Ayman al-Zawahiri

Ayman al-Zawahiri

Ayman al-Zawahiri in 2007.
Born June 19, 1951 (1951-06-19) (age 59)
Maadi, Cairo, Egypt
Occupation Pediatrician, Al-Qaeda leader

Dr. Ayman Muhammad Rabaie al-Zawahiri[1] (Arabic: أيمن محمد ربيع الظواهري‎, Ayman Muḥammad Rabayaḥ aẓ-Ẓawāhirī; born June 19, 1951) is a prominent leader of al-Qaeda, and was the second and last "emir" of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, having succeeded Abbud al-Zummar in the latter role when Egyptian authorities sentenced al-Zummar to life imprisonment. Al-Zawahiri is a qualified surgeon, and is an author of works including numerous al-Qaeda statements. He speaks Arabic, English[2][3] and French. Al-Zawahiri is under worldwide embargo by the UN 1267 Committee as a member or affiliate of al-Qaeda.[4]

In 1998 al-Zawahiri formally merged Egyptian Islamic Jihad into al-Qaeda. According to reports by a former al-Qaeda member, he has worked in the al-Qaeda organization since its inception and was a senior member of the group's shura council. He is often described as a "lieutenant" to Osama bin Laden, though bin Laden's chosen biographer has referred to him as the "real brains" of al-Qaeda.[5] He was criticized by peoples for branding President-elect Barack Obama a "house negro".[6]

Contents

Alternate names and sobriquets

Ayman al-Zawahiri is usually spelled Zawahiri (the pronunciation of his name in his native Egyptian Arabic), but is sometimes spelled "Dhawahiri" if transliterated directly from Modern Standard Arabic, aka Literary Arabic, in certain academic circles. Using the Intelligence Community Standard for the Transliteration of Arabic Names, it is spelled Zawahiri.

Al-Zawahiri has also gone under the names of Abu Muhammad (Abu Mohammed), Abu Fatima, Muhammad Ibrahim, Abu Abdallah, Abu al-Mu'iz, The Doctor, The Teacher, Nur, Ustaz, Abu Mohammed Nur al-Deen, Abdel Muaz (Abdel Moez, Abdel Muez).[7] Ayman Muhammad Rabaie al-Zawahiri is pronounced [ˈʔæjmæn mʊˈħæmːæd rɑˈbiːʕ azˤːɑˈwæːhɪriː] or [aðˤːɑˈwæːhɪriː] in Arabic (the latter is in the Classical).

Biography

Upbringing and education

Ayman al-Zawahiri was born to a prominent upper middle class family in Maadi, Egypt, a suburb of Cairo, and was reportedly a studious youth. His father, Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri, was a pharmacologist and a chemistry professor[8] coming from a large family of doctors and scholars, while his mother, Umayma Azzam, came from a wealthy, politically active clan. He excelled in school, loved poetry, "hated violent sports" — which he thought were 'inhumane' — and had a deep affection for his mother.[9]

His family was "religious but not overly pious",[10] and attended the Hussein Sedqi Mosque.[11] Zawahiri became both quite pious and political, under the influence of his uncle Mahfouz Azzam, and lecturer Mostafa Kamel Wasfi.[11]

Qutb preached that to restore Islam and free Muslims, a vanguard of true Muslims modeling itself after the original Companions of the Prophet had to be developed.[12]

By the age of 14, al-Zawahiri had joined the Muslim Brotherhood. The following year the Egyptian government executed Qutb for conspiracy, and al-Zawahiri, along with four other secondary school students, helped form an "underground cell devoted to overthrowing the government and establishing an Islamist state." It was at this early age that al-Zawahiri developed a mission in life, "to put Qutb's vision into action."[13] His cell eventually merged with others to form al-Jihad or Egyptian Islamic Jihad.[14] Al-Zawahiri graduating from Cairo University in 1974 with gayyid giddan. Following that he served three years as a surgeon in the Egyptian Army after which he established a clinic near his parents.[14] In 1978, he also earned a master's degree in surgery.[15]

Marriage and family

In 1978 he married his wife Azza Ahmed Nowari, who was studying philosophy at Cairo University.[11] Their wedding, at the Continental Hotel in Opera Square,[11] was very pious, with separate areas for both men and women, and no music, photographs, or light hearted humour.[16] Many years later, when the United States attacked Afghanistan following the September 11 attacks in 2001, Azza denied ever knowing that Zawahiri had been a jihadi emir (commander) for the last decade, although at least one acquaintance is skeptical of her ignorance of this fact.[17]

The couple had four daughters, Fatima (b. 1981), Umayma, Nabila (b. 1986) and Khadiga (b. 1987), and a son Mohammed, who was a "delicate, well-mannered boy" and "the pet of his older sisters," subject to teasing and bullying in a traditional all-male environment who preferred to "stay at home and help his mother."[18] Ten years after the birth of Mohammed, Azza gave birth to Assha, who had Down syndrome. In February 2004, Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded, and subsequently stated that Abu Turab Al-Urduni had married one of al-Zawahiri's daughters.[19]

Zaynab Khadr recalled celebrating the engagement of Umayma at the family's house for an all-day party, and al-Zawahiri knocking softly at Umayma's door asking the two girls to please keep their singing and partying quiet as it was nighttime.[20]

Azza and Aisha both died following 9/11. After American bombardment of a Taliban officials building at Gardez, Azza was pinned under debris of a guesthouse roof. Concerned for her modesty, she "refused to be excavated" because "men would see her face." Her four-year-old daughter Aisha had not been hurt by the bombing but died from exposure in the cold night while the rescuers tried to save Azza.[21]

In the first half of 2005, another daughter was born, named Nawwar.[22]

Attempted coup

He eventually became one of Egyptian Islamic Jihad's leading organizers and recruiters. Zawahiri's hope was to recruit military officers and accumulate weapons, waiting for the right moment to launch "a complete overthrow of the existing order."[23] Chief strategist of Al-Jihad was Aboud al-Zumar, a colonel in the military intelligence whose

plan was to kill the main leaders of the country, capture the headquarters of the army and State Security, the telephone exchange building, and of course the radio and television building, where news of the Islamic revolution would then be broadcast, unleashing – he expected – a popular uprising against secular authority all over the country."[23]

The plan was derailed when authorities were alerted to Al-Jihad's plan by the arrest of an operative carrying crucial information, in February 1981. President Anwar Sadat ordered the roundup of more than 1500 people, including many Al-Jihad members, but missed a cell in the military led by Lieutenant Khalid Islambouli, who succeeded in assassinating Sadat during a military parade that October.[24]

Imprisonment and torture

Al-Zawahiri was one of hundreds arrested following Sadat's assassination. Al-Zawahiri's lawyer, Montasser el-Zayat, contends that Zawahiri was tortured in prison.[25]

In his book, Al-Zawahiri as I Knew Him, Al-Zayyat maintains that under torture of the Egyptian police, following his arrest in connection with the murder of Sadat in 1981, Al-Zawahiri revealed the hiding place of Essam al-Qamari, a key member of the Maadi cell of al-Jihad, which led to Al-Qamari's "arrest and eventual execution."[26]

Al-Zawahiri was convicted of dealing in weapons and received a three-year sentence, which he completed in 1984 shortly after his conviction.[27]

Leaving Egypt

In 1985, al-Zawahiri went to Saudi Arabia on Hajj and stayed to practice medicine in Jeddah for a year.[28]

He then traveled to Peshawar, Pakistan where he worked in a Red Crescent hospital treating wounded refugees. There he became friends with the Canadian Ahmed Said Khadr, and the two shared a number of conversations about the need for Islamic government and the needs of the Afghan people.[29] During this time, al-Zawahiri also began reconstituting the Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) along with other exiled militants.[30] The group had "very loose ties to their nominal imprisoned leader, Abud al-Zumur."

In Peshwar, al-Zawahiri is thought to have become radicalized by other Al-Jihad members, abandoning his old strategy of a swift coup d'etat to change society from above, and embracing the idea of takfir.[31] In 1991, EIJ broke with al-Zumur, and al-Zawahiri grabbed "the reins of power" to become EIJ leader.[32]

In Peshawar, he met Osama bin Laden, who was running a base for mujahideen called Maktab al-Khadamat (MAK); founded by the Palestinian Sheikh Abdullah Yusuf Azzam. The radical position of al-Zawahiri and the other militants of Al-Jihad put them at odds with Sheikh Azzam, with whom they competed for bin Laden's financial resources.[33] Zawahiri carried two false passports, a Swiss one in the name of Amin Uthman and a Dutch one in the name of Mohmud Hifnawi.[34]

Relation with Islamic Republic of Iran

Zawahiri has allegedly worked with the Islamic Republic of Iran on behalf of al-Qaeda. Lawrence Wright reports that EIJ operative Ali Mohammed "told the FBI that al-Jihad had planned a coup in Egypt in 1990." Zawahiri had studied the 1979 Islamist Islamic Revolution and "sought training from the Iranians" as to how to duplicate their feat against the Egyptian government.

He offered Iran information about an Egyptian government plan to storm several islands in the Persian Gulf that both Iran and the United Arab Emirates lay claim to. According to Mohammed, in return for this information, the Iranian government paid Zawahiri $2 million and helped train members of al-Jihad in a coup attempt that never actually took place.[35]

However, in public Zawahiri has harshly denounced the Iranian government. In December 2007 he said, "We discovered Iran collaborating with America in its invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq."[36] In the same video messages, he moreover chides Iran for "repeating the ridiculous joke that says that al-Qaida and the Taliban are agents of America," before playing a video clip in which Ayatollah Rafsanjani says, "In Afghanistan, they were present in Afghanistan, because of Al-Qa'ida; and the Taliban, who created the Taliban? America is the one who created the Taliban, and America's friends in the region are the ones who financed and armed the Taliban."[36]

Zawahiri's criticism of Iran's government continues when he states,

Despite Iran's repetition of the slogan 'Death to America, death to Israel,' we haven't heard even one Fatwa from one Shiite authority, whether in Iran or elsewhere, calling for Jihad against the Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan.[36]

Zawahiri has dismissed that there is any cooperation between Iran and Al Qaeda against their common enemy, to wit, the United States.[37] He also said that "Iran Stabbed a Knife into the Back of the Islamic Nation."[38]

In April 2008, Zawahri blamed Iranian state media and Al-Manar for perpetuating the "lie" that "there are no heroes among the Sunnis who can hurt America as no-one else did in history" in order to discredit the Al Qaeda network.[39] Zawahri was referring to some 9/11 conspiracy theories which posit that Al Qaeda itself wasn't responsible for the 9/11 attacks.

On the 7th anniversary of the attacks of September 11th 2001, Zawahri released a 90-minute tape[40] in which he blasted "The guardian of Muslims in Tehran" for recognizing "the two hireling governments"[41] in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Attacks in Egypt

In 1993, Zawahiri traveled to the United States where he addressed several California mosques under his Abdul Mu'iz moniker and relying on his credentials from the Kuwaiti Red Crescent to raise money "for Afghan children who had been injured by Soviet land mines", but only managed to raise $2000.[42]

One result of Zawahiri and EIJ's connection with Iran may have been the use of suicide bombing in August 1993 in an attempt on the life of Egyptian Interior Minister Hasan al-Alfi, the man heading the effort to quash the campaign of Islamist killings in Egypt. It failed, as did an attempt to assassinate Egyptian prime minister Atef Sidqi three months later. The bombing of Sidqi's car did succeed in injuring 21 Egyptians and killing a young schoolgirl, Shayma Abdel-Halim. It also came following two years of killings by another Islamist group, al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, that had killed over 200. Her funeral became a public spectacle, with her coffin carried through the streets of Cairo and crowds shouting, "Terrorism is the enemy of God!"[43] The police arrested 280 more of al-Jihad's members and executed six.

Zawahiri later wrote of his anger with the public reaction. "This meant that they wanted my daughter, who was two at the time, and the daughters of other colleagues, to be orphans. Who cried or cared for our daughters?"[43]

The 1995 attack on the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad was the Egyptian Islamic Jihad's first success under Zawahiri's leadership, but Bin Laden had disapproved of the operation. The bombing alienated the host of the embassy, Pakistan, and Pakistan was "the best route into Afghanistan"[44]

Expulsion from Sudan and time spent in Russia

Following the 1994 execution of the sons of Ahmad Salama Mabruk and Mohammed Sharaf for betraying Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the militants were ordered to leave the Sudan.[45][46] At this time he is said to have "become a phantom"[47] but is thought to have traveled widely to "Switzerland and Sarajevo. A fake passport he was using shows that he traveled to Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong."

On December 1, 1996, Ahmad Salama Mabruk and Mahmud Hisham al-Hennawi – both carrying false passports – accompanied al-Zawahiri on a trip to Chechnya, where they hoped to re-establish the faltering al-Jihad. Their leader was traveling under the name Abdullah Imam Mohammed Amin, and trading on his medical credentials for legitimacy. The group switched vehicles three times, but were arrested within hours of entering Russian territory and spent five months in a Makhachkala prison awaiting trial. The trio pled innocence, maintaining their disguise and having other al-Jihad members from Bavari-C send the Russian authorities pleas for leniency for their "merchant" colleagues who had been wrongly arrested; and Russian Member of Parliament Nadyr Khachiliev echoed the pleas for their speedy release as al-Jihad members Ibrahim Eidarous and Tharwat Salah Shehata traveled to Dagestan to plead for their release. Shehata received permission to visit the prisoners, and is believed to have smuggled them $3000 which was later confiscated from their cell, and to have given them a letter which the Russians didn't bother to translate.[48] In April 1997, the trio were sentenced to six months, and were subsequently released a month later and ran off without paying their court-appointed attorney Abulkhalik Abdusalamov his $1,800 legal fee citing their "poverty".[48] Shehata was sent on to Chechnya, where he met with Ibn Khattab.[47][48][49][50] However, some have raised doubts as to the true nature of al-Zawahiri's encounter with the Russians: Jamestown Foundation scholar Evgenii Novikov has argued that it seems unlikely that the Russians would not have been able to determine who he was, given their well-trained Arabists and the obviously suspicious act of Muslims crossing illegally a border with multiple false identities and encrypted documents in Arabic.[51][52] Assassinated former FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko alleged, among other things, that during this time, al-Zawahiri was indeed being trained by the FSB,[53] and that he was not the only link between al-Qaeda and the FSB.[54] Former KGB officer and writer Konstantin Preobrazhenskiy supported Litvinenko's claim and said that Litvinenko "was responsible for securing the secrecy of Al-Zawahiri's arrival in Russia, who was trained by FSB instructors in Dagestan, Northern Caucasus, in 1996–1997."[55]

Zawahiri and other EIJ members found refuge in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, where Al-Qaeda families had settled. About 250 people were gathered there altogether.

While there Zawahiri learned of a "Nonviolence Initiative" being organized in Egypt to end the terror campaign that had killed hundreds and resulting government crackdown that had imprisoned thousands. Zawahiri angrily opposed this "surrender" in letters to the London newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat.[56] Together with members of al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, he helped organize a massive attack on tourists at the Temple of Hatshepsut to sabotage the initiative by provoking the government into repression.[57]

The attack by six men dressed in police uniforms, succeeded in machine-gunning and hacking to death 58 foreign tourists and four Egyptians, including "a five-year-old British child and four Japanese couples on their honeymoons," and devastated the Egyptian tourist industry for a number of years. Nonetheless the Egyptian reaction was not what Zawahiri had hoped for. The attack so stunned and angered Egyptian society that Islamists denied responsibility. Zawahiri blamed the police for the killing, but also held the tourists responsible for their own deaths for coming to Egypt,

The people of Egypt consider the presence of these foreign tourists to be aggression against Muslims and Egypt, ... The young men are saying that this is our country and not a place for frolicking and enjoyment, especially for you.[58]

The massacre was so unpopular that no terror attacks occurred in Egypt for several years thereafter. Zawahiri was sentenced to death in absentia in 1999 by an Egyptian military tribunal.[59]

Fatwa with Osama bin Laden

Zawahiri profile released by FBI.

On February 23, 1998, he issued a joint fatwa with Osama bin Laden under the title "World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders". Zawahiri, not bin Laden, is thought to have been the actual author of the fatwa.[60]

Following the 2000 USS Cole bombing, Mohammed Atef was moved to Kandahar, Zawahiri to Kabul, and Bin Laden fled to Kabul, later joining Atef when he realised no American reprisal attacks were forthcoming.[61]

Hamid Mir is reported to have said that he believed that Ayman al-Zawahiri was the operational head of al-Qaeda, and that "[h]e is the person who can do the things that happened on Sept. 11."[5] Within days of the attacks, Zawahiri's name was put forward as Bin Laden's second-in-command, with reports suggesting he represented "a more formidable US foe than bin Laden.".[62]

On October 10, 2001, al-Zawahiri appeared on the initial list of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation's top 22 Most Wanted Terrorists, which was released to the public by U.S. President George W. Bush. In early November 2001, the Taliban government announced they were bestowing official Afghan citizenship on him, as well as Bin Laden, Mohammed Atef, Saif al-Adl, and Shaykh Asim Abdulrahman.[63]

In December 2001, al-Zawahiri published the book Knights Under the Prophet's Banner outlining al-Qaeda's ideology.[64] English translations of this book were published; excerpts are available online.[65]

Following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, al-Zawahiri's whereabouts are unknown, but he is generally thought to be in tribal Pakistan. Although he releases videos of himself frequently (see Messages of Ayman al-Zawahiri), al-Zawahiri has not appeared alongside bin Laden in any of them since 2003. In 2003, it was rumored that he was under arrest by Iran, although no later confirmation appeared.[66]

On January 13, 2006, the Central Intelligence Agency launched an airstrike on Damadola, a Pakistani village near the Afghan border, where they believed al-Zawahiri was located. The airstrike was supposed to have killed al-Zawahiri and was thus reported in international news the following days. Many victims were buried without being identified. Anonymous U.S. government officials claimed that some terrorists were killed and the Bajaur tribal area government confirmed that at least four terrorists were among the dead.[67] Anti-American protests broke out around the country and the Pakistani government condemned the U.S. attack and the loss of innocent life.[68] On January 30, a new video was released showing al-Zawahiri unhurt. The video did discuss the airstrike, but did not reveal if al-Zawahiri was present in the village at that time.

Al-Zawahiri supplied direction for the Lal Masjid siege in July 2007. Pakistani Army troops taking control of the Red Mosque in Islamabad found letters from al-Zawahiri directing Islamic militants Abdul Rashid Ghazi and Abdul Aziz Ghazi, who ran the mosque and adjacent madrasah. This conflict resulted in 100 deaths.[69]

On August 1, 2008, CBS News reported that it had obtained a copy of an intercepted letter dated July 29, 2008, from unnamed sources in Pakistan, which urgently requested a doctor to treat al-Zawahiri. The letter indicated that al-Zawahiri was critically injured in a US missile strike at Azam Warsak village in South Waziristan on July 28 that also reportedly killed al Qaeda explosives expert Abu Khabab al-Masri. Taliban Mehsud spokesman Maulvi Umar told the Associated Press on August 2, 2008, that the report of al-Zawahiri's injury was false.[70]

In early September 2008, Pakistan military claimed that they "almost" captured al-Zawahiri after getting information that he and his wife were in the Mohmand Agency, in northwest Pakistan. After raiding the area, officials didn't find him.[71]

Views on female combatants

Zawahri has said in an interview that the group does not have women combatants and that a woman's role is limited to caring for the homes and children of al-Qaeda fighters.[72] This resulted in a debate regarding the role of mujahid women like Sajida al-Rishawi.

Video and audio messages

Wanted in the USA and Egypt

Online Q&A

In mid-December 2007, Ayman al-Zawahiri's spokespeople announced plans for an "open interview" on a handful of Islamic Web sites. The administrators of four known jihadist web sites have been authorized to collect and forward questions, "unedited," they pledge, and "regardless of whether they are in support of or are against" al-Qaida, which would be forwarded to al-Zawahiri on 16 January.[80] Zawahiri responded to the questions later in 2008; among the things he said were that al-Qaeda did not kill innocents, and that al-Qaeda would move to target Israel once it was finished in Iraq.[81][82]

Emergence as Al Qaeda's Chief Commander

On April 30, 2009, the US State Department reported that Zawahiri had now emerged as the Al Qaeda's operational and strategic commander[83] and that Osama Bin Laden was now only the ideological figurehead of the organization.[83]

Bibliography

See also

References

  1. ↑ al-Zawahiri is also sometimes being transliterated al-Dhawahiri to reflect normative classical Arabic pronunciation beginning with [ðˤ]
  2. ↑ http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD202208
  3. ↑ Wilkinson, Isambard (August 11, 2008). "Al-Qa'eda chief Ayman Zawahiri attacks Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf in video". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/2540522/Al-Qaeda-chief-Ayman-Zawahiri-attacks-Pakistans-Pervez-Musharraf-in-video.html. Retrieved April 26, 2010. 
  4. ↑ UN list of affiliates of al-Qaeda and the Taliban
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Baldauf, Scott (31 October 2001). "The 'cave man' and Al Qaeda". Christian Science Monitor. http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1031/p6s1-wosc.html. Retrieved 2008-04-17. 
  6. ↑ http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1860940,00.html
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Most Wanted Terrorists – Ayman Al-Zawahiri". Federal Bureau of Investigation, US Department of Justice. http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/terrorists/teralzawahiri.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-23. 
  8. ↑ CommonDreams, The Drone, the CIA and a botched attempt to kill Bin Laden's deputy
  9. ↑ Lawrence Wright (2006). The Looming Tower. Knopf. Chapter 2. ISBN 9-375-41486-X. 
  10. ↑ Wright, The Looming Tower, p. 34.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 El-Zayyat, Montasser, "The Road to al-Qaeda", 2004. tr. by Ahmed Fakry
  12. ↑ Qutb, Milestones, pp. 16, 20 (pp. 17–18).
  13. ↑ Wright, p. 37.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Wright, p. 42.
  15. ↑ Bergen, Peter L. (2006). The Osama bin Laden I Know. Free Press. pp. 66. ISBN 9780743278911. 
  16. ↑ Wright, pp. 43–44.
  17. ↑ Wright, p. 370.
  18. ↑ Wright, pp. 254–5.
  19. ↑ Intelligence report, interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, February 18, 2004.
  20. ↑ Wright, Lawrence, "The Looming Tower", 2006.
  21. ↑ Wright, p. 371.
  22. ↑ Bergen, Peter. "The Osama bin Laden I Know", 2006. p. 367
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Wright, p. 49.
  24. ↑ Wright, p. 50.
  25. ↑ "Dr Zawahiri had been imprisoned and, according to friends, beaten frequently after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981."
    Bowcott, Owen (2003-01-24). "Torture trail to September 11: A two-part investigation into state brutality opens with a look at how the violent interrogation of Islamist extremists hardened their views, helped to create al-Qaida and now, more than ever, is fuelling fundamentalist hatred.". London: The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/story/0,12469,881096,00.html. Retrieved 2006-08-29. 
  26. ↑ Raphaeli, Nimrod (Winter 2002). "Ayman Muhammad Rabi' Al-Zawahiri: The Making of an Arch Terrorist". Terrorism and Political Violence 14 (4): 1–22.  Cited in "Ayman Muhammad Rabi' Al-Zawahiri". The Jewish Virtual Library. 2003-03-11. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Zawahiri.html. Retrieved 2006-08-29. 
  27. ↑ Wright, pp. 57–8.
  28. ↑ Wright, p. 60.
  29. ↑ Michelle Shephard, "Guantanamo's Child", 2008.
  30. ↑ Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower, 2006 ISBN 9-375-41486-X.
  31. ↑ Interview with Usama Rushdi. Wright, 2006, pp. 124–5.
  32. ↑ Wright, p. 124.
  33. ↑ Wright, p. 103.
  34. ↑ Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Summary of the Security Intelligence Report concerning Mahmoud Jaballah, February 22, 2008.
  35. ↑ Wright, p. 174.
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 36.2 Ayman al Zawahiri: Review of Events: As Sahab's Fourth Interview with Zawahiri
  37. ↑ "Al-Zawahiri: 'Iran Stabbed a Knife into the Back of the Islamic Nation". http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9a5_1198012243. 
  38. ↑ "Al-Zawahiri in Two Recent Messages: ‘Iran Stabbed a Knife into the Back of the Islamic Nation;’ Urges Hamas to Declare Commitment to Restoring the Caliphate". MEMRI. 2007-12-18. http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP178707. 
  39. ↑ "Al-Qaeda accuses Iran of 9/11 lie". BBC News. 2008-04-22. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7361414.stm. 
  40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26611113/
  41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/09/08/africa/ME-Al-Qaida-Tape.php
  42. ↑ Wright, p. 179.
  43. ↑ 43.0 43.1 Wright, p. 186.
  44. ↑ Wright, Looming Towers, 2006, p. 217.
  45. ↑ al-Shafey, Mohammed. Asharq Alawsat, Al-Qaeda's secret Emails: Part Four, June 19, 2005.
  46. ↑ Sageman, Marc, Understanding Terror Networks, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004, p. 45.
  47. ↑ 47.0 47.1 Wright, p. 250.
  48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 48.2 Wall Street Journal, "Saga of Dr. Zawahri Sheds Light On the Roots of al Qaeda Terror".
  49. ↑ Gebara, Khalil (10 February 2005). "The End of Egyptian Islamic Jihad?". The Jamestown Foundation. http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=411&issue_id=3228&article_id=2369243. Retrieved 2006-12-07. 
  50. ↑ Naughton, Philippe (2005-08-04). "The man they call Osama bin Laden's brain". London: Times Online. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article551544.ece. Retrieved 2008-05-03. 
  51. ↑ Novikov, Evgenii (15 January 2004). "A Russian agent at the right hand of bin Laden?". The Jamestown Foundation. http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=400&issue_id=2899&article_id=23472. Retrieved 2008-04-16. 
  52. ↑ Finn, Peter (2005-02-27). "Fear Rules In Russia's Courtrooms". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A56441-2005Feb26. Retrieved 2008-05-03. 
  53. ↑ "Obituary: Alexander Litvinenko". BBC News. 24 November 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6163502.stm. Retrieved 2008-04-16. 
  54. ↑ Osborne, Sean (6 May 2007). "Ayman al-Zawahiri: Echoes of Alexander Litvinenko". Northeast Intelligence Network. http://www.homelandsecurityus.com/node/993. Retrieved 2008-04-16. 
  55. ↑ Russia and Islam are not Separate: Why Russia backs Al-Qaeda, by Konstantin Preobrazhensky.
  56. ↑ Wright, pp. 255–6.
  57. ↑ Wright, pp. 256–7.
  58. ↑ Wright, pp. 257–8.
  59. ↑ Al Jazeera English – Archive – Profile: Ayman Al-Zawahiri
  60. ↑ Wright, p. 259.
  61. ↑ National Commission on Terrorist Attacks, 9/11 Commission, p. 191.
  62. ↑ Independent Online, Egyptian surgeon named as Bin Laden's heir, September 24, 2001.
  63. ↑ The Hindu, Taliban grants Osama citizenship, November 9, 2001.
  64. ↑ Aboul-Enein, Youssef H. (Jan–February 2005). "Ayman Al-Zawahiri's Knights under the Prophet's Banner: the al-Qaeda Manifesto". Military Review. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PBZ/is_1_85/ai_n14695417/print. Retrieved 2006-08-29. 
  65. ↑ "Al-Sharq Al-Awsat Publishes Extracts from Al-Jihad Leader Al-Zawahiri's New Book". 2001-02-12. http://faculty.msb.edu/murphydd/ibd/MiddleEast-Islam/Zawahiri's%202001%20book%20extracts.htm. Retrieved 2006-08-29. 
  66. ↑ AFP, Iran holding Zawahiri, Abu Ghaith; al-Arabiya TV, June 28, 2003.
  67. ↑ Pakistan: At least 4 terrorists killed in U.S. strike – USA Today.
  68. ↑ Pakistan rally against US strike – BBC news
  69. ↑ Bin Laden’s deputy behind the Red Mosque bloodbath, Dean Nelson, Islamabad and Ghulam Hasnain, TIMESONLINE, 15 July 2007
  70. ↑ Associated Press, "Missile Strike On Al-Zawahri Disputed", August 3, 2008.
  71. ↑ "No evidence of al Qaeda No. 2's illness or death, U.S. says". CNN. 2008-08-01. http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/08/01/alzawahiri/. Retrieved 2008-08-02. 
  72. ↑ Al-Qaida's Stance on Women Sparks Extremist Debate
  73. ↑ Al Qaeda No. 2: We don't kill innocents
  74. ↑ 9/11 theory propagated by Iran: Al-Qaeda
  75. ↑ "Al Qaeda message blames Obama, Egypt for Gaza violence - CNN.com". CNN. January 6, 2009. http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/06/gaza.alqaeda/index.html. Retrieved April 26, 2010. 
  76. ↑ "Zawahri Says Libya Killed Man Who Linked Iraq, Qaeda". New York Times. 2009-10-04. Archived from the original on 2009-10-04. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2Freuters%2F2009%2F10%2F04%2Fworld%2Finternational-us-qaeda-libya-militant.html&date=2009-10-04. 
  77. ↑ Anti-Defamation League: "Al Qaeda Second-in-Command Calls for ‘Jihad against Jews’” December 17, 2009
  78. ↑ Copy of indictment USA v. Usama bin Laden et al., Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Monterey Institute of International Studies
  79. ↑ Wanted poster for al-Zawahiri, Rewards for Justice Program, US Department of State.
  80. ↑ Musharbash, Yassin (2007-01-16). "Ask al-Qaida: A jihadi advice column? Osama bin Laden's second-in-command answers questions from fans of the terror group worldwide". Salon/Der Speigel. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/01/16/ask_al_qaida/. 
  81. ↑ http://www.janes.com/news/security/terrorism/jtsm/jtsm080502_1_n.shtml
  82. ↑ http://www.lauramansfield.com/OpenMeetingZawahiri_Part%201.pdf
  83. ↑ 83.0 83.1 "Al Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri calls the shots, says State Department". Daily News (New York). April 30, 2009. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/04/30/2009-04-30_al_qaeda_no_2_calls_the_shots.html. 

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See also
Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse · Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act · Axis of evil · Bush Doctrine · CIA-run Black sites · The Clash of Civilizations · Combatant Status Review Tribunal · Criticism of the War on Terror · Enhanced interrogation techniques · Extrajudicial prisoners of the US · Extraordinary rendition · Guantanamo Bay detention camp · Military Commissions Act · NSA electronic surveillance program · Pakistani role · Luis Posada Carriles · President's Surveillance Program · Protect America Act of 2007 · Targeted killing · Targeted Killing in International Law · Unitary executive theory · Unlawful combatant · USA PATRIOT Act
Terrorism · War
al-Jihad under the leadership of Ayman al-Zawahiri
al-Zawahiri ran AJ from 1991 until 2001, when it merged with al-Qaeda
Vanguards of Conquest
Kamel Agiza, Mohammad Zeki Mahjoub, Essam Marzouk, Ihab Saqr, Yassir al-Sirri
The Core of al-Jihad
Ayman al-Zawahiri, Attack on the Egyptian Embassy in Pakistan, Returnees from Albania, Mohammed Atef, Mohammed Mutaleb, Sayyed Imam Al-Sharif, Thirwat Shehata, Adil Awad Siyam
Killed in operations
Nazih Nushi Rashed, Tarek Abdel-Nabi
Alleged members of al-Jihad
Hani al-Sibai, Ali Mohamed, Ahmad Salamah Mabruk, Essam al-Qamari, Muhammad al-Zery, Mahmoud Jaballah, Ibrahim Ismail Allam, Ibrahim Eidarous, Adel Abdel Bary, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, Barakat Fahim Ali Mohamed, Muhammad al-Zery, Salem el-Masri, Sayyed Ahmed Abdel-Maqssuod, Sayyed Ajami, Osama Hassan Ahmed, Saeed Salama, Abdel Fahmi, Issam Alim, Ahmad Isma'il 'Uthman, Mahmud Hisham al-Hennawi, Ali Sayyid Muhamed Mustafa al-Bakri, Abu Muaz al-Masry, Ahmad Ibrahim al-Naggar, Tareq Ali Mursi, Magid Mostafa, Mohammad Hassan Mahmoud, Mohammad Huda, Shawqi Salama Mustafa Atiya, Abu Talal al-Qasimi, Mohamed Hassan Tita, Ameen Yusef al-Domeiry, Khaled Medhet al-Fiqi, Muhammad Abdelrahim al-Sharqawi, Muhammad al-Zawahiri, Yusef Abdel Majeed, Essam Hendawi, Abdel Hadi al-Tunsi, Nabeel al-Bora'i, Essam Hasheesh, Waheed Gamal al-Deen, Hassan Ali, Ismaeel Tantawi