The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | September 30th, 2024: Israel Launches Raids Into Lebanon & Houthi Attacks Provoke Retaliatory Strikes

Episode Date: September 30, 2024

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:   First, Israeli special forces have begun launching limited covert raids into Lebanon to probe Hezbollah’s capabilities, as the IDF prepares for an imminent ground invasion across their northern border.   Then, as operations continue in Lebanon, Israel is also setting their sights on the Iranian-backed Houthi militants of Yemen, hitting the terror group with their largest airstrike of the war in response to the targeting of Tel-Aviv with a ballistic missile. 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.  Email: [e-mail]. Blackout Coffee: https://www.blackoutcoffee.com/PDB Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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tip. Get a mug and fill it with the delicious taste of Blackout Coffee. They're a great American family-owned business with a complete focus on producing premium coffee, fresh-roasted, and shipped out within 48 hours of roasting. Go to blackout coffee.com, promo code PDB, for 20% off your first-time purchase. It's Monday, 30 September. Welcome to the PDB afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. The Israeli special forces have begun launching limited covert raids into Lebanon to probe the Iranian proxy Hezbollah's capabilities as the IDF prepares for an imminent ground invasion across their northern border. Then, as operations continue in Lebanon,

Israel is also setting their sights on the Iranian-backed Houthi militants of Yemen, hitting the terror group with their largest air strike of the war in response to the targeting of Tel Aviv by the Houthis with a ballistic missile. But first, our afternoon spotlight. With Hezbollah reeling from Israel's air campaign and their leadership ranks decimated, leaders in Jerusalem are now preparing to level their final blow against the terror group. Israeli special forces have been crossing into southern Lebanon to carry out covert raids of Hezbollah's military sites, including their tunnel networks, connecting into northern. Northern Israel. Military sources say the targeted raids are intended to probe weakness and gather

critical intelligence to facilitate a potential broader ground incursion by the IDF into Lebanon, and that's according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. Officials stressed that while such covert raids by special forces have been occurring intermittently for months, their activity has increased in the wake of Israel's air campaign, which has killed most of Hezbollah's senior officers, including long-time leader and close Iranian regime ally, Hassan Nasrallah. A former senior Israeli military official with knowledge of current operations told the journal, quote, the IDF has made a lot of preparations for a ground incursion. This always includes special operations.

This is part of the process, end quote. Now, when and how Israel may decide to proceed with a ground invasion, well, that remains unclear. The reports suggest it could come as early as this week. Israeli defense minister Yov Ghalant, speaking Monday with Israeli troops stationed along the northern border, said the invasion plans would involve infantry, tanks, ships, and air support. Gawlant said, quote, the elimination of Nasrallah is a very important step, but it is not the final one. We will employ all the capabilities at our disposal, end quote. An anonymous U.S. official, citing discussions between the Biden administration and Israel,

confirmed to the Washington Post on Monday that plans, are in motion for a ground incursion that will focus on eliminating Hezbollah's infrastructure near-Israeli border communities. Notably, the officials said the invasion plans have been significantly scaled back following the unprecedented success of Israel's air campaign and covert operations targeting the communications devices of Hezbollah fighters. So instead of a deep incursion into Lebanon, the plan reportedly now is to target Hezbollah rocket launchers, weapons depots, and other infrastructure and then pull their forces back. The idea is to degrade the group's ability to continue targeting communities in northern Israel without getting mired in another long-term engagement.

This source told the post, quote, Israel has plans for a limited operation that will be imminent. They are in line with the Americans. The understanding is that they are not going to do another Gaza, end quote. Officials with Hezbollah, meanwhile, claimed Monday that despite the decimation of virtually there entire top brass, their ability to fight has not been undermined. The group's deputy secretary general, who said they would name a new leader, quote, soon, claimed they were prepared to weather a ground invasion and would continue their rocket attacks on Israel. The group followed through on Monday, firing four ballistic missiles into northern Israel, though the damage is unclear. They were joined by the Islamic resistance in Iraq, that's another Iranian proxy, which claimed to have

launched two attack drones at targets in the Israeli port city of Haifa. on Monday, though there's no word yet from the IDF on that reported strike. Regarding Iran, the central force, of course, behind all of these various militant groups, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu had some choice words of warning on Monday for the Mullahs, saying, quote, there's nowhere in the Middle East that Israel cannot reach. There is nowhere we will not go to protect our people and protect our country, end quote. Coming up, as operations continue in Lebanon, Israel is also setting its sights on the Iranian-backed Puti militants of Yemen, hitting the terror group with their largest airstrikes of the war.

And it's almost like, like you can't swing a dead cat in the region without hitting another proxy group funded, trained, and resourced by the Iranian regime and their revolutionary God Corps. I'll be right back. Kayak gets my flight, hotel, and rental car right. So I can tune out travel advice that's just plain wrong. Bro, Skycoin, way better than points. Never fly during a Scorpio full move. Just tell the manager you'll sue.

Instant room upgrade. Stop taking bad travel advice. Start comparing hundreds of sites with kayak and get your trip right. Kayak, got that right. Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin. As tensions rise on Israel's northern border with Lebanon, the Israeli military has expanded its operations striking Iranian-backed Khutti rebel targets in Yemen. Israel's military said in a statement on Sunday that dozens of aircraft had attacked power plants

and a seaport in Haldida, as well as the port of Rasa. An Israeli official said oil facilities in the port and, quote, sensitive Houthi facilities in the area were among the targets. The infrastructure was used by the Houthis to transfer Iranian weapons to the region and supplies, of course, for military needs. Israeli and U.S. officials said Israel notified U.S. Central Command ahead of the strike. In a statement, the Israeli military said, quote, over the past year, the Houthis have been operating under the

direction and funding of Iran and in cooperation with Iraqi militias in order to attack the state of Israel, undermine regional stability, and disrupt global freedom of navigation, end quote. A Houthi spokesperson said the Israeli attack failed because the Houthis had removed oil from the tankers in the port in advance. However, footage from the scene of the strikes showed massive fires raging across the coastal city of Haldida. According to the Houthi-run health ministry, The strikes killed at least four people and wounded 29. This was the second Israeli attack on Yemen in just over two months. Now, as we reported back in July on the PDB,

Israeli warplanes struck Khutti military targets near Haudida after a drone attack hit Tel Aviv and killed one individual. The strike comes after the Khutis targeted Ben-Gurian airport near Tel Aviv with a ballistic missile. That attack took place on Saturday and was time to coincide with the arrival of Prime Minister Netanyahu, Israel intercepted the missile and there were no casualties reported. The Iranian-backed Houthis began to attack Israel on October 19th of this past year, and they've been firing missiles and drones at the Jewish state ever since to limited effect. The Houthi militants have also been attacking ships in the Red Sea, of course,

saying the attacks are intended to support Hamas and force an end to the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip. In case you're asking yourself, hey, do the Iranian-backed Houtis have a slogan? Well, the answer is, of course they do. Every Iranian-backed proxy group worth its salt has to have a catchy slogan, and the Houthi's slogan is, and I quote, God is great, death to America, death to Israel, a curse upon the Jews, and victory to Islam, end quote. Now, admittedly, it's a lot to put on a sweatshirt, a bumper sticker, or a beer cozy. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Monday 30 September. If you have any questions, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirstt.com.

And to listen to the show ad-free, well, become a premium member of the president's daily brief by simply visiting pdbpremium.com. It is as easy as that. I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool. Some follow the noise.

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