October 9th, 2026: Syria Sending Troops To Fight The Houthis? & Iranian Plot Targets U.S. Bases

It's Friday the 9th of October, look at that the end of another work week. Well done everyone, welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Alright, let's get briefed. Next up, yet another regional actor may be joining forces with Saudi Arabia in its war against the Iran-backed Houthis. Syria is now considering sending as many as 20,000 troops to Yemen, potentially providing the manpower for a much larger ground offensive. Later in the show, new reporting reveals an alleged Iranian plot to use drones against US military bases in Germany. Plus, a drone strike has hit a major Russian data center operated by Yandex, as the country's leading technology and AI company. And in today's back of the brief, South Korea has successfully tested a domestically developed hypersonic glide weapon as sole racist air keep pace with North Korea's missile program. But first in today's PDB spotlight. Saudi Arabia may be getting ready to add another country to its expanding campaign against the Houthis. And this one could provide something the coalition needs badly, and that would be manpower. According to Axios, Saudi Arabia and Syria are discussing the possibility of deploying Syrian troops to Yemen to fight alongside Saudi-backed government forces. Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharam has not made a final decision, but American officials familiar with the talks say he is seriously considering the request. And this would not be some token deployment. One source familiar with the discussions says Syria could potentially send between 10,000 and 20,000 troops. The issue reportedly came up when al-Sharam met with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh earlier this week. Saudi officials are looking for additional ground forces, because the Yemeni units currently leading the offensive are generally less experienced and less capable than the Iran-backed Houthis. The U.S. has also reportedly been consulted. American officials tell Axios the Trump administration does not oppose the idea in principle, and sent-com has reportedly been involved in discussions about how Syrian troops could potentially be deployed. From Washington's perspective, the attraction to this concept is fairly obvious. Saudi Arabia gets more forces for its campaign without requiring the U.S. to become deeply involved in another ground war. And Syria could provide an important missing peace in the coalition, now forming around Saudi Arabia. The Saudis bring the money, command structure, and air power. Turkey and Pakistan are already providing defensive capabilities, air defenses, equipment, intelligence, and other military support, and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces are fighting on the ground. Well, Syria would be the one to provide more manpower. But some of those soldiers would come with, well, let's call it considerable baggage. Axios reports that two Syrian formations are under consideration, the 90th division near Damascus, and the 84th division in southern Syria. The 84th division reportedly includes thousands of foreign Islamist fighters who originally came to Syria during the Civil War to fight Assad. Many fought under the umbrella of Hayat Tahir al-Sham, the rebel movement that eventually toppled Assad and brought al-Sharat to power. Now, some of those same fighters could potentially be sent to Yemen to fight the Houthis. And that creates one of the bigger risks for Damascus. The Houthis follow Zadi Shia'i Islam. Now many of the Syrian fighters who could be deployed are hard-lined Sunni Islamists. American officials are reportedly concerned, and, well, rightly so, that putting those forces directly against one another could inject an even stronger sectarian dimension into an already dangerous regional conflict. And we've all become fairly familiar with what happens when the Shia'i and the Sunni collide. There are broader geopolitical risks as well. Syria's new government has tried to avoid getting pulled into foreign wars while it rebuilds after 14 years of civil conflict. Its military is still being assembled from the assortment of rebel factions that helped overthrow Assad. Sending thousands of those troops abroad would be a major commitment. It could also put Damascus into direct confrontation with Iran's remaining regional network. Tehran backed Assad, of course, throughout the Syrian civil war. Hezbollah and Iran-aligned militias in Iraq spent years fighting many of the same Syrian rebels who now control Damascus. A Syrian deployment against the Iran-backed Houthis would represent another dramatic reversal in the Middle East's strategic landscape. Still, Al-Sharab has reasons to consider it. Saudi Arabia has become one of Syria's most important partners. Muhammad bin Salman helped Al-Sharab gain international legitimacy after Assad's fall, including helping arrange his meeting with President Trump last year. Riyadh has also provided badly-needed financial assistance as Syria attempts to rebuild. Helping defend Saudi Arabia and potentially helping defeat the Houthis could deepen their relationship considerably. And the pressure on Riyadh is growing. Saudi-backed Yemeni forces launched a major ground defense of this week and have already made gains along the Red Sea coast. But the Houthis are responding by taking the word directly into Saudi Arabia. They claimed another ballistic missile attack today on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. Saudi authorities say strikes against the airports in Riyadh and Nabah have killed three people this week. And the attacks are now affecting civilian aviation in Saudi Arabia. Lufthansa has suspended flights to Riyadh through October 16th. Indigo has canceled service through October 9th while Air India and Akhasa Air have canceled flights through October 10th. Thousands of additional international flights have reportedly been scrapped. So Riyadh is confronting two problems at once, defeating the Houthis inside Yemen while protecting Saudi cities and infrastructure from continuing missile and drone attacks. And that helps explain why the Saudis are assembling support from across the region. But if this campaign is ultimately going to push deep into Houthi territory and, perhaps, towards Sanaa, the capital, it may require considerably more soldiers on the ground. And Syria may well fill that requirement. Alright, coming up next, and the alleged Iranian plot to target U.S. bases in Germany with drones. And a major Russian data center, operated by tech giant Yandex, comes under attack. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. 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Approval in minutes, funding same-day, visit cardiff.co/pdb, once again that's Cardiff.co/pdb. Real growth, fast funding, Cardiff, borough better. Welcome back to the PDB. Israeli intelligence is reportedly warning that Iran may be preparing to attack American military bases in Germany, raising new concerns that Tehran could expand its war with the US far beyond the Middle East and onto European soil. According to a report from a German news publication, Israeli intelligence officials warned their American and German counterparts, roughly three weeks ago, about potential Iranian attacks against US military installations supporting the war effort. Among the facilities identified were Ramstein and Spongdelam air bases, two major installations used by American and NATO troops. Ramstein is particularly significant. The base serves as the headquarters of US Air Forces in Europe and Africa, as well as NATO's Allied Air Command, making it a critical hub for American military operations across the region. The intelligence reportedly raised concerns about possible Iranian drone attacks, including the use of Shehaed drones. However, the warnings did not identify a specific timeline for an attack, and there's been no public confirmation that Tehran has finalized any such operation. Reuters reports that German authorities have been monitoring increased Iranian activity for weeks, while Europe remains on high alert for potential foreign threats. US European command declined to discuss specific intelligence or security measures. A spokesperson said American forces remained vigilant and are continuously assessing the security environment across the continent. And as we've been tracking on the PDB, the warning comes amid a separate investigation into a suspected plot targeting RAF Fairford in Britain, another major installation used by American forces in the war against Iran. British authorities arrested several suspects, following a security incident near the base last month. Investigators are examining possible Iranian involvement, although Tehran, well, as you might guess, has denied any connection, nothing to see here. The U.S. subsequently withdrew all of its B1 bombers, that would be 12 of them, stayed that Fairford last weekend, aircraft that had been used to conduct strikes against Iranian targets. President Trump acknowledged that the military had received threats while Vice President J.D. Vance said the bombers were moved out of an abundance of caution. The Fairford situation is still developing. British authorities announced Thursday that a seventh suspect had been released on bail. They're all out on bail, with all seven individuals arrested in connection with the case, now out under restrictions, apparently, as the counterterrorism investigation continues. American bases in Europe provide critical support for operations around the world, but any successful Iranian attack on one of those installations could draw European governments more directly into a war that they've largely sought to avoid. For now, these remain intelligence warnings and suspected plots, rather than confirmed Iranian operations. But concerns about potential threats to American bases in Europe are clearly being taken seriously. All right, turning now to what may be a new front in the drone war between Russia and Ukraine. Moscow's tech giant Yandex has now taken a direct hit with Kyiv's drones, forcing one of its major data centers offline. Yandex is essentially Russia's Google. Its services range from a search engine and cloud computing to one of the country's leading generative AI models called Yandex GPT. The company confirmed Thursday that drones struck its facility in Russia's Riazon region. That's about 120 miles southeast of Moscow, triggering a fire. It says it's working to restore affected services, although its core consumer services were not reportedly disrupted. However, there were problems on the cloud computing side. Yandex Cloud reported electricity supply issues in one data center zone and advised customers to use other zones for the time being. The strike follows weeks of Russian attacks on Ukrainian data centers. Before this event, there had been no confirmed major Ukrainian drone attacks against Russian data centers. As we've been tracking here on the PDB, those strikes on Ukraine's digital infrastructure are part of a much broader Russian air campaign. Moscow has been pounding key with drones and hitting warehouses and renewing its assault on Ukraine's power grid all ahead of the oncoming winter. And we're now getting a clearer picture of this week's human toll. Ukrainian President Zelensky says Russian strikes killed 78 people and wounded another 215 across Ukraine in just two days. That includes what happened on Thursday morning in Eastern Ukraine. Officials say a Russian strike hit two buses, killing at least 30 people and wounding another 18, making it one of Russia's deadliest single attacks of the year. Images from the scene posted to social media show bodies lying across a debris covered street alongside the charged shell of a bus. The regional governor says those passengers were deliberately targeted. Writing on telegram, he said, quote, for them, meaning the Russians, a bus with passengers is an attractive target precisely because a single strike can kill as many people as possible. End quote. Now, that has been their consistent practice. Moscow, of course, denies that they deliberately target civilians. That despite their constant targeting of Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure, Zelensky says the deadly Russian strike will not go unanswered, but Zelensky's frustration wasn't directed only at Moscow. Hours after the attack, he also accused Washington of being unwilling to provide the help Ukraine needs. And he had a specific request, expand Ukraine's access to the Starlink satellite service so it can better target Russian ballistic missile launchers. He told reporters, quote, open Starlink for Ukraine. You did open it when you were responding to Iran, give it to us, help us defend our skies and dominate there, and then Putin will sit down at the negotiating table. End quote. And his criticism went beyond military assistance. Zelensky also challenged Washington's pursuit of economic ties with Russia, while trying to mediate a war now more than four years old. He said, quote, one cannot, on the one hand, negotiate with the Russians about future economic projects, whilst on the other hand, say that we find ourselves in some sort of diplomatic stalemate. End quote. That criticism comes as Reuters reports that senior Russian and US officials, including US Special Envoy Jared Kushner, discussed bringing a US investor into the Nord Stream pipelines. Those pipelines delivered Russian gas to Germany before Moscow invaded Ukraine. Now, Ukrainian negotiators are preparing to take their case directly to Washington for talks on Friday and Saturday, with Zelensky urging President Trump to increase sanctions pressure on Russia. Coming up in the back of the brief, South Korea has unveiled a new hypersonic strike capability designed to fly low, maneuver unpredictably, and complicate enemy air defenses. More on that when we come back. Well, summer is officially over. I'm sorry about that. And here comes fall. 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It remains under development, but Thursday's test gives us a look at what South Korea has been working on and what it says the technology can do. For those of you who are not rocket scientists, a brief explanation. A rocket booster or ballistic missile carries the glide vehicle into the upper atmosphere. The vehicle then separates and glides towards its target, moving at at least five times the speed of sound. But speed is only half of it. The missile can also change course along the way, making it much more difficult to track and intercept. South Korea's presidential office says that combination of "unpredictable flight trajectories and overwhelming speed" allows these weapons to strike key strategic targets. And on Thursday, Seoul says its vehicle did exactly that. After separating it "descended to a low altitude, freely altered its trajectory both vertically and horizontally, and accurately struck its designated target." But hitting the target wasn't the only thing that engineers were looking for. They also needed to test whether the materials protecting the vehicle could withstand the intense heat of hypersonic flight. The presidential office says the launch was designed to verify "the performance of ultra-high temperature heat-resistant materials" along with the vehicle's guidance and control systems and its ability to fly in a regular path at low altitude while traveling at hypersonic speeds. Those are the capabilities in Seoul's working to develop, as North Korea pushes ahead with a hypersonic program of its own. And of course, the two countries do remain technically at war, given that there was no peace treaty signed after the Korean War. And on Saturday, Pyongyang launched an intermediate-range hypersonic missile that "it said used artificial intelligence." North Korea claimed there was "no way to avoid the weapon, describing it as "capable of changing its flight orbit at a low altitude." It also claimed the missile's "wave-like trajectory mode" left South Korea and Japan unable to track it effectively. Now, Seoul and Washington, well, they have a different assessment. Both governments say that that missile could be "sufficiently detected and intercepted" using the defensive assets possessed by the two allies. Of course, disputing Pyongyang's claims doesn't mean dismissing the threat. Military analysts say North Korea has stepped up its hypersonic testing with technological support from Russia, which is used hypersonic missiles in combat in Ukraine. South Korea has been working on its own capability in response, but the goal goes beyond keeping pace with whatever Pyongyang launches next. For Seoul, this is about giving North Korea another reason to think twice before attacking by developing a weapon that can reach key targets across the Korean Peninsula. The presidential office describes it as "a new deterrence capability capable of striking key targets within the Korean Peninsula's operational environment." And that, my friends, is the president's daily brief for Friday the 9th of October. Now, if you have any questions, questions or comments. And I hope you do just reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. And of course, well, look at that. It's Friday. And I know what you're asking. You're asking Mike. Is there a brand new episode of America's favorite weekend news show coming up the PDB situation report? Well, of course, there is. We would not let America down tune in this evening at 10 p.m. on the first TV. And as always, it's available over the weekend on our YouTube channel. I hope you'll check that out. Just go on over to YouTube and search up at president's daily brief. And of course, you can find the show wherever you get your podcast stuff. I'm Mike Baker and I'll be back later today with the PDB afternoon bulletin. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool.