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Tahrir al-Sham Arrests of Qaeda Leaders Cranks up Zawahiri- Julani Dispute

Al Qaeda’s leader Ayman al-Zawahiri (to the right) and the military commander of the terror group’s ex-offshoot in Syria Abu Mohammad al-Julani (to the left). PHOTO: Asharq Al-Awsat
Al Qaeda’s leader Ayman al-Zawahiri (to the right) and the military commander of the terror group’s ex-offshoot in Syria Abu Mohammad al-Julani (to the left). PHOTO: Asharq Al-Awsat
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Tahrir al-Sham Arrests of Qaeda Leaders Cranks up Zawahiri- Julani Dispute

Al Qaeda’s leader Ayman al-Zawahiri (to the right) and the military commander of the terror group’s ex-offshoot in Syria Abu Mohammad al-Julani (to the left). PHOTO: Asharq Al-Awsat
Al Qaeda’s leader Ayman al-Zawahiri (to the right) and the military commander of the terror group’s ex-offshoot in Syria Abu Mohammad al-Julani (to the left). PHOTO: Asharq Al-Awsat

Conflict ruptured between Al Qaeda’s leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and the military commander of the terror group’s ex-offshoot in Syria Abu Mohammad al-Julani, after Julani led a wide campaign of arrests against Qaeda big shots near Afghan-Pakistani borders.

Zawahiri said in an audiotape broadcast on Tuesday night that he did not authorize Julani’s break from Qaeda.

In the 35-minute audio message, Zawahiri categorically rejected the rebranding and said that Jabaht Al Nusra had betrayed the oath of allegiance (bayat) it owed as the branch of his organization in Syria. Al Nusra Front, according to him, did not consult the organization’s leadership when it made the decision to formally disengage from Qaeda.

Tahrir al-Sham group was formed in summer 2016 as a merger between Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (formerly al-Nusra Front), the Ansar al-Din Front, Jaysh al-Sunna, Liwa al-Haqq, and the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement.

Zawahiri and Julani’s fight came into public spotlight after Jabhat Fateh al-Sham launched a large-scale arrest campaign on Monday.

Qaeda figures in Idlib, leaders and immigrants were among those taken away.

It is reported that the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham arrested the two most important figures on the wanted list, the former legitimate official in Al-Nusra Front Sami al-Aridi, and the former leader in Jabhat Fateh al-Sham Iyad al-Tubasi.

Zawahiri’s remarks showed grave discontent, as he said that Syrians had no right to ask militiamen to leave the country since the jihad in Syria was a matter pertaining to the global Muslim community.

His public statement signals that the schism reached a point of no return. Increasingly, the tension between the two rose.

On another hand, dozens of mortar bombs landed on the last major rebel stronghold near the Syrian capital Damascus on Wednesday, a war monitor and a witness said on Wednesday, despite a 48-hour truce proposed by Russia to coincide with the start of peace talks in Geneva.

After a relatively calm morning, shelling picked up later in the day, accompanied by ground attempts to storm the besieged enclave, a witness in the Eastern Ghouta area told Reuters.

The Syrian army stepped up bombardment two weeks ago in an effort to recapture Eastern Ghouta, a rebel-held pocket of densely populated agricultural land on the outskirts of the capital under siege since 2012.

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World

Trump's New Press Secretary Admits Failing Bar Exam

President Donald Trump speaks to the reporters as he walks to board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, in Washington, as White House press secretary Katie Zacharia looks on. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump speaks to the reporters as he walks to board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, in Washington, as White House press secretary Katie Zacharia looks on. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
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Trump's New Press Secretary Admits Failing Bar Exam

President Donald Trump speaks to the reporters as he walks to board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, in Washington, as White House press secretary Katie Zacharia looks on. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump speaks to the reporters as he walks to board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, in Washington, as White House press secretary Katie Zacharia looks on. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

New White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia acknowledged on Thursday that she had failed the bar exam, a prerequisite for practicing law in the United States, as her credentials face scrutiny.

Zacharia has described herself as a lawyer during television appearances and on social media, and listed herself as general counsel of a California-based conservative nonprofit.

But the legal credentials of the press secretary, who President Donald Trump appointed last week, were called into question after she gave an inconclusive answer about where she had passed the bar exam.

The 41-year-old graduated from Pepperdine University's law school in 2011, but obtaining a law degree does not automatically qualify someone to practice law.

In a Fox News interview on Thursday, host Sean Hannity asked Zacharia: "You took the bar exam, but you didn't pass the bar exam, correct?"

"Yes," she responded.

In a separate interview with conservative media outlet Real America's Voice on Thursday, Zacharia said she had registered to take the bar exam but was "distracted and overwhelmed" by plans to move to China with her husband.

"The results are somewhat inconsequential because I knew I wouldn't need the bar in China," AFP quoted her as saying.

Foreign nationals cannot sit China's bar exam, although they can undertake certain legal work at Chinese law firms.

Hannity later asked Zacharia if she had ever taken the bar exam a second time, to which she said: "I did not."

"I had four kids in six years," she said. "It was never my intent to go into the practice of law."

Zacharia said on Real America's Voice that "many people in the field" had assured her that she could "label myself a lawyer," given her law degree and experience in business law gained in China, where she worked at a Beijing law firm.

She added that she could "provide legal analysis, not legal advice."

"I was very careful how I executed this."

The Campaign for Accountability, a political ethics organization, called on Wednesday for the California Bar Association to launch an investigation.

"In California, calling yourself a lawyer without a license isn't puffery; it's a crime," the organization said in a press release.

Zacharia held her first White House press briefing on Tuesday with an unusually short press conference, answering questions from only three journalists.

She succeeded Karoline Leavitt, a loyal Trump supporter and often combative press secretary, who stepped down in August to care for her young children.

World

Teen Sentenced to 20 Years for UK Murder Plot Tied to Iran-linked Group

A red double-decker bus rides past as a Union Jack flag flutters on the Victoria Tower at the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain, October 15, 2026. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes
A red double-decker bus rides past as a Union Jack flag flutters on the Victoria Tower at the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain, October 15, 2026. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes
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Teen Sentenced to 20 Years for UK Murder Plot Tied to Iran-linked Group

A red double-decker bus rides past as a Union Jack flag flutters on the Victoria Tower at the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain, October 15, 2026. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes
A red double-decker bus rides past as a Union Jack flag flutters on the Victoria Tower at the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain, October 15, 2026. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes

A Norwegian teenager who planned to commit murder in Britain after being recruited by a Swedish organized crime group linked to the Iranian government was on Friday sentenced to 20 years' detention.

Johannes Natland, now 19, was arrested in a hotel room in Huddersfield, northern England, in March ⁠2025 with two ⁠firearms and ammunition in his possession.

Natland was recruited by the Foxtrot Network, a Swedish organized crime group used by the Iranian state and sanctioned by ⁠both Britain and the United States, prosecutors said.

He admitted possessing a semi-automatic pistol, a revolver and ammunition, but denied conspiracy to murder and claimed he did not intend to carry out the plan.

But he was convicted in July after a retrial ⁠and ⁠was sentenced at London's Woolwich Crown Court to detention for 20 years.

Natland was the latest young adult to stand trial in Britain and elsewhere over serious criminal acts allegedly carried out after being recruited online for money, often as an unwitting proxy for a foreign state.

World

UN: Millions May Be Forced to Move as Climate Change Hits South Asia

International Organization for Migration (IOM) chief Amy Pope, seen here in 2023, warned of a lack of urgency globally about the risks that vulnerable communities are facing. Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP
International Organization for Migration (IOM) chief Amy Pope, seen here in 2023, warned of a lack of urgency globally about the risks that vulnerable communities are facing. Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP
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UN: Millions May Be Forced to Move as Climate Change Hits South Asia

International Organization for Migration (IOM) chief Amy Pope, seen here in 2023, warned of a lack of urgency globally about the risks that vulnerable communities are facing. Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP
International Organization for Migration (IOM) chief Amy Pope, seen here in 2023, warned of a lack of urgency globally about the risks that vulnerable communities are facing. Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP

Climate change is threatening livelihoods and forcing people from their homes across South Asia, but technology and government action could help limit the damage, the UN migration chief told AFP on Friday.

Rising seas, flooding and drought threaten homes and farmland, Amy Pope, Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said during a visit to New Delhi.

In the Himalayas, she pointed to Nepal's August 26 disaster, when a mountain and glacier collapse triggered deadly flooding, where IOM sent humanitarian aid to help.

In a worst-case scenario, up to 40.5 million people in South Asia may be forced to move by 2050, according to IOM.

"When they can't produce food, when they can't feed their livestock, it increases the likelihood of displacement," said Pope. "The first adaptation is often for people to move."

Pope said climate change was also accelerating urbanization in India.

"As people seek shelter from heat, they're going into urban centers," she said.

- 'Migration as a tool' -

The risks are particularly acute in South Asia, where vast populations and limited resources leave many communities vulnerable.

"There's a lack of urgency globally about the risks that vulnerable communities are facing," Pope said, warning that funding to help residents prepare for climate change remained inadequate.

"The cost of a humanitarian disaster is in the billions. The cost of investing in some of the resilience measures can be far less," she said.

Better data and artificial intelligence could help governments identify communities at risk before disaster strikes, Pope said.

"With the advancements in AI forecasting, you can now better anticipate those communities that are at high risk of displacement," Pope said.

By combining weather forecasts with information about local livelihoods, authorities can identify which communities most need help.

"If you know a community is at risk, we don't need to wait until they're displaced to respond," she said.

Measures could include improving farming methods, training people for other jobs and, where necessary, relocating communities repeatedly hit by floods or drought.

Finding the money for such programs is a major obstacle, Pope said, with governments often struggling to navigate the systems available to fund climate adaptation.

India's investments in early-warning systems, disaster response and technology offer grounds for optimism, she said. But no government can meet the scale of the challenge alone.

International migration can also help people earn a living while filling labor shortages abroad.

South Asia already has established migration routes, offering opportunities to build on existing links.

"Here we have government partners who recognize both the threats to their communities but they're also using migration as a tool for development," Pope said.

She warned that growing demand for workers must be matched by safe, legal routes to employment.

Otherwise, migrants risk exploitation by traffickers and smugglers, including through fraudulent overseas job offers.

India's technological capacity could also help its workers compete internationally as artificial intelligence reshapes employment, Pope said.

AI could threaten some jobs, particularly those involving routine analysis of documents and reports, but other sectors still rely heavily on human labor.

"If we can marry that capacity with the labor mobility, so that the workers are being skilled for those jobs as they're emerging, they will be ahead," Pope said.

"This is a place where I have more optimism than in places where we're dealing with the most acute crises," she said.