This episode is brought to you by Patriot Gold Group. Protect your retirement assets. Speak with the experts at Patriot Gold. They've been the top-rated gold IRA dealer for seven years in a row. Go to patriotgoldgroup. Com or call 1-888-621-3856 for a free investor guide. It's Tuesday, 27 August. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. We'll start in the Middle East. After a weekend marked by the most intense strikes since the beginning of the Gaza War, Israel and Hezbollah seem to have avoided escalation into a full-scale conflict. We'll bring you the latest details. Later in the brief, the Ukrainian government is on high alert as Belarusian troops mass at the border, allegedly for exercises. And that scenario is eerily similar to the lead up to Russia's 2022 invasion. Plus, Japan's Defense Ministry scramble jets on Monday after the Chinese military made an unprecedented incursion into Japanese aerospace. We'll break down what happened. And in today's Back of the Brief, NASA makes a major announcement about the two astronauts it's stranded in space. Let's just say it looks like they won't be home for Christmas.

But first, today's PDB Spotlight. We'll begin in the Middle East, where the focus is once again on Iran on following Hezbollah's stated retaliation against Israel on Sunday. After a weekend of the most intense strikes between Israel and Hezbollah since the beginning of the Gaza War, both sides indicated on Monday that they would not seek further escalation. Israel was largely successful in thwarting the attack, while Hasbalat Chief Hassan Nasrallah claimed success on Sunday and told his militants that they could, take a breath, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. As we covered on yesterday's PDB, Hasbala fired over 320 Kutusha rockets at nearly a dozen Israeli military bases and barracks on Sunday, including an intelligence base near Tel Aviv and strategic sites in the Golan Heights. The IDF said that most of the incoming projectiles were intercepted and that no military bases were damaged in the attack. Now, a Navy sailor on a patrol boat was killed by Schrapnel from an interceptor. An official said a minority of rockets did penetrate their air defenses and caused damage to homes in Northern Israel, injuring at least one person. The attacks followed a preemptive strike by the IDF against Hezbollah to thwart a larger attack on Sunday.

Roughly 100 Israeli jets hit dozens of Hezbollah launch sites in Southern Lebanon, destroying thousands of rockets aimed at Northern Israel. Israeli government spokesperson, David Minter, said the strikes had dealt a crushing blow to Hezbollah's offensive capabilities. Despite the fact that their attack largely failed, Nasrallah appeared content with the outcome, declaring Sunday that the group had successfully completed their planned retaliation against Israel over the July 30th death of Hezbollah Deputy Leader Fouad Shulker in Beirut. On the Israeli side, officials hailed the superiority of their air defenses in thwarting the attack, and some expressed hope that the attack's failure could bring Hamas closer to agreeing to a ceasefire in Gaza, given that a wider confluxation was avoided with Hezbollah, according to a Reuters report. With Hezbollah's retaliation, apparently now in the rear view mirror, attention is once again on Iran and whether they will still retaliate over the July 30th death of former Hamas leader Ishmael Hanei in a suspected Mossad bombing in Tehran. While they've talked repeatedly about directly striking Israel. So far, those threats have been empty. In a cryptic statement on Sunday that avoided directly referencing Hasbalat, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khomani said, War has many forms.

It doesn't always mean holding a gun. It means thinking correctly, speaking correctly, identifying correctly, aiming accurately. Others, senior Iranian officials, claimed Hasbalah's attacks had exposed Israel's vulnerability, though As we noted, Israel largely repelled the bombardment. The question now is whether Iran will use Sunday's strike by Hezbollah as a way to avoid mounting a response of their own. Reports suggest that the delay from the Mallah has been caused by divisions within the Iranian government, with many fearful that a retaliation could ignite a larger conflict, something they say Iran cannot withstand economically or militarily. Iran has also been facing intense pressure from allies and adversaries to exercise restraint, given the already high tensions throughout the Middle East. But Iran must also nullify the various Islamic terrorist factions that make up their regional so-called Axis of resistance, most of whom want to see Iran respond more aggressively. Hamas and Iran-backed Iraqi militants praised Hezbollah's strikes on Sunday, though the Houthis in Yemen called for additional attacks. On Sunday, the Houthis defense minister issued a statement saying he wanted to, quote, reassure everyone that the response of the access of Jihad and resistance to the crimes of the Zionist enemy is coming and inevitable, end quote.

Mohamed Buggari, Chief of Staff, for the Iranian military, provided some clarity on the Islamic regime's thinking on Monday, saying that while they considered Hezbollah's attack to be part of Iran's revenge against Israel, a full response to the death of Hanei was still inevitable. Bagari continued, Iran will decide how and when to take revenge. The axis of resistance will avenge the blood of Ishmael Hanyeh, each member according to their own plan and capacity. What we saw yesterday is part of the revenge. Now, one other factor that may be limiting the Iranian regime's response, and that's the operation itself that took out Khanei, and it's created a significant level of paranoia within the Iranian regime over the extent of Mossad's penetration of Iranian leadership and security elements. All right, coming up after the break, Ukraine braces as Belarusian troops mass at the border, while Japan scrambles jets in response to an unprecedented a Chinese incursion. We'll have those stories when we come back.

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Ukraine. The troops are reportedly amassing near the city of Golmo, which is around 30 miles from the Belarusian-Ukrainian border and near the site of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. In a statement, the Ukrainian foreign Ministry said, We warned that in case of a violation of Ukraine's state border by Belarus, our state will take all necessary measures to exercise the right to self-defense guaranteed by the UN Charter. All troop concentrations, military facilities, and supply in Belarus will become legitimate targets for the armed forces of Ukraine. The Ministry added that any training activity by Belarus, near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, poses additional risks to both Ukrainian and global security, and they're not wrong. The warning comes roughly a week after Belarusian President and Kipputin ally and puppet Alexander Lukashenko deployed a third of the armed forces along their border with Ukraine. He said it was a response to Kyiv, amassing 120,000 troops on that border, although there's no evidence supporting that claim. The idea is frankly ridiculous, given the manpower shortage is facing Kyiv's military as they fight on several fronts, including inside Russia's Khrushchev region. Lukashenko has so far avoided direct involvement in the Russian-Ukrainian war, but he has allowed Putin to use Belarus as a staging ground for attacks on Kyiv.

And early in the conflict, he also led Putin employ nuclear weapons inside Belarus. But despite the latest development, analysts do not suspect Belarus to shift tactics anytime soon. Officials in Kyiv also noted that an intelligence assessment in May predicted Russia planned to engage in a, quote, psychological operation against Ukraine by using the threat of a new front opening up with Belarus to stir mass panic. Despite the concern, we should note that Ukraine has built heavy fortifications along their border with Belarus, including extensive minefields, making any potential enemy incursions a somewhat significant risk. All right, turning to East Asia, where things got tense on Monday with a Chinese military surveillance plane, violating Japanese airspace for the first time ever. This incident highlights China's increasing assertiveness in the region. Now, a Chinese Y-9 intelligence gathering aircraft briefly entered Japanese airspace near the Danjo Islands off Nagasaki Prefecture for two minutes. That's according to Japan's defense Ministry. In response to this violation, Japan's Air Self Defense Force scrambled fighter jets and issued warnings to the Chinese aircraft. However, Japanese media company, NHK, reports that no weapons or flares were fired. After leaving Japanese airspace, the Chinese aircraft continued to circle near the Danjo Islands, as shown in a flight path map provided by the Defense Ministry.

Following the breach, Japan's Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Masutaka Okano, summoned the chargé d'affaire of the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo to deliver a formal protest describing the incident as unprecedented and violating its sovereignty. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' statement emphasized that Japan would take all necessary measures to protect its territorial integrity and urge China to refrain from any actions that could further escalate. The Chinese representative of the embassy reportedly responded that they, quote, would report the matter back to their home country, end quote. While Chinese military aircraft often operate in international airspace near Japan, actual violations of Japanese territorial airspace have been rare. The last two incursions occurred in 2012 and 2017 involving contested territory near the East Sunkaku Islands. Monday's incident involved undisputed Japanese territory, marking a new escalation. Tensions have been simmering in recent years between Japan and China China over various issues, including territorial disputes in the East China Sea. China claims a large portion of the continental shelf in this area, which extends close to the Danjo Islands where the Chinese plane was spotted. Additionally, trade tensions and Beijing's anger over Tokyo's decision to release treated water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea have further exasperated tensions.

Following Japan's announcement of the water release plan in 2023, China responded by imposing restrictions on Japanese food imports, cite safety concerns. These restrictions have affected Japan's food export industry, leading to diplomatic friction. The timing of China breaching Japanese airspace is particularly noteworthy as it occurred just one day before Jake Sullivan, the US National Security Advisor, is scheduled to visit Beijing for high-level talks with senior Chinese officials. The discussions are expected to cover the status of Taiwan, which China, of course, claims as part of its territory. Analysts suggest that the aerospace violation could be a deliberate move by China to challenge Japan's territorial claims and send a message to Japan and the US ahead of the talks. To be clear, of course, they're sending a message. Look, you don't have to be an analyst, a pundit, a diplomat, or the national security advisor to understand what the Chinese regime is up to here. Of course, they're sending a message. Xi Jinping in his regime don't do anything in a random or improvised manner. Okay, coming up in the back of the brief, NASA reveals a major update on the two astronauts stranded in space. They'll have to wait until next year to return home.

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In today's Back of the brief. Nasa has decided to delay the return of two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams, from the International Space Station, the ISS, due to safety concerns with Boeing Starliner capsule. The astronauts, initially scheduled for a brief test flight, will now have to wait until next year to return to Earth via a SpaceX spacecraft, not a Boeing spacecraft. Wilmore and Williams, who have been on the ISS since early June, were initially scheduled for a week-long test flight. Let me just remind you that we're almost at the end of August. In Boeing Starliner, their mission will now, of course, stretch to over eight months, not just a week. Shortly after the astronaut's arrival at the ISS, a cascade of technical failures began to unfold. Thruster malfunctions and helium leaks in the Starliner posed serious risks, forcing NASA and Boeing engineers into a lengthy assessment and testing phase. You know what's coming next? Well, these issues have added more than $1 billion in costs. The thruster issues were particularly concerning because they're critical for the spacecraft's maneuvering and re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. Despite extensive troubleshooting and testing, the underlying causes of these problems remained elusive, leading to increasing doubts about the capsule's readiness for the return trip.

On Saturday, after three months of deliberation and back and forth, NASA officially decided to postpone the astronaut's return. The Starliner capsule is set to undock in early September for an uncrued, unmanned automated landing in New Mexico. Nasa administrator Bill Nelson emphasized that the choice was made in the interest of crew safety, of course. That's a sentiment echoed by other NASA officials. Boeing, which is dealing with multiple setbacks in its space and aviation sectors, expressed its commitment to safety. Now's a good time to do that, I suppose. A SpaceX capsule currently docked at the ISS is reserved for the four astronauts who have been stationed there since March, and their return has already been delayed due to the Starliner issues. Therefore, Wilmore and Williams will wait for the next its scheduled SpaceX flight in February of 2025. Nasa and Boeing remain committed to the Starliner program. Really? They do? Nasa officials have expressed confidence that the issues can be resolved, and the Starliner will eventually become a reliable vehicle for crewed missions. For now, though, Wilmore and Williams will continue their extended stay on the ISS. I hope they packed enough underwear and clean socks, contributing to ongoing research and operations.

And that, my friends, is the President's Daily Brief for Tuesday, 27 August. If you have any questions or comments for me, please reach out at pdb@thefirsttv. Com. The PDB team, including our fine cabal of interns, love getting your email, your postcards, and Blackberry messages. We save a bunch of them, and then we fold them into our monthly Ask Me Anything episodes. Now, to listen to the show ad-free, it's simple. Become a premium member of the President's Daily Brief by visiting pdbpremium. Com. Like I said, it couldn't be easier. I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back later today with a PDB Afternoon Bulletin. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool.