US says new Al-Qaeda leader Saif al-Adel is commanding from Iran
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Salma Hossein
- . February 16, 2023
- . Update: February 16, 2023 11:10 pm
The United States (U.S.) has said that Saif al-Adel, the new leader of Al-Qaeda, is operating from the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The US State Department spokesperson reportedly said, “Our assessment aligns with that of the UN — that al-Qaeda’s new de facto leader Saif al-Adel is based in Iran.” Reportedly, Saif al-Adel, an Iran-based Egyptian, became the head of Al-Qaeda after the July 2022 death of Ayman al-Zawahiri. Ayman al-Zawahiri was believed to be killed in a U.S. missile strike in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, in 2022.
Saif al-Adel is a former special forces officer of Egypt. He is also a high-ranking member of Al Qaeda. He reportedly has a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head.
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The United Nations report released on Tuesday stated that Saif al-Adel is now the “uncontested” leader of the militant group Al-Qaeda. The United Nations said, “Saif al-Adel is already operating as the de facto and uncontested leader of the group.”
According to the UN report, the militant group has not formally declared Saif al-Adel “emir” due to the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan because they do not want to admit that Zawahiri was killed by a US rocket in Kabul in 2022.
Saif al-Adel was charged in 1998 by a U.S. federal grand jury for his crucial role in the bomb attacks on the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya that led to the killing of 224 civilians and injuring over 5,000 people. He also trained some of the hijackers who took part in the September 11, 2001 attack against the United States. He also played a key role in killing U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan in 2002.
The U.S. State Department’s Rewards for Justice programme offers up to $10 million for information on Saif al-Adel.
