Saif al-Adel likely to succeed as Al-Qaeda leader after Ayman al-Zawahiri's death

By Gargi Chaudhry | First Published Aug 2, 2022, 4:05 PM IST

Saif al-Adel was also once Osama Bin Laden's security chief and is on FBI's most-wanted list since 2001. The reward for information leading to his capture has now been raised to $10 million.

Following a successful drone attack in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, the United States has killed Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. The terrorist organisation has suffered its worst setback since the death of its founder Osama bin Laden in 2011. In a televised speech on Tuesday morning, US President Joe Biden declared that "justice has been delivered" and expressed the hope that Zawahiri's demise will provide "closure" to the families of the 3,000 Americans slain on 9/11. The commander of Al-Qaeda, who is one of the most sought terrorists in the world, planned the attacks on September 11, 2001.

The question of who will succeed Zawahiri as the leader of Al-Qaeda now emerges. Reports suggest that the next in line as per the seniority are Saif al-Adel, Abdal-Rahman al-Maghrebi and Yazid Mebrak of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Ahmed Diriye of Al-Shabaab. But there is no clear succession plan yet.

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Also Read | Who was Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Al Qaeda head with $25 million bounty on his head?

The next in line to lead is Saif al-Adel, according to the Middle East Institute. According to US intelligence sources, the former Egyptian army officer joined the predecessor terrorist organisation Maktab al-Khidmat in the 1980s and later became a founding member of Al Qaeda.

During this time, he met bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri and joined their organisation, Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ). In the 1980s, he also engaged in combat with Russian soldiers in Afghanistan. Saif al-Adel, who formerly oversaw security for Osama Bin Laden, has been on the FBI's most-wanted list since 2001; the reward for information leading to his capture has now been raised to $10 million.

Also Read: 'Justice has been served': Hellfire missiles take out Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul

Al-Zawahiri was standing at the balcony of the house when two Hellfire missiles fired from an unmanned drone struck. The rest of his family members were in another portion of the house when the missiles struck. A CIA ground team and aerial reconnaissance confirmed al-Zawahiri’s death in the drone strike.

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