PostedAugust 2, 2022, 01:02
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TerrorismJoe Biden announces the death of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda
The successor to Osama Bin Laden at the head of the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda has been killed by an American drone strike in Afghanistan.
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Ayman al-Zawahiri was one of the most wanted terrorists in the world.
–AFP
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US President Joe Biden announced live on Monday the death of Al-Qaeda leader, Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri, killed in the night from Saturday to Sunday in Afghanistan by a drone strike, a new blow. to the terrorist organization.
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“On Saturday, on my orders, the United States carried out an airstrike on Kabul, Afghanistan, which killed the emir of Al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri,” he said during a speech. short speech from the White House. “Justice has been served and this terrorist leader is no more,” added Joe Biden.
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Zawahiri was one of the most wanted terrorists in the world and the United States promised $25 million for any information leading to his location. He had taken the head of the jihadist nebula in 2011, after the death of Osama Bin Laden, killed by an American commando in Pakistan. Not found for more than ten years, he was considered one of the masterminds of the September 11 attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people in the United States.
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His death will allow the families of victims killed on September 11, 2001 in the twin towers of the World Trade Center, in New York, and at the headquarters of the Pentagon near Washington, “to turn the page”, declared the Democratic president. The drone attack was carried out without any US military presence on the ground, a US official said, proof of the ability of the United States “to identify and locate even the most wanted terrorists in the world and to take action in order to eliminate them”.
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Ayman al-Zawahiri had been spotted “repeatedly and for long periods of time on the balcony where he was finally hit” by the strike in the Afghan capital, he added. The operation caused “no civilian casualties”, said Joe Biden during his speech. Ayman al-Zawahiri’s presence in Kabul is also a “clear violation” of the agreements reached with the Taliban in Doha in 2020, according to which the Islamists had pledged not to welcome Al-Qaeda on their soil, noted this manager.
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“Challenges”
“More than 20 years after 9/11, the United States has finally caught up with Ayman al-Zawahiri, the close comrade and successor of Obama Bin Laden”, commented on Monday on Twitter Thomas Joscelyn, expert of the think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “Although it had many flaws, it was not as insignificant as many analysts assumed.” Inheriting in 2011 from a weakened organization, Ayman al-Zawahiri, 71, had to survive to multiply the “franchises” and the allegiances of circumstances, from the Arabian Peninsula to the Maghreb, from Somalia to Afghanistan, Syria and in Iraq.
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“Despite Zawahiri’s leadership (…), the group still faces significant challenges. First, the question of who will lead Al-Qaeda after the disappearance of Zawahiri,” said Colin Clarke, researcher at the American think tank Soufan Group. At the end of 2020, sources had once given credit to rumors that he died of heart disease, but he then reappeared in a video.
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‘No civilian casualties’
Al-Qaeda had already lost its number 2, Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, killed in August 2020 in the streets of Tehran by Israeli agents during a secret mission sponsored by Washington, information revealed at the time by the New York Times. On February 3, Joe Biden announced the death of Islamic State (IS) leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hachimi al-Qourachi during an operation in northern Syria.
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Monday’s announcement comes nearly a year after the chaotic withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, which allowed the Taliban to regain control of the country twenty years later.
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“We say again clearly tonight that no matter how long it takes, no matter where you are hiding, if you pose a threat to our population, the United States will find you and eliminate you”, hammered Joe Biden.
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(AFP)
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