Ayman al-Zawahiri

President Biden announced that the operation had delivered justice and that “one more measure of closure” would have been provided to families of the ...

We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages. “Justice has been delivered and this terrorist leader is no more,” Mr Biden said. “Tonight’s news is also proof that it’s possible to root out terrorism without being at war in Afghanistan. And I hope it provides a small measure of peace to the 9/11 families and everyone else who has suffered at the hands of al-Qaeda,” Mr Obama said on Twitter. Former President Barack Obama said on Monday night that the attack was a tribute to Mr Biden’s leadership, and to intelligence operatives “who have been working for decades for this moment.” On Monday, President Joe Biden announced that the operation had delivered justice, adding that “one more measure of closure” would’ve been provided to families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks on the United States in 2001. “People around the world no longer need to fear the vicious and determined killer.”

Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who has been killed in a US drone strike in Afghanistan, President Joe Biden said Monday, was the key ideologue behind ...

Nevertheless, it said, "the international context is favourable to Al-Qaeda, which intends to be recognised again as the leader of global jihad". Yet al Qaeda was able to maintain a security threat through potent franchises in Yemen, Africa and East Asia. But he stayed in US sights, with a $25 million bounty on his head for the 1998 embassy attacks.

The former U. S. President said, “I hope it provides a small measure of peace to the 9/11 families and everyone else who has suffered at the hands of ...

Members of his family, who were in other areas of the home, were unharmed, the official said. Two Hellfire missiles were fired into the balcony of the safe house in Kabul at 6.18 a.m. (local time). "Multiple streams of intelligence" confirmed Zawahiri was killed. None were, according to the White House. Other family members were present, but they were unharmed and only Zawahiri was killed. The U. S. drone strike that killed Zawahiri on his balcony in downtown Kabul was the product of months of highly secret planning by Mr. Biden and a tight circle of his senior advisors. Zawahiri, who assumed the leadership of al-Qaeda after the death of Osama bin Laden, was killed in a precision drone strike on Saturday evening at a safe house in Kabul where he was sheltering to reunite with his family, U. S. President Joe Biden said on Monday, declaring that “justice has been delivered and this terrorist is no more”.

Si ubwa mbere Amerika yari igerageje guhitana Zawahiri, bamaze kumuhusha mu 2006 yabwiye Perezida George W Bush ko ntacyakwigiza hafi urupfu rwe “n'isegonda ...

Mu 1997, bivugwa ko Zawahiri yimukiye mu mujyi wa Jalalabad muri Afghanistan, aho Osama Bin Laden yari atuye. Mu myaka ya vuba, Zawahiri yarihishe cyane kandi ajya ku ruhande, rimwe na rimwe akanyuzamo agatanga ubutumwa. Mu myaka yakurikiye kuva kw’abasoviyeti muri Afghanistan, bikekwa ko Zawahiri yabaye muri Bulgaria, Denmark, n’Ubusuwisi, kandi hari ubwo yakoreshaga passport mpimbano akajya muri Balkans, Yemen, Iran, Iraq na Philippines. Mu myaka ya nyuma ya biriya bitero, Zawahiri yigaragaje nk’umuvugizi wa al-Qaeda, agaragara inshuro 16 mu mashusho yo mu 2007 – inshuro enye kurusha Bin Laden – ubwo bageragezaga gusakaza ubuhezanguni no kwinjiza abantu bashya muri wo. Zawahiri yatangiye kujya muri politiki ya Islam akiri ku ishuri, aza gufungwa ku myaka 15 ashinjwa kuba mu itsinda ritemewe rya Muslim Brotherhood – itsinda rya kisilamu rirambye kandi rinini kurusha ayandi mu Misiri. Zawahiri yari uwa kabiri – yazaga inyuma ya Bin Laden – ku rutonde rw’abaterabwoba “22 bashakishwa kurusha abandi” na leta ya Amerika kuva mu 2001 ndetse ku mutwe we hariho miliyoni 25$ ku wamubona cyangwa akamutanga.

After more than two decades on the run, Al-Zawahri, 71, was killed by a US drone strike on Saturday night.

It was a strategy he exported when he formally merged Jihad Group with al-Qaeda in the 1990s, promoting the use of suicide attacks - previously a religious taboo - to become al-Qaeda's hallmark. But in the years since 9/11, the 71-year-old has presided over al-Qaeda's global decline - with many of its founders slain and the rise of the Islamic State in Syria. It was a strategy he exported when he formally merged Jihad Group with al-Qaeda in the 1990s, promoting the use of suicide attacks - previously a religious taboo - to become al-Qaeda's hallmark. The lawyer Montasser al-Zayat, said: “Zawahiri completely controlled bin Laden. The largest share of bin Laden’s financial support went to Zawahiri and the [his] Jihad organisation.” The experience was to lead the two men on a life of brutality that saw bin Laden, and then al-Zawahiri, lead al-Qaeda. And yet it is al-Zawahiri who is regarded as the brains behind the world's most notorious terrorist network, and the guiding influence over bin Laden's transformation from a deep-pocketed young radical into a skilled propagandist able to command a global terrorist network.

Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in a drone attack that targeted a house in central Kabul, Afghanistan, according to the US.

- He was indicted in the US for his role in the August 7, 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people and wounded more than 5,000 others. - Mujahid said the US attack was a “repetition of the failed experiences of the past 20 years and are against the interests of the US, Afghanistan and the region”. - It condemned the drone strike as a “violation of international principles” and a violation of the Doha Agreement.

President Biden said the death of Zawahiri, who succeeded Osama bin Laden, means Afghanistan can no longer “become a terrorist safe haven.”

He remained as a figurehead but failed to prevent the splintering of the Islamist movement in Syria and other conflict zones after 2011. Al-Qaeda hasn’t carried out any major terrorist attacks in the United States or Europe in recent years, following bombings that killed 52 people in London in 2005. Some attackers were inspired by al-Qaeda, such as a Saudi military trainee who killed three American sailors at a U.S. base in Florida in December 2019. A United Nations report in July estimated there were up to 400 al-Qaeda fighters remaining in Afghanistan. Security experts say the operation demonstrates that the United States is still able to carry out precision strikes in Afghanistan after last year’s withdrawal of troops on the ground. Today, though, the group is splintered, with branches and affiliates spanning the globe from West Africa to India. The question remains whether those groups will focus on local conflicts or coalesce for more global ambitions. Zawahiri merged his own Egyptian militant group with al-Qaeda in the 1990s. The strike is the latest in a string of successful U.S. operations against al-Qaeda and Islamic State leaders. Analysts say that in the past, al-Qaeda has adjusted to the loss of leaders, with new figures emerging in their place. In his later years, Zawahiri largely shied from public view, presiding over al-Qaeda at a time of decline, with most of the group’s founding figures dead or in hiding. When the Taliban took power in Afghanistan in 1996, it gave al-Qaeda the sanctuary that enabled it to run training camps and plot attacks, including 9/11. President Biden said in an address to the nation Monday that Zawahiri’s death — after he evaded capture for decades — sent a clear message: “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.”

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The strike was carried out by the CIA, according to five people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity. He said US intelligence officials tracked al-Zawahri to a home in downtown Kabul where he was hiding out with his family. Speaking on August 31, 2021, after the last US troops left Afghanistan, Mr Biden said the US would not let up on its fight against terrorism in that country or elsewhere.

United States (US) President Joe Biden on 1 August announced that American forces had killed Al Qaeda Chief Ayman al-Zawahiri in a drone strike in Kabul, ...

This strike in central Kabul was a powerful debut for America’s ‘over the horizon (OTH)’ counterterror policy, which it now expects to replace the ‘War on Terror’ narrative, a political deadweight hanging around the neck of US foreign policy from the viewpoint of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Finally, from an Indian point of view, the US OTH capacity in Afghanistan being operationalised is a favourable policy. As per reports, the OTH capacity was not only about collating data and intelligence over months, but also deploying capacities on the ground in Kabul. This is the case despite CIA Chief William J Burns highlighting a few months before American troops left Afghanistan that US intelligence capacities in the country will be severely disrupted. Another “Bin Laden” could have added a boost to Al Qaeda’s ranks and added a punch compared to a newer leader who did not have an already built-up persona, or a ‘legacy’. Similar was the fate of the so-called Islamic State (ISIS or Daesh in Arabic), which never could find and operationalise a leader of the same stature, military, and ideological heft as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The killing of Baghdadi’s successor, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Qurayshi, in February 2022, only a few months after his predecessor showcased hierarchical tremors from which ISIS has arguably never recovered. The next in line, according to the UN, is Sayf al-Adl, a former Egyptian colonel, today leaving a life of oddity, being a member of Al Qaeda, but living in, and honed by, Iran. Others, such as Abdal-Rahman al Maghrebi are also known to be in the mix for the top job. Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021 was a clarion call for the insurgency, announcing victory over the western forces after 20 years of battle, moving out of the Tora Bora mountains and into Kabul’s opulent areas.

A round-up of international reaction after the US said a drone strike had killed al-Zawahiri in Kabul.

The death of Ayman al-Zawahiri is a step toward a safer world. “The death of Ayman al-Zawahiri is a step toward a safer world. Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid strongly condemned the attack, calling it a violation of “international principles”.

US President Biden has announced that a precision drone-attack by the US in downtown Kabul has killed Al-Qaeda chief Ayman Al-Zawahiri.

It was here that he was killed by ‘hellfire’ missiles from a US drone. “Now justice has been delivered, and this terrorist leader is no more,” American President Biden said during a press address Monday. “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.” United States President Joe Biden has announced that a precision drone-attack by the US in downtown Kabul has killed Al-Qaeda Chief Ayman Al-Zawahiri, who had helped orchestrate the September 11 attacks.

US president says 'terrorist leader is no more' after bin Laden successor is killed in Kabul.

The limited achievements of its affiliate in Yemen, once seen as a major potential threat to the region and the west, must have been a disappointment. He was spotted on a balcony on numerous occasions over several months and continued to produce al-Qaida propaganda videos, some of which may yet appear posthumously. Our thoughts today are with the loved ones of all of his victims. While Monday’s news was a “mission accomplished” moment, simmering tensions over Taiwan show how the US government is now building a new national security machine to challenge China’s rising power. What will be the strategy of the new leader? An oath of loyalty is sworn not to the group, but to the individual. Instead, links with groups around the world were reinforced and efforts made to expand through gradually winning support from communities on the ground. Though al-Qaida was known for its innovative empowerment of local cells, the man at the top of the hierarchy has real authority. He has to stay alive, communicate despite considerable logistic challenges, deal with regimes such as the Taliban and formulate a clear idea of what his subordinates should be doing. The forces of freedom will bring you to justice. Daskalakis, director of the agency’s HIV prevention division and a national expert on issues affecting the LGBTQ+ community, previously helped lead New York City’s Covid-19 response. The world is a safer place today.

The United States continues its crusade against al-Qaeda despite all the time that has passed since the terrible 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers and the ...

Hisham al-Najjar, an expert on political Islam movements, told Al-Ain News that Ayman al-Zawahiri "although he does not possess the charisma and presence of Osama bin Laden, he has extensive experience in leadership, manoeuvring, concealment, escape and organisational work, and therefore his death represents a very great loss to the organisation". As for the future of the terrorist entity, Al-Najjar notes that "it depends on a number of factors, not least the emergence of a new strong leadership that can come from various arrangements, which is difficult at the moment because of the loss of al-Qaeda's most important and prominent leader". One must also take into account the strong competition that al-Qaeda has with the other leading jihadist terrorist organisation, Da'esh. Al-Zawahiri was considered the true ideologue of al-Qaeda at the origin of this jihadist terrorist organisation that has spread so much terror around the world and was one of the last survivors of the founding group, and the last remaining figure with public influence of the terrorist group. Azzam was an ally of Ahma Shah Masud, the leading anti-communist guerrilla and later the leader of the anti-Taliban resistance in Afghanistan. Masud was assassinated by al-Qaeda shortly before the 9/11 attacks. "No matter how much work it takes, no matter where he hides, if someone is a threat to our people, America will find him and take him out," Biden himself said in his message from the White House, confirming that the US remains steadfast in its intention to avenge the 9/11 attacks, which left around 3,000 dead, a figure that continues to strike a chord in the subconscious of American society. Al-Zawahiri was born in Egypt and was a surgeon by profession. Speaking from the White House, Biden said: "On Saturday, on my orders, the United States conducted an airstrike on Kabul, Afghanistan, that killed Al-Qaeda's emir, Ayman al-Zawahiri".

How two thunderous blasts led the BBC's Lyse Doucet to Ayman al-Zawahiri's villa in the "town of thieves".

Was this a reply rehearsed in advance, an echo of the Taliban's official statement? We don't know who they are." Kabulis called it Choorpur, the town of thieves. The Taliban also accuse the US of violating their deal in their attack against a residential neighbourhood of Kabul. A statement from a Taliban spokesman warned that "repeating such actions will damage the existing opportunities". But now it emerges that he was a guest of the Taliban leadership, living in that villa smack in the centre of Kabul and said to belong to Sirajuddin Haqqani, the acting Taliban interior minister, who is under US terrorism sanctions. They don't speak the local languages.

Ayman al-Zawahiri helped plan the 9/11 attacks and was among America's most wanted men.

Days before the withdrawal, a miscalculated US drone strike killed 10 innocent people in Kabul, including an aid worker and seven children. The streets are quiet - this news is explosive. Adjacent shops were told by the Taliban to close their rooftops. However, the Taliban and al-Qaeda are long-time allies and US officials said the Taliban were aware of Zawahiri's presence in Kabul, and he lived freely and in the open in the Afghan capital. Some 344 firefighters were also killed. The US has killed the leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in a drone strike in Afghanistan, President Joe Biden has confirmed.

Notorious Al-Qaeda head Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed by two missiles fired at his Kabul home, but pictures showed no sign of an explosion, and US officials ...

Members of Zawahiri's family were present in the home, but "were purposely not targeted and were not harmed", the official said. A US official told reporters that on the morning of 31 July, Zawahiri was standing alone on the balcony of his Kabul residence, when a US drone launched the two Hellfires. But the front and rear of the car appeared completely intact.

After a decades-long hunt the simple habit of sitting out on the balcony gave the CIA an opportunity to launch 'tailored strike'

In August last year one such US drone strike in Kabul was initially hailed by the Pentagon as a successful mission to take out a would-be terrorist bomber planning an attack on the city’s airport. The White House made further claims to bolster its argument that the attack was lawful, flawless and with a loss of life limited to Zawahiri alone. As discussions about a possible strike grew more intense, the model was brought into the situation room of the White House on 1 July so that Biden could see it for himself. Biden’s insistence that no one other than the al-Qaida leader was killed in the attack was amplified repeatedly by US officials. In their telling of events, US officials were at pains to stress that under Joe Biden’s instructions the mission was carried out carefully and with precision to avoid civilian casualties. According to a US official who briefed reporters on Monday, it was such regular behavior that allowed intelligence agents, presumably CIA, to piece together what they called “a pattern of life” of the target.

Democrats and Republicans praised the strike, as did Saudi Arabia, which has been accused of complicity in the 9/11 plot Ayman al-Zawahiri helped oversee.

The 9/11 Commission noted in 2004 that it found no evidence that “the Saudi government as an institution or senior officials within the Saudi government funded al Qaeda.” The group 9/11 Families United issued a statement expressing gratitude to U.S. intelligence agencies and the military for the “sacrifices that have been made in removing such evil from our lives.” But the news is also a reminder, said Chair Terry Strada, that for full accountability, “President Biden must also hold the Saudi paymasters accountable for killing our loved ones,” referring to allegations that agents of the Saudi Arabian government provided support for the 9/11 plot. Messages of support poured in from lawmakers shortly after Biden’s address. Following Biden’s address, Saudi Arabia swiftly released a statement welcoming the death of Zawahiri, who it said “led the planning and execution of heinous terrorist operations” that killed innocent people, including Saudi citizens.” The Persian Gulf kingdom became the target of al-Qaeda bombings after 9/11, most notably a 2003 attack in its capital, Riyadh, that killed 11 people and injured more than 120. But Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who has promoted conspiracy theories including one suggesting 9/11 was a hoax, slammed Biden for trying to “act tough on TV.” Greene tweeted that while Zawahiri plotted 9/11 and the bombing of the Navy destroyer Cole in 2000, “no one in America has been sweating an attack from Al Qaeda lately or even heard a thing about them.” The Taliban government “strongly condemned the attack,” chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said, calling the strike a violation of international norms and the agreement signed in Doha, Qatar, by the United States and the Taliban in 2020.

Drone strike against al-Qaida leader praised across US political spectrum but 9/11 families press for Saudi accountability.

Fifteen of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudi nationals. If we’re going to be serious about accountability, we must hold everyone accountable.” The Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, said in a statement that Biden “deserves credit” for approving the strike that killed Zawahiri, but the Republican stalwart noted that the administration needs a “comprehensive plan” to address al-Qaida in Afghanistan.

'Justice has been delivered': Biden says death a major blow to terrorist network behind September 11th, 2001, attacks.

The official added that al-Zawahiri’s family members were present in other parts of the safe house at the time of the strike, were not targeted and were unharmed. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudi nationals. Importantly, he examined closely the model of al-Zawahiri’s house that the intelligence community had built and brought into the White House situation room for briefings on this issue”. If we’re going to be serious about accountability, we must hold everyone accountable.” The safe house used by al-Zawahiri is now empty.” He was spotted on a balcony on numerous occasions over several months and continued to produce al-Qaeda propaganda videos, some of which may yet appear posthumously.

Founder of al-Qaida with Osama bin Laden who went on to succeed him as its leader.

In 2000, Zawahiri was blamed for the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen. In 2001, he hired the Malaysian biochemist Yazid Sufaat to cultivate anthrax in a laboratory near Kandahar airport. Bin Laden and Zawahiri accused the Saudi royal family – “brothers of Satan” – of betraying Islam through deference to a Jewish-controlled west. Zawahiri further inflamed intra-Muslim tensions when he accused Iran – and by extension, Shias – of being “religion-sellers” who helped the UK and US bring down the Taliban. In April 2013 the former leader of al-Qaida in Mesopotamia, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, announced the birth of IS in Raqqa, Syria. Soon his zealots were fighting al-Qaida’s official Syrian subsidiary, the al-Nusra Front. They attracted Nusra deserters and younger foreign recruits, including from Britain, France, the US and Australia. Unlike al-Qaida, IS conquered actual territory. Bin Laden moved his headquarters to Sudan late that year and Zawahiri followed. Zawahiri called democracy “a new religion that deifies humans and gives them the authority to formulate their own laws … while Islam gives the right to legislate exclusively to Allah”. More than anything, he wrote, Egypt’s rapid defeat in the June 1967 war persuaded him that existing Arab structures were bankrupt. From a state school Zawahiri went to Cairo University, and in 1974 graduated as a doctor. As a spokesperson, he often appeared on video; seven weeks after the 7/7 bombings in London in 2005, for instance, he hailed “ the blessed London battle … a slap to the face of the tyrannical, crusader British arrogance”. After Azzam was murdered in 1989, Zawahiri became Bin Laden’s new mentor, personal physician, spokesperson and arms procurer. The extent to which Zawahiri had shaped al-Qaida showed in the 9/11 attacks. The former was the son of a wealthy Saudi building contractor; the latter a product of Egypt’s educated class. After nearly two decades in hiding, the Egyptian terrorist Ayman al-Zawahiri, successor to Osama bin Laden as head of al-Qaida, has died aged 71.

Islamic State has formed scores of independent offshoots which rival and often battle each othe.

Islamic State won tens of thousands of converts, raised funds, and became the world’s richest terrorist organisation. Following the fall of its entity between 2017-2019, Islamic State fugitive fighters have continued to roam Syrian and Iraqi desert areas, menacing travellers and attacking army units. Before succeeding US-assassinated al-Qaeda founder and chief Osama bin Laden in 2011, Zawahiri was the movement’s chief strategist and operations commander and was responsible for outreach.

The cameras caught him shouting about the torture he and other prisoners suffered at the hands of Egyptian jailers. He started the group chanting: "We are ...

And al-Zawahiri has kept it going in the decade since bin Laden's death. "OK, he's not as telegenic as bin Laden. He lacks bin Laden's charisma. "Unlike bin Laden, he had the street cred at having been a dyed-in-the-wool terrorist from the time he was a teenager," Hoffman said. Bin Laden had talked about creating a base for a broader Islamist movement as if it were a mantra. The cameras caught him shouting about the torture he and other prisoners suffered at the hands of Egyptian jailers. President Biden noted Monday that al-Zawahiri was Osama bin Laden's deputy during 9/11 and that he was "deeply involved in the planning."

After hunting for him for 21 years, U.S. forces killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri over the weekend with a drone strike targeting him at a safe house in ...

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Once the news cycle moves on, it will be business as usual for the US, the Taliban and even al-Qaeda itself.

The current US president and those in his administration are undoubtedly aware of this. We are likely to witness the same between the US and the Taliban after al-Zawahiri’s killing. And he knew that he did not need to be one to ensure the group’s expansion and longevity. The set of ideas that guide the group existed long before al-Qaeda, and will undoubtedly continue to be supported by some in zones of failing governance or alienation after its elimination. During al-Zawahiri’s tenure, al-Qaeda adopted an expansion model which can best be described as “franchising”. Under his command, the group expanded its reach from Mali to Kashmir with the addition of numerous largely autonomous and financially self-sufficient branches or “franchises”. As these branches are able to continue operations without much intervention from the central command, the death of any leader is unlikely to cause the network to disintegrate. However, it is unlikely that it will lead to any significant change or mark a turning point in the regional let alone global status quo.

President Biden last year committed to the American people that, following the withdrawal of U.S. forces, the United States would continue to protect our ...

We were able to do so in this instance — and will be positioned to do so going forward — as a result of the skill and professionalism of our intelligence and counterterrorism community colleagues, for whom the President and I are deeply grateful. The world is a safer place following the death of Zawahiri, and the United States will continue to act resolutely against those who would threaten our country, our people, or our allies and partners. They also betrayed the Afghan people and their own stated desire for recognition from and normalization with the international community.

Smoke rises from a house following a July 31, 2022, U.S. drone strike in the Sherpur area of Kabul. that killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. (AFP via ...

The CIA conducted an unmanned aerial vehicle strike the morning of July 31 in downtown Kabul that killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. While unlikely to significantly degrade al Qaeda's regional affiliates in the near term, the strike may produce a long-term shift in its strategy depending on al-Zawahiri's successor.... Smoke rises from a house following a July 31, 2022, U.S. drone strike in the Sherpur area of Kabul that killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.