David Daoud
Appearances
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
Well, I described the situation in Syria as fragile, particularly the new administration's control over the country. Now, there have been deals yesterday to help stabilize the situation between the administration under the Muhammad al-Julani, also known as Ahmad al-Sharra, the new interim self-appointed president of Syria, and the SDF, the
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
colloquially known as the Kurds, but really a specific faction of the Kurds in Northeast Syria. There was also talk of a similar deal in the works between the administration in Damascus and the Druze in Sweden in Southern Syria. So what Shutout is trying to do is, through peaceful means, consolidate power over the country. He's only been in power since December 8th, really.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
But he still has the issue with the Alawites on the coast, where he could face the most challenges to consolidating power, and that could threaten to unravel the rest of his control over Syria.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
minimize its own crimes. So, it's hard to tell. It's been this case with Syria since the outset of the civil war. It's hard to tell what happened to whom. There have been videos that are credible of crimes against Alawites. Ahmed al-Shara, the current president, has threatened retribution for this to punish the perpetrators.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
There have been claims of arrests of several individuals who were involved in these crimes. Again, is this for show? Is this not? It remains to be seen.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
What can be said is that certain elements of the forces, now it's not just the HTS forces, but the broader coalition under Shada did commit crimes against minorities, particularly Alawites, but to a much lesser degree, Syrian Christians that are on the coast. The numbers have varied. I've heard somewhere between close to 1,000 up to 7,000. The 7,000 doesn't necessarily seem credible to me.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
I would say closer to 1,000 seems more credible. Now, in terms of how armed are they? Well, they don't really need to be very armed. They don't need to be well armed. Right now, all they need to do is act as spoiler. Like I said, the Shara's rule in Syria is fragile. It has only been in power since December 8th. It doesn't have a real army to speak of.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
I think estimates are somewhere between 40,000, 50,000. Now, there's recruitment going on, but the training takes time. From what I'm hearing, there's like 10 days of training before these guys get sent into the field. So these aren't credible fighters just yet. In terms of his army, what we've seen with the Israelis destroyed a lot of the former regime's arsenal.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
These guys seem to be fighting with some remnants of that arsenal, but mostly light weapons, outdated weapons. So it's not a heavy list for the Alawites who just need to act... Let me narrow that. Not the Alawites. The Alawites who are still loyalists of the former Assad regime
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
who are probably allied with the Iranians, with Hezbollah, who are getting assistance from the Iranians, according to certain reports, to just act as spoiler.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
They just need to prevent Shara'a from consolidating his control over the area, to get him into clashes and get his forces into clashes with minority communities, to give off this image that he has not repented of his past as an Al-Qaeda terrorist, that he still has it out for minorities. And that will not only prevent the alleviation of sanctions,
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
which he is demanding, which is necessary for him to grow his strength and consolidate power. It may lead to more sanctions, which will further weaken him. So, this lack of consolidation on the coast could then, in time, gradually grow and fracture Syria.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
Look, I would assess that to have a high credibility. Iran, Hezbollah, their allies have a high interest in preventing the consolidation of control under Ahmadinejad of Syria. This was a main conduit for Iran to supply Hezbollah with weapons. Hezbollah is severely damaged after the recent war with Israel. The Lebanese have, under Israeli pressure and American pressure, tightened the screws
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
on Beirut International Airport to some degree for the entry of funds to Hezbollah. So this is a necessary lifeline for Hezbollah. Now, what does it take? What is the nature of that involvement? It could mean anything from logistics to, you know, acting in an advisory capacity to helping to spread the narrative, media warfare, narrative warfare. It doesn't take much.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
Like I said, it's not a heavy lift for the Alawite loyalists of the former Assad regime to prevent the consolidation of Syria. And it won't take a lot from either Iran or Hezbollah to secure their interest of preventing this consolidation by a potentially hostile actor over Syria.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
Again, they just need to give this image off to the world that this man remains the bloodthirsty terrorist that he was, which is, you know, there's a high likelihood that's true. And if that happens, again, sanctions remain, which means over time he weakens and could tighten, which again, would weaken him further. So it takes little from them to secure this major interest.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
Well, look, it's not just the militants that were killed, the Assad supporters that were militants. It seems to be that civilians were also killed. Alawite civilians were also killed. Who's responsible? It could be elements from within HTS. It could be elements from within the SNA.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
There are also foreign jihadists that have attached themselves to Ahmad al-Sharaf's forces, namely Chechens and others from Central Asia, Uyghur fighters. who were there for ideological purposes, who were proper jihadists.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
Now, the question is, did the orders come from on high or were these rogue actors who were simply venting their frustrations at, if they were of Syrian origin, at the oppression that the Alawite sect is associated with because of its association with the Assad regime? That's not a justification, but this could be the mindset. Or are they proper jihadists who are acting on ideology?
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
Because look, the Alawites are not properly Muslim in their eyes. If anything, they are infidels who have the choice of conversion or death. And if these people are that ideological, is this their ability, making them taking the chance to hit at the so-called infidels? The question remains whether, again, Ahmad al-Sharaq gave the order. If these orders came from top down, he's denying it.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
He's claiming there's going to be punishment. Again, it's hard to tell if this is some kind of post facto covering of one's rear end by Ahmad al-Sharaq or if he genuinely, you know, if this is something that just got out of hand and he's trying to put a lid on it.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
I mean, look, HTS themselves are not jihadists, right? So they're all kind of a collection of jihadists. It really depends on how much he can get them to accept this new reality in Syria.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
If, and again, this is a big if, if we take him at face value that he has changed, that he wants to be the leader and president of all Syrians to usher in a new civil state in Syria, the statements he's made since taking power, How these people signed up to fight for different reasons, how much can he get them on board with this new project called post-revolutionary Syria remains a question.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
Like you noted, they're all there for different reasons. I think if he can offer them different incentives or maybe if he's trying to offer them different incentives to bring them in line, kind of a carrot and a stick.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
There was talk, for example, of the foreign fighters, the Uyghurs, the Chechens, of offering them Syrian citizenship for having fought on behalf of Syria, that they would lay down their arms and integrate into Syrian society. Is that something that they would accept? I don't know.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
Would they accept the very notion of having fought what, in their mind, it could have been a religious war, now transitioning to a post-revolutionary state building exercised Again, those are question marks. I don't know what you could offer someone who is that much of an ideologue to say, we're laying down the weapons. The holy war is over.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
Now we get down to the nitty gritty, mundane, banal business of state building. And that state will include people that... have religious beliefs that you don't like and who may be outside of the ambit of acceptability according to Islamic law. And that just has to be the case. So it depends on whether he can mobilize his carrots and sticks properly against these groups to get them in line.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
On paper, it's going well. If it succeeds, it's critical because you have foreign interests. You have the Turks who have a problem with the SDF. This gives Turkey less reason to intervene in Syria, at least on that angle. The SDF, while it has been allied with the United States for some time,
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
has kind of gone back and forth between alliances with the Assad regime, kind of playing footsie, if you will, with the Iranians. So this could kind of take an excuse away from the Iranians or a foothold for the Iranians if the Kurds or the SDF properly consolidates under Damascus' control for a foothold for the Iranians taken away.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
The Israelis have also talked about protecting the Kurds to a lesser degree. The main focus from the Israeli side is the Druze. So this, again, this prevents a lot of foreign intervention and helps a critical part of this consolidation process.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
It moves forward a critical part of this consolidation process, again, with the caveat, if it holds, you can put a lot of things on paper, it doesn't mean in five years or two years or even less that this won't fall apart. Right.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
As of yesterday, there are negotiation committees, I think three in total that are meant to settle outstanding issues between Lebanon and Israel, namely 13 border points along the land border. Now, there's no official internationally recognized border between Lebanon and Israel. There's what's called the blue line that was delineated after the Israelis withdrew from Lebanon in May of 2000.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
And the Lebanese refused to certify that, saying that Israel continued to retain what they alleged was occupied Lebanese land in Shuba Hills and the Shuba farms and so on and so forth. After 2006, additional points were added to that, the northern part of the village of Bajar, which the Lebanese claim is their own. So a total of 13 points. They're not big points.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
I mean, they're probably the size, some of these places are the size of my table. So this is part of the outstanding issues. There are also the five positions that the Israelis have retained in South Lebanon that after the February 18th extended withdrawal date for the Israeli forces after the recent war between Israel and Hezbollah. So, these are the issues that are about to be deleted.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
Now, there's talk of normalization or that this will be a platform for normalization, at least unnamed sources close to the prime minister's bureau in Israel. According to Channel 12 News, Israeli Channel 12 News has said that this will be a platform for normalization. There's been no confirmation or official denial from the Lebanese side.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
Al Mayadeen, which is a pro-Hezbollah outlet and which has an interest in denying such things, again, based on unnamed sources, said that this is absolutely false, that these committees would be dealing with technical issues alone rather than with more substantive issues like normalization. To me, again, even though I'm skeptical of anything that comes out of a Mayadeen,
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
Again, they don't have an interest in Israeli-Lebanese normalization moving forward for obvious reasons. It would really put Hezbollah in more of a corner than it is now. But all this talk reminds me of the lead up to the October 2022 maritime border negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, where because of an off-the-cuff remark by former President Michelin, no relation to the current president,
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
There was all this talk that this would be the stepping stone to including Lebanon in the Abraham Accords. Then the Lebanese denied it. And as we saw, this was really just a resolution of technical matters.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
So, the significant factor is the drubbing that Hezbollah took at the hands of Israel in the recent conflict. Now, Hezbollah is not the only impediment to Lebanese-Israeli peace or Lebanese-Israeli normalization, but it is a significant impediment.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
Now, Israel, as far as we know, according to the Israelis, destroyed something like 80% of Hezbollah's strategic arsenal, built something like 30% of Hezbollah's fighting force, assassinated its top military leadership, a lot of its top political leadership. The organization is significantly degraded. To deny that would be to deny fact. At the same time, and here's the but,
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
Hezbollah is not down for the count. And anyone who's telling you that would be falsifying information as well. What Hezbollah has been trying to do since the November 27, 2024 ceasefire, realizing its vulnerable state, realizing that its vulnerability could offer an opportunity for enemies domestic and foreign to finish the job. And Hezbollah does have significant number of enemies in Lebanon.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
It's been to one consolidated space, right? Because this is the source of its strength in Lebanon. As much as we don't like Hezbollah, Hezbollah is part of the Lebanese political and social fabric because it has large Shiite support. Lebanon is built on this kind of this sectarian power sharing models. And if you are the most powerful representative of a specific sect,
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
then you get a seat at the political table. Hezbollah represents what is possibly Lebanon's largest and fastest growing sect, the Shiites, a significant proportion of them, according to Recent polling, it was late September of 2024, something like 85% of Lebanese Shiites support Hezbollah to some degree, and for various reasons.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
They're not all hardcore ideologues, but they support the organization. Only 5% in that poll that was issued by Arab Barometer were shown to oppose Hezbollah.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
So it's not Hezbollah doing the survey. It's an independent organization called Arab Barometer. They tend to be very credible. But also, look, and this is where Hezbollah tried to address these claims in its own way after the war with Nusrullah's February 23rd funeral.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
which drew, according to Information International, this is an independent consultancy organization in Beirut that mapped out the square footage of the area where people had congregated for the funeral and estimated that somewhere between 650,000 at a minimum to 900,000 people came out out of a sect in Lebanon, the Shiites, that is estimated to be 1.2 million people.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
And that's assuming that the people that stayed home all stayed home for reasons of opposition to Hezbollah. People can stay home for all types of different reasons, logistics, their kid got a cold, they got a cold, they were lazy, whatever.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
So as far as we can tell, and this is what Hezbollah intended this to be, not just an outpouring of grievance for their fallen leader, but also, as they said repeatedly, this was a demonstration of their continued viability in Lebanon.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
So because of that, whatever you want to do moving forward in Lebanon, because they've demonstrated, at least they've tried to demonstrate the retention of this base, you have to take them into consideration, uh, the same way you did prior to, uh, to, to the war.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
Now, two examples of this, uh, uh, Noah Salam, the current prime minister of Lebanon, who was not initially endorsed by Hezbollah, but now Hezbollah is part of the government, uh, at least, you know, indirectly in some ways, um, uh,
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
In an interview with Lebanon's state broadcaster, Tel Aviv, about a month ago, I want to say, he said that he had to take into account while forming his government, the political realities in the country and the sense of the Shiite community's feelings of being wounded by the recent war. Now, if Hezbollah has been decimated, you wouldn't take these two things into consideration.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
He put out a policy statement as his government was gaining the vote of confidence in parliament And this is the division of how the government wants to operate that said, critically, Lebanon will set a national defense policy. Now, this sounds benign probably to regular ears, but this has been a Hezbollah demand.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
Because to set a national defense policy means you have to get all the Lebanese factions at the table, which includes Hezbollah, and you have to ask them, what do we do with Hezbollah's arms?
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
And the outcome that I think Hezbollah is seeking is something like maybe state authorization of their arms or something akin to the PMF law in 2016 in Iraq, where Hezbollah is folded into the apparatus of the state, but remains its own cohesive separate entity. And then it gets funding from the state. I think that's the path that Hezbollah is going to take. Now, again, if they've been decimated,
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
If they've lost critical mass of support, you don't need to take that into consideration. You don't need to include that in your policy statement as the prime minister of Lebanon.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
Look, significant input. Ultimately, Hezbollah is loyal to the Supreme Leader in Iran. This is an ideological link, meaning if Iranian funding and weapons were to stop, Hezbollah's loyalty would not stop. It is a matter of belief.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
Now, does that mean while there is a hierarchy in the relationship between Iran and all of its extensions, I don't call them proxies when we talk about Hezbollah because my arm is not my proxy, it is my extension. Now, there is a hierarchy. Iran sits at the top, but it does not dictate Hezbollah's actions. It takes into consideration Hezbollah's local circumstances and how it must navigate.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
This is why, and this is part of the, if you will, the genius of the Iranian model, that having local organizations made up of locals. who understand the local environment, the local playing field, obviates the need for, say, intelligence, like a massive intelligence operation in Lebanon for top-down control.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
Basically, you're assured of Hezbollah's loyalty to you by this ideological link, so you can allow them leeway to operate as they see fit within Lebanon to shoot their circumstances, to shoot Lebanon's circumstances, because the ultimate objective here is growth. It is not just destroying Israel that is important to the Iranians.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
It's not just fighting the United States, which they consider their primary enemy ideologically. It's not the Israelis. They all say it. Hezbollah and Iran say we are their primary enemy. But more importantly than that, if you want to destroy Israel, if you want to fight and combat the United States, you need to survive and you need to grow. You can't be this minor, tiny organization.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
So they will allow their proxies sufficient leeway to sustain their growth and will not dictate to them necessarily in areas that could harm their growth unless there's an existential matter. at hand, unless there's something that a force majeure comes into play. But Iran will not push Hezbollah to suicide because it's its most important regional asset
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
In many ways, yes. Look, I mean, the idea behind the resolution of the disputed border points is to take away one of Hezbollah's excuses for maintaining its arms and its fight against Israel. But look... This kind of doesn't address the poor enmity that Hezbollah has for Israel. It's not about 13 disputed border points. It was never about even the Israeli occupation of South Lebanon.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
The Israelis withdrew from South Lebanon. Suddenly, these disputes, the Shabbat farms, which had never been mentioned before, are on the table. And these farms were taken by Israel from the Syrians from 1967 onwards. So between 1967 and the Israeli entry into Lebanon, 1982, nothing. And then all of a sudden this becomes an issue.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
With the maritime border dispute, Nostrola in his post-agreement speech even said that there was something like two square kilometer that remained outstanding that weren't resolved and that Hezbollah would continue to fight for them. point is, Hezbollah's problem with Israel is not a border point here or there. It's Israel's very existence.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
So long as Israel exists, Hezbollah will find a way to continue fighting it. And so long as Lebanon does not have the will to constrain Hezbollah, to restrain Hezbollah, to disarm Hezbollah, Hezbollah will find a way to do so. Hezbollah will find some excuse and will continue its war against Israel with the knowledge that Lebanon will simply not act against it. Now,
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
Don't do the Lebanese suddenly have the will to put an end to Hezbollah's private arsenal once and for all. I don't see positive indications. There's talk of that, but it seems to me that Hezbollah is undertaking now a tactical withdrawal. They're further trying to integrate into Lebanon.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
This is something they've done at every juncture where they've been threatened or where they felt threatened or where they felt the odd man out right after the attack. end of the Lebanese Civil War in the 1990s, they suddenly joined the parliament, where before that was anathema to them. After the Syrians were forced to withdraw from 2005 to protect Lebanon, they suddenly joined the government.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
And now it seems like they're trying to integrate, they're trying to push for the integration of their forces into the apparatus of the Lebanese state. Again, integration and further integration to give them this protective cover where they can continue to grow. And Lebanon, it does not seem that they're willing to take the action necessary to put an end to that. So, yes, you're absolutely right.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | March 15th, 2025: Trump Calls Putin’s Bluff & Syria Erupts in Violence
Whatever happens will not take away Hezbollah's ideological enmity for Israel and would leave Hezbollah intact to continue to grow and perhaps fight another day.