. >>> also tonight, cnn's nick paton walsh takes us into the gang-ridden violence of haiti. a disturbing look at a country that has become unlivable as democracy disintegrates. get decision tech from fidelity. [ cellphone vibratates ] you'll get proactive alertrts for market events before they happen... and insights on every buy and sell decision. with zero-commission online u.s. stock and etf trades. for smarter trading decisions, get decision tech from fidelity. >>> even by the standards of haiti's violent history, the current moment there is desperate and bloody. gangs once again ruling the streets, leading to unimaginable death tolls, including of children. and that violence has also once again led to images such as this. hundreds of haitians desperately trying to escape into the united states, taken into custody over the weekend. last week, unicef says thousands of children are at risk of malnutrition, and over the weekend, "the washington post" summarized in an editorial, quote, haiti has no functional government, no democracy, no peace, no hope. despite the obvious da

nick paton walsh joins us now. nick, is there any police control on the streets of port-au-prince? close is a city feel to the edge? >> it's clear the police have reached into some parts -- let me explain withstand what's roundest. the port of a, their key to aid coming into the country. that is controlled. mostly by the gang who run the road outside of it. the main road to the south of the country. mourners kate struck last year but that is also controlled by the gang there. the city's l.a. weather is this intense fighting, as you saw on july. greater gang controls the north, and to the east as well. one estimate hotly contested and can deny but the police chief that i spoke to from a security source suggest that perhaps three quarters of port-au-prince might be controlled or influence by the gangs. but there's a swarm of crises here, coming together. john, the political crisis says a fascination over a year ago, of president -- there's merchants the interim government. it's supporters crumbling. frankly the idea of elections in this kind of violence is absurd idols reporting 30%

. >> nick paton walsh now with more on the mission that killed the world's most wanted terrorist. >>s the same as it was at the start of the war on terror, mastermind turned leader. but the method startlingly precise. two missiles hitting kabul's fanciest streets. the al qaeda leader ayman al zawahiri stepping on to a balcony that had likely for years housed rich westerners working for nato, but stepping out on to sunday for the last time. >> i authorized a precision strike that would remove him once and for all. >> reporter: the biden administration so confident they built a model of the house they said that they didn't need boots on the ground before the strike or after. >> we do not have dna confirmation, we're not going to get that confirmation and quite frankly based on the multiple sources and methods that we've gathered the information from, we don't need it. >> reporter: a staggering counter strichl success born of a failure the u.s. had tried to gloss over as the u.s. rushed to leave afghanistan at the end losing control at the close of its longest war. it had tried to sugge

cnn's international security editor nick paton walsh has a closer look at the convicts who are taking. >> the camera is in the unsteady hands of a prisoner, but the apparent scene is still startling. convicts in a southern russia penitentiary being recruited to fight the kremlin's war in ukraine. according to a witness. it's an offer being made in cramped prisons. one prisoner like in this murky underworld it's rare to glimpse inside wanted his identity hidden as he explained the deal. >> rapists, pedophiles, extremists are not taken. murderers are accepted. >> what are the terms of the contract? >> amnesty in six months. >> reporter: what kind of money are they promising? >> somebody talks about 100,000 rubles. somebody about 200,000. >> reporter: russia's small victories in this war have come with huge losses. and after about six months, regular soldiers have been hit hard, with up to 60,000 russian dead or wounded troops say western officials. so now russia is making ugly choices in its ugly war, sending convicts to fight. but for this prisoner with years left on a drug sentence, j

cnn's nick paton walsh has more. >> reporter: the descent into the abyss in haiti is fastest here.e certainty is when the police s.w.a.t. team we are with cross into gang territory, they will take fire. it is now a blunt war for control of the capital. the police need to prove they can be here. the gangs, that the police cannot. and it is ordinary citizens who are caught in between. here, a passenger on a civilian bus that was hit in the street. [ speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: in the days before, police said they rescued six hostages in this same area and killed a leader of the 400 gang. but the police struggle to hold ground, so the gangs, whose currency is kidnapping and drugs, are gaining far too much, especially right here. rounds hit the armored vehicle. they think they see where the gunmen are. they run, but not like it's their first time under fire, perhaps even this day. they slide back. perhaps the gang have fled down the alley. is this kind of intense violence that so many cite when they talk about haiti's spiral towards collapse. the fire power they bring does

. >> nick paton walsh is with us in new york. al zawahiri, obviously, the leader of al qaeda. what does this death mean for the world? >> well, certainly for anyone whose life was affected by 9/11 and by some of the awful terror activities of al qaeda over the last 20 years, it provides some element of justice, and it's definitely a reminder that however much chaos you can attribute to the united states and its departure from afghanistan, it's still pretty capable. i mean, this is staggering, to be honest. they weren't there on the ground. they found this guy from possibly eavesdropping on phones and they used minimal amounts of force to kill him on the balcony of a house that probably housed rich westerners over the decades. it's a very nice part of kabul. i can't get over the idea that he's hanging around a place where there may have been parties held during the nato presence there. what does it mean for al qaeda? well, he's a superannuated leader. al qaeda was certainly there, and there were warnings before the u.s. left that by the end of this year, maybe early next, they

cnn international nick paton walsh. nick, zawahri was one of the most visible terrorists left. argue he's one of few who many americans still had name recognition of. what do you think of how jake sullivan described his role in al qaeda's network now? >> frankly, he's going to have better information than me managing to find this guy in the middle of kabul with no boots of the ground. we're seeing a different diminished al qaeda, not what we knew 20 years ago guys hiding out issuing orders, this is a global franchise and local groups doing things to locals on a terror basis. it spread certainly but not bacb back as a cohesive group. him being taken out is symbolically going to make a big difference. you can't hide it. this is quite extraordinary the way they managed to find him. but yeah, i don't think tomorrow something is not going to happen but would possibly have occurred had this not happened itself. >> that's a great way of putting it. it can be both things at one time. i saw a statement from liz cheney last night and said the taliban never broke with al qaeda and the tal

there in the photo, and asking detailed questions about the risk to civ civilians, and now, nick paton walsh is asking what is next for notorious terrorist organization. >> reporter: the target was the same as it was on the war on terror. the 9/11 mastermind turned 79-year-old leader of al qaeda, and two missiles hitting kabul's fancy streets, and the mastermind al zawahiri stepping out to streets that housed leaders of al qaeda, but he donned the street for the last time. >> i authorized a strike to remove him from the battlefield once and for all. >> reporter: they were so confident that they got the right guy, that they built a model of the home, that they didn't need boots on the ground before or after the strike. >> we didn't get dna confirmation, and we don't need the confirmation, because based on the multiple sources is and methods that we have gathered, we don't need it. >> reporter: it was staggering success bourn of the failure that the u.s. has glossed over as the u.s afghanistan after losing control of the close of the al qaeda were degraded and no longer a threat there, but in

cnn's nick paton walsh is live for us in the haitian capital of port-au-prince where you can only describeor, nick. >> reporter: yeah, squirreling around haiti, political ones with the assassination of president there's no real sign that it's coming and beginning to, frankly, crumble here, skyrocketing inflation, fears about food. but most importantly here in the capital, a sense that the gangs, dozens of them, are slowly gaining territory and the upper hand. here's what we saw. the descent into the abyss in haiti is fastest here. the one certainty is when the police s.w.a.t. team we're with cross into gang territory, they will take fire. it is now an out and out war to control the capital. police need to prove they can be here. the gangs, the police cannot. and it's ordinary citizens who are caught in between. here, a passenger on a civilian bus that was hit in the streets. in the day before, police said they rescued six hostages in this same area and killed a leader of the 400 mawozo gang. police struggled to hold ground. so the gangs, the currency is kidnapping and drugs but gaining far

straight now to our experts and our correspondent with the white house, jeremy diamond, nick paton walsh, and cnn -- good to have you all here. thanks for joining us. jeremy, we'll get you at the white house immediately. incredibly significant day for the united states in the war on terror. here is more on the president tonight, and then we'll talk. >> our intelligence located zawahiri earlier this year. he had moved to downtown kabul to reunite with members of his immediate family. after carefully considering the clearly convincing evidence of his location, i authorized a precision strike that would remove him from the battlefield once and for all. this mission was carefully planned, vigorously minimizing the risk of harm to other civilians. one week ago, after we were advised that the conditions were optimal, i gave the final approval to go get him. the mission was a success. none of his family members were hurt. there were no civilian casualties. >> jeremy, you're getting additional details about the timeline and precision involved in killing al-zawahiri. what do you learning? >> don,

cnn international security editor nick paton walsh is on the scene for us there tonight. here in port-au-prince. gangs are slowly growing in their footprints and their ability to influence life here in haiti's capital. we saw ourselves the work police s.w.a.t. teams are doing trying to push into areas that gangs control. that unit coming under fire. we saw injured civilians being carried out by police there, but this comes, frankly, after really troubling weeks here in the capital. in a ten-day period in july alone, according to the united nations, a bid by one of the gangs here, the g 9 to take more territory off a rival gang, that's just over there from where i'm standing, caused 470 people to die, be injured or go missing. extraordinary numbers for such a short period of time, and also, during those clashes, gangs were reported to use bull ddozers do demolish homes of r50ivals. this led one security force to suggest that perhaps at this point as we see the gangs control the port over there, the road to the country south behind me, and areas in the east and north, they m