The President's Daily Brief
December 9th, 2024: Assad’s Regime Toppled & Global Reactions Begin
09 Dec 2024
In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: A historic day in the Middle East as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime falls to rebel forces, ending over 50 years of Assad-family rule. Governments worldwide react with a mix of hope and apprehension to this seismic shift. Ukrainian President Zelensky reveals the military death toll for Ukraine’s forces in the Russian invasion, as the U.S. prepares another billion-dollar aid package for the embattled nation. And in today’s Back of the Brief: the latest updates on the hunt for the man who killed United Healthcare’s CEO in cold blood in New York City last week. 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
Full Episode
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Go to blackoutcoffee.com, promo code BDB, for 20% off your first-time purchase. It's Monday, 9 December. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. And coming to you this week from, where are we? Oh, the Middle East. Let's get briefed.
A historic day in the Middle East, as the region comes to terms with the fall of one of the world's longest-running family dictatorships. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been toppled by rebel forces. He fled the country shortly before the rebels took over Damascus.
Later in the show, governments around the world react to the fall of the Assad regime with a mix of, well, let's call it hope and apprehension. We'll break down the response so far. Plus, Ukrainian President Zelensky reveals the military death toll for Ukraine's forces in the Russian invasion as the U.S. prepares another billion-dollar aid package.
And in today's Back of the Brief, we'll bring you the latest updates on the hunt for the man who killed UnitedHealthcare's CEO in New York City this past week. But first, today's BDB Spotlight. Five decades of Assad family rule came to a crashing halt over the weekend as rebel forces ousted Bashar al-Assad's regime and forced the despot to flee.
His decades-long grip on power is over, bringing an end to the authoritarian dynasty his father began half a century ago and that was responsible for the death and torture over the decades of hundreds of thousands of Syrians. The collapse unfolded rapidly.
On Saturday evening, reports emerged that rebel forces had entered the suburbs of Damascus with claims that President Assad was even reaching out to them in hopes of negotiating an end to the conflict. Yeah, good luck with that. By Sunday morning, it was all over. Rebel forces had seized control and publicly declared victory.
The news was first broadcast on Syrian state television yesterday morning, with the nation's most prominent news anchor reading a news bulletin provided by the rebel leaders.
It read in part, quote, To those who bet on us and to those who didn't, to those who thought one day that we were broken, we announced to you from the Syrian news channel the victory of the great Syrian revolution after 13 years of patience and sacrifice. Now, the leader of the main rebel group, Abu Muhammad al-Jilani, has also made his first statements since arriving in Damascus.
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