Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri's death confirmed through 'multiple sources' and no DNA proof needed, US says - Sky News

The US has no DNA confirmation of the death of al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul - but has verified his identity through "multiple" other sources, the White House has said.

Al-Zawahiri, one of the masterminds of the 9/11 attacks, was killed in a US drone strike on a home in the Afghan capital where he had been hiding out with his family.

The Egyptian terror leader was standing on the balcony of a safehouse on Sunday morning when he was attacked by two hellfire missiles.

It was the home of a top aide to senior Taliban leader Sirajuddin Haqqani, according to a unnamed senior US intelligence official.

National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, John Kirby, said US officials did not have DNA confirmation of his death but added: "Quite frankly, based on multiple sources and methods that we've gathered information from, we don't need it."

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He told a White House news conference that US authorities had "visual evidence and evidence collected through other means" that "led us to the certainty before that this was the guy, and that led us to the conclusion after, with a high degree of confidence, that he was no more".

Read more: From middle-class doctor to the world's most wanted - who was Ayman al-Zawahiri?

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Mr Kirby said the US assessment of "high confidence" included going on "what people on the ground did afterwards".

The US has said the Taliban "grossly" violated the 2020 Doha Agreement, on the terms of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, by hosting and sheltering al-Zawahiri.

Image: Joe Biden met with his national security team to discuss the operation on 1 July. Pic: White House

Mr Kirby told reporters the missile strike proved that Afghanistan "isn't a safe haven" for terrorists and "isn't going to be going forward".

He added that the US knows that are still some "core" al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan but the number "is not very large".

A report by monitors said the Taliban and al Qaeda remain close and that AQ fighters, estimated at 180-400, are represented "at the individual level" among Taliban combat units.

US President Joe Biden announced the death from the balcony of the White House Blue Room, saying "justice has been delivered".

"This terrorist leader is no more," Mr Biden added, before expressing his hope the killing brings "one more measure of closure" to families of the nearly 3,000 people who died in the attacks on 11 September 2001.

The president added that Afghanistan will "never again become a terrorist safe haven" after the strike was carried out nearly a year after US troops withdrew from the country.

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Biden: 'This terrorist leader is no more'

Mr Biden said none of the 71-year-old's family members were injured and there were no civilian casualties.

The FBI had been offering $25m (£20m) for "information leading to the apprehension or conviction" of the terror leader, whose death is the biggest blow to al Qaeda since its founder Osama bin Laden was killed by US special forces in 2011.

The operation to kill al-Zawahiri was many months in the planning, according to a senior US administration official.

Mr Biden was first briefed about a proposed operation to take out the al Qaeda leader on 1 July this year.

But it was much earlier in the year when intelligence suggested that his wife and children had relocated to Kabul. He and his family were believed until that point to have been in hiding in Pakistan.

The family were located to a safehouse where, the US official says, al-Zawahiri was eventually spotted too.

Image: The suspected house in Kabul that was hit by a US drone strike

He was watched for several months and his pattern of life was recorded. He never left the house but did spend time on a balcony where he was eventually killed.

On 25 July, a detailed proposal had been presented to Mr Biden who, the administration official said, requested "granular level interest" because of the focus on taking "every step… to minimise civilian casualties".

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Smoke after strike on terror leader

Intelligence allowed the Americans to study the construction of the house to ensure that civilian casualties were avoided.

The official added al-Zawahiri's death is "a significant blow to al Qaeda and will degrade their ability to operate".

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2022-08-02 20:32:20Z
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US imposes sanctions on Vladimir Putin's reputed girlfriend and other Russian elite - Financial Times

The US imposed sanctions on Russian president Vladimir Putin’s reputed girlfriend on Tuesday alongside other members of the Moscow elite and businesses that it says are enabling the war in Ukraine.

“The United States is taking additional actions to ensure that the Kremlin and its enablers feel the compounding effects of our response to the Kremlin’s unconscionable war of aggression,” US secretary of state Antony Blinken said in a statement announcing the measures.

Treasury secretary Janet Yellen said her agency would “use every tool at our disposal to make sure that Russian elites and the Kremlin’s enablers are held accountable for their complicity in a war that has cost countless lives”.

The Treasury department said it had imposed sanctions on a number of Kremlin-connected elites, including Alina Kabaeva, a former Olympic rhythmic gymnast and member of parliament who the US described as having a “close relationship to Putin”.

It also listed a big multinational company, a yacht and a sanctions-evasion operation among other entities it had hit with restrictions.

Kabaeva, who is chair of the board of a media company owned by some of Putin’s closest allies, was hit with sanctions by the UK and EU earlier this year.

Putin has said almost nothing about his private life since divorcing his first wife, Lyudmila Ocheretnaya, in 2013. His eldest daughters Maria and Katerina head up state-funded science programmes and occasionally appear in public under pseudonyms.

Russian tabloids, however, have reported that Putin has been in a relationship with Kabaeva since 2008, when a newspaper was shut down after claiming the two were engaged.

The US also imposed sanctions on the father-and-son chemicals tycoons Andrey Guryev, founder of fertiliser producer PhosAgro, and his son, also Andrey, the company’s former chief executive.

The elder Guryev owns Witanhurst, the second-largest home in London after Buckingham Palace, and Alfa Nero, a yacht he bought for $120mn in 2014.

The US described Guryev as a “known close associate” of Putin, whose doctoral thesis supervisor Vladimir Litvinenko owned more than 20 per cent of PhosAgro before transferring most of the stake to his wife in May.

It also said several other oligarchs hit with sanctions were “Putin enablers”, including Alexander Ponomarenko, the co-owner of Moscow’s largest airport, who it said had “close ties to other oligarchs and the construction of Vladimir Putin’s seaside palace”.

PhosAgro, fellow fertiliser producer EuroChem, and the airport were not subject to the sanctions, the Treasury said.

The US and EU issued clarifications exempting Russian agriculture and fertiliser exports from sanctions last month as part of efforts to get Moscow to lift its blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.

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2022-08-02 18:53:51Z
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Ayman al-Zawahiri: Al-Qaeda leader killed in US drone strike - BBC

Reuters

The US has killed the leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in a drone strike in Afghanistan, President Joe Biden has confirmed.

He was killed in a counter-terrorism operation carried out by the CIA in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Sunday.

He and Osama Bin Laden plotted the 9/11 attacks together, and he was one of America's "most wanted terrorists".

Mr Biden said Zawahiri had "carved a trail of murder and violence against American citizens".

"Since the United States delivered justice to bin Laden 11 years ago, Zawahiri has been a leader of al-Qaeda," Mr Biden said. "From hiding, he co-ordinated al-Qaeda's branches and all around the world, including setting priorities for providing operational guidance and calling for and inspired attacks against US targets."

"Now justice has been delivered and this terrorist leader is no more," he added.

Zawahiri took over al-Qaeda after the death of Bin Laden in 2011.

Officials said Zawahiri was on the balcony of a safe house when the drone fired two missiles at him.

Other family members were present, but they were unharmed and only Zawahiri was killed in the attack, they added.

• Who was Ayman al-Zawahiri?
• What happened on 9/11?

Mr Biden said he had given the final approval for the "precision strike" on the 71-year-old Egyptian after months of planning.

His killing will bring closure to families of the nearly 3,000 victims of the 2001 attacks, Mr Biden added.

"No matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the United States will find you and take you out," said Mr Biden, adding that "we shall never waver from defending our nation and its people".

Mr Biden said Zawahiri had also masterminded other acts of violence, including the suicide bombing of the USS Cole naval destroyer in Aden in October 2000 which killed 17 US sailors, and the 1998 attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, in which 223 people died.

He insisted that Afghanistan would never again become a safe haven for terrorists.

A Taliban spokesman described the US operation as a clear violation of international principles - but did not mention Zawahiri.

"Such actions are a repetition of the failed experiences of the past 20 years and are against the interests of the United States of America, Afghanistan and the region," the spokesman added.

However, US officials maintained that the operation had had a legal basis.

The killing of Zawahiri comes nearly a year after US troops completed their withdrawal from Afghanistan on the orders of Mr Biden, bringing an end to a 20-year military presence there.

Under a 2020 peace deal with the US, the Taliban agreed not to allow al-Qaeda or any other extremist group to operate in areas under their control.

However, the Taliban and al-Qaeda are long-time allies and US officials said the Taliban were aware of Zawahiri's presence in Kabul.

In background briefings, US intelligence officers said Taliban affiliates had visited the safe house after the strike in an attempt to cover up evidence of his presence there.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that by hosting and sheltering Zawahiri in Kabul, the Taliban had "grossly violated" the peace agreement.

Ayman al-Zawahiri was the ideological brains behind al-Qaeda.

An Egyptian doctor who was imprisoned in the 1980s for involvement in militant Islam, he left the country after his release and became involved in violent international jihadist movements.

Eventually he settled in Afghanistan and joined forces with a rich Saudi, Osama Bin Laden. Together they declared war on the US and organised the 11 September 2001 attacks.

It took a decade for Bin Laden to be tracked down and killed by the US. After that, Zawahiri assumed leadership of al-Qaeda, but he became a remote and marginal figure, only occasionally issuing messages.

The US will herald his death as a victory, particularly after the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan last year, but Zawahiri held relatively little sway as new groups and movements such as Islamic State have become increasingly influential. A new al-Qaeda leader will no doubt emerge, but he will likely have even less influence than his predecessor.

The drone strike is the first known US intervention inside Afghanistan since the military pullout last August and, despite the withdrawal, the decades-old "war on terror" grinds on, the BBC's North America Correspondent John Sudworth observes.

Days before the withdrawal, a miscalculated US drone strike killed 10 innocent people in Kabul, including an aid worker and seven children. The US said it had been a "tragic mistake" and had been aiming to target a local branch of the Islamic State group.

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2022-08-02 06:24:56Z
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Nuclear annihilation just one miscalculation away, UN chief warns - BBC

Reuters

The world is one misstep from devastating nuclear war and in peril not seen since the Cold War, the UN Secretary General has warned.

"We have been extraordinarily lucky so far," Antonio Guterres said.

Amid rising global tensions, "humanity is just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation", he added.

His remarks came at the opening of a conference for countries signed up to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The 1968 deal was introduced after the Cuban missile crisis, an event often portrayed as the closest the world ever came to nuclear war. The treaty was designed to stop the spread of nuclear weapons to more countries, and to pursue the ultimate goal of complete nuclear disarmament.

Almost every nation on Earth is signed up to the NPT, including the five biggest nuclear powers. But among the handful of states never to sign are four known or suspected to have nuclear weapons: India, Israel, North Korea and Pakistan.

Secretary General Guterres said the "luck" the world had enjoyed so far in avoiding a nuclear catastrophe may not last - and urged the world to renew a push towards eliminating all such weapons.

"Luck is not a strategy. Nor is it a shield from geopolitical tensions boiling over into nuclear conflict," he said.

And he warned that those international tensions were "recaching new highs" - pointing specifically to the invasion of Ukraine, tensions on the Korean peninsula and in the Middle East as examples.

Russia was widely accused of escalating tensions when days after his invasion of Ukraine in February, President Vladimir Putin put Russia's substantial nuclear forces on high alert.

He also threatened anyone standing in Russia's way with consequences "you have never seen in your history". Russia's nuclear strategy includes the use of nuclear weapons if the state's existence is under threat.

On Monday, Mr Putin wrote to the same non-proliferation conference Mr Guterres opened, declaring that "there can be no winners in a nuclear war and it should never be unleashed".

But Russia still found itself criticised at the NPT conference.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned what he called Russia's sabre-rattling - and pointed out that Ukraine had handed over its Soviet-era nuclear weapons in 1994, after receiving assurances of its future security from Russia and others.

"What message does this send to any country around the world that may think that it needs to have nuclear weapons - to protect, to defend, to deter aggression against its sovereignty and independence?" he asked. "The worst possible message".

Today, some 13,000 nuclear weapons are thought to remain in service in the arsenals of the nine nuclear-armed states - far lower than the estimated 60,000 stockpiled during the peak of the mid-1980s.

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2022-08-01 18:38:04Z
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Putin heralds ‘unrivalled, lightning’ supersonic missiles | World - The Times

Russia’s navy will soon receive hypersonic missiles that will allow it to strike at enemies with “lighting speed”, President Putin has warned.

Speaking on Russia’s annual Navy Day today, Putin hailed the development of the new Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles that the Kremlin says can travel at nine times the speed of sound.

“The key thing here is the capability of the Russian navy. It is able to respond with lightning speed to all those who decide to infringe on our sovereignty and freedom,” Putin said in a speech during a naval parade along the Neva River in St Petersburg.

Russian officials and VIPs sail along the Neva River for the Navy Day parade

PAVEL BYRKIN/ALAMY

The Kremlin says the missiles, which Russia has been developing for a number of years, can reach 6,140mph with a range of up to 600

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2022-07-31 17:00:00Z
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West eases efforts to restrict Russian oil trading as inflation and energy risks mount - Financial Times

European governments have eased back on efforts to curb trade in Russian oil, delaying a plan to shut Moscow out of the vital Lloyd’s of London maritime insurance market and allowing some international shipments amid fears of rising crude prices and tighter global energy supplies.

The EU announced a worldwide ban on the provision of maritime insurance to vessels carrying Russian oil two months ago, expecting co-ordinated action with the British government. However, the UK is yet to introduce similar restrictions. UK participation is pivotal to the effectiveness of any such ban because London is at the centre of the marine insurance industry.

Meanwhile, Brussels in late July amended some curbs on dealing with state-owned Russian companies, citing concerns over global energy security.

A joint UK-EU prohibition on maritime insurance would constitute the most comprehensive restriction to date on Russian oil, ending access to much of the global tanker fleet for Moscow’s exports.

But US officials have expressed concern that an immediate global ban on maritime insurance would push up prices by pulling millions of barrels of Russian crude and petroleum products off the market.

European and British officials told the Financial Times in May that the UK had agreed with the EU to co-ordinate a ban on insuring Russian oil cargoes.

However, Britain’s latest sanctions against Russia, approved by parliament in July, only prohibit providing insurance to vessels carrying Russian oil to the UK, and only after December 31. The legislation was introduced after the government promised to outlaw the import of Russian oil from the end of the year but does not ban the provision of services to shipments from Russia to other countries, UK officials said.

“There is no current UK ban affecting global shipments of Russian oil,” said Patrick Davison, underwriting director of the Lloyd’s Market Association, an industry group for insurers at Lloyd’s. “Given the global nature of the [re] insurance industry, the existence of the EU restrictions may well impact appetite for Russian oil shipments in London.”

He said Lloyd’s was in close contact with [the UK government] “and will work with them on any future sanctions they seek to introduce.”

The UK Treasury said it was still exploring the best course of action. “We stand ready to impose further sanctions on Russia and are working in conjunction with our allies at pace to ensure these can be implemented with maximum effect on the Russian economy,” it said.

The EU’s insurance ban was introduced on June 4 and remains in place. It prevents companies in the bloc from writing new insurance for any vessel carrying Russian oil anywhere. Existing contracts remain valid until December 5, when all such business will be banned.

However, the EU has amended part of its own sanctions to permit European companies to deal with some Russian state-owned entities, such as Rosneft, for the purpose of transporting oil to countries outside the bloc.

European companies will no longer be blocked from paying the likes of Rosneft, “if those transactions are strictly necessary”, for the purchase or transport of crude or petroleum products to third countries, a European Commission spokesperson told the FT.

The EU said in a statement that the measures were taken to “avoid any potential negative consequences for food and energy security around the world”.

The White House has been working since June to push G7 countries to support a price-cap mechanism that would allow some Russian oil to reach third countries as long as they agreed to pay a below-market price for the cargo.

Officials in Washington said the US and UK still plan to ban maritime services, including insurance, by the time the EU’s ban takes full effect in December. But they want an oil price cap in place first. US President Joe Biden is keen to reduce gasoline prices before midterm elections in November.

Sanctions lawyers said the EU appeared to be soft-pedalling its efforts to stem the global flow of Russian oil, and that there was new uncertainty among traders over the UK’s commitment to a global insurance ban.

Sarah Hunt, a partner at HFW, a law firm, said trading houses were inquiring whether it was now legal to buy Rosneft oil to ship to countries outside the EU.

“The new EU sanctions effectively permit the lifting of Russian crude by European companies. We were surprised by this,” she said.

Leigh Hansson, partner at Reed Smith, another law firm, said the EU’s sanctions amendment was a “big retreat”, adding that lawyers had also been expecting “more robust” measures by now from the UK.

Additional reporting by Alice Hancock and David Sheppard

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2022-07-31 16:37:13Z
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Ukraine war: Mighty force of patriotism whipped up by Putin overwhelms doubts about Russia's power - Sky News

Vladimir Putin's annual Navy Day parade looks impressive from the banks of St Petersburg's Neva river; it looks even better on state TV.

No expense spared when it comes to showing the people of Russia quite how big and shiny their navy and armed forces are.

Think back to April though and the loss of the Moskva - the flagship warship of Russia's Black Sea fleet.

A direct hit Ukraine's defence ministry said; a fire onboard according to Russia.

A significant blow both to Russia's prestige and its Black Sea capabilities. Nor is it the only loss for the Black Sea fleet, against a Ukrainian navy massively diminished since the annexation of Crimea and largely barricaded inside its ports, just like its commercial shipping.

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The Black Sea blockade has been a major strategic win for Russia, forcing Ukraine to mine itself in.

Stasis at Ukraine's ports has left huge swathes of the world without grain, most significantly, but also fertiliser, sunflower oil and a host of other exports which would have brought much needed cash into the Ukrainian economy.

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Despite the grain deal struck in Istanbul, still no ship has set sail. It is an indication of the profound lack of faith in Russia's intentions, especially after its missile strike on the port of Odesa with the ink on the deal barely dry.

Image: The Russian corvette Aleksin fires missiles during the parade

Image: Warships seen during the celebration in Novorossiysk. Pic: AP

Today Putin promised more big guns.

The long touted Tsirkon hypersonic missile will be delivered to Russia's armed forces in the coming months.

The Admiral Gorshkov frigate which has already test-fired the missile will be its first recipient. According to Putin, the Tsirkon missile systems will have "no equal in the world".

The crowds along Palace Embankment may not have taken that in particularly but they loved the parade and aerial flyby.

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0:53

Putin promises hypersonic missiles

"Did you hear the people cheering when Putin came out?", said Janna, whose dislike of all things British was palpable. "I hope you heard, I don't think you have such a strong leader".

"I believe that you have set us against each other, two brotherly peoples", she said pointing her finger menacingly. "I hope you can understand what the Russian spirit is when you're here".

Natalia in a 'Z' T-shirt, merchandise which is ever more frequent to see, told me she was sure of victory. When I asked her what she meant by victory, she said "Victory over fascism, over the Nazis, for peace!".

"What does the word 'Nazi' mean to you?", I ask.

"People who are only for their own nation, and do not accept others", is the answer.

That is a broad definition. It is no wonder it has caught the imagination of so many in Russia. It is a world removed from the notion of death camps and the appalling atrocities of Nazi Germany.

But not everyone is so sure of their president.

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"Denazification was fair for Hitler but there is no Nazism in Ukraine", says Oleg.

"This war is Putin’s last attack on the world. The personal attack of a mad dictator against the whole world because the whole civilised world is now against this outrage that is happening".

A lone voice in today's crowd. Perhaps too, in today's Russia.

But there may be many more like Oleg who don’t attend events like these but who feel deeply uncomfortable with the events of the past five months, their reservations overwhelmed by the mighty force of patriotism which Vladimir Putin whips up so well.

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2022-07-31 15:25:17Z
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