Al-Qaeda Leader Could Be Alive as He Appears in Footage Released on 9/11 Anniversary - Reports
04:02 GMT 12.09.2021 (Updated: 11:14 GMT 12.09.2021)
© East News / Pacific Press
Subscribe
Late last year, speculation appeared that Ayman al-Zawahiri, successor to Al-Qaeda’s* notorious leader Osama bin Laden, had died in 2020 after a military raid. Recently, media alleged that he is alive and hiding in a Taliban* safe house in Afghanistan.
The leader of the terrorist group, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was reportedly spotted on Saturday in a video released on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attack, according to SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks the online activity of Islamic extremist groups.
There are new doubts that the 60 minutes of footage is recent, Rita Katz, SITE’s director noted, as he “doesn't mention the Taliban's Afghanistan victory, and his talk of the US 'making its exit from Afghanistan' could have been said early as Feb 2020", following the Doha Agreement.
Leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri
CC BY-SA 3.0 / Hamid Mir / Leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri
Nevertheless, al-Zawahiri spoke about the “Judaisation of Jerusalem” and an attack on a Russian military base carried out by the al-Qaeda-linked group Hurras al-Deen in Syria in January of this year. The latter at least moves the date of his presumed death a little later.
17) Amid rumors of his death, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri shown in new 60-minute video, this time offering some evidence that he is not dead--particularly, reference to events after December, when rumors of death surfaced. (A speech from March offered no such proof) pic.twitter.com/IXpz6wIZvh
— Rita Katz (@Rita_Katz) September 11, 2021
There has been no reliable confirmation of al-Zawahiri’s death, with some reporting that he is seriously ill.
The Taliban's ties to al-Qaeda date back to the 1990s, when they were in power in Afghanistan and reportedly provided for al-Qaeda members, including Osama bin Laden. These ties were reportedly strengthened by their joint struggle against foreign forces in Afghanistan and other interests.
*Terrorist organisations banned in Russia and many other states
.jpg){kind=link}