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
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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.
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