The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | June 4th, 2025: Civil War in Gaza? New Militia Challenges Hamas Rule & Israeli Jets Hit Syria

Episode Date: June 4, 2025

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin A potential civil war is brewing in Gaza. A new armed militia is now openly challenging Hamas’s dominance in the southern part of the Strip, raising the stakes in an already unstable region. Tensions between Israel and Syria are heating up. After rockets were launched into the Golan Heights, Israel responded with a wave of airstrikes deep inside Syrian territory. We’ll break down what we know. 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 Birch Gold: Text PDB to 989898 and get your free info kit on gold TriTails Premium Beef: Visit https://TryBeef.com/PDB for 2 free Flat Iron steaks with your first box over $250 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Second Half 2025. All rights reserved. It must provide a recent consumer mobile bill in the name of the person, and give me the deal, additional terms, conditions, and restrictions supply. It's Wednesday, the 4th of June. Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. We'll start things off with a potential civil war in Gaza,

as an armed militia is now challenging the dominance of Hamas in the southern Gaza Strip. Later in the show, tensions between Israel and Syria are flaring up again. after rockets were fired into the Golan Heights, Israel launched air strikes deep into Syrian territory. We'll have those details. But first, the afternoon spotlight. There's a rising challenge to Hamas's dominance in the Gaza's strip, and it's not coming from Israel. It's coming from inside the territory itself. An armed militia, led by a man named Yasser Abu Shab, has begun asserting control in parts of Gaza, particularly in his stronghold of East Rafa. Now, his group is called Al-Quat al-Shabaea, and they are simply the popular forces.

And just yesterday, the group released a statement declaring that East Rafa had been, quote, cleansed and was now under its control. They urged residents to return to their homes, promising them shelter and food. Now, this group appears to be relatively new. Its members have only recently appeared in public, wearing uniforms stamped with the Palestinian flag, and, quote, counter-terrorism units. insignias. That alone, of course, is raising eyebrows. Abou Shabab says his fighters have been protecting humanitarian aid convoys. Hamas, on the other hand, has accused him of looting those same trucks,

and even hinted at ties between Abu Shabab and Israel. At this point, no evidence has emerged to back those claims, but the accusations show just how seriously Hamas is taking this challenge. The popular forces have denied being a militia or a new political faction. Instead, they say they were forced to take up arms because of the lawlessness and security vacuum created by the war. In a statement late last month, they emphasized their main goal, restoring order and making sure humanitarian aid gets to families without what they called, quote, humiliation or political coercion.

That deadline is widely seen as a jab at Hamas, whose tight grip on aid distribution has been a source of control for them, well, in controversy for others, for years. To really understand this power shift, though, you need to understand the role of clans in Gaza, as this militia is believed to be clan-based. These are large family networks that often serve as informal authorities when government structures collapse. They influence everything from marriages and business deals to local justice and political allegiances. And in Gaza today, where formal governance has completely unraveled, these clans could be stepping into the vacuum. That makes them a powerful force in both day-to-day life and bigger political struggles. And now we're seeing signs that

Hamas and the popular forces may have already come to blows. On May 30th, Hamas released a video claiming it had ambushed an undercover IDF unit in Rafah, but analysts quickly pointed out something strange. The alleged undercover Israeli soldiers in the video had their weapons fully exposed, not exactly the behavior of a covert unit. That's led to speculation. that the men in the footage were actually members of Abu Shabab's group, not the Israeli forces. If that's true, it would mark the first time that Hamas has publicly documented an attack on a Palestinian militia in Gaza during this current conflict, an act that could be easily read as a warning to the popular forces, meaning stay in your lane. Now, you ask yourself,

why does this matter? Well, I'm glad you asked yourself that. Because as we've been covering for days now, aid distribution in Gaza isn't just about feeding people. It's about power, it's about control. If another group manages to take control of that supply line, well, Khamas loses its primary means of control over the population. All right, coming up next, the fragile piece between Israel and Syria may be unraveling. Israel has launched airstrikes in response to rocket fire, blaming Syria's new interim president, and drawing warnings from Damascus. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here, let me take just a few seconds of your time to talk about your personal finances and your hard-earned savings. Now, did you know that in the last 12 months, gold's value has jumped

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and lasting power. Find your euphoria, Discover the Euphoria Elyxer Collection by Calvin Klein. Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin. In its first airstrikes on Syria in nearly a month, Israel says it struck weapons facilities tied to the Syrian government in the country south in retaliation for the launch of two rockets into the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. The Israeli military confirmed that it carried out the strikes late Monday night, which targeted the Dera province.

According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the attacks triggered quote, violent explosions, though the extent of casualties remains unknown. Syria's foreign ministry blasted the operation as a, quote, blatant violation of sovereignty, warning that these strikes risk, quote, aggravating tensions in the region. Damascus denied responsibility for the rocket fire and accused unnamed actors of seeking to destabilize the country, claiming, quote, Syria has never been and will never be a threat to anyone in the region. While the two projectiles laid it harmously in open terrain, their symbolic weight was amplified by the group that claimed them, a little-known faction

calling itself the Martyr-Mohamed Def Brigades. That's a nod to the late Hamas military commander. The extent of the group's affiliation with Hamas remains undetermined. The Martyr-Mohamed Dief Brigades posted a nighttime video on telegram, claiming it showed the impact, although the footage has not been independently verified. Regardless of attribution, Israel placed blame squarely on Syria's interim president, Ahmed al-Shara. Defense Minister Israel Katz declared, quote, we consider the president of Syria directly responsible for any threat and fire toward the state of Israel, adding that Israel would not permit a return to what he called, quote, the reality of 7 October. Monday's exchange marked the first cross-border rocket attack from Syria since the

collapse of the Assad regime late last year. The shift in power has done little to calm Israeli concerns, where officials fear that southern Syria could become a launch pad for Islamist militias. The rebel Islamist group HTS, which played an important role in overthrowing Assad, has been establishing itself in Syria's southern bordering region, which has prompted to repeat Israeli warnings and strikes. Just last month, the Israeli Air Force bombed an area near the presidential palace in Damascus. Speaking after these latest strikes, Prime Minister Nanyahu said the operation sent a, quote, clear message that Israel would not tolerate threats near its border or any targeting of the Druze community. That's a religious minority population with deep ties to both countries.

The exchange also comes at a precarious diplomatic moment. As we've discussed, President Trump lifted long-standing U.S. sanctions on Syria back in May. Man met with Shirah in Riyadh, moves that opened the door to back-channel talks between Israel and Syria. The newly appointed U.S. envoy to Syria, Thomas Barrick, said last week, he believed peace between the two nations was, quote, achievable, given the new diplomatic movement. But Monday strikes, well, might indicate otherwise. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Wednesday, the 4th of June. Now, if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdb at thefirsttv.com. And of course, well, you probably already committed this to memory, but if you want to listen to the show ad free,

just become a premium member of the president's daily brief by visiting PDB Premium.com. Now, I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool. Some follow the noise. Bloomberg follows the money, whether it's the funds fueling AI or crypto's trillion dollar swings. There's a money side to every story. Get the money side of the story. Subscribe now at Bloomberg.com.