This is CBS, I on the World.

I'm John Batchel, with Malcolm Honline Conference of President's major American Jewish organizations,

continuing with Mosun Sazagara, a former member of the government in Iran,

now a member of the diaspora, watching Iran very carefully and its predatory leadership.

The question is now about Syria and eventually about Lebanon, given the war that Israel has been

conducting since October of 2023.

Mosin, we have declarations

from a man named

Alshara, I believe

is a Syrian national

originally, otherwise

known as a man who

participated both with

al-Qaeda and ISIS over the years

and has understood to be leading

a bloodthirsty group called

HTS. He now declares himself the president of Syria,

though I've been told he's more likely the mayor of Damascus.

However, he's been traveling and been accepted by some of the leaders in the area.

For example, MBS greeted him off an airplane in Riyadh.

In recent days, there's been news that some part of the authority of HTS, which is now

claiming to be the government of Syria, was ambushed in Latakia province, dominated by the Alawites, the sect that was the Assad sect for many years.

...