The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | June 7th, 2024: Houthi Escalation & Biden Apologizes To Zelensky

Episode Date: June 7, 2024

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:    The Iranian-back Houthis of Yemen are rapidly escalating their activity in the Middle East, unveiling a new Iranian missile that is believed to have hypersonic capabilities, while vowing to intensify attacks against Israel in partnership with regional proxies in Iraq. President Joe Biden is offering his apologies to Ukraine, telling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky he regrets the delay in U.S. weapons shipments, which he blamed squarely on conservative members of Congress. 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 PDB Afternoon Bulletin.  Email: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. First, the Iranian-backed Houthis of Yemen, well, they're added again, rapidly escalating their activity in the Middle East, unveiling a new Iranian missile that's believed to have hypersonic capabilities, while vowing to intensify attacks against Israel in partnership with other Iranian proxies based in Iraq. Also, President Biden is offering his apologies to Ukraine, telling Ukrainian President Zelensky

he regrets the delay in U.S. weapons shipments, which he blamed squarely on conservative members of Congress. But first, our afternoon spotlight. We begin with the Iranian-Bakhti militants of Yemen, who have vowed to step up direct attacks on Israel in coordination with the Islamic resistance in Iraq. The threat came after Abdul Malik al-Huti, the group's leader, claimed on Thursday that their fighters had carried out two joint military operations with Iraqi militants targeting ships at Haifa port, Israel's largest international seaport. The Houthis did not provide proof of the attack, however, and Israel has firmly denied the claims, according to a report from the Times of Israel. As we've mentioned in the

past on the BDB, well, the Houthis do have a tendency to exaggerate, claiming to have carried out attacks that never happened. The Houthis also unveiled a new solid fuel missile on Wednesday that officials suspect was provided by Iran and is believed to be able to fly at hypersonic speeds, although the details of the missile's capabilities have not been verified. A spokesman for the Houthis said they fired the first of these missiles, dubbed the Palestine, at Israel's southern port city of Elat and the Red Sea on Monday. The attack reportedly triggered air raid sirens in Israel, but officials said there was no damage or injuries caused by the missile.

After the Houthis released footage of the launch on Wednesday evening, military analysts said it looked remarkably similar to a suspected hypersonic missile unveiled by Iran late last year. The footage showed the missile being loaded onto a mobile launcher, complete with a warhead, painted to resemble a Palestinian checkered scarf. As we said, whether or not the missile has hypersonic capabilities, well, that remains in question. We should note, however, that officials have confirmed. it's a precision-guided solid fuel missile, which is far more advanced than the liquid propellant missiles the Houthis have been using in the Red Sea, which lack a guidance system.

Experts say such missiles can also be set up and launched much faster than their liquid propellant counterparts, which may help the Houthis rebound from recent U.S. and U.K. air strikes on their launch facilities in Yemen. The Houthis described the Palestine as locally made. Now, that's a claim which I suspect is false advertising. We know that the group lacks the manufacturing ability to build such a missile. We also know that Iran serves as the group's primary financial backer and regularly smuggles military equipment into Yemen.

Just this past week, Iranian state media announced they had delivered another batch of sea-launched anti-ship ballistic missiles to the Houthis. Amid the flurry of activity in Yemen, the U.S. and British military carried out another wave of airstrikes targeting six Houthi targets in Yemen on Friday, including the Port City of Haudita, which serves as the group's main access point to the Red Sea. That followed a massive aerial operation in Yemen by the U.S. and UK last Thursday that hit 13 Houthi-controlled targets inside Yemen. U.S. military officials said the airstrikes took out eight unmanned aerial attack drones and several missile launchers, while also neutralizing a number of militant

fighters. While the Houthi attacks on international shipping vessels in the Red Sea have never stopped since the war in Gaza began, the group have escalated their attacks in recent weeks after a relative lull in activity. With the war ongoing, the Houthis have vowed to step up attacks in the shipping lane and expand their activities beyond the Red Sea. Now, I've said this before on the PDB, but of course that won't stop me from repeating myself. The majority of chaos that we're currently witnessing in the Middle East can be attributed to the Iranian regime and the IRGC. Look, diplomats and presidents can talk about a ceasefire or an end to the conflict in Gaza. Allied forces can target the Houthis.

Israel can try to avoid an escalating conflict on their northern border with Hezbollah, but there is no long-term peace or stability in the region, as long as the Iranian regime and the IRC continue to pursue their primary objective of the destruction of Israel. Dealing individually with the various proxies that Iran has created, as if the proxies can think and negotiate and act independently, that's not solving the problem. That's just sticking a band-aid on a sucking chest wound. All right, before we had to break, I want to remind you all about our PDB premium membership.

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world of news. Pdbpremium.com. Check it out. All right, coming up after the break, President Biden is offering his apologies to leaders in Kiev for the delayed American aid amid Russia's fresh offensive in northeastern Ukraine. And he, of course, took the opportunity while talking to President Zelensky to blame congressional Republicans for Vladimir Putin's gains. Hmm. Now, I'm not sure if that's unseemly or just petty? Or, you know, it could be both. I'll be right back. Welcome back. President Biden apologized to Ukrainian President Zelensky for the months-long delay in American military aid during a face-to-face meeting in Paris on Friday. Really? I mean, how about instead of apologizing, he just shakes Zelensky's hand and says, you're welcome. It was the first in-person

meeting between the Paris since December when Zelensky traveled to Washington. to make his case to lawmakers for more assistance. As a reminder, President Biden had announced a planned $60 billion aid package for Ukraine last fall, but it languished in Congress for months before finally being approved in April. Biden offered Zelensky a public apology, acknowledging that the delay was exploited by Russian forces who have recently made advances on the front lines along the northeastern border. He also made a point to place the blame squarely on conservative members of Congress.

Biden said, quote, I apologize for those weeks of not knowing. Some of our very conservative members were holding it up, but we got it done finally, end quote. Now, maybe the Dems can cut and take that video of President Biden apologizing and blaming the conservative members and use that as a campaign ad for November. Biden also used the meeting to announce an additional $225 million package, which includes weapons and air defense interceptors, and will also go towards helping Ukraine rebuild their devastated energy grid, which has been relentlessly targeted by Russian missile strikes. The president told Zelensky, quote, you haven't bowed down, you haven't yielded at all,

you continue to fight in a way that is just remarkable. We're not going to walk away from you, we're still in, completely, totally, end quote. Russia officially opened up a new front in their war against Ukraine on May 10th when they mounted a cross-border offense. in the northeast region of Ukraine, throwing some 30,000 troops at Ukraine's frontline defenses. They managed to penetrate much of Ukraine's border defenses in that region and capture a number of Ukrainian border villages to the northeast of Kharkiv city, Kharkiv being the second largest city in Ukraine. While Ukrainian reinforcements have since managed to keep the Russian forces at bay, they are struggling to defend the Kharkiv region from ongoing Russian air strikes.

Zelensky had previously requested more air defense systems, which are included in the package that the president announced on Friday. Zelensky told Biden, quote, it's very important that in this unity, the United States of America, all American people, stay with Ukraine like it was during World War II, how the United States helped to save human lives and to save Europe, end quote. As we've been tracking on the PDB, tensions in Eastern Europe reached an all-time high this week, following the decision by the U.S. and a number of other Western nations to allow Ukraine to use

Western-made weapons to strike certain targets inside Russia. Now, in response, Russian President Vladimir Putin, of course, threatened Wednesday to begin arming American and European adversaries with Russian military weapons to attack the West. I mean, it's almost as if Putin is playing the victim here, of course he is, which is exactly how he's been trying to portray his invasion of Ukraine to the Russian population. In Putin world, he's simply defending the motherland, protecting the glory of Russia from the West. The fact that Putin is the aggressor here, well, that doesn't enter into the fanciful narrative that he and his disinformation cronies spin to their population. He also issued a fresh nuclear threat, of course he did, saying the West was naive to think

Russia would not consider employing their nuclear option if NATO continues to expand their role in Ukraine. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Friday 7 June. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdb at thefirsttv.com. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back over the weekend with the PDB Situation Report. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.