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Arab World

Moscow Warns of Next ISIS

Al-Nusra Front leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani meeting with several group commanders ahead of the Aleppo battles last year. AP photo
Al-Nusra Front leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani meeting with several group commanders ahead of the Aleppo battles last year. AP photo
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Moscow Warns of Next ISIS

Al-Nusra Front leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani meeting with several group commanders ahead of the Aleppo battles last year. AP photo
Al-Nusra Front leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani meeting with several group commanders ahead of the Aleppo battles last year. AP photo

Head of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) Alexander Bortnikov warned on Wednesday that ISIS will try to regroup and form a new “global terrorist network” after it is defeated in Syria and Iraq.

Speaking in the Russian city of Krasnodar at a summit of 74 law enforcement agencies, Bortnikov said that terrorists are “deliberately” going beyond the Middle East to establish “hotbeds of tension and armed conflict” in unstable areas.

His remarks came as Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed confidence in the ability to eliminate terrorist organizations in Syria.

"I am confident that we will finally complete joint work to defeat terrorist groups (ISIS and al-Nusra Front) in Syria,” Putin said at a plenary meeting of the Russian Energy Week forum held in Moscow.

Also Wednesday, Russian defense ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Russian forces had killed 12 field commanders of al-Nusra Front in an air strike in Syria, adding the group's top leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani had lost an arm and was in a "critical condition.'

As a result of the strike, “Jolani received multiple serious shrapnel wounds, lost an arm and is in a critical condition, according to several independent sources," Konashenkov said in a statement.

He said 12 field commanders including al-Jolani's security chief were also killed along with some 50 guards.

More than 10 militants received moderate and serious blast injuries, Konashenkov stated, adding that Su-34 and Su-35 jets were used to target the fighters.

The Moscow-led forces were able to hunt down the group using data obtained by Russian military intelligence on Tuesday and struck just when the militants convened for a meeting.

Since 2017, al-Nusra dominates a coalition of militant factions called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). 

Despite Moscow’s claims, HTS denied Jolani had been injured, saying he was carrying out his duties as normal, in a statement posted on Telegram.

Konashenkov said the strike on al-Nusra was the result of a special operation to avenge an attack on Russian military police in Syria on September 18.

In a related matter, the defense ministry spokesman accused the United States of hindering the elimination of ISIS.

"The main thing preventing the final defeat of (ISIS) in Syria is not the terrorists' military capability but the support and pandering to them by our American colleagues," he said.

He added that a series of attacks launched by ISIS militants on Syrian regime forces came from an area around al-Tanf near the border with Jordan where a US mission is located.

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Arab World

Under Israeli Cover, Gaza Gangs Kill and Abduct Palestinians in Hamas-Controlled Areas 

A group of women wait for news as Palestinian civil defense teams work to recover the remains of 67 members of the Abu Nasr family from beneath the rubble of their home after it was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Beit Lahiya, north of Gaza City, 15 February 2026. (EPA)
A group of women wait for news as Palestinian civil defense teams work to recover the remains of 67 members of the Abu Nasr family from beneath the rubble of their home after it was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Beit Lahiya, north of Gaza City, 15 February 2026. (EPA)
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Under Israeli Cover, Gaza Gangs Kill and Abduct Palestinians in Hamas-Controlled Areas 

A group of women wait for news as Palestinian civil defense teams work to recover the remains of 67 members of the Abu Nasr family from beneath the rubble of their home after it was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Beit Lahiya, north of Gaza City, 15 February 2026. (EPA)
A group of women wait for news as Palestinian civil defense teams work to recover the remains of 67 members of the Abu Nasr family from beneath the rubble of their home after it was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Beit Lahiya, north of Gaza City, 15 February 2026. (EPA)

Amid heavy Israeli airstrikes across Gaza, armed gangs carried out kidnappings and executions of Palestinians on Monday in areas controlled by Hamas, west of the so-called “yellow line” separating Israeli forces from the Palestinian movement.

According to local sources, Sunday’s strikes against Hamas and other armed factions deployed along the separating line resulted in security breaches that allowed armed gangs operating in Israeli-controlled zones to infiltrate areas west of the yellow line.

In response, Palestinian factions expanded their deployment, under what they termed “Operation Ribat”, to prevent the infiltration of collaborators with Israel into their areas. However, the Israeli strikes hit those fighters, killing several.

Before dawn on Monday, gunmen affiliated with the Rami Helles gang, which is active in eastern Gaza City, raided homes on the western outskirts of the Shujaiya neighborhood, just meters from Salah al-Din Road and more than 150 meters from the yellow line.

Field sources and affected families told Asharq Al-Awsat that the gunmen abducted several residents from their homes and interrogated them on the spot amid intense Israeli drone activity. Quad-copter drones were reportedly providing “security cover” for the attackers and opening fire in the surrounding area.

The sources said the gunmen shot and killed Hussam al-Jaabari, 31, after he refused to answer their questions. His body was left at the scene before the attackers withdrew, releasing others who had been detained. Al-Jaabari was later pronounced dead at Al-Maamadani (Al-Ahli Arab) Hospital.

In a separate incident, gunmen linked to the Ashraf al-Mansi gang, which is active in Jabalia and Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, stormed Abu Tammam School in Beit Lahiya that shelters dozens of displaced families, also under Israeli drone surveillance.

Several young men were abducted and taken to a gang-controlled location, and they haven’t been heard of since. Three families of women and children were briefly detained and later released.

Sources in the Palestinian armed factions denied that any of the abducted individuals or the victim of the killing were members of their groups.

Meanwhile, Hamas’ Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades froze deployments near the yellow line after Israeli airstrikes killed 10 of its members in two raids in Khan Younis and Jabalia on Sunday.

A Hamas source said the move was temporary and could be reversed once Israeli strikes subside.

Israel said it targeted Qassam fighters after gunmen emerged from a tunnel in Beit Hanoun, a claim it has used to justify strikes on faction targets and the assassination of senior operatives.

On Monday, the army announced it had killed a group of gunmen in Rafah, raising fears of further escalation.

Separately, dozens of families of missing Palestinians held a protest in Khan Younis, demanding information about relatives who disappeared during the war. UN estimates put the number of missing in Gaza at between 8,000 and 11,000, with their fate still unknown.

Arab World

Lawyers in Sanaa Under Houthi Repression

Part of previous consultative meetings for Yemeni lawyers in Sanaa (Facebook)
Part of previous consultative meetings for Yemeni lawyers in Sanaa (Facebook)
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Lawyers in Sanaa Under Houthi Repression

Part of previous consultative meetings for Yemeni lawyers in Sanaa (Facebook)
Part of previous consultative meetings for Yemeni lawyers in Sanaa (Facebook)

In areas controlled by the Houthi group in Yemen, there is an increasing number of violations targeting lawyers, raising widespread concerns about the future of justice and the rule of law.

Recent reports from local human rights organizations have revealed a recurring pattern of systematic restrictions on the practice of law profession, including arbitrary arrests, prolonged detentions, and direct threats.

The legal environment in Sanaa and other Houthi-controlled cities no longer provides professional environment for lawyers who themselves are now subject to questioning or targeted for defending their clients, especially in cases of a political or human rights nature.

Observers believe that this reality not only affects lawyers but also threatens the foundation of the judicial system as a whole.

Widespread Violations

The Daoo Yemen Rights and Development organization documented in its report more than 382 Houthi violations against lawyers in Sanaa from January 2023 to December 2025.

These included arbitrary arrests, prolonged detention without legal justification, threats of murder and assault, prevention from practicing the profession, and restrictions on the right to defense in cases of a political or human rights nature.

The report monitored more than 159 Houthi violations against lawyers during 2025, compared to 135 violations in 2023, and 88 violations in 2024, describing this targeting as a “systematic pattern” that affects human rights defenders and undermines what remains of the justice system and the rule of law.

Human Rights Calls

Calls from local and international human rights organizations have escalated for urgent steps to be taken to protect lawyers and ensure the independence of their profession, stressing the need to release lawyers detained for their professional activities and to stop all forms of intimidation or restrictions targeting them.

Human rights activists believe that protecting lawyers is a prerequisite for maintaining any future reform or political path because the absence of an independent defense means the absence of justice itself.

Arab World

Australia Won’t Repatriate 34 Women and Children from Syria 

Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stands outside the entrance to his office at Parliament House in Canberra on February 11, 2026. (AFP)
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stands outside the entrance to his office at Parliament House in Canberra on February 11, 2026. (AFP)
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Australia Won’t Repatriate 34 Women and Children from Syria 

Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stands outside the entrance to his office at Parliament House in Canberra on February 11, 2026. (AFP)
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stands outside the entrance to his office at Parliament House in Canberra on February 11, 2026. (AFP)

The Australian government will not repatriate from Syria a group of 34 women and children with alleged ties to the ISIS group, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Tuesday.

The women and children from 11 families were supposed to fly from the Syrian capital Damascus to Australia but Syrian authorities on Monday turned them back to Roj camp in northeast Syria because of procedural problems, officials said.

Only two groups of Australians have been repatriated with government help from Syrian camps since the fall of the ISIS group in 2019. Other Australians have also returned without government assistance.

Albanese would not comment on a report that the latest women and children had Australian passports.

“We’re providing absolutely no support and we are not repatriating people,” Albanese told Australian Broadcasting Corp. in Melbourne.

“We have no sympathy, frankly, for people who traveled overseas in order to participate in what was an attempt to establish a ‘caliphate’ to undermine, destroy, our way of life. And so, as my mother would say, ‘You make your bed, you lie in it,’” Albanese added.

Albanese noted that the child welfare-focused international charity Save the Children had failed to establish in Australia’s courts that the Australian government had a responsibility to repatriate citizens from Syrian camps.

After the federal court ruled in the government's favor in 2024, Save the Children Australia chief executive Mat Tinkler argued the government had a moral, if not legal, obligation to repatriate families.

Albanese said if the latest group made their way to Australia without government help, they could be charged.

It was an offense under Australian law to travel to the former ISIS stronghold of al-Raqqa province without a legitimate reason from 2014 to 2017. The maximum penalty was 10 years in prison.

“It’s unfortunate that children are impacted by this as well, but we are not providing any support. And if anyone does manage to find their way back to Australia, then they’ll face the full force of the law, if any laws have been broken,” Albanese added.

The last group of Australians to be repatriated from Syrian camps arrived in Sydney in October 2022.

They were four mothers, former partners of ISIS supporters, and 13 children.

Australian officials had assessed the group as the most vulnerable among 60 Australian women and children held in Roj camp, the government said at the time.

Eight offspring of two slain Australian ISIS fighters were repatriated from Syria in 2019 by the conservative government that preceded Albanese’s center-left Labor Party administration.

The issue of ISIS supporters resurfaced in Australia after the killings of 15 people at a Jewish festival at Bondi Beach on Dec. 14. The attackers were allegedly inspired by ISIS.