Latest / The President's Daily Brief / October 28th, 2026: Russia Secretly Helping Iran Attack American Bases & Jordan Launches Strikes In Syria

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October 28th, 2026: Russia Secretly Helping Iran Attack American Bases & Jordan Launches Strikes In Syria · The President's Daily Brief

0:12
It's Wednesday,
0:13
the twenty-eighth of October.
0:15
Welcome to the President's Daily Brief.
0:17
I'm Mike Baker,
0:18
your eyes and ears
0:19
on the world stage.
0:21
All right,
0:22
let's get briefed.
0:23
First up,
0:23
a new investigation reveals evidence that Russian
0:26
spy satellites may be helping Iranian proxies
0:30
carry out precision strikes against Saudi
0:32
oil infrastructure and military installations.
0:36
And officials say Moscow's intelligence
0:38
may have also played a role in attacks on American targets.
0:41
Now I'd have my shocked face on,
0:43
but I'm
0:44
not shocked.
0:45
Later in the show,
0:47
Jordan launches air strikes against Islamic State militants in southern Syria,
0:51
killing more than 20 fighters in retaliation for a deadly church attack.
0:55
Plus,
0:56
an Israeli technology company is suspected of using digital advertising.
1:01
To secretly track users of Elon Musk's Starlink satellite Internet service,
1:07
and in today's back of the brief,
1:08
British authorities charged two men in
1:10
connection with an alleged Iran-linked terror plot
1:13
targeting a military base used by American forces.
1:17
But first,
1:18
today's PDB spotlight.
1:20
Russia may be playing a much larger role
1:23
in the Middle East conflict than previously understood.
1:26
A new investigation by the Associated Press suggests
1:29
Moscow has been using its network of spy satellites
1:32
to help Iranian-backed militias carry out precision attacks
1:36
against Saudi Arabia's oil infrastructure and military installations,
1:40
and according to officials familiar with the intelligence,
1:42
that assistance may have extended to attacks against American facilities as well.
1:47
The investigation centers on a series of drone and
1:50
missile strikes carried out over the past several months.
1:54
One of the most significant occurred on the 10th of September
1:57
when drones launched from Iraq
1:59
struck three pumping stations along Saudi Arabia's east-west pipeline.
2:04
Now
2:04
the 746 mile pipeline carries Saudi crude from the kingdom's eastern oil fields
2:10
to export terminals on the Red Sea.
2:12
It's become a critical alternative to the Strait of Hormuz,
2:15
where Iranian attacks on commercial shipping
2:18
continue to disrupt oil traffic
2:21
by targeting the pipeline's pumping stations.
2:23
The attackers struck infrastructure essential to keeping that oil moving,
2:27
temporarily interrupting operations.
2:30
Then roughly a week later,
2:32
another attack hit King Fad Air Base in the Saudi city of Taif.
2:36
The Houthi attack on the air base damaged several hangars,
2:39
and an Italian Eurofighter typhoon parked inside one of them.
2:43
Two attacks days apart
2:46
against very different targets.
2:48
But investigators examining the strikes say they discovered
2:50
something remarkable happening in the skies above both locations.
2:54
According to the Associated Press,
2:56
a Geneva-based intelligence firm called Aurora Geosignal Intelligence.
3:01
Tracked Russian reconnaissance satellites operating over Saudi
3:04
Arabia in the days surrounding the attacks.
3:07
The firm's founder,
3:08
Nawaf Abeid,
3:09
says researchers examined 40 missile and drone strikes
3:13
conducted by Iranian-backed militias between July and October.
3:17
In every case,
3:18
they identified a corresponding pattern of Russian satellite activity over
3:22
the targeted areas both before and after the attacks.
3:27
For the September pipeline strikes,
3:29
researchers tracked 11 Russian satellites,
3:31
concentrating on the sections of the pipeline
3:34
that were eventually hit.
3:36
And around both the pipeline and the air base,
3:38
the firm observed a roughly 50% increase
3:41
in Russian satellite activity during the relevant 3-day periods
3:45
compared with July.
3:47
Obeid believes the evidence points to Russian intelligence being used
3:51
to identify targets and assess the damage afterward.
3:55
Now the researchers did not intercept any intelligence being
3:58
transferred from Russia to Iran or its allies.
4:00
Their findings establish a pattern of satellite activity rather than direct proof
4:06
of Russian participation in designing the attacks or choosing the targets.
4:10
But the Associated Press also spoke with officials who
4:13
described how that intelligence allegedly reaches the militants.
4:17
A senior Houthi leader told the news agency that Iranian advisers with the IRGC,
4:22
the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps operating inside Yemen,
4:27
have been providing the group with targeting information
4:29
derived from Russian satellites.
4:31
A Saudi official familiar with investigations
4:33
into the attacks described similar findings.
4:36
And a private intelligence analyst said Iranian advisers use Russian
4:40
reconnaissance information to develop target lists and operational guidance.
4:45
In other words,
4:46
the alleged arrangement works something like this
4:49
Russian satellites collect information about potential targets.
4:52
Iranian advisers analyze that intelligence and pass it along to allied militias.
4:58
Those groups then use the information
5:00
to guide their missiles and drones.
5:02
Saudi officials have also raised concerns about
5:05
intelligence assistance coming from Chinese sources,
5:08
although the evidence presented in the AP investigation
5:11
focuses primarily on Russia.
5:14
And the allegations extend beyond attacks on Saudi oil facilities.
5:18
According to a Saudi official cited in the investigation.
5:21
Russian satellite intelligence also helped Iran carry out strikes
5:25
earlier this year against Prince Sultan Air Base,
5:28
where an American surveillance aircraft was severely damaged.
5:31
The official also alleged
5:33
that Russian intelligence contributed to an Iranian strike
5:36
against a CIA unit inside the American embassy complex in Riyadh.
5:41
Those specific allegations have not been independently verified,
5:44
and Russian officials offered no immediate response.
5:47
Well,
5:47
that's surprising to the Associated Press when asked about the findings.
5:52
Russia and Iran,
5:53
of course,
5:53
already maintain extensive military cooperation,
5:56
including the transfer of drone technology,
5:59
but providing targeting intelligence would
6:01
represent another potentially important dimension
6:04
to that relationship.
6:05
They could allow Iranian-backed groups to strike sensitive
6:09
infrastructure and military assets with much greater accuracy
6:12
without possessing the sophisticated reconnaissance capabilities
6:16
needed to locate those targets themselves,
6:18
and it could give Moscow a way to influence the
6:21
conflict and threaten Western interests without openly entering the fight.
6:26
All right.
6:26
Coming up next,
6:27
Jordan launches deadly air strikes against ISIS militants in Syria,
6:32
and an Israeli technology company is suspected of using digital advertising
6:36
to spy on Starlink users.
6:39
You know,
6:39
the shenanigans of 2026,
6:41
they just keep on piling up.
6:43
I'll be right back.
6:46
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8:07
The Kingdom of Jordan has launched air strikes
8:09
into neighboring Syria targeting suspected Islamic State militants.
8:13
In retaliation for a deadly attack on a Christian church,
8:16
Jordanian officials say the operation killed more than 20 ISIS fighters,
8:21
but the strikes also left Syrian civilians dead and
8:24
triggered a diplomatic dispute between the two countries.
8:27
The Jordanian military carried out the strikes Monday evening,
8:30
targeting what it described as
8:32
terrorist hideouts in the southern Syrian provinces of Deraa
8:36
and Suweidah
8:37
near the Jordanian border.
8:39
According to Jordanian officials,
8:41
the operation was based on
8:42
intelligence connecting militants operating inside Syria
8:45
to a massacre that took place in Jordan just 3 days earlier.
8:49
That attack occurred Friday
8:51
when gunmen opened fire on mourners attending a funeral at a Greek Orthodox church
8:58
in Jordan's Karak governo southwest of the capital Amman.
9:01
The attackers reportedly fired on people gathered for the funeral,
9:05
killing 9 and wounding dozens more.
9:07
The assault shocked Jordan,
9:09
a country that's remained relatively stable despite years of
9:12
conflict and instability in neighboring Syria and Iraq.
9:16
Attacks against Jordan's Christian minority
9:18
are particularly rare.
9:20
King Abdullah II condemned the massacre and
9:23
ordered security forces to respond forcefully.
9:26
By Monday,
9:26
Jordanian authorities
9:28
announced they had arrested 3 suspects,
9:30
2 brothers and their brother-in-law following
9:33
a confrontation with security forces.
9:35
Police reportedly tracked the men to an abandoned house where
9:38
they refused to surrender and opened fire.
9:40
All 3 were wounded and taken into custody.
9:43
Authorities recovered firearms and ammunition
9:46
while investigators continued examining the suspect's
9:48
possible connections to extremist organizations,
9:52
and that brings us back to Monday's air strikes.
9:55
Jordan says its investigation uncovered links between the church attackers
9:59
and the terrorist groups operating across the Syrian border.
10:02
Its air force subsequently struck several suspected militant positions,
10:06
with the government officials announcing Tuesday that more
10:09
than 20 Islamic State fighters had been killed.
10:12
Now one important note,
10:13
while Jordan identifies the militants it targeted as ISIS members,
10:17
no organization has actually publicly claimed
10:20
responsibility for the church massacre.
10:23
There are also unanswered questions about the intelligence behind the operation.
10:28
Jordanian security officials
10:29
initially indicated they had found no evidence
10:32
connecting the arrested suspects to other terrorist cells,
10:35
while subsequent military statements
10:38
described links to groups inside Syria.
10:40
Meanwhile,
10:41
the air strikes have reportedly produced significant civilian casualties.
10:45
According to Syrian civil defense,
10:47
7 civilians were killed in the bombardment,
10:50
including 3 children and a woman.
10:53
5 of the victims reportedly belonged to the same family
10:55
whose home was struck in southern Syria.
10:57
2 elderly men were killed in separate locations.
11:00
A Jordanian government spokesman Mohammad
11:02
al Momani acknowledged the civilian deaths
11:05
and expressed regret
11:07
while maintaining that the operation targeted confirmed terrorist threats.
11:11
The strikes have also created tensions between Amman and Damascus.
11:15
Jordan's military initially claimed the operation
11:17
was coordinated with the Syrian government,
11:20
but Syrian officials disputed that account,
11:22
insisting they received no advance notification or approval.
11:26
Syria's Foreign Ministry condemned the strikes as
11:28
a violation of the country's sovereignty,
11:30
while authorities temporarily closed the main
11:33
border crossing between the two countries.
11:35
Both governments have since indicated that they
11:37
intend to strengthen their security coordination.
11:40
Including efforts to prevent terrorist activity along their shared border,
11:45
the confrontation comes as Syria's new government led by President Ahmad al-Shara
11:49
attempts to restore stability following the overthrow,
11:52
of course,
11:52
of Bashar al-Assad
11:54
in December of 2024.
11:57
For Jordan,
11:58
the threat posed by ISIS is hardly new.
12:01
The kingdom has been a longtime American counterterrorism partner
12:04
and has repeatedly confronted extremist networks operating along its borders.
12:09
You may recall back in 2015
12:12
ISIS murdered captured Jordanian fighter pilot Muath al-Kasasbeh,
12:16
burning him alive in a propaganda video
12:19
that provoked widespread outrage across the kingdom
12:22
and throughout the world.
12:23
A year later,
12:24
ISIS militants carried out another deadly attack in Kak,
12:27
killing security personnel and civilians.
12:30
And although the terrorist organization lost
12:32
its territorial caliphate years ago,
12:34
its surviving networks remain active across parts of Syria and Iraq,
12:39
and that is the larger security concern
12:42
behind this week's developments.
12:44
Jordan is determined to prevent extremist groups
12:46
from using Syrian territory
12:49
to organize further attacks against its citizens.
12:53
All right.
12:54
Next up,
12:54
an Israeli advertising technology company is
12:57
suspected of using online advertising networks
13:00
to track users of Elon Musk's Starlink satellite Internet service.
13:05
According to cybersecurity researchers,
13:07
the company's unusual advertising activity across more than 100 countries
13:12
suggests it may have been conducting a surveillance operation
13:15
rather than a conventional advertising campaign.
13:18
The company is called DiscoverTech.
13:21
It operates in advertising technology,
13:23
but researchers suspect its business here was surveillance.
13:27
An exclusive Reuters report details the findings,
13:30
drawing on six people familiar with the research by Trend AI,
13:34
that's a unit of Tokyo-based cybersecurity company Trend Micro.
13:38
Using digital advertising data,
13:40
researchers identified DiscoverTech as one of the biggest
13:43
sources of ads shown to Starlink users.
13:46
In more than 100 countries,
13:47
it ranked first among bidders for that advertising traffic,
13:51
including
13:51
places where the service was banned or restricted.
13:55
Researchers concluded that the activity was likely intended
13:58
to locate or otherwise monitor those users.
14:01
In other words,
14:01
they suspected DiscoverTech was using online advertising infrastructure
14:06
to spy on people.
14:07
So
14:08
what made this look like a surveillance operation?
14:11
Well,
14:11
well,
14:11
let's start with where it was buying ads.
14:14
Trend AI's 15th October report
14:17
described the operation as Shadow Earth 79.
14:21
It did not name DiscoverTech,
14:22
but all six sources told Reuters
14:24
that that was its internal designation for the company.
14:27
The report described a obvious skew toward ads aimed at Starlink users.
14:33
The operation was the top buyer of ads in,
14:35
get this,
14:36
Syria,
14:37
Libya,
14:37
Yemen,
14:38
and South Sudan,
14:39
and the second largest in Afghanistan.
14:42
So you may be asking what was the commercial payoff supposed to be.
14:46
Well,
14:46
Trend AI said,
14:47
quote,
14:47
The demand for legitimate Western advertising
14:50
in sanctioned or active conflict states
14:53
is effectively zero,
14:54
end quote.
14:56
Yet the operation dominated those markets.
14:58
Researchers also found what they called quote
15:00
an implausibly dominant share of winning bids in Hungary,
15:04
Israel,
15:05
Egypt,
15:05
Azerbaijan,
15:06
and Venezuela.
15:08
Their assessment,
15:09
this looked like quote targeting and tracking
15:11
infrastructure rather than a commercial advertising operation.
15:16
So
15:16
how does an advertising auction become a tool for spying?
15:19
Well,
15:19
that's a good question,
15:20
and I'm glad you asked.
15:22
When you open a website or an app,
15:24
advertisers can compete almost instantly to put an ad on your screen,
15:28
and during that bidding process,
15:30
information about you
15:31
can flow back to the participating companies.
15:34
Researchers at Canada's Citizen Lab and
15:36
New York advertising technology firm Confient.
15:39
Say bidders can collect that data and combine it
15:42
with other records to identify otherwise anonymous users,
15:46
follow them around the web,
15:48
and in some cases target them with surveillance software,
15:51
and that is the infrastructure that Discover Tech is accused of exploiting.
15:55
Citizen Lab and Confient
15:57
publicly named DiscoverTech the same day that Trend AI released its report.
16:02
They said ads associated with the company
16:04
had appeared inside dozens of sensitive government,
16:07
media,
16:07
and technology networks,
16:08
although
16:09
that does not establish that those networks were breached.
16:12
The Starlink Focus carries particular stakes.
16:16
SpaceX's satellite service
16:17
allows users to bypass local internet restrictions,
16:21
communicate in hostile areas,
16:22
and coordinate battlefield operations.
16:25
Reuters describes efforts to track its users
16:27
as a growing cottage industry.
16:30
In May,
16:30
the Israeli newspaper Haaretz and the outlet Intelligence Online
16:34
separately reported that Israeli-owned companies were marketing
16:37
ways to identify and track Starlink users.
16:41
Haaretz said advertising data appeared to play a key role,
16:44
but if Trend AI believed DiscoverTech was responsible,
16:48
then why did they withhold its name?
16:50
Well,
16:50
5 sources told Reuters that executives raised legal concerns,
16:54
leading researchers to drop plans to identify the company.
16:58
Trend AI did not directly explain that decision.
17:01
It said its attribution practices
17:03
aimed to reduce mistakes and avoid labels that
17:05
could mislead security teams or trigger inappropriate responses.
17:10
Industry experts told Reuters
17:11
that fear of retaliation also drives self-censorship
17:14
in cybersecurity.
17:16
But as for who commissioned the suspected operation.
17:19
Whether a government directed it and which users were successfully identified,
17:24
well,
17:25
all that remains unanswered.
17:28
Finally,
17:28
in today's back of the brief,
17:29
an update
17:30
on the terrorism investigation in the UK involving RAF Fairford.
17:35
More on that when we come back.
17:38
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In today's back of the brief,
20:14
two British men now face national security charges
20:18
following their arrests in the suspected Iranian plot
20:21
at RAF Fairford.
20:22
The six other men remain out on bail
20:25
as investigators work to establish who was involved
20:28
and to what degree the trail leads back to the Iranian regime.
20:31
British prosecutors announced the charges on Tuesday.
20:34
The two men are Mohammad Abdul Karimm and Numan Esgir.
20:38
Now both are 24 and
20:40
both are British nationals living in London.
20:42
They're charged under the United Kingdom's 2023 National Security Act.
20:46
That's a law designed to combat espionage,
20:49
sabotage,
20:50
and
20:50
other threats involving foreign powers.
20:53
The case goes back to that September security scare
20:56
at RAF Fairford in western England.
20:58
That's the base that has hosted American long range bombers for years.
21:02
During the war against Iran,
21:04
it supported B-1 strikes against the regime.
21:07
Tehran meanwhile had repeatedly warned that
21:10
any base used to attack Iranian territory
21:12
would be considered a legitimate target.
21:15
On September 27th,
21:17
authorities detained five men near an entrance
21:19
to Fairford after reports of suspicious activity.
21:23
Several vehicles were parked nearby,
21:24
and
21:25
the response brought armed police and bomb disposal specialists to the scene.
21:30
Inside,
21:30
three vans driven by the suspects,
21:32
officers found quantities of gasoline.
21:35
But they did not report finding any explosives.
21:37
All 5 men were initially released on bail,
21:40
but police said they remained under investigation and would be monitored.
21:44
Now this is where the sequence of arrests matters.
21:47
Esker was among those 5 men originally detained near Fairford.
21:51
Police subsequently arrested other suspects,
21:53
including
21:54
a 25-year-old British-Iranian dual national
21:57
detained on October 1st and later released on bail.
22:00
Then on October 20th,
22:02
police re-arrested Esgir and the 25-year-old British-Iranian dual national
22:07
this time on suspicion of assisting Iranian intelligence.
22:11
Well,
22:11
the 25-year-old has since been released without charge
22:14
over the suspected intelligence offense.
22:16
He remains on bail in connection with the broader investigation.
22:20
Abdul Karim meanwhile was also arrested last week,
22:23
and now he and Esker of the two men prosecutors have charged.
22:27
Abdel Karim is accused of assisting a foreign intelligence service in September
22:32
through conduct likely to materially assist
22:35
that service
22:36
in carrying out activities related to the UK.
22:40
The allegation against Esgir
22:42
concerns a protected location.
22:44
Prosecutors say he approached or was near it for
22:46
a purpose that he knew or reasonably should have known
22:49
was prejudicial to the safety or interests
22:53
of the United Kingdom.
22:54
You just have to love legalese.
22:56
Prosecutors have not publicly named the Foreign
22:58
Intelligence Service in Abdul Karim's charge.
23:01
Police,
23:01
however,
23:02
have linked the arrests to suspected assistants to Iranian intelligence.
23:07
British officials have already pointed toward Tehran.
23:09
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said his government believes Iran played a part
23:14
in the Fairford incident.
23:16
The Iranian embassy,
23:17
no surprise in London,
23:18
has rejected that accusation.
23:21
And following the incident outside the base,
23:23
the US Air Force removed all of its B-1 bombers
23:27
from RAF Fairford.
23:29
And that my friends is the president's daily Brief for Wednesday,
23:32
the 28th of October.
23:33
If you have any questions or comments,
23:35
please reach out to me
23:36
at PDB@hefirsttv.com.
23:39
I'm Mike Baker and I'll be back later today
23:41
with the PDB afternoon bulletin.
23:43
Until then,
23:44
stay informed,
23:45
stay safe,
23:47
stay cool.