The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | March 18th, 2025: Gaza Ceasefire Collapses & Syria Reaches Truce With Lebanon

Episode Date: March 18, 2025

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:   First, the ceasefire in Gaza collapsed Tuesday morning, as the Israel Defense Forces launched dozens of strikes throughout Gaza targeting Hamas leadership.  Later in the show, Lebanese and Syrian defense officials have agreed to a ceasefire following two days of deadly clashes along their borders. 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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It's Tuesday, the 18th of March. March, welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First, and after recent reporting, this shouldn't be a surprise to you. The ceasefire in Gaza has collapsed, and it collapsed on Tuesday morning as the Israel Defense Forces, the IDF, launched dozens of strikes throughout Gaza targeting Hamas leadership. We'll bring you the latest news. Later in the show, after two days of violent clashes along the border of Syria and Lebanon, Lebanese and Syrian defense officials have agreed to a ceasefire.

But first, today's afternoon spotlight. The war in Gaza has resumed as Israel unleashed a series of air strikes overnight against Hamas assets across the enclave, after the terror group refused the latest efforts to extend the fragile ceasefire. The extensive strikes targeted mid-level Hamas commanders and some senior Hamas political officials in Gaza, and came as Israeli officials said that intelligence showed that both Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad

were preparing to carry out new attacks against Israel and were taking steps to rearm. Officials said that Hamas had returned to a fighting force of some 25,000, while the Palestinian Islamic Jihad had returned to a force of approximately 5,000, and that's according to a report from Axios. In a statement, Nanyahu's office, said the decision to resume strikes, quote, followed Hamas's repeated refusal to release our hostages, as well as its rejection of all the proposals it's received from U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East,

Steve Whitkoff, and also from the mediators. So far, we can confirm that at least four senior Hamas officials were killed in the overnight bombardment, which hit houses and encampments from the north to the south of the Gaza Strip. The debt include Hamas's head of government administration, akin to prime minister, as well as the heads of their justice ministry, interior ministry, and domestic security agency. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad also confirmed that their chief military spokesman was killed in the strikes. All told, the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry said that more than 400 people were killed during the aerial assault and nearly 600 were wounded, although those numbers do not distinguish between Hamas militants and civilians and can't be independently verified.

The airstrikes began around 2 a.m. Tuesday local time after Israeli officials notified the U.S. about their plans. reportedly President Trump gave Israel the green light, citing Hamas's failure to engage in good faith negotiations to release more hostages and to extend the ceasefire first established in January. U.S. National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said quote, Hamas could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire, but instead chose refusal and war, end quote. As we've been tracking here on the PDB, the Trump administration tried to extend the ceasefire late last week, offering a proposal that would have freed half of the remaining hostages in exchange for Israeli commitments to discuss a permanent ceasefire. But talks in Doha,

that's in gutter, broke down over the weekend without a breakthrough, with the White House saying that Hamas had rejected the offer. Still officials with Egypt and Qatar, who have been mediating negotiations, condemned Israel's renewed assault. Now, no word on whether they also condemned Hamas' refusal to either release hostages or otherwise negotiate in good faith. And that's not necessarily a surprise, given that neither Egypt nor Qatar have ever directly condemned Hamas for the 7 October 23 attacks that started this latest conflict. And in fact, Qatar pinned the blame on Israel in the immediate aftermath of the Hamas attacks. Domestically, the return to fighting appears to have unified Netanyahu's recently fractured

governing coalition. Former National Security Minister Idmar Ben-Gvir, who left the coalition in mid-January over his opposition to the ceasefire, announced his ultranationalist party would be rejoining the government, significantly strengthening Netanyahu's position. Following the strikes, Hamas released a statement accusing Israel of general. jeopardizing mediator's efforts to negotiate a permanent end to the conflict. They also issued a threatening statement regarding the remaining hostages, saying Netanyahu's decision to, quote, overturn the ceasefire agreement exposes the hostages, quote, to an unknown fate. As a reminder, Hamas is still holding 59

hostages with at least 35 of those presumed dead. Israeli leaders vowed to intensify their strikes if Hamas refuses to resume, quote, genuine negotiations regarding the remaining hostages. And a spokesman for Nanyahu's office said, quote, from now on, Israel will act against Hamas with increasing military force, end quote. Now, according to our report from the Jerusalem Post, the IDF will broaden the operation, including a renewed ground invasion as needed, though details of the strategy do remain unclear. And the IDF has not yet activated ground forces at the this time. In the meantime, the Israeli military issued evacuation orders for large population centers in the enclaves north and south. Netanyahu is set to give a speech from the IDF headquarters

in Tel Aviv this evening, where he will address Israel's decision to resume military operations. Coming up next, we'll remain in the Middle East, where Lebanese and Syrian defense officials have agreed to a ceasefire following two days of deadly clashes along their borders. I'll be right back. Olivia Rodriguez The Unravel Tour Across North America with special guests Get tickets Thursday, May 7th

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The violence erupted Saturday after Syria's interim Islamist government accused Lebanon's Hezbollah terrorists of abducting and executing three Syrian soldiers on Lebanese soil. Hezbollah, however, denied any involvement, with reports pointing instead to local smuggling clans that operate freely along the porous border, though these reports have yet to be verified. In response, Syrian forces shelved Hezbollah position. drawing a swift reaction from Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, who declared, quote, I have instructed the Lebanese army to respond to the sources of fire, end quote.

As the situation spiral, Lebanon's health ministry confirmed that seven civilians were killed with another 52 injured. Footage circulating online showed panicked residents fleeing toward a nearby Lebanese border town, while across the border, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reported that five Syrian soldiers have killed in Monday's fighting. By late Monday, the Syrian Ministry of Defense announced that both sides had agreed to a ceasefire, which it said would include, quote, enhanced coordination and cooperation between the two sides. The Lebanese military, for its part, stated that it had returned the bodies of the three slain Syrian soldiers and opened direct communication channels with Syrian forces to de-escalate the crisis.

But even as the ceasefire took effect, clashes flared again in the early hours of Tuesday. Lebanese media reported that fighting resumed at dawn following an attack on a Syrian military vehicle, though casualty figures remain unclear. It was reported that four Syrian journalists embedded with government forces were wounded when an artillery shell struck their position on Monday. They blamed Hezbollah for the attack, but in a Lebanese television interview, a senior Hezbollah countered that it was Syrian fighters

who had crossed into Lebanon and attacked border villages. The instability has prompted Lebanon to seek international assistance, appealing for additional funding to reinforce its military presence along both the Syrian and Israeli frontiers. Meanwhile, a UN envoy

has warned the UN Security Council that Israeli military operations in southern Lebanon could ignite a broader conflict. complicating the picture, because, well, what the region needs is further complication. Israeli airstrikes on Monday targeted multiple sites in southern Syria. The Israeli military said the strikes hit, quote, command centers and military sites containing weapons and military vehicles left over from the Assad regime, equipment that Syrian forces were allegedly attempting to repurpose.

Syria's civil defense reported three people killed and 14 wounded in those strikes. With violence simmering across multiple fronts, the tenuous ceasefire between Lebanon and Syria faces immediate challenges. And as tensions mount, the risk of further escalation potentially drawing in regional actors beyond the two nations remains. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Tuesday, the 18th of March. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. Now, as you've probably seen on billboards all over town, if you want to listen to the show ad-free,

well, just become a premium member of the president's daily brief by visiting PDB premium.com. It's so simple. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool. Ryan Reynolds here from MintMobil. I don't know if you knew this,

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