January 3rd, 2025: What We Know About The New Orleans Terrorist & Inside Israel's Covert Raid On Iran's Underground Missile Factory

It's Friday, 3 January. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. We'll begin with an update on the ISIS-inspired terror attack in New Orleans as details emerge regarding the background and potential motivations of the U.S. Army veteran turned terrorist who killed 14 and injured more than 30 in the New Year's Day rampage.

Later in the show, Russia's last major gas pipeline to Europe has been officially shut down, marking an end to Moscow's decades-long energy dominance over the continent.

executed a daring covert raid in Syria back in September that destroyed an underground missile factory funded by, can you guess by whom? Well, yes, you'd be right if you said the Iranian regime. And in today's back of the brief, three terrorists who helped orchestrate the 9-11 attacks

may avoid the death penalty. Yeah, after a military appeals court ruled the defense secretary Lloyd Austin could not rescind controversial plea deals that were made over the summer. But first, today's PDB Spotlight.

As the nation reels from the deadly ISIS-inspired terrorist attack on New Year's Day in New Orleans, we're beginning to learn more about the former Army veteran turned Islamic terrorist. The attacker, identified as 42-year-old Shamsud Dinjabar, killed 14 and injured 35 others on Wednesday morning after plowing a rented pickup truck, flying an ISIS flag, through a crowd of New Year's revelers on New Orleans' crowded Bourbon Street.

He subsequently engaged in a shootout with police, injuring two officers before being killed. Jabbar had also planted two improvised explosive vices in coolers in the Bourbon Street area that were later neutralized by authorities. The FBI said Thursday that Jabbar had been radicalized, though it's not clear when, and he'd posted five videos to social media in the hours before the attack, in which he, quote, pledged allegiance to ISIS.

In the videos, apparently addressed to his family and recorded while he was driving, he claimed to have officially joined the Islamic State sometime before last summer. That's according to a report from the New York Times.

As of Thursday, FBI investigators were still working to determine the specific motivations behind his attack. In one video, he said he originally planned to gather his family for a, quote, celebration with the intention of killing them, but later changed his mind. He apparently wanted to orchestrate a larger attack that would provoke media coverage of the, quote, war between the believers and the disbelievers, end quote.

Jabbar served in the Army for eight years between 2007 and 2015 in human resources and information technology roles. He was deployed to Afghanistan from February 2009 to January 2010, and he continued as an IT specialist in the Army Reserves from 2015 to 2020 before being honorably discharged with the rank of staff sergeant.

He has said to have had a difficult time adjusting to life outside the military. He became a realtor in the Houston area after leaving the service and later worked in business development and data engineering roles at the consulting firm's Deloitte and Accenture.

According to his family, there were apparently few signs that Jabbar was nurturing extremist beliefs or that he was capable of violence. Relatives and friends described him to the New York Times as a caring brother and a helpful neighbor. His 24-year-old half-brother said that he was in a state of shock over his actions.

But they were also apparently mounting red flags about growing instability in his personal life. Jabbar had become increasingly isolated in recent years following multiple divorces that led to growing financial difficulties. According to a report from the New York Post, Jabbar's first wife sued him for child support payments in 2012. His second wife took out a restraining order against him in 2020.

And after their divorce in 2022, he racked up more than $16,000 in credit card debt, paying court fees and expenses related to a second home. He reportedly lost more money, some $28,000, in real estate ventures the previous year.

The husband of his first wife, who said they're cooperating with investigators, told The New York Times that Jabbar recently began acting erratically, saying he was, quote, being all crazy, cutting his hair, following a conversion to Islam. He added that he and his wife stopped allowing the two teenage daughters she shared with Jabbar from spending time with him due to his increasingly bizarre behavior.

Roughly a year ago, Jabar began renting a home at a trailer park in a Muslim immigrant neighborhood north of Houston, where sheep could be seen roaming in his yard on Wednesday.

Neighbors appeared to know very little about Jabbar, with one describing him to the New York Post as a, quote, simple man that mostly kept to himself. Investigators swarmed the property on Wednesday, where they reportedly found videos Jabbar made referencing the Quran, Islam's holy text. Jabbar was seen at the property on December 30th, loading up the rented Ford 150 lightning electric truck

that he used in the attack. He departed Houston on the morning of December 31, telling a neighbor that he was moving to New Orleans for a new job. While the FBI had originally said on Wednesday that they suspected Jabbar had accomplices, officials said Thursday that they were now confident he acted alone.

Christopher Raya, deputy assistant director in the FBI's counter-terrorism division, said the investigation remains ongoing and that they're working to track down every possible lead. Officials told congressional lawmakers Thursday that Jabar was not a not on a terror watch list prior to the rampage. Raya said, quote, let me be very clear about this point. This was an act of terrorism. It was premeditated and an evil act end quote. All right.

Coming up next, Russia's last major gas pipeline to Europe has been officially shut down, dealing a major financial blow to the Putin regime. Plus, Israel has revealed that more than 100 members of their special forces executed a daring covert raid in Syria back in September that destroyed an underground missile factory, funded and operated in part by the Iranian regime. I'll have those stories when we come back.

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Turning to Ukraine, Russia's last major gas pipeline to Europe was officially shut down on New Year's Day, marking an historic end to decades of Moscow's dominance over Europe's energy markets. The closure was expected for months, following Ukraine's refusal to renew a five-year transit agreement by 31 December with Gazprom, the Russian state-owned gas giant.

The pipeline, a relic of Soviet era engineering, once stood as a vital artery for Siberian gas making its way into Europe. Over the years, the pipeline weathered multiple geopolitical storms, including Russia's annexation of Crimea and the grinding nearly three-year-long war, of course, in Ukraine.

Its route passes through Sajah, in Russia's Kursk region, which is now under Ukrainian military control. Ukrainian President Zelensky celebrated the moment on Telegram Wednesday, stating, quote, today the transit of Russian gas is zero. This is one of Moscow's biggest defeats, end quote, emphasizing the critical role of strengthening partnerships with Western allies to secure Europe's energy future.

For European consumers, the immediate fallout appears to be, well, minimal thanks to an aggressive pivot by the EU toward diversifying its energy sources over the past two years. In 2021, Russian gas accounted for a staggering 40 percent of the EU's supply. By the end of 2023, that figure had dropped below 15 percent by sourcing gas from the United States, Qatar, and Norway.

A European Commission spokesperson stated, quote, the European gas infrastructure is flexible enough to provide gas of non-Russian origin, end quote, citing, of course, the block's new liquefied natural gas import capacities. Still, not all member states have fully disentangled themselves from Russian energy.

Hungary and Slovakia remain deeply tethered with Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Slovakia leader Robert Fizzo emerging as vocal critics, oddly enough of Ukraine's decision to halt transit. Fizzo, in a pointed New Year's address, warned of quote, radical consequences for the EU, aligning his rhetoric

with previous threats to cut electricity supplies to Ukraine, which is, of course, reeling from widespread power outages caused by relentless Russian missile strikes on energy infrastructure. Despite Europe's progress, the shutdown has financial and strategic consequences. For Ukraine, well, it's the cessation of transit fees, which was once a billion-dollar annual revenue stream, and that will leave, of course, a significant fiscal void.

To mitigate losses, Kyiv announced on Wednesday a four-fold hike in domestic gas transmission tariffs. That's a move projected to cost Ukrainian industries approximately $38 million a year. From Moscow, the pipeline's closure represents a much deeper wound.

Analysts estimate the pipeline's closure could slash Russia's annual gas revenue by $6.5 billion, exasperating the financial strain from Western sanctions and its protracted conflict in Ukraine. The loss not only cripples a key economic lifeline that once generated billions, but diminishes Russia's leverage over Europe's energy security. That's a geopolitical tool that Moscow has wielded for decades.

Okay, shifting to the Middle East. The Israeli Defense Forces, the IDF, in a rare admission, confirmed a daring September operation deep into Syria to dismantle an Iranian-funded underground missile factory. Situated in the Mossyov area near Syria's Mediterranean coast, the facility was a cornerstone of Iran's efforts to arm Hezbollah and other regional proxies with precision-guided munitions.

According to an IDF statement released on Thursday, the factory was embedded within a mountain and boasted advanced assembly lines capable of producing hundreds of missiles and long-range rockets annually. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, oversaw operations, relying heavily on components supplied directly from Tehran.

The operation involving over 120 elite Special Forces Commandos was supported by air and naval assets. The troops seized critical machinery and documents which have since been transported to Israel for analysis. Military footage released on Thursday depicts soldiers dismantling the facility during a cacophony of gunfire. When was the last time you heard somebody use the word cacophony before safely returning to Israeli territory?

While Israeli officials have not confirmed casualty figures, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 27 fatalities from the operation. According to AFP, airstrikes preceding the ground operation targeted a scientific research center in the area, further underscoring Israel's resolve to prevent advanced weaponry from falling into hostile hands.

Military Chief Herzi Halavi, who oversaw the operation, contextualized the raid within Israel's ongoing efforts to cripple Iran's missile production network across the Middle East. Halavi stated, quote, for years, Iran formed a ring of rocket and missile fire around Israel's borders, and we have struck both the ring and its head, citing previous raids in Gaza and South Beirut.

Prime Minister Netanyahu lauded the mission as a critical blow to the Iranian Axis. In a statement posted on X, Netanyahu emphasized Israel's readiness to act decisively to safeguard its security, calling the raid a testament to the IDF's, quote, determination and audacity to act anywhere to protect ourselves, end quote.

Netanyahu's statement was echoed by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Tsar, who emphasized Israel's commitment to preemptive defense, declaring, quote,

All right. Coming up in the back of the brief, three terrorists who helped orchestrate the 9-11 attacks may now avoid the death penalty after a military appeals court issued its latest ruling. I'll be right back.

in today's back of the brief. A U.S. military appeals court has ruled that controversial plea deals that were struck earlier this year with the mastermind of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and two of his accomplices can proceed.

The court rebuked U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in their ruling earlier this week, saying he acted improperly when he intervened in the cases and rescinded the agreements back in early August. Really. The plea agreements involve Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused planner of the 9-11 attacks, as well as Walid bin Attach and Mustafa al-Hausawi.

according to a report from the New York Post. The deals allow the three terrorists to plead guilty to the attacks in exchange for prosecutors taking the death penalty off the table.

They'd avoid full trials and instead be sentenced to life in prison over the attacks, which of course killed nearly 3,000 people, and were the deadliest on US soil since Pearl Harbor. It's been a whiplash-inducing ordeal for the families of 9-11 victims who heavily lobbied against the plea deals when they were first revealed on July 31st.

Defense Secretary Austin said at the time that the plea deals caught him by surprise, and that he was not consulted because illegal proceedings were a, quote, independent process. He rescinded those deals on August 2, following a significant public outcry.

But in November, a U.S. military judge ruled that Austin had acted too late in revoking the plea agreements as the pre-trial process had already gotten underway. The order this week from the U.S. military appeals court upheld that ruling

But the process is not over yet. As the Pentagon reviews their options, they filed a request on Tuesday asking the military commission to pause the matter until 27 January, including any submission of pleas under the deal.

Still, the court's decision came as a blow, as you can imagine, to the victim's families, who have been patiently holding out hope for more than two decades now that the 9-11 plotters would eventually face justice. As a reminder, all three terrorists have been held at the Guantanamo Bay military prison since 2003.

Jim McCaffrey, a retired FDNY lieutenant whose brother-in-law died in the attacks, told the post, quote, this plea deal is atrocious. It's salt added to the wound. If anybody deserves a death penalty, these terrorists do. They should have been executed years ago, end quote. Well, he's not wrong.

All right. And that, my friends, is the President's Daily Brief for Friday, 3 January. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdb at thefirsttv.com. And, of course, as you found out when waking up this morning, it's Friday. And if it is Friday, which, of course, it is, well, that means another episode of our acclaimed, or maybe possibly soon to be acclaimed, weekend show, the PDB Situation Report is about to hit the airwaves.

every Friday night at 10 p.m. on the first TV. And of course, episodes are also available on our YouTube channel. Our much loved YouTube channel might I point out at President's Daily Brief, as well as all podcast platforms. Now, this week's guests on the Situation Report include retired FBI senior agent Kurt Piper and the always insightful China expert Gordon Chang.

I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back later today with the PDB afternoon bulletin. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.