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

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

• 0:12
  It's Friday,
• 0:12
  the 16th of October.
• 0:14
  Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin.
• 0:16
  I'm Mike Baker,
• 0:17
  your eyes and ears on the world stage.
• 0:20
  Alright,
• 0:21
  let's get briefed.
• 0:22
  First up,
• 0:23
  the Iran-backed Houthis have struck Yemen's presidential palace complex
• 0:28
  in a deadly attack,
• 0:29
  even as Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces
• 0:32
  pressed their offensive against the rebels.
• 0:35
  We'll examine why Riyadh is
• 0:37
  struggling to contain the Houthi threat.
• 0:39
  And how the violence is beginning to
• 0:41
  affect international business operating in the kingdom.
• 0:44
  Later in the show,
• 0:45
  President Trump is escalating his criticism
• 0:48
  of Ukrainian President Zelensky over Kiev's
• 0:51
  renewed strikes on Russian oil facilities.
• 0:54
  Apparently,
• 0:55
  he thinks Ukraine should stop fighting,
• 0:57
  while Putin continues to pound Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
• 1:01
  Meanwhile,
• 1:02
  new reporting reveals that the order
• 1:03
  to restrict Ukraine's military satellite communications.
• 1:07
  Appears to have originated inside the White House,
• 1:10
  but first,
• 1:11
  today's afternoon spotlight.
• 1:13
  The Iran-backed Houthis are expanding their campaign of
• 1:16
  attacks against Saudi Arabia and its allies,
• 1:19
  striking increasingly high profile targets
• 1:22
  as the war in Yemen continues to escalate.
• 1:24
  The latest target,
• 1:25
  the Al-Mashiqk presidential palace complex,
• 1:28
  that's located in the southern Yemeni city of Aden,
• 1:31
  which serves as the headquarters of
• 1:33
  the country's internationally recognized Saudi-backed government.
• 1:37
  According to Yemeni officials,
• 1:38
  the Houthis launched missiles and drones at the compound Thursday,
• 1:42
  killing 5 people and wounding 16 others,
• 1:44
  including guards and civilian employees.
• 1:47
  Yemen's prime minister and cabinet members were reportedly unharmed.
• 1:51
  The Houthis meanwhile claimed they were targeting a
• 1:53
  Saudi military operations headquarters inside the complex,
• 1:57
  allegedly containing weapons depots and Saudi officers.
• 2:01
  Reuters could not independently verify those Houthi claims.
• 2:05
  The attack represented a significant escalation in the ongoing war,
• 2:08
  marking the first time that the Houthis have
• 2:11
  targeted the palace complex in this renewed conflict,
• 2:14
  bringing the Houthi campaign directly to the seat of
• 2:17
  the government that Riyadh is fighting to defend.
• 2:20
  As we've been tracking,
• 2:21
  Saudi-backed forces launched a major counteroffensive
• 2:24
  against the Houthis earlier this month,
• 2:26
  recapturing territory near the strategically important Bab el Mandeb Strait.
• 2:31
  One of the world's busiest maritime choke points,
• 2:34
  the Houthis have responded with increasingly deadly strikes on airports,
• 2:38
  oil facilities,
• 2:39
  and
• 2:39
  other critical infrastructure inside Saudi Arabia.
• 2:42
  Just this week,
• 2:43
  the rebels hit the headquarters of Saudi Aramco,
• 2:46
  that's the kingdom's state-owned oil giant,
• 2:49
  following a series of deadly attacks
• 2:51
  on Riyadh's main international airport.
• 2:53
  And the Saudi-led coalition is now providing a much
• 2:57
  clearer picture of the scale of the Houthi campaign.
• 3:00
  Speaking Thursday,
• 3:01
  a coalition spokesperson
• 3:03
  said the Houthis had launched 20 attacks against King
• 3:05
  Khalid International Airport in Riyadh this month alone,
• 3:09
  killing 17 people and
• 3:11
  wounding 333 others.
• 3:13
  The coalition also reported dozens of casualties
• 3:16
  from attacks on Aba Airport in southwestern Saudi Arabia
• 3:20
  near the Yemeni border.
• 3:22
  In turn,
• 3:23
  the coalition said Saudi-backed forces have
• 3:25
  destroyed 127 Houthi weapons storage facilities and
• 3:30
  launch platforms
• 3:31
  in Yemen's mountainous regions.
• 3:33
  But the problem for Riyadh
• 3:36
  is that despite the widespread damage reportedly
• 3:38
  inflicted on the Houthis' munitions stores,
• 3:41
  the Iran-backed group is still managing to strike
• 3:44
  some of Saudi Arabia's most important targets.
• 3:47
  The coalition also warned that the rebels
• 3:49
  have acquired increasingly advanced military technology,
• 3:52
  well,
• 3:53
  thanks to the IRGC patrons,
• 3:55
  including ballistic missiles,
• 3:57
  drones,
• 3:57
  and explosive-laden fast boats.
• 3:59
  Iran has long provided the Houthis with weapons technology,
• 4:03
  training,
• 4:04
  and other assistance,
• 4:05
  helping transform what began as a local insurgency
• 4:09
  into a force capable of threatening
• 4:11
  Saudi infrastructure and international shipping.
• 4:14
  Tehran,
• 4:15
  of course,
• 4:15
  denies funneling arms to the group.
• 4:18
  Who?
• 4:18
  Us?
• 4:18
  What?
• 4:19
  But with the broader war between Iran and the US still unresolved,
• 4:23
  the Iran-backed rebels remain another means by
• 4:26
  which Tehran can apply pressure against Washington
• 4:29
  and regional allies.
• 4:31
  Meanwhile,
• 4:32
  the consequences of the Houthi campaign are spreading beyond military targets.
• 4:36
  According to Reuters,
• 4:37
  several major international financial firms are
• 4:40
  now allowing employees in Saudi Arabia
• 4:42
  to work from home because of growing security concerns.
• 4:46
  JPMorgan and the Deutsche Bank introduced remote working arrangements following
• 4:50
  Saturday's deadly airport attack,
• 4:52
  although their offices remain open.
• 4:55
  Citi has also offered employees the option to work remotely,
• 4:58
  and American investment firm Franklin Templeton
• 5:01
  has temporarily closed its Riyadh office,
• 5:03
  instructing staff to work from home until further notice.
• 5:07
  Saudi schools have also shifted to online instruction,
• 5:10
  while the kingdom is preparing to offer remote participation
• 5:14
  at its flagship Future Investment initiative conference later this month.
• 5:19
  Now those developments might sound
• 5:21
  relatively minor compared with missiles striking airports and oil facilities,
• 5:25
  but they do illustrate another vulnerability
• 5:28
  that the Houthis are exploiting.
• 5:30
  Saudi Arabia spent years trying to transform itself
• 5:33
  into a global destination for international investment,
• 5:36
  finance,
• 5:36
  and tourism,
• 5:38
  with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
• 5:40
  making economic diversification a central priority for the government.
• 5:44
  But those ambitions depend on stability
• 5:47
  and on convincing foreign companies
• 5:49
  that the kingdom is a safe place to invest and operate.
• 5:52
  When international banks are sending employees home and
• 5:55
  major investment conferences are adjusting their plans due to security threats,
• 6:00
  well,
• 6:00
  obviously it becomes increasingly difficult to
• 6:03
  project that desired stability and confidence.
• 6:07
  All right,
• 6:07
  coming up next,
• 6:08
  tensions between Washington and Kiev are reaching new heights as President Trump
• 6:12
  condemns Ukraine's renewed attacks on Russian oil facilities.
• 6:17
  I'll be right back.
• 6:18
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• 6:18
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  Welcome back to the PDB afternoon bulletin.
• 8:45
  I want to follow up on the growing
• 8:47
  confrontation between President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky
• 8:51
  over Kiev's renewed attacks on Russian oil facilities,
• 8:53
  as tensions between Trump and Kiev
• 8:56
  continue to escalate.
• 8:58
  Trump is now publicly blasting Zelensky
• 9:00
  for abandoning his proposed energy ceasefire,
• 9:04
  accusing the Ukrainian leader of driving up
• 9:06
  global oil prices by targeting Russian refineries.
• 9:09
  Ah yes,
• 9:10
  it's,
• 9:10
  it's all Zelensky's fault.
• 9:12
  That would be the,
• 9:12
  of course,
• 9:13
  the ceasefire that nobody knew about
• 9:15
  until President Trump announced it on Truth Social.
• 9:18
  Speaking to Newsmax Thursday night,
• 9:20
  President Trump called the renewed strikes a quote disgrace,
• 9:23
  arguing that Ukraine has plenty of other targets that it could attack.
• 9:26
  Now,
• 9:27
  just a remind,
• 9:28
  after Trump announced the ceasefire that neither side had agreed to,
• 9:32
  Zelensky did halt attacks on Russian oil refineries in an attempt to cooperate.
• 9:37
  Putin,
• 9:38
  on the other hand,
• 9:39
  continued Russia's near daily attacks
• 9:41
  on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
• 9:43
  After a few days of unilaterally pausing
• 9:45
  attacks and watching Putin continue to attack,
• 9:49
  well,
• 9:49
  Ukraine resumed their targeting.
• 9:51
  Now,
• 9:52
  the president also described Zelensky as quote,
• 9:54
  not a good guy for us to deal with,
• 9:56
  adding that he finds the Ukrainian leader more difficult to negotiate with
• 10:01
  than Russian President Vladimir Putin.
• 10:03
  Seriously,
• 10:03
  I'm not making this up.
• 10:06
  Zelensky meanwhile is showing little sign of backing down.
• 10:09
  Speaking at a summit of European leaders in Brussels Friday,
• 10:12
  the Ukrainian president insisted that Kiev wants to
• 10:14
  end the war as quickly as possible,
• 10:16
  but said Russia has shown no indication
• 10:19
  that it's prepared to do the same,
• 10:20
  calling Moscow's approach to talks a quote parody of peace negotiations.
• 10:25
  In what appeared to be a shot across the bow at President Trump,
• 10:28
  Zelensky also referred to his European counterparts
• 10:31
  upon arriving at Friday's summit as quote,
• 10:33
  real leaders.
• 10:34
  And as mentioned,
• 10:35
  Russian attacks on Ukraine are continuing.
• 10:38
  Strikes across nine Ukrainian regions Friday
• 10:41
  reportedly left hundreds of thousands of households without electricity.
• 10:45
  Moscow is attempting to destroy Ukraine's power and water infrastructure
• 10:49
  as winter approaches.
• 10:51
  Now,
• 10:52
  somewhat oddly,
• 10:53
  White House sources have pushed back on Zelensky's claim.
• 10:57
  that Moscow violated Trump's proposed supposed energy ceasefire,
• 11:01
  arguing that the supposed arrangement only covered oil refineries on both sides,
• 11:06
  but not power plants.
• 11:08
  Well,
• 11:08
  that distinction appears central to the increasingly
• 11:11
  bitter dispute between Washington and Kiev.
• 11:13
  Now,
• 11:14
  if the White House did their research,
• 11:16
  they'd discover that while Russia has over 30
• 11:18
  major refineries and dozens of smaller refining operations,
• 11:23
  Ukraine only has one refinery,
• 11:25
  which is non-operational after Russian attacks.
• 11:28
  So,
• 11:28
  if the White House is proposing a ceasefire
• 11:31
  whereby neither side attacks the other's refineries,
• 11:35
  you might see why a sane individual wouldn't really take that deal.
• 11:40
  But there's another development that could prove even more consequential.
• 11:43
  As we discussed this morning,
• 11:44
  Ukrainian forces experienced unexpected restrictions on their US controlled
• 11:49
  Star Shield satellite communication system earlier this week,
• 11:53
  raising questions about whether Washington was using access to the technology
• 11:57
  to pressure Kiev.
• 11:58
  And now
• 11:59
  Reuters is reporting that the order to restrict the service
• 12:02
  originated inside the White House.
• 12:05
  Citing two American officials and a Western official familiar with the matter,
• 12:09
  Reuters says Pentagon leaders received instructions
• 12:12
  that Ukraine's StarShield service needed to be slowed.
• 12:15
  The officials did not identify who authorized the order,
• 12:19
  and a senior American official denied that
• 12:21
  President Trump personally requested the restrictions,
• 12:24
  while the White House declined to address
• 12:26
  whether another administration official perhaps was responsible.
• 12:30
  There's also an important clarification about the service itself.
• 12:33
  Although Ukrainian officials initially reported that
• 12:35
  StarShield had been fully restored,
• 12:37
  a Ukrainian Defense Ministry source told Reuters on Thursday
• 12:41
  that the system was operating again on moving equipment,
• 12:44
  but remained limited to speeds of approximately 100
• 12:47
  MPH.
• 12:48
  And on Friday,
• 12:49
  Zelensky said Ukrainian forces were still experiencing disruptions.
• 12:53
  So while the White House's involvement now appears clearer,
• 12:56
  at least according to the sources that spoke to Reuters,
• 12:59
  the central question remains unanswered.
• 13:01
  Was the restriction intended to pressure
• 13:03
  Zelensky into abandoning Ukraine's refinery campaign?
• 13:07
  For now,
• 13:08
  there's no confirmed evidence establishing that motive.
• 13:12
  But
• 13:12
  as they say,
• 13:14
  if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck,
• 13:16
  it may be the White House instructing the Pentagon to limit access to Starshield.
• 13:21
  At least,
• 13:22
  um,
• 13:22
  I believe that's how the saying goes.
• 13:25
  And that,
• 13:26
  my friends,
• 13:26
  is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Friday,
• 13:29
  the 16th of October.
• 13:30
  Now,
• 13:30
  if you have any questions or comments,
• 13:31
  please reach out to me at PDB@hefirstv.com
• 13:36
  and to listen to the show ad-free,
• 13:37
  just become a premium member of the President's Daily Brief
• 13:40
  by visiting PDBpremium.com.
• 13:43
  It really is that simple.
• 13:44
  And finally,
• 13:44
  I do hope you'll check out our latest episode
• 13:47
  of America's favorite weekend news podcast.
• 13:50
  The PDB Situation Report.
• 13:52
  You can find it on the first TV or on our beloved YouTube channel.
• 13:57
  That's at President's Daily Brief
• 13:58
  and of course on podcast platforms
• 14:00
  all over podcast land.
• 14:02
  Great guests,
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  news,
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  insight,
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  really everything you could ever want
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  in a weekend news show,
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  uh,
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  and no bitter aftertaste.
• 14:10
  All right,
• 14:11
  I'm Mike Baker and I'll be back over the weekend
• 14:13
  with the PDB situation report.
• 14:16
  Until then,
• 14:17
  stay informed,
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  stay safe,
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  stay cool.
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