PDB Afternoon Bulletin | October 16th, 2026: Houthis Launch Deadly Attack on Yemen's Presidential Palace & Trump–Zelensky Feud Escalates

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We'll examine why Riyadh is struggling to contain the Houthi threat and how the violence is beginning to affect international business operating in the kingdom. Later in the show, President Trump is escalating his criticism of Ukrainian President Zelensky over Kyiv's renewed strikes on Russian oil facilities. Apparently, he thinks Ukraine should stop fighting, while Putin continues to pound Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Meanwhile, new reporting reveals that the order to restrict Ukraine's military satellite communications appears to have originated inside the White House. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. The Iran-backed Houthis are expanding their campaign of attacks against Saudi Arabia and its allies, striking increasingly high-profile targets as the war in Yemen continues to escalate. The latest target, the Al-Mashik presidential palace complex, that's located in the southern Yemeni city of Aden, which serves as the headquarters of the country's internationally recognized Saudi-backed government. According to Yemeni officials, the Houthis launched missiles and drones at the compound Thursday, killing five people and wounding 16 others, including guards and civilian employees. Yemen's prime minister and cabinet members were reportedly unharmed. The Houthis, meanwhile, claimed they were targeting a Saudi military operations headquarters inside the complex, allegedly containing weapons depots and Saudi officers. Reuters could not independently verify those Houthi claims. The attack represented a significant escalation in the ongoing war, marking the first time that the Houthis have targeted the palace complex in this renewed conflict, bringing the Houthi campaign directly to the seat of the government that Riyadh is fighting to defend. As we've been tracking, Saudi-backed forces launched a major counter-offensive against the Houthis earlier this month, recapturing territory near the strategically important bubble and depth straight, one of the world's busiest maritime choke points. The Houthis, responded with increasingly deadly strikes on airports, oil facilities, and other critical infrastructure inside Saudi Arabia. Just this week, the rebels hit the headquarters of Saudi Aramco. That's the kingdom's state-owned oil giant. Following a series of deadly attacks on Riyadh's main international airport. And the Saudi-led coalition is now providing a much clearer picture of the scale of the Houthi campaign. Speaking Thursday, a coalition spokesperson said the Houthis had launched 20 attacks against King Khalid international airport in Riyadh this month alone, killing 17 people and wounding 333 others. The coalition also reported dozens of casualties from attacks on a bar airport in southwestern Saudi Arabia near the Yemeni border. In turn, the coalition said Saudi-backed forces have destroyed 127 Houthi weapons storage facilities and launch platforms in Yemen's mountainous regions. But the problem for Riyadh is that despite the widespread damage reportedly inflicted on the Houthis munitions stores, the Iran-backed group is still managing to strike some of Saudi Arabia's most important targets. The coalition also warned that the rebels have acquired increasingly advanced military technology. Well, thanks to the IRGC patrons, including ballistic missiles, drones, and explosive laden fastboats. Iran has long provided the Houthis with weapons technology, training, and other assistance, helping transform what began as a local insurgency into a force capable of threatening Saudi infrastructure and international shipping. Tehran, of course, denies fun-like arms to the group, who, us, what? But with the broader war between Iran and the US still unresolved, the Iran-backed rebels remain another means by which Tehran can apply pressure against Washington and regional allies. Meanwhile, the consequences of the Houthi campaign are spreading beyond military targets. According to Reuters, several major international financial firms are now allowing employees in Saudi Arabia to work from home because of growing security concerns. JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank introduced remote working arrangements following Saturday's deadly airport attack, although their offices remain open. City has also offered employees the option to work remotely. An American investment firm, Franklin Templeton, has temporarily closed its Riyadh office, instructing staff to work from home until further notice. Saudi schools have also shifted to online instruction while the kingdom is preparing to offer remote participation at its flagship future investment initiative conference later this month. Now, those developments might sound relatively minor compared with missiles striking airports and oil facilities, but they do illustrate another vulnerability that the Houthis are exploiting. Saudi Arabia spent years trying to transform itself into a global destination for international investment, finance and tourism, with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman making economic diversification a central priority for the government. But those ambitions depend on stability and on convincing foreign companies that the kingdom is a safe place to invest and operate. When international banks are sending employees home and major investment conferences are adjusting their plans due to security threats, well, obviously, it becomes increasingly difficult to project that desired stability and confidence. All right, coming up next, tensions between Washington and Kiev are reaching new heights as President Trump condemns Ukraine's renewed attacks on Russian oil facilities. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here, host of the President's Daily Brief, and, of course, Dog Lover, right? Now look, we've got two great dogs. Monty are cute, but slightly dim-witted King Charles Spaniel, and Hendrix the Wonder Dog needs a golden retriever who, also, well, qualifies as somewhat dim. Now, if you're like me, you want to make sure your pets get the best nutrition possible. And that's why I love Sundays for dogs. Sundays uses real human-grade meat with no fillers or synthetic additives. Sundays recipes contain 80% plus all natural meat, gently air-dried, never-high heat processed. No chemicals, just simple nutrition. It's vet-founded by Dr. Torrey Waxman. Sundays is effortless, no fridge, no freezer, no mess, just scoop and serve. You get the quality of home-cooked meals with the ease of kibble. 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Welcome back to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I want to follow up on the growing confrontation between President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky over keeps renewed attacks on Russian oil facilities, as tensions between Trump and Kiev continue to escalate. Trump is now publicly blasting Zelensky for abandoning his proposed energy ceasefire, accusing the Ukrainian leader of driving up global oil prices by targeting Russian refineries, ah, yes, it's all Zelensky's fault. That would be the, of course, the ceasefire that nobody knew about until President Trump announced it on truth social. Speaking to Newsmax Thursday night, President Trump called the renewed strikes a "disgrace" arguing that Ukraine has plenty of other targets that it could attack. Now, just to remind, after Trump announced the ceasefire that neither side had agreed to, Zelensky did halt attacks on Russian oil refineries in an attempt to cooperate. Putin, on the other hand, continued Russia's near daily attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. After a few days of unilaterally pausing attacks and watching Putin continue to attack, well, Ukraine resumed their targeting. Now, the President also describes Zelensky as "not a good guy for us to deal with," adding that he finds the "Ukrainian leader" more difficult to negotiate with than Russian President Vladimir Putin, seriously, I'm not making this up. Zelensky meanwhile is showing little side of backing down. Speaking at a summit of European leaders in Brussels Friday, the Ukrainian President insisted that Kiev wants to end the war as quickly as possible, but said Russia has shown no indication that it's prepared to do the same, calling Moscow's approach to talks a "parity" of peace negotiations. In what appeared to be a shot across the ballot President Trump, Zelensky also referred to his European counterparts upon arriving at Friday's summit as "real leaders." And as mentioned, Russian attacks on Ukraine are continuing. Strikes across nine Ukrainian regions Friday reportedly left hundreds of thousands of households without electricity, Moscow is attempting to destroy Ukraine's power and water infrastructure as winter approaches. Now somewhat oddly, White House sources have pushed back on Zelensky's claim that Moscow violated Trump's proposed supposed energy ceasefire, arguing that the supposed arrangement only covered oil refineries on both sides, but not power plants. Well, that distinction appears central to the increasingly bitter dispute between Washington and Kiev. Now, if the White House did their research, they'd discover that while Russia has over thirty major refineries and dozens of smaller refining operations, Ukraine only has one refinery, which is non-operational after Russian attacks. So if the White House is proposing a ceasefire whereby neither side attacks the others refineries, you might see why a sane individual wouldn't really take that deal. But there's another development they could prove even more consequential. As we discussed this morning, Ukrainian forces experienced unexpected restrictions on their U.S. controlled star-shield satellite communication system earlier this week, raising questions about whether Washington was using access to the technology to pressure Kiev. And now, Reuters is reporting that the order to restrict the service originated inside the White House. Siding to American officials and a Western official familiar with the matter, Reuters says Pentagon leaders received instructions that Ukraine's star-shield service needed to be slowed. The officials did not identify who authorized the order, and a senior American official denied that President Trump personally requested the restrictions while the White House declined to address whether another administration official perhaps was responsible. There's also an important clarification about the service itself. Although Ukrainian officials initially reported that star-shield had been fully restored, a Ukrainian defense ministry source told Reuters on Thursday that the system was operating again on moving equipment, but remained limited to speeds of approximately 100 miles per hour. And on Friday, Zelensky said Ukrainian forces were still experiencing disruptions. So while the White House's involvement now appears clearer, at least according to the sources that spoke to Reuters, the central question remains unanswered. Was the restriction intended to pressure Zelensky into abandoning Ukraine's refinery campaign? For now, there's no confirmed evidence establishing that motive, but, as they say, if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it may be the White House instructing the Pentagon to limit access to star-shield. At least, I believe that's how the saying goes. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Friday, the 16th of October. Now if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. And to listen to the show at free, just become a premium member of the president's daily brief by visiting PDB premium.com. It really is that simple. And finally, I do hope you'll check out our latest episode of America's favorite weekend news podcast, the PDB situation report. You can find it on the first TV or on our beloved YouTube channel, let's add president's daily brief and, of course, on podcast platforms all over podcast land. Get guests, news, insight, really everything you could ever want in a weekend news show and no bitter aftertaste. All right. I'm Mike Baker. And I'll be back over the weekend with the PDB situation report. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool. Hey, Mike Baker here with a pro tip on how to look your best. And it's simple. All you got to do is rely on quince. Now quince focuses on high quality wardrobe staples made with premium materials, like a hundred percent mongolian cashmere, organic cotton and marina wool. Their styles are timeless and versatile, designed for everyday wear. I got to tell you something. My wife, who's the greatest person I'll ever meet, loves everything from quince. Their 100 percent mongolian cashmere sweater started just $60, giving you luxury level softness without the luxury price tag. They also make pants, tees, polos and active wear. Quince makes the clothes that instantly become your wardrobe favorites. The quality is premium, but you're not paying a huge brand markup. Find your next fall favorites at quince. 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