The President's Daily Brief
PDB Afternoon Bulletin | December 19th, 2024: Mass Graves Expose Assad's 'Machinery Of Death' & Zelensky Admits Ukraine Cannot Reclaim Lost Territories
Thu, 19 Dec 2024
In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin: First, we’ll bring you some truly horrifying discoveries from Syria, where mass graves uncovered since the overthrow of the Assad regime are exposing some of the worst war crimes and human rights abuses since the Nazis. Then, an update on the war in Ukraine, as President Volodymyr Zelensky warns the west that Kyiv does not currently have the military strength to retake their captured territory from Russia. 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 Patriot Gold: Call 1-888-870-5457 for a free investor guide. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What horrifying discoveries were made in Syria?
So go to PatriotGoldGroup.com or call 1-888-621-3856 for a free investor guide. It's Thursday, 19 December. 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, disturbing discoveries from Syria, where mass graves found following the downfall of the Assad regime suggest hundreds of thousands of people.
were tortured and killed under the repressive regime since the civil war began back in 2011. Then, an update on the war in Ukraine, as President Zelensky warns the West that Kyiv doesn't currently have the military strength to retake their captured territory from Russia. But first, our afternoon spotlight.
I want to begin with an update out of Syria, where mass graves uncovered since the overthrow of the Assad regime are exposing some of the worst war crimes and human rights abuses since Nazi times.
Officials with the Syrian Emergency Task Force, a US-based Syrian advocacy organization, said they believe there are more than 100,000 bodies buried at a mass grave discovered on the outskirts of Damascus, and that it's likely just a portion of the victims tortured and killed under the Assad regime.
Chapter 2: What is the scale of war crimes committed under Assad's regime?
So far, the group has identified at least three other mass grave sites, along with two smaller ones, and estimate the total number of victims of the Assad regime since the civil war began in 2011 to be in the hundreds of thousands. That's according to our report from Reuters.
Opposition groups and rescue workers are still sifting through the sites and collecting evidence of the many human rights abuses committed by Assad's government over his 24-year reign. They say more than 150,000 people are still considered missing, though many were likely tortured and killed by what international war crimes prosecutors have called Assad's state-run machinery of death.
Stephen Rapp, a former U.S. war crimes ambassador at large, toured the mass grave sites in Syria on Tuesday and said what he saw was, quote, sickening. Assad reigned over his country with a bloody fist and engaged in a level of brutality not seen since Hitler. Rapp told Reuters, "...we really haven't seen anything quite like this since the Nazis.
Chapter 3: What did Stephen Rapp report about the mass graves?
From the secret police who disappeared people from their streets and homes, to the jailers and interrogators who starved and tortured them to death, to the truck drivers and bulldozer drivers who hid their bodies, thousands of people were working in this system of killing."
Rapp, who is working with Syria's transitional government to document war crimes evidence for future trials, described it as a highly organized system of state terror. Separately, the International Commission on Missing Persons in The Hague said they'd received data indicating that there are as many as 66 mass grave sites scattered throughout Syria, though these reports remain unverified.
Chapter 4: What evidence is being collected from the mass graves?
The scale of the crimes are staggering, and officials say it will likely take a considerable amount of time for a full picture of the abuses perpetrated by the Assad regime to emerge. Currently, they're working to collect DNA samples to identify the regime's many victims.
Chapter 5: How are victims identified among the mass graves?
Residents living near one of the mass grave sites said that since 2012, there was a regular stream of refrigeration trucks delivering bodies which were dumped into long trenches dug by bulldozers. They said the military oversaw the operation and anyone who got too close to the activity would end up a victim themselves.
No one who opposed the regime was spared, with rescuers finding men, women, children, and the elderly in the graves. One resident told Reuters, quote, this is the place of horrors.
Chapter 6: What are the conditions like in Assad's prisons?
Now, as we discussed on last week's PDB, Syria's rebel coalition has also focused international attention on the Assad regime's infamous prisons and detention centers described by locals as, quote, human slaughterhouses. The prisons, or more appropriately, death camps, stood as a reminder of the violent consequences that faced those opposing the regime.
Human rights groups say the regime engaged in systematic torture and secret mass executions. Others were tortured to death by being deprived of food, water, and medicine, their bodies then dumped into the mass graves, now being uncovered. As mentioned, more than 150,000 people are still believed to be missing throughout Syria.
Some may still be trapped in secret detention centers, though local residents say they have little reason to hope that their relatives and friends are still alive.
Rebel leader Abu Muhammad al-Jilani has vowed to bring the perpetrators of Assad's reign of terror to justice, telling supporters last week, quote, we will not hesitate to hold accountable the criminals, murderers, security and army officers involved in torturing the Syrian people, end quote.
Coming up, Ukrainian President Zelensky is warning the West that Kyiv doesn't currently have the military strength to retake their captured territory from Russia. We'll discuss what this means for the future of the conflict after the break. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Let's talk about trees, shall we? And plants. Oh, and don't forget shrubs.
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Chapter 7: What actions are rebel leaders taking against Assad's regime?
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In a striking admission, Ukrainian President Zelensky stated on Wednesday that Kyiv lacks the military capacity to reclaim all Russian-occupied territories captured since 2014, a rare public admission of the challenges that Ukraine faces in its counteroffensive efforts.
Despite his sobering acknowledgement in an interview with French outlet Le Parisien, Zelenskyy remains consistent in his refusal to legitimize Moscow's control over these regions, asserting that any recognition of Russian sovereignty would amount to condoning Kremlin aggression. Zelenskyy stated, quote, this is not about compromise.
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