Latest / The President's Daily Brief / PDB Afternoon Bulletin | October 5th, 2026: The Yemen Offensive Just Became Much Bigger & Russia’s Mysterious Lab Death

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PDB Afternoon Bulletin | October 5th, 2026: The Yemen Offensive Just Became Much Bigger & Russia’s Mysterious Lab Death · The President's Daily Brief

• 0:12
  It's Monday,
• 0:13
  the 5th of October.
• 0:14
  Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin.
• 0:17
  I'm Mike Baker,
• 0:17
  your eyes and ears
• 0:19
  on the world stage.
• 0:20
  All right,
• 0:21
  let's get briefed.
• 0:22
  First up,
• 0:23
  on this morning's PDB,
• 0:25
  we highlighted a new offensive by the Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces
• 0:29
  against the Iranian-backed Houthis.
• 0:31
  At the time,
• 0:32
  it wasn't clear if this would be a limited operation
• 0:35
  to push back the Houthis from the Bab al-Meb Strait
• 0:38
  or potentially something larger.
• 0:41
  Now
• 0:41
  it appears to be
• 0:43
  something larger,
• 0:44
  a Saudi-backed campaign to retake Sana'a,
• 0:47
  that's the capital,
• 0:47
  and break Houthi control of Yemen.
• 0:50
  Later in the show,
• 0:51
  the US is monitoring a mysterious death and now quarantine situation.
• 0:55
  Oh,
• 0:55
  here we go again,
• 0:57
  involving a Russian anti-plague laboratory
• 0:59
  as questions grow over what happened inside the facility.
• 1:03
  That is exactly what 2026 needed
• 1:06
  another pandemic scare.
• 1:08
  But first,
• 1:08
  today's afternoon spotlight.
• 1:10
  This morning we told you Saudi-backed forces were preparing to
• 1:14
  push the Houthis away from the Bab al-Meb Strait.
• 1:17
  That's the narrow waterway,
• 1:18
  of course,
• 1:18
  connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden
• 1:21
  and one of the world's most important shipping routes.
• 1:23
  Well,
• 1:24
  it's now clear the operation is much bigger than that.
• 1:27
  Yemen's internationally recognized government says
• 1:29
  it's launched what it's describing as a full-scale military campaign
• 1:33
  aimed at retaking the capital Sana'a
• 1:35
  and breaking Houthi control of the capital.
• 1:38
  The operation is being called the Dawn of Yemen,
• 1:40
  and Saudi Arabia is providing substantial air support
• 1:44
  as government forces open multiple fronts against the Iranian-backed Houthis.
• 1:49
  The Saudi-led coalition says roughly 100 fighter jets took
• 1:52
  part in the opening phase of the operation,
• 1:54
  striking more than 300 Houthi targets.
• 1:58
  Saudi aircraft were also reportedly providing round the clock air cover
• 2:02
  for Yemeni government forces advancing on the ground.
• 2:05
  One of the main battlefields remains Yemen's western coast.
• 2:08
  Government forces say they've taken large parts of the Dubab district.
• 2:12
  It's a stretch of Yemen's southwestern coast
• 2:14
  overlooking the Babel Mandeb Strait.
• 2:17
  They also claim to have captured the local airport
• 2:19
  and cut roads connecting Houthi positions farther north toward Moka.
• 2:23
  That would help loosen the Houthis' grip around
• 2:25
  the southern entrance to the Red Sea.
• 2:28
  Yemeni President Rashad al-Alimi
• 2:30
  says the ultimate objective is to retake Sana'a
• 2:33
  and restore government authority across the country.
• 2:36
  In other words,
• 2:37
  it's no longer simply an attempt to reverse
• 2:39
  the Houthis' recent gains along the coast.
• 2:42
  Now,
• 2:42
  as you might expect,
• 2:43
  the Iranian-backed Houthis are fighting back.
• 2:46
  They've continued pressing government positions around Taiz,
• 2:49
  where they have reportedly taken territory and
• 2:52
  threatened important supply routes into the city.
• 2:54
  So while Saudi-backed forces appear to be making gains in the west,
• 2:58
  This is not shaping up as an easy or one-sided campaign.
• 3:02
  Saudi Arabia meanwhile is committing major military resources to the fight.
• 3:06
  Riyadh had spent years trying to reduce
• 3:09
  its direct involvement in Yemen's civil war.
• 3:12
  Now Saudi aircraft are once again
• 3:14
  conducting large scale strikes while the kingdom backs
• 3:17
  a ground offensive aimed at the Houthi-held capital.
• 3:20
  And there's another question hanging over all of this.
• 3:23
  How far Saudi Arabia's new regional partners are prepared to go?
• 3:27
  Pakistan has already reportedly sent military equipment to Yemen,
• 3:31
  including air defense systems,
• 3:33
  drones,
• 3:33
  counter drone equipment,
• 3:34
  and light artillery.
• 3:36
  Pakistani advisers have also reportedly been working alongside Saudi personnel
• 3:41
  supporting Yemeni forces.
• 3:43
  Turkey has supplied military equipment as well,
• 3:46
  but so far there's no indication that Pakistani or Turkish forces
• 3:50
  are directly participating in combat operations inside Yemen.
• 3:55
  Now that could become increasingly important because
• 3:57
  senior officials from
• 3:58
  all three countries are meeting in Riyadh under
• 4:00
  the new defense agreement linking Saudi Arabia,
• 4:03
  Pakistan,
• 4:04
  and Turkey.
• 4:05
  The talks are taking place as the Yemeni offensive is unfolding,
• 4:08
  meaning this new security partnership
• 4:11
  is receiving a major test almost immediately.
• 4:14
  Saudi Arabia has not publicly invoked any collective defense provision,
• 4:18
  and neither Pakistan nor Turkey
• 4:20
  has announced plans to join the fight.
• 4:23
  Alright,
• 4:23
  coming up next,
• 4:24
  a young Russian researcher is dead,
• 4:27
  dozens have reportedly been quarantined,
• 4:29
  and Washington is now trying to determine
• 4:31
  what happened inside a Russian plague research lab.
• 4:35
  I'll be right back.
• 4:37
  Hey,
• 4:37
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• 4:38
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• 4:41
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• 4:41
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• 6:33
  Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin.
• 6:35
  The White House is monitoring a mysterious death connected
• 6:39
  to one of Russia's anti-plague laboratories in Siberia,
• 6:42
  and right now there are more questions than answers about exactly what happened.
• 6:47
  The case centers on 28 year old Darya Shipolova,
• 6:50
  a laboratory worker at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia
• 6:55
  in the Far East.
• 6:57
  The facility studies extremely dangerous pathogens,
• 7:00
  including plague,
• 7:01
  cholera,
• 7:01
  tuloremia,
• 7:02
  and anthrax.
• 7:04
  According to independent Russian reporting,
• 7:05
  Shibalova may have broken a test tube
• 7:08
  containing the bacteria responsible for pneumonic plague
• 7:11
  while working inside the laboratory on September 25th.
• 7:15
  She became seriously ill several days later,
• 7:17
  was hospitalized with severe pneumonia,
• 7:20
  and died overnight between October 1st and 2nd.
• 7:23
  Now,
• 7:24
  that account has not been confirmed by Russian authorities,
• 7:26
  which I know is shocking because Russian authorities are normally so transparent.
• 7:31
  Moscow says investigators have found no evidence
• 7:33
  that Shipolova was exposed to a dangerous pathogen at work,
• 7:37
  and there's no evidence of an accident involving infectious material.
• 7:40
  Russian health officials currently describe her cause of death as pneumonia
• 7:44
  of unknown origin.
• 7:46
  But the response surrounding her death is
• 7:48
  what has attracted extra attention in Washington.
• 7:51
  Authorities reportedly quarantined portions of
• 7:53
  the hospital where Shipolova was treated
• 7:56
  and began monitoring people who had been in contact with her.
• 7:59
  Reports vary on the precise number,
• 8:01
  but nearly 200 people may have been placed under some form of medical observation.
• 8:06
  More than 60 employees at the Anti-Plague Institute
• 8:09
  itself were reportedly isolated inside the facility.
• 8:12
  Workers at a nearby industrial plant were instructed to wear masks.
• 8:16
  And Russia's top public health official Anna Popova
• 8:19
  traveled to the region for emergency meetings.
• 8:22
  There have also been reports that Russia's
• 8:24
  security services became involved with FSB personnel
• 8:27
  reportedly escorting ambulances transporting some
• 8:29
  of Shipolova's contacts for examination.
• 8:32
  Russian authorities insist testing has not found plague among her contacts,
• 8:36
  and so far there are no confirmed reports of person to person transmission.
• 8:41
  Officials
• 8:42
  say the situation is stable and under control.
• 8:45
  But the unusual precautions,
• 8:46
  the quarantining have clearly been enough to get the attention of the US
• 8:50
  The White House says it's monitoring the situation.
• 8:53
  Well,
• 8:53
  that's good,
• 8:53
  while the CDC,
• 8:55
  State Department,
• 8:55
  and other federal agencies are reportedly trying to determine
• 8:59
  what happened inside the facility.
• 9:00
  Good luck with that
• 9:01
  and whether there is any wider public health threat.
• 9:05
  Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressed the reports this morning and said
• 9:08
  there's no reason for Americans to be alarmed at this point,
• 9:11
  but he also said Washington is watching closely,
• 9:14
  given how quickly an infectious disease could become an international problem
• 9:18
  if containment failed.
• 9:20
  Now,
• 9:20
  a little context here.
• 9:21
  Pneumonic plague is the form of plague that infects the lungs.
• 9:24
  Unlike the more familiar bubonic form,
• 9:27
  it can spread directly from person to
• 9:29
  person through respiratory droplets during close contact.
• 9:32
  Without treatment,
• 9:33
  it can progress quickly and become deadly,
• 9:36
  but
• 9:37
  we are not living in medieval Europe.
• 9:39
  Plague still exists naturally in parts of the world today,
• 9:42
  including
• 9:42
  Russia and the Western United States,
• 9:45
  and modern antibiotics can treat the disease effectively when it's caught early.
• 9:50
  One question that US officials reportedly want answered,
• 9:52
  but probably shouldn't expect to be answered
• 9:55
  is exactly what kind of research was being conducted inside this laboratory.
• 10:00
  The Washington Post reports current and former American officials are interested
• 10:03
  in whether the facility was working with altered strains of plague
• 10:07
  or conducting other experiments involving dangerous pathogens.
• 10:10
  At this point,
• 10:11
  there's no public evidence
• 10:13
  that Shipolova's death involved gain of
• 10:15
  function research or biological weapons work or
• 10:18
  any engineered pathogen.
• 10:20
  Russia says there has been no confirmed plague outbreak,
• 10:23
  no proven laboratory accident,
• 10:25
  and no evidence
• 10:26
  that anyone else has contracted the disease,
• 10:29
  and that may ultimately prove to be exactly what happened.
• 10:32
  But right now
• 10:33
  we don't know.
• 10:34
  And much like with COVID-19,
• 10:36
  the Wuhan lab and
• 10:38
  the Chinese Communist Party,
• 10:39
  who are not likely to get much transparency
• 10:42
  from the Ukursk Research Lab
• 10:44
  and the Kremlin.
• 10:46
  And that,
• 10:46
  my friends,
• 10:47
  is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Monday,
• 10:49
  the 5th of October.
• 10:51
  If you have any questions or comments,
• 10:52
  just reach out to me at PDB@hefirsttv.com.
• 10:55
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• 11:00
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• 11:04
  I'm Mike Baker and I'll be back tomorrow.
• 11:06
  Until then,
• 11:07
  stay informed,
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  stay safe,
• 11:09
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