Al-Zawahiri killed in US drone strike; 10 things about al-Qaida leader

A US drone strike in Afghanistan this weekend killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, who took over as al-Qaida leader after Osama bin Laden’s death in a US raid.

US President Joe Biden hailed the operation as delivering “justice” while expressing hope that it brings “one more measure of closure” to families of the victims of the September 11, 2001, Twin Tower attacks.

Here are 10 things to know on the Ayman al-Zawahiri killing.

1. An Egyptian born surgeon, Ayman al Zawahiri, 71, was considered the main strategist who shaped al-Qaida, while Osama-bin-laden killed in US Navy Seal strike in 2011, was the face and financier of the terror network’s operations.
2. Zawahiri took over from Osama after his death. He gave the goal “Kill Americans everywhere” to the organisation while writing its founding document in 1998.
3. Zawahiri was killed by CIA and not US defence, which confirmed the assertion of a few analysts that US can continue its counter-terror ops even without its troops in Afghanistan.
4. Zawahiri founded Egyptian Islamic Jihad, a militant group, that merged with al-Qaida in the late 1990s.
5. Some analysts believe that the killing of Zawahiri could worsen the relationship between al-Qaida and the US, but there are others who wonder whether Taliban assisted CIA in any manner.
6. While Zawahiri was killed in Afghanistan by a drone strike, Osama was killed in Pakistan by a commando operation led by US defence forces.
7. After Osama’s death, al-Qaida began to operate without a central command. It had a running feud with Islamic State as Zawahiri was opposed to its practice of killing Shiite Muslims.
8. Unlike ISIS that went for violent display of its tactics that included beheading of its victims, Zawahiri believed in building an outfit that would strike tactically, say analysts.
9. Hamza bin Laden, son of Osama bin Laden, who was being groomed for take over from his father and had married one of the daughters of Zawahiri. Hamza however was killed in Afghanistan in 2018.
10. The question of a successor to Zawahiri is still being speculated. But there is certainly none so far who is recognised as broadly as Zawahiri.