The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | December 9th, 2024: US, Israel Launch Airstrikes in Syria & Haitian Gangs Slaughter Civilians In Brutal Massacre

Episode Date: December 9, 2024

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:   First, Israel and the U.S. have unleashed airstrikes across Syria in the wake of the fall of the Assad regime on Sunday, targeting terrorist organizations and critical weapons infrastructure at risk of falling into rebel hands. Then, an update on the violence in Haiti, where 184 people were killed in a brutal massacre over the weekend by a gang leader acting on the advice of a voodoo priest. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Blackout Coffee: https://www.blackoutcoffee.com/PDB Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Start your day off right with the delicious taste of Blackout Coffee. Now, Blackout Coffee is a terrific family-owned American business, and they're all about premium coffee. That's what they do. Fresh roasted and shipped out within 48 hours of roasting. Go think about that, huh? The beans are in the roaster. The next thing you know, they land on your porch,

you put them in your mug, and Bob's your uncle. Go to Blackout Coffee.com, promo code PDB, for 20% off your first-time purchase. It's Monday, 9 December. Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I'm Mike Baker this week in the Middle East. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First, Israel and the U.S. have unleashed airstrikes across Syria in the wake of the fall of the Assad regime on Sunday, targeting terrorist organizations and critical weapons infrastructure at risk of falling into rebel hands. Then an update on the violence in Haiti, where 184 people were killed in a brutal massacre over the weekend by a gang leader, get this, acting on the advice of a voodoo priest. But first, our afternoon spotlight. We'll begin with a fallout in Syria, where Israel and the U.S. are leveraging the current chaos to target extremist elements and dangerous assets at risk of falling into the hands of the Islamist rebels.

Now, the U.S. military wasted little time following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad's regime on Sunday, unleashing dozens of air strikes in central Syria against known ISIS camps and operatives. U.S. Central Command, Sentcom, announced the strikes on Sunday, saying they were intended to, quote, disrupt, degrade, and defeat ISIS, and ensure that they cannot take advantage of Assad's fall to bolster their regional power. That's according to a report from Fox News. The U.S. military used a mix of B-52s, F-15s, and A-10s during the operation to hit more than 75 terrorist targets. While a damage assessment is still being conducted, officials said there was no indication that any civilians were harmed during the operation. The commander of Sengom issued a stern warning to extremist elements currently operating in Syria, saying, quote,

there should be no doubt we will not allow ISIS to reconstitute and take advantage of the current situation in Syria. All organizations in Syria should know that we will hold them accountable if they partner with or support ISIS in any way, end quote. As we discussed on this morning's PDB, the Biden administration has expressed a cautious optimism about the sudden regime change in Syria, which saw a coalition of Islamist rebels take control of the capital city of Damascus just on Sunday. UN Secretary of State Anthony Blinken declared that Syrians, quote, finally have reason for hope. He said the U.S. will support a, quote, inclusive transition of power to an, quote,

accountable government. Blaken added that the U.S. will also support international efforts to hold Assad accountable for, quote, atrocities and abuses committed against the Syrian people during the civil war, including the use of chemical weapons. As we noted earlier, Assad and his family fled to Moscow over the weekend after being granted asylum by Putin's Russia. Speaking of the Assad regime's chemical weapons stores, Israel has also intensified their activity inside Syria since Sunday, striking chemical weapons facilities and other missile and air defense systems on Monday. Israeli foreign minister Gideon Tsar said, quote, What guides us is the security of the state of Israel and its citizens.

Therefore, we attacked strategic weapons, the residual chemical weapons capabilities, long-range missiles and rockets, so they won't fall into the hands of the war. of radicals," end quote. A day earlier, Israel also sent troops into a demilitarized buffer zone in the Golan Heights after Syrian troops abandoned their posts. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said that armed men had subsequently breached the buffer zone and attacked UN peacekeeping forces. Israeli officials said they only plan to hold the zone temporarily to send a message

to Syrian militants not to get too close to the Israeli border. Meanwhile, Turkey, pursuing a competing agenda, to the U.S. and Israel also began a limited air strike campaign. Is anybody not conducting airstrike campaigns in Syria at the present time? On Sunday, targeting U.S.-backed Kurdish forces in northern Syria, which reportedly killed 22 members of the Syrian Democratic forces, the SDF, and wounded 40 others. Officials in Turkey drew a red line saying they would not allow the Kurdish PKK or Islamic State to benefit from the post-Assad chaos. Now for some background, Turkey, while counted as a U.S. and NATO ally, has long fought Kurdish separatists along their border

who seek to establish an independent country. The Kurds who have proven instrumental in helping the U.S. fight ISIS control much of Syria's northeast under an autonomous civil administration. The Pentagon has since been in contact with their counterparts in the Turkish Defense Ministry to coordinate their military activity and to, quote, prevent further escalation of an already volatile situation as well as to avoid any risk to U.S. forces and partners, end quote. Yes, that's not a bad idea. Considering the last thing that one needs in Syria at the present time is another goat rope. All right. Next, an update on the violence in Haiti where 184 people were killed in a brutal massacre over the weekend by a gang leader acting on the advice of a voodoo priest. I'll be right back.

Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin. Haiti's security crisis took a turn for the worse this weekend. Just when you thought it, well, couldn't get any worse. At least 184 people lost their lives in a brutal gang-led massacre in one of Porta Prince's poorest neighborhoods, marking another grim chapter in the country's ongoing struggles. The massacre unfolded in the Cite Soley neighborhood, one of the capital's most densely populated areas. The attack was orchestrated by a local, gang leader who allegedly acted on accusations from a voodoo priest claiming elderly residents used witchcraft to sicken his child who died on Saturday. According to Reuters, the National Human Rights Defense Network reports the gang carried out the killings with machetes and knives,

targeting individuals over 60 years old. The United Nations Human Rights Chief revealed on Monday that this surge in violence has pushed the death toll in Haiti to at least 5,000 this year alone. The neighborhood has long been a flashpoint for violence, with the gang behind this attack, controlling the area, and even restricting mobile phone use to limit communication and maintain dominance. The United Nations in October estimated that the gang has around 300 members, illustrating the scale of their stranglehold on the community. This violence is part of a broader humanitarian disaster gripping Haiti. The International Organization for Migration reports that over 41,000 people have fled their homes in the past two weeks alone, pushing the total number of

displacements to over 700,000. Many live in overcrowded conditions with limited access to essentials like food, water, and medical care. Haiti's political instability has only compounded this crisis, of course, with heavily armed gangs exploiting the absence of effective governance to expand their control. As we've previously reported on the PDB, international interventions, including the deployment of hundreds of Kenyan police officers, have failed to restore order. The killings have drawn renewed attention to Haiti's spiraling security and humanitarian crises. With widespread displacement, unchecked gang violence and political instability,

the international community faces mounting pressure to address the disaster, threatening millions of Haitians. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Monday 9 December. Now, if you have any questions or comments, please, here's what I'd like you to do. Reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. And as I'm sure you've probably heard by now, to listen to the show ad free, become a premium member of the president's daily brief by simply visiting PDB premium.com. I guarantee you it is simple. I'm Mike Baker.

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