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PDB Afternoon Bulletin | June 4th, 2025: Civil War in Gaza? New Militia Challenges Hamas Rule & Israeli Jets Hit Syria
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John
What is dadication?
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Mike Baker
The thing that drives me every day as a dad is Dariona. We call him Dae Date for short. Every day he's hungry for something, whether it's attention, affection, knowledge. And there's this huge responsibility in making sure that when he's no longer under my wing that he's a good person. I want him to be able to sit back one day and go, we worked together. We did a good job.
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John
That's Dadication. Find out more@fatherhood.gov Brought to you by the U.S. department of Health and Human Services and the Ad council. It's Wednesday, the 4th of June. Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. We'll start things off with a potential civil war in Gaza, as an armed militia is now challenging the dominance of Hamas in the southern Gaza Strip. Later in the show, tensions between Israel and Syria are flaring up again. After rockets were fired into the Golan Heights, Israel launched airstrikes deep into Syrian territory. We'll have those details, but first, the afternoon spotlight. There's a rising challenge to Hamas's dominance in the Gaza Strip, and it's not coming from Israel. It's coming from inside the territory itself. An armed militia led by a man named Yasser Abu Shabab has begun asserting control in parts of Gaza, particularly in his stronghold of East Rafa. Now his group is called Al Kuwat El Shabaya. They are simply the popular forces. And just yesterday, the group released a statement declaring that East Rafah had been, quote, cleansed and was now under its control. They urged residents to return to their homes, promising them shelter and food. Now this group appears to be relatively new. Its members have only recently appeared in public wearing uniforms stamped with the Palestinian flag and, quote, counterterrorism unit insignias. That alone, of course, is raising eyebrows. Abu Shabaab says his fighters have been protecting humanitarian aid convoys. Hamas, on the other hand, has accused him of looting those same trucks and even hinted at ties between Abu Shabaab and Israel. At this point, no evidence has emerged to back those claims. But the accusations show just how seriously Hamas is taking this challenge. The popular forces have denied being a militia or a new political faction. Instead, they say they were forced to take up arms because of the lawlessness and security vacuum created by the war. In a statement late last month, they emphasized their main goal, restoring order and making sure humanitarian aid gets to families without what they called humiliation or political coercion. That deadline is widely seen as a jab at Hamas, whose tight grip on aid distribution has been a source of control for them. Well, and controversy for others for years. To really understand this power shift, though, you need to understand the role of clans in Gaza, as this militia is believed to be clan based. These are large family networks that often serve as informal authorities when government structures collapse. They influence everything from marriages and business deals to local justice and political allegiances. And in Gaza today, where formal governance has completely unraveled, these clans could be stepping into the vacuum that makes them a powerful force in both day to day life and bigger political struggles. And now we're seeing signs that Hamas and the popular forces may have already come to blows. On May 30, Hamas released a video claiming it had ambushed an undercover IDF unit in Rafah. But analysts quickly pointed out something strange. The alleged undercover Israeli soldiers in the video had their weapons fully exposed. Not exactly the behavior of a covert unit. That's led to speculation that the men in the footage were actually members of Abu Shabaab's group, not Israeli forces. If that's true, it would mark the first time that Hamas has publicly documented an attack on a Palestinian militia in Gaza during this current conflict. An act that could be easily read as a warning to the popular forces, meaning stay in your lane. Now, you ask yourself, why does this matter? Well, I'm. I'm glad you asked yourself that, because as we've been covering for days now, aid distribution in Gaza isn't just about feeding people. It's about power. It's about control. If another group manages to take control of that supply line, well, Hamas loses its primary means of control over the population. All right, coming up next, the fragile peace between Israel and Syria may be unraveling. Israel has launched airstrikes in response to rocket fire and blaming serious new interim president and drawing warnings from Damascus. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Let me take just a few seconds of your time to talk about your personal finances and your hard earned savings. Now, did you know that in the last 12 months, gold's value has jumped 30%? That's right, 30%. And central banks, well, they're buying gold in record amounts. Look, with the usual ups and downs in the stock market and general uncertainty over the global economy and trade wars and those pesky brics nations pushing hard to replace the US Dollar as the global reserve currency, it's no wonder thousands of Americans are turning to Birch Gold Group. Because in times of uncertainty, well, gold can offer peace of mind. Birch Gold Makes it easy to convert your IRA or 401k into a tax sheltered IRA and physical gold or. Well, like a lot of folks, you can buy Gold to store at home. Just text PDB to the number 989898 and Birch Gold will send you a free information kit. On Gold, there's no obligation, just useful information with an A plus rating. With the Better Business Bureau and tens of thousands of happy customers, take control of protecting your savings today. Just text PDB to the number 989898. Mike Baker here. Well, ladies and gentlemen, I am very pleased to report to you that it is officially grilling season. So if you haven't already, get out there and fire up that grill. Now if your grill could talk, and how strange would that be? But if your grill could talk, I'll bet it would say something like, hey, how about stopping throwing that supermarket mystery meat on me? Get some better beef. That's probably what your grill would say, wouldn't it? And that's why I get my beef from Tritails Beef. It's a legit fifth generation family run ranch in Texas. It's not some big box meat factory. They deliver pasture raised grain finished black Angus beef right to your front door. And right now, in honor of Memorial day, they're knocking $20 off their ribeye and New York strip specials. And when you head over to tribe.com PDB they'll toss in two free flat iron steaks. There's no strings, there's no middlemen. Just delicious cuts of beef delivered right to your door. So stock up the freezer and treat your grill and your taste buds with a little respect. That's tribe.compdb hey, Mike Baker here.
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John
In its first airstrikes on Syria in nearly a month, Israel says it struck weapons facilities tied to the Syrian government in the country's south in retaliation for the launch of two rockets into the Israeli controlled Golan Heights. The Israeli military confirmed that it carried out the strikes late Monday night, which targeted the Dara province. According to the UK based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the attacks triggered violent explosions, though the extent of casualties remains unknown. Syria's Foreign Ministry blasted the operation as a, quote, blatant violation of sovereignty, warning that the strikes risked, quote, aggravating tensions in the region. Damascus denied responsibility for the rocket fire and accused unnamed actors of seeking to destabilize the country, claiming, quote, syria has never been and will never be a threat to anyone in the region. While the two projectiles landed harmlessly in open terrain, their symbolic weight was amplified by the group that claimed them, a little known faction calling itself the martyr Muhammad Deif Brigades. That's a nod to the late Hamas military commander. The extent of the group's affiliation with Hamas, well, remains undetermined. The martyr Muhammad Deif Brigades posted a nighttime video on Telegram claiming it showed the impact, although the footage has not been independently verified. Regardless of attribution, Israel placed blame squarely on Syria's interim president, Ahmed Al Sharah. Defense Minister Israel Katz declared, quote, we consider the president of Syria directly responsible for any threat and fire toward the state of Israel, adding that Israel would not permit a return to what he called, quote, the reality of 7 October. Monday's exchange marked the first cross border rocket attack from Syria since the collapse of the Assad regime late last year. The shift in power has done little to calm Israeli concerns, where officials fear that southern Syria could become a launchpad for Islamist militias. The rebel Islamist group hts, which played an important role in overthrowing Assad, has been establishing itself in Syria's southern bordering region, which has prompted repeated Israeli warnings and strikes. Just last month, the Israeli air force bombed an area near the presidential palace in Damascus. Speaking after these latest strikes, Prime Minister Netanyahu said the operation sent a, quote, clear message that Israel would not tolerate threats near its border or any targeting of the Druze community that's a religious minority population with deep ties to both countries. The exchange also comes at a precarious diplomatic moment. As we've discussed, President Trump lifted long standing US Sanctions on Syria back in May, man met with Shira in Riyadh, moves that open the door to back channel talks between Israel and Syria. The newly appointed US Envoy to Syria, Thomas Barrack, said last week he believed peace between the two nations was, quote, achievable given the new diplomatic movement. But Monday's strikes, well, might indicate otherwise. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Wednesday the 4th of June. Now if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me@pdbthe first tv.com and of course, well, you probably already committed this to memory, but if you want to listen to the show ad free, 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.