The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | December 7th, 2024: Will Assad Survive in Syria? & Iranian Hackers Target Kash Patel
07 Dec 2024
In this episode of The PDB Situation Report: The Assad regime in Syria faces a growing challenge as rebel forces push southward. Brian Carter from the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute joins us to analyze the latest developments. Iranian hackers escalate their cyberattacks, reportedly breaching high-profile targets, including the president-elect's FBI nominee, Kash Patel. Former FBI counterintelligence operative Eric O’Neill shares insights into what this means for national security. 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 Patriot Gold: Call 1-888-870-5457 for a free investor guide. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Full Episode
Welcome to the PDB Situation Report. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. And this weekend, our Situation Report is coming to you from London. Now, that's in the United Kingdom. I'm just here for a few days getting my knighthood. It's very exciting. All right, let's get briefed.
Start things off in Syria, where rebel forces continue their advance south, putting President Assad's regime on the defensive. Brian Carter from the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute will join us to break down the latest developments in this incredibly complex situation. And isn't that what the Middle East needed now? More chaos.
Next, we'll shift stateside, where Iranian hackers are ramping up their cyber attacks, reportedly breaching the President-elect's nominee for FBI Director, Kash Patel. We'll get insights from former FBI counterintelligence operative and founding partner of the Georgetown Group, Eric O'Neill. But first, the Situation Report Spotlight.
The civil war in Syria broke wide open this week after rebels achieved significant victories by capturing two major cities, Aleppo and Hama, in a rapid offensive that has shaken the Assad regime's hold on the region. The fall of Aleppo a long-contested urban stronghold, marks a symbolic and strategic blow to the government, while Hamas capture further isolates Damascus, the regime's capital.
These developments suggest a dramatic shift in momentum, with rebel factions increasingly uniting against President Assad's forces, who now appear to be in retreat. Joining me now for more on this is Brian Carter. He's the Middle East Portfolio Manager for the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute. Brian, welcome to the show.
Thanks for having me.
Absolutely. Listen, let's start with a sort of a generic question here about Syria. How screwed is the region?
I don't know how badly this will impact the region yet, but Assad is definitely in big trouble. And I think one of the things that we have to look at as we watch the regime sort of collapse and crumble is what other groups are going to take advantage of this situation and exploit it to their own ends. So for me, the big one to watch is going to be ISIS.
which has really grown in strength in some of the regime areas, such as the central Syrian desert, in the past couple of years. And I think that will have big impacts for the main U.S. priority in Syria for the past 10 years now, which has been the defeat of ISIS.
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