not going to get into more specifics on the intelligence. I can tell you that this is information that was downgraded and collected by the intelligence community. Yeah. What do you mean? Do you mean it's classified? Do you mean it's classified? Yeah. That's what we're going to have. I'm not going to get into how or where this intelligence is coming from. This is done by our intelligence community. It was put together and downgraded so you can have a better idea of what's happening on the ground. Can I just wait? I think he wasn't done. Sorry, this is on the subject. OK. All right, go ahead. Just the level of confidence, usually you, when intelligence shares some information or declassify, you talk. Yeah, I'm not going to go into the assessment of how we feel. I'm just telling you what the intelligence community has been able to declassify today. And the fact that I'm reading it out to you, we feel very confident in our sourcing and what the intelligence community has gathered on this topic, but I'm just not going to go into more specifics on the intel itself. So you had a high level of confidence because you said we are very confident. I'm saying I'm confident reading it to you from this podium today in our assessment. Did you have one more question? Then I'm going to go to the phone. Just the follow up button. I can use questions on multiple levels, deterrents in the region. And from the Department of Science, did Iraq's attempting to rein these groups in from sort of localized attacks in Iraq and Syria and US bases? How do you speak to intelligence that we gather? I'm going to, yeah? If I can just follow up. Is there a concern that the IRGC may or may not have full operational control of these groups? Is that something that might be factoring into what's going on right now? Well, we certainly know, and we've been pretty public about the fact that the IRGC supports arms, quips, funds, trains these groups. So they do maintain some level of accountability over these groups. I think some of these militias, of course, carry out their own attacks, maybe not necessarily running it up all through their command and control nodes. But we know that Iran certainly has a role to play with these groups. I'm going to get head to the phones here. Dries Reuters? Nothing heard. Chris Gordon, Aaron Space. Thanks, Sabrina. On the US Air strikes, you and other US officials have said broadly the message to Iran and these militias have stopped. So does that mean no attacks on US troops in Iraq and Syria by these militias? Are these airstrikes intended to stop attacks completely, to limit them, to degrade them? What's the end here? What is the practical, achievable goal of these US airstrikes? Yeah, Chris, thanks for the question. We do want to see a stop to these attacks on US forces. Next question, Jeff Shogle, task and purpose. Thank you. Has the Defense Department or the Biden administration as a whole made a decision that any airstrikes or other form of retaliation against attacks on US forces will be in Syria instead of Iraq? And I also just wanted to follow up on my colleague's question, what is the end game here? There's a cycle of attacks and a reprisal and more attacks. How does this end? Thanks, Jeff. In terms of why, I think your question is sort of what Carla had asked earlier on why we are selecting targets in Syria. Look, we feel confident about the targets that we select, the ability to degrade further capabilities of these IRGC-backed groups. I'm not going to get into why we pick certain places over another. The attacks right now on our forces are basically split pretty evenly between Iraq and Syria. And so we feel confident in our targeting of the places we were able to hit within eastern Syria. And on your, how does this end? I mean, again, we want to see these attacks stop. So how these end is really up to how these IRGC-filiated back groups choose to conduct themselves. Again, we want to see these attacks completely stop on our forces in Iraq and Syria. So we will always and continue to protect our troops in the region. We will make the decision to decide when we choose to respond. But how this ends is when these attacks stop. And last question on the phones, and I'll come back in the room, Heather, USNI. Hi, thank you so much. Nothing sounds flipping, but you keep saying that the war hasn't expanded past Israel and Hamas. But I was wondering what the DOD's definition for expansion is since we're seeing these attacks in Syria and Iraq against US troops that only started after the Hamas attack in Israel. Yeah, thanks, Heather. So again, the attack, the brutal terrorist attack that happened in Israel was on October 7. These attacks started happening on October 17. Again, we have not seen the conflict that is happening within Israel and within Gaza expand out to the region. And you're seeing, or that's why we have said and continue to emphasize from this podium here, that we have surged assets to the region. We have, when we announced that we have put A-10s, F-15s, F-16s into the region, we have also put the forward carrier strike group. The AIC is also in the SENCOM AOR. That is all to send a clear message of deterrence to any actor, state or non-state actor, to if they seek to take advantage of this conflict, to really think about that again. And again, I'll emphasize right now, we are seeing the conflict contained to Gaza. And so that is what we want to see, and we don't want to see this expand beyond that. All right. Coming back in the room. Yes, in the back. I have a question. Sure. Have you seen any indication of progress by Iran in enriching uranium? I don't have any updates for you on that specifically. Sure. Did I see anyone else? Are we? All right. Thanks, everyone. Have a good afternoon.