Sally Jones, the Most Dangerous ISIS Operative Alive

Sally Jones | Asharq Al-Awsat
Sally Jones | Asharq Al-Awsat
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Sally Jones, the Most Dangerous ISIS Operative Alive

Sally Jones | Asharq Al-Awsat
Sally Jones | Asharq Al-Awsat

British Sally Jones, nicknamed the White Widow, is still alive after news of her death in Syria in 2017 and still poses a major threat to Britain, Birmingham Live website revealed.

The website said on Sunday that she is still alive and fighting, according to an ISIS Canadian militant who was captured by Syrian Democratic Forces.

Mohammed Ali, who uses the alias Abu Turab, suggested Jones was alive and hiding out in Syria’s north-east.

He has been captured for nearly four months now after being arrested Ras al-Ayn city, at the borders between Syria and Turkey.

Reports said the White Widow died following a US airstrike on the convoy she was traveling with from Raqqa in June.

It was reported at the time that her son was also killed in the attack, possibly due to Jones using him as a human shield.

The British site revealed aspects of Jones’ life as one of the most dangerous wanted in the world after joining ISIS in 2013.

Born Sally-Anne Frances Jones in Greenwich, south-east London, she had a troubled upbringing, with her parents divorcing and her father committing via overdose, Birmingham Live said.

Raised a Catholic, she attended Christian youth groups but failed to find a positive path in life, dropping out of school. She became the singer and lead guitarist in an all-girl rock band called Krunch.

Jones’s interests are also thought to have included conspiracy theories, black magic, and witchcraft, according to posts on online forums attributed to her.

She worked as a perfume saleswoman for a global brand before converting to Islam in May 2013 and leaving for Syria the following month.

Before leaving, Jones, 45 then, met her extremist 20-year-old then husband Hussain Junaid, who was a British internet hacker.

Junaid invited her to join him in Raqqa, which was the terror group’s de-facto capital.

She took with her one of her sons, who was 10 years old at the time.

When she arrived in Syria, she began working with her husband, who was killed in a US drone raid later in 2015, in recruiting foreign fighters through social media to threaten Western interests in Europe.

Jones was said to have been in charge of the female wing of the Anwar al-Awlaki battalion, a unit of foreign fighters set up by Hussain.

Hundreds of British women are thought to have been persuaded to join ISIS by the prolific online recruiter.

Following her husband’s death, she was named the White Widow and expressed her pride in his death, adding that she would not love anyone after him.

According to the information provided, Junaid was an electronic expert and leader of the "cyber-caliphate" wing.

The ISIS widow was feared to have slipped back into the UK with two suspected militants after a reported sighting in Birmingham in August 2015.

The hunt later switched to Glasgow, but there was no further information about her whereabouts afterward.



South Korea’s New President Lee Vows to Revive Democracy from ‘Near Demise’

South Korean new President Lee Jae-myung and his wife Kim Hea Kyung leave after attending the presidential inauguration at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (AP)
South Korean new President Lee Jae-myung and his wife Kim Hea Kyung leave after attending the presidential inauguration at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (AP)
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South Korea’s New President Lee Vows to Revive Democracy from ‘Near Demise’

South Korean new President Lee Jae-myung and his wife Kim Hea Kyung leave after attending the presidential inauguration at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (AP)
South Korean new President Lee Jae-myung and his wife Kim Hea Kyung leave after attending the presidential inauguration at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (AP)

South Korea's new liberal President Lee Jae-myung pledged on Wednesday to raise the country from the near destruction caused by a martial law attempt and revive an economy besieged by global protectionism that is threatening its very existence.

Lee's decisive victory in Tuesday's snap election stands to usher in a sea change in Asia's fourth-largest economy, after backlash against a botched attempt at military rule brought down Yoon Suk Yeol just three years into his troubled presidency.

He faces what could be the most daunting set of challenges for a South Korean leader in nearly three decades, ranging from healing a country deeply scarred by the martial law attempt to tackling unpredictable protectionist moves by the United States, a major trading partner and a security ally.

"A Lee Jae-myung government will be a pragmatic pro-market government," he said after taking the oath of office at parliament, a location where six months ago he jumped over the perimeter wall to enter the chamber and avoid martial law troops barricading it to vote down the decree.

He promised deregulation to spur innovation and growth in business and pledged to reopen dialogue with North Korea while maintaining a strong security alliance with the United States and bringing balance to diplomacy.

"It is better to win without fighting than to win in a fight, and peace with no need to fight is the best security," he said on the country's often violent ties with rival North Korea.

Lee was officially confirmed earlier as president by the National Election Commission and immediately assumed the powers of the presidency and commander in chief, speaking with the top military leader to receive a report on defense posture.

With all the ballots counted, Lee won 49.42% of the nearly 35 million votes cast while conservative rival Kim Moon-soo took 41.15% in the polls that brought the highest turnout for a presidential election since 1997, official data showed.

Lee has said he would address urgent economic challenges facing the country on the first day in office with a focus on the cost-of-living concerns affecting middle and low-income families and the struggles of small business owners.

He also faces a deadline set by the White House on negotiating import duties that Washington has blamed for a large trade imbalance between the countries.

South Korean stocks rallied on Wednesday morning, with the benchmark KOSPI rising more than 2% to its highest in 10 months, with the financial sector leading the gain on expectations of market reform by Lee. Renewable energy stocks also rose. Lee has pledged a shift to a greener energy mix.

'DEAL WITH TRUMP'

The government under a caretaker acting president had made little progress in trying to assuage crushing tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump that would hit some of the country's major industries, including autos and steel.

"President Lee will find himself with little to no time to spare before tackling the most important task of his early presidency: reaching a deal with Trump," the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies said.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio congratulated Lee on his election win and said the countries "share an ironclad commitment" to their alliance grounded on shared values, and deep economic ties.

He also said that the countries were "modernizing the Alliance to meet the demands of today’s strategic environment and address new economic challenges."

The White House said the election of Lee was "free and fair" but the United States remained concerned and opposed to Chinese interference and influence in democracies around the world, according to a White House official.

Lee has expressed more conciliatory plans for ties with China and North Korea, in particular singling out the importance of China as a major trading partner while indicating reluctance to take a firm stance on security tensions in the Taiwan strait.

Still, Lee has pledged to continue Yoon's engagement with Japan and said the alliance with the United States is the backbone of South Korea's global diplomacy.