1/ Confirmed: Syria's current interim Minister of Justice, Shadi Al-Wais, appears in 2 videos from 2015 in which he oversees the public executions of two women accused of prostitution.

The face of the lady is blurred when they shoot her in the head.
2/ The person speaking in the 1st video is the current minister of justice. The 1st video is cut before the actual execution takes place. The 2nd execution is shown but blurred. Minister stands in front of a wall saying: Jabhat al Nusra - Tanzeem al Qaeda fi bilad al Sham (Al-Qaeda group in the Levant).

1/ Hundreds protested in Damascus today for a secular state. One of the reasons for the protest was an interview an HTS official gave to a TV on women's rights. Below I’ll translate the interview. It gives clues about the ideas of the new leaders of Syria 2/ AlJadeed is a Lebanese tv channel. The official they interviewed is Obaida Arnaout. He is the spokesman for the HTS led interim government. Main topic of the interview is how the new interim government/HTS views the role of women in the new Syria.

1/ As HTS (supported by Turkey) rapidly advances from the north towards Damascus, more moderate rebel groups (supported by Jordan, US) are already approaching Damascus suburbs from the south. The question is: Are both groups allies or rivals? 2/ HTS is still around Homs, 160 kms from Damascus. In the meantime, rebel groups from the south are already much closer to the capital. They are NOT HTS. They are a mix of rebels from Daraa, Suwayda & Tanf (where 200 US ground troops are stationed).

1/ Developments in Syria going so fast that reports become obsolete moments later.

I've reported from inside Syria since 2011 and I live in the MidEast. So, let me explain in this thread what the implications could be for Syria and wider region in case the Syrian regime falls: 2/ First, let me explain which units are participating in this offensive on the side of anti-Assad forces. Most belong to HTS. which split from Al-Qaeda in 2016. However, since 2018 HTS is designated a foreign terrorist group by the US State Department.

1/ ISIS acted harshly against its enemies. But 400 ISIS docs now show that ISIS also mistreated its own citizens &fighters. Corruption &violence were widespread. Today, @CTCWP releases those 400 docs. I was allowed to preview them. Here my @akhbar story:
2/ The almost 400 ISIS docs are mostly messages of citizens to ISIS officials complaining about other ISIS officials.

Complaints of illegal arrests, beatings, ISIS soldiers committing theft, torture...

Complaints are from 2015 - 2017, when ISIS caliphate consisted of large parts of Syria & Iraq. Many complaints are addressed to the ISIS wali of Raqqah. Some files are from Iraq or Yemen.

1/ On June 16, @CENTCOM conducted airstrike in Syria killing an ISIS official. Btwn all the news from Ukraine & Gaza, it hardly got any attention. Even location of strike wasn't known. That got me interested. For @akhbar I started investigating. Thread.👇
akhb.ar/N79p2 2/ First, I started contacting my sources in Syria. Who heard of an airstrike that killed one man on Sunday 16, the day before Eid? And if yes, where did it happen? And was this indeed the same strike that the Americans conducted?

1/ The last hours of a killed ISIS leader's life looked like a Hollywood movie. Not only did he escape twice, also villagers tell @akhbar US forces killed 2rebels who had nothing to do with ISIS.

My EXCLUSIVE reconstruction of a deadly US raid in NSyria:
tinyurl.com/2t3yccaa 2/ As the story is published in Arabic on the website of my company @akhbar, I will post the main points in English in this thread. Of course, you can also open the Arabic page and use google Translate. tinyurl.com/2t3yccaa

1/ Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate tells @akhbar: “Yes, I regret that I ever said during 1979 Revolution: Long live Khomeini.” Watch my exclusive interview with Dr. Shirin Ebadi on current uprising in Iran. Powerful words. I'll tweet some parts out. 2/ Dr. Ebadi tells me: “We admit that [1979 protests] were a mistake when we see what's happening 2day in Iran. (...) those who were in jail say torture now is worse than during prev regime [of Shah]. Agents of current regime more bloodthirsty & violent.”

1/ Interesting. @akhbar interviewed Omar bin Laden, son of Osama bin Laden. His father took him as a child to Afghanistan. Now he +wife live in Normandy, France. “French landscape helps me to relax,” he says, “I started painting &I'm enjoying it a lot.”

2/ Omar bin Laden explains he paints the mountains of Afghanistan in red & black. “I lived there for almost a year," he says, "Big mountains, tough terrain. Red represents the suffering, pain & blood. Black, the darkness, no electricity, height & depth of the mountains.”

@akhbar

1/ Eight yrs ago ISIS launched a terror campaign against Iraq's Yazidis. Leila was enslaved by ISIS. Today she still lives in a camp. “Most ISIS women live better than me,” she tells me on my show on @akhbar, “Many came back to Iraq & some even to Europe.” 2/ ISIS terror started in August 2014. Leila now is 28 yrs old. She's from Sinjar, heart land of Iraq's Yazidis. She was 20 when ISIS attacked. She was kidnapped by ISIS &enslaved for 5 years. In 2019 she escaped. 10 family members still missing among them her father & brothers.

1/ Guest on my show on @akhbar is French-Syrian singer @MennelOfficial (22). 4yrs ago she was 1st hijabi woman on The Voice in France. This led to huge criticism from conservative Muslims and Islamophobes. She pulled out.

Now she has taken off her veil. 2/ When @MennelOfficial sang in 2018 in The Voice, she wore a veil/turban. Some Muslims criticized her for singing while veiled. Islamophobes criticized her for "appearing as a Muslim on the show".

"I thought people would judge my voice," Mennel tells me.

1/ My show on @akhbar discusses increasing number of Arab women freezing their eggs. Also here in MidEast more women marry later, have careers or can’t find husband on time. But freezing eggs is frowned upon by society. Some women now break the silence. 2/ One guest is Zena from Jordan (top left on screen). She’s 36 &froze her eggs recently. Until now she couldn’t find right husband. She’s worried that when she finds him, her fertility has decreased. She is one of 1st Arab women publicly talking about it.

1/ Ukrainian deputy minister of Agriculture Taras Vysotskiy tells me in interview @akhbar that he fears big amount of Ukrainian grain will go to waste if it's not exported due to Russian blockade. "We don’t need it, if it's not exported it will be wasted." 2/ Ukraine's dep minister explained to me main issue: Ukraine has enough grain to feed own people. Worry is that Ukraine can't export grain to 100 countries due to Russia blocking Ukr ports. This might create food insecurity - not so much in Ukraine but in those 100 countries.

1/ In 1999, million+ Kosovars became refugees. Seeing Ukrainian refugees now brings back memories to Kosovo’s deputy Foreign minister @Kreshnik_A. "It was a genocidal project in Kosovo & we see same kind of war crimes now going on in Ukraine,” he tells me.
2/ With Europe unstable, should Kosovo become immediately member of Nato? I ask @Kreshnik_A: "When Kosova becomes part of Nato it can help regional stability. It's in interest of European stability. Because we have a Russian proxy in our borders: Serbia."

1/ Syrian boss of security company in Odessa has armed 100s of volunteers to join fight against Russian forces. "I came to Ukraine 17 yrs ago, this is my country," Tariq Al Jasim tells me in interview, "All fighters are Ukrainians, there are no Syrians." 2/ A video of Tariq went viral recently claiming that the Syrian businessman has formed a military unit in Odessa. Truth is Tariq owns a security company, (body)guards etc.. When Russian invasion started, he told Ukr army that his men & resources are available to defend Ukraine.

1/ #EXCLUSIVE Through one of my sources in N-Syria, I obtained this exclusive document for @akhbar. It shows the 2 rental contracts of the house where the leader of #ISIS was killed last Thursday by Americans. These contracts contain interesting information. Pls follow my thread: 2/ The 2 rental contracts are interesting:

a/ They show the name of a Syrian ISIS operative who rented the house on his name so he could hide the ISIS chief.

b/ The contracts show the dates in 2021 when the 2 floors in the house were rented, ready for ISIS leader to move in.

#EXCLUSIVE Our source on the ground in Atmeh, #Syria managed to enter the house which was raided by US special forces last night. Blood on the floor, chaos inside, damage clearly visible. Have a look at this @akhbar video 👇👇
Based on info from our sources on the ground in Syria, I prepared this @akhbar map showing exact house which was raided by U.S. forces last night in Atmeh near the Turkish border. It is very close to a HTS checkpoint. Lots of rumors of who was targeted but nothing confirmed yet:

1/ Remember German ISIS woman Omaima Abdi whose phone I found in Syria? Among many pics on phone was this one. I wondered who she was. A German journalist now confirms to me this is ISIS woman Daniela Giese. Giese also from Hamburg &was in Syria. This is 1st pic of her in Syria.

https://twitter.com/akhbar/status/1471187299681456129

2/ The German journalist covered the recent trial against Giese in Hamburg and recognized Giese from the pic. Giese, just like Abdi, joined ISIS in Syria & also returned to Germany. Both women are from Hamburg and the pic of Giese on Abdi's phone suggests the women met in Syria.

1/ This week my guest on my show @akhbar was Sinam Mohamad (@sinam56), representative of Syrian Democratic Council in Washington (political wing SDF). She told me, contrary to what many think, U.S. is actually not against SDF making a deal with Syrian gov. 2/ Exact quote by @sinam56: "What we are now interested in is to reach solutions in Syria. We heard from US administration that they aren't against us having dialogue with Syria government. What we also always say: We need a solution from Syrian to Syrian"

١/ كنت سعيدة جدًا لأن @clarissaward من قناة CNN كانت ضيفتي هذا الأسبوع على شاشة @akhbar.

تحدثنا نصف ساعة عن تغطيتها المميزة من الميدان عند دخول طالبان #كابول والسيطرة عليها. سألتها عن أخطر ما واجهته خلال تلك الرحلة:

٢/ أخبرتني @clarissaward أنها كانت بالصدفة في كابول عندما سيطرت طالبان فجأة على البلاد. غادر العديد من الصحفيين أفغانستان أو انسحبوا إلى المطار لكن كلاريسا بقيت وسط كابول تقدم تقاريرها بشجاعة.

تحدثت معها عن وضع المرأة الأفغانية وتعليم الفتيات:

1/ I was so pleased that CNN's @clarissaward was my guest this week on my show @akhbar. We spoke half hour about her amazing reporting from #Kabul, Afghanistan during recent Taliban takeover. I asked her what the most dangerous moment was during that trip. 2/ CNN's @clarissaward told me she was coincidentally in Kabul when sudden Taliban takeover happened. Many journos left or pulled back to airport but she bravely reported from streets as Talibs took over. However, situation for women now very difficult.