Who was Ayman Al Zawahiri? Al-Qaeda leader killed in US drone strike 

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al Zawahiri was killed during a US drone strike attack in Afghanistan on July 31, 2022. The news of his execution was announced by President Joe Biden in a speech from the White House.

Al Zawahiri was one of America’s "most wanted" terrorists and was known as the second leader of Al-Qaeda, who aided Osama Bin Laden to plan and execute the deadly 9/11 attack.

During his speech, Biden mentioned that Al Zawahiri served as the leader of the terrorist organization since the US killed Laden nearly a decade ago. He also said that the latest operation will bring justice to the 3000 victims of the 2011 attack and their families:

“Since the United States delivered justice to bin Laden 11 years ago, Zawahiri has been a leader of al-Qaeda. From hiding, he co-ordinated al-Qaeda's branches and all around the world, including setting priorities for providing operational guidance and calling for and inspired attacks against US targets. Now justice has been delivered and this terrorist leader is no more.”

Biden also confirmed that he authorized a counterterrorism attack in Kabul following several weeks of planning:

“I authorized a precision strike that would remove him from the battlefield, once and for all.”

The president further mentioned that, the US will continue to stand against any individual who poses a threat to the country:

“No matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the United States will find you and take you out. . .We shall never waver from defending our nation and its people.”

The drone strike comes nearly a year after US troops withdrew from Afghanistan and brought an end to the military presence that was established after the 9/11 attack. In 2020, the US and Taliban also signed a peace deal which prevented Al-Qaeda or any such group from operating in areas under their control.

Prior to the announcement of Ayman Al Zawahiri’s death, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid took to social media to confirm that an air strike by the US was conducted in the Sherpur area of Kabul on July 31.

Mujahid also said that Afghanistan condemned the attack as it allegedly violated “international principles and the Doha Agreement.” However, US officials countered the claim by accusing the Taliban leaders of being aware about Al Zawahiri’s presence in the area.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the BBC that the Taliban “grossly violated” the peace deal by “hosting and sheltering” Al Zawahiri in Kabul. Meanwhile, Joe Biden revealed that the US Intelligence community located Zawahiri when he moved to a safehouse in Kabul to reunite with his family.

Ayman Al Zawahiri was attacked by two Hellfire missiles while he was resting on the balcony of his safehouse. It has also been confirmed that no civilians or members of the former’s family were harmed during the operation.

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Everything to know about Ayman Al Zawahiri

Ayman Al Zawahiri became an close aide to Osama Bin Laden over the years (Image via Getty Images)

Ayman Al Zawahiri was an Egyptian terrorist leader, physician and theologian. He was born to Mohammed Rabie Al Zawahiri and Umayma Azzam on June 19, 1951, in Giza. His father was a professor of pharmacology while his maternal grandfather was the president of Cairo University.

He reportedly grew up in a prosperous household and was a studious child who loved poetry and performed well in school, eventually graduating with a degree in medicine from Cairo University in 1974. He went on to serve three years as a surgeon in the Egyptian Army.

The physician then established a clinic in Maadi and also earned a master's degree in surgery in 1978. He was fluent in Arabic, English and French. Al Zawahiri reportedly joined Egypt’s radical Islamic group during his teenage years and was one of the hundred individuals arrested in 1981 following the assassination of President Anwar Sadat.

Following his three-year prison sentence, Al Zawahiri reportedly embraced a nomadic lifestyle and met Osama Bin Laden in the process. While living in Afghanistan in 1997, he planned a deadly attack on a group of tourists in Luxor that claimed 62 lives.

The following year, Ayman Al Zawahiri officially merged the Egyptian Islamic Jihad into Al-Qaeda and issued a joint “fatwa” with Bin Laden. An excerpt from the 1998 manifesto stated the organization’s aim to harm Americans and allies:

“To kill Americans and their allies — civilian and military — is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in every country in which it is possible to do it.”

In 2009, the U.S. State Department reported that Ayman Al Zawahiri has been appointed as Al-Qaeda’s operational and strategic commander. Ayman Al Zawahiri helped to plan and organize the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Following the major attack, Al Zawahiri was forced to abandon his bioweapon lab in Afghanistan after his Taliban allies were driven out of power by the US military. He reportedly fled to Pakistan with Bin Laden and stayed undercover to avoid capture.

After the US successfully executed Osama Bin Laden in 2011, Ayman Al Zawahiri became the leader of the Al-Qaeda. In the wake of the Arab Spring Uprisings, Al Zawahiri failed to assert complete leadership over the groups.

The Al-Nusra Front, the Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, decided to distance itself from the parent organization. Meanwhile, the Islamic State also chose to break ties with Al Zawahiri.

Over the years, the Egyptian distanced himself from the public eye and mostly immersed himself in writing essays and poetry. He also made rare video appearances while the manhunt to discover his residential location continued in the US.

Ayman Al Zawahiri was ultimately killed in a “precision drone strike” by the US in Kabul this weekend. He was 71 years old at the time of his passing.