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PDB Afternoon Bulletin | July 17th, 2025: Report: Russia Using Chemical Weapons In Ukraine & Syrian President Lashes Out At Israel
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Mike Baker
Looking to diversify and protect your hard earned assets? Well, schedule a free consultation with the Perch Cold Group. They're the precious metals specialists. Just text PDB to the number 989898 and you'll receive a free no obligation information kit. And learn how to convert an existing IRA or 401k into a gold IRA. Again, it's simple. Just text PDB to the number 989-898. Foreign It's Thursday the 17th of July. 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 up, disturbing news from the front lines of the war in Ukraine where the Putin regime is reportedly intensifying their use of chemical weapons against against Ukrainian forces. Later in the show, as a fragile ceasefire holds between Syria's Druze community and the governing regime in Damascus. Syria's Islamist president is lashing out at Israel over their strikes on the capital, accusing leaders of Jerusalem of seeking, quote, chaos and destruction. We'll have the latest details. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. I want to begin with one of the more disturbing developments of the war in Ukraine to date. And as a new Dutch intelligence report confirms that Russian forces are deploying chemical weapons, including a World War I era chemical agent that's been banned under international law, it's hard to believe that Putin wouldn't adhere to international law. Who would have thunk it? In a fourth of July report, the Netherlands Military Intelligence and Security Service, known as the MIVID because of course they have an acronym corroborated by Germany's Foreign Intelligence Agency, detailed how Russian troops are using drones to drop gas grenades on Ukrainian battlefield positions. The tactic, designed to flush soldiers from trenches and dugouts, then leaves them exposed to follow up artillery and drone strikes. Until now, Russia's use of tear gas in combat had been widely suspected, but only sporadically confirmed. This report changes that. Dutch and German intelligence now say that the Russian forces have gone further, deploying an agent known as chloropicrin. That's a chemical agent so toxic that it can kill in confined spaces and one that's been explicitly banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention since its adoption. The report makes clear this is not an isolated incident, but part of what MIVID calls a standard operating procedure among Russian forces. Intelligence officials say the Kremlin is actively facilitating these chemical strikes with its military leadership fully complicit and Moscow simultaneously expanding its chemical weapons infrastructure. According to the my VD director, Russia is now deploying chemical agents, quote, with Ease as the Kremlin recruits new scientists and accelerates illicit toxin research programs. Now, it's worth pointing out that the US State Department had flagged the use of chloropicrin months earlier in a 1st of May statement, calling it part of a broader pattern of violations. That statement, for whatever reason, has since quietly disappeared from the State Department's website. But at the time, it made clear that Russia's actions constituted a serious breach of international law and formed the basis for new sanctions against more than 280 individuals and entities tied to Vladimir Putin's regime. The Dutch defense minister called the revelations, quote, absolutely unacceptable, urging the international community to respond with tougher sanctions, deeper diplomatic isolation from Moscow and continued military support for Kiev. His warning to lawmakers was blunt, stating, quote, we are making this public now because Russia's use of chemical weapons must not become normalized. If the threshold for using this type of weapon is lowered, it's dangerous not only for Ukraine, but also for the rest of Europe and the world, end quote. Well, I can't spot the lie in that statement. Ukrainian officials say the chemical threat is already widespread. The country's Ministry of Defense has logged more than 9,000 chemical related attacks since the 2022 full scale invasion began. At least three soldiers are confirmed dead from direct exposure, though officials say limited detection capabilities mean many attacks do go unverified. In response to the report's findings, Ukraine has formally petitioned the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, otherwise known as OPCW because they too have an acronym, to launch a full scale investigation into Russia's alleged violations. The OPCW Director General, as a result, has pledged to ramp up monitoring operations along the war's front lines and urged its 193 member states to support a new investigative mechanism aimed at identifying, quote, perpetrators, organizers and sponsors of chemical attacks, end quote. Yeah, well, that sounds like something that's going to accomplish nothing. But such a mechanism would mirror the OPCW's 2018 inquiry into Syria, an effort that found both the Assad regime and ISIS responsible for using chemical weapons on civilians and soldiers during that country's civil war, which of course resulted in nothing of consequence being done about it. The United Kingdom, wasting little time, has sanctioned two Russian individuals and one company linked to Russia's chemical weapons infrastructure. And EU foreign policy chief Kayakalas offered a blunt assessment of the Mivid report warning that Moscow is intentionally weaponizing human suffering. She said from Brussels, quote, it shows that Russia wants to cause as much pain and suffering as possible. It is really unbearable, end quote. Now, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that I don't think Putin cares if the international community engages in hand wringing and declarations of angst. All right, up next, Syria's Islamist president lashes out at Israel over their strikes on Damascus, accusing leaders of Jerusalem of seeking, quote, chaos and destruction. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Let's take just a brief moment to talk about ways to protect your hard earned savings. Now, look, I, I know the personal finance talk is not everybody's favorite, but it is important to your financial health. Now, one of the smartest ways that you can protect your savings is through diversification. And one way to diversify is with gold from the Birch Gold Group. Look, gold is up some 40% in the past year. 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- [09:12]
Mike Baker
Card, I can earn four times Membership Rewards points at US supermarkets. So with all these groceries I'm also also getting points. Learn more@americanexpress.com US Explore Gold Terms and Points Cap apply Welcome back to the Afternoon Bulletin. I want to return to our coverage of the sectarian violence that continues to plague Syria as Islamist leaders in Damascus lash out at Israel, dampening hopes of normalizing ties with Jerusalem. Now, here at the pdb, we continue to stay focused on the instability in Syria because, well, recent history tells us that the situation could deteriorate rapidly. Now, Syria, it does have the potential to be a positive force in the region, to stabilize internally with opportunity for all the various minorities and groups and possibly to be a game changer in developing relations with Israel. That's the optimistic look. Or it could devolve into a fractured message similar to Libya or Iraq after the fall of Hussein. Or a place like Yemen, battered by an ongoing civil war fueled by Iran and isis, is working hard to rebuild in Syria. They likely view that environment as their best opportunity in the region. On Thursday, Syria's interim president, Ahmed Al Sharah accused Israel of pursuing chaos and destruction in the country following Jerusalem's airstrikes on the capital of Damascus and in support of serious minority dru's community. In a televised address, Shira condemned what he described as Israel's, quote, wide scale targeting of civilian and government facilities, likely referring to a strike that partially leveled Syria's Defense Ministry building. On Wednesday, Shiraz said he was left with two choices engage in an open war with Israel at the expense of the Druze or de escalate with the embattled religious minority and allow Drew's clerics to, quote, return to reason and prioritize the national interest. It was Shira's most direct condemnation of Israel since he took power In January, complicating recent diplomatic talks regarding Syria joining the Abraham Accords and normalizing ties with Jerusalem, Shira continued, quote, the Israeli entity, known for its repeated attempts to destabilize us and sow division once again seeks to turn our land into a battlefield of chaos, into dismantle the fabric of our people, end quote. The Sunni Islamist leader vowed to protect the Druze community from further bloodshed despite the participation of his own government forces in the attacks on the minority group. The Druze, however, well they remain deeply mistrustful of the Sunni Islamist government that replaced the regime of Assad after his overthrow in December. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has previously described the new government as a, quote, extremist Islamic regime and a threat to Israel. For now, a ceasefire declared on Wednesday is holding between regime forces in the Druze community in southern Syria. According to cnn. As part of the truce, Syrian forces have already begun withdrawing from the Druze majority city of Sweda, which became the flashpoint of the latest fighting between Sunni Islamist groups and the Druze community. But it's unclear just how long the ceasefire will last, particularly when after an initial ceasefire collapsed just hours after it was announced on Tuesday evening. While Drew's religious leader Sheikh Yusuf Jarbu agreed to the latest truce, another leading cruise figure rejected the terms and encouraged his supporters to keep fighting. As we've been tracking here on the pdb, Syria was plunged back into unrest on Sunday after violent clashes erupted between local Druze minority groups and Sunni Islamist Bedouin fighters in the city of Sweda. Syrian government forces soon joined the fight, reportedly backing the Islamist Bedouins. The subsequent fighting left more than 350 people dead, according to the UK based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, including nearly 100 members of the Druze minority, 27 of whom were reportedly executed by regime forces. Israeli forces also joined the fight on Monday, carrying out airstrikes against the Syrian military to protect the Druze from further violence. Their strikes escalated on Wednesday with IDF jets hitting targets in the Syrian capital of Damascus, near the presidential palace. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that the U.S. had stepped in and engaged both sides to end the bloody conflict regarding the tensions between Israel and Syria. Rubio called the situation a, quote, misunderstanding. That's very diplomatic. Rubio said, quote, we've agreed on specific steps that will bring this troubling and horrifying situation to an end tonight. This will require all parties to deliver on the commitments they've made, and this is what we fully expect them to do, end quote. Under the terms of the ceasefire, the Syrian government agreed to a complete halt of military operations and to withdraw their forces from southern Syria, where Israel has established a demilitarized zone near their shared border. Leaders in Damascus have also agreed to form a joint monitoring committee of Druze and Syrian regime officials to investigate the crimes and legal violations that occurred during the fighting. The Druze community, meanwhile, will be charged with overseeing security in the region. Quite simply, it remains to be seen whether Shira is capable of controlling the various extremist groups that continue to target the country's religious minorities. And that, my friends, is the PDB Afternoon bulletin for Thursday the 17th of July. Now if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdb@the first tv.com and to listen to the show ad free. That is quite possible. You know, just become a premium member of the President's Daily brief by visiting PDB premium.com I'm Mike Baker and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool. It.