Ayman al-Zawahri will take over Al Qaeda as the new leader, after the killing of Osama bin Laden on May 02, a Jihadist website said on Thursday. Egyptian-born Zawahri, bin Laden's deputy and the brain behind many of Al Qaeda's operations, vowed to continue the movement against the United States and its allies.
"The general leadership of al Qaeda group, after the consultation, announced: "Sheikh Dr. Ayman Zawahri, may God give him success, has assumed responsibility for command of the group", the Jihadist website, Ansar al-Mujahideen, (Helpers of the Holy Warriors) sated. "A worthy successor to a great predecessor. We ask God to grant you and your soldiers success for the victory of Islam and Muslims and to raise the banner of religion," another Islamist militant website, As-Ansar, posted.
The statement announcing al-Zawahiri's succession also called upon its followers to continue the fight against the U.S and "conquering infidels, led by America and its stooge, Israel, who have attacked Islam." Denouncing Israel's legitimacy, the statement claimed support for Muslims in Afghanistan, Iraq and North Africa. The al-Qaeda statement also stated the group's support for this year's popular uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Syria and Libya. "We encourage the people of Islam to rise up and continue the struggle with persistence and devotion, until all the corrupt and oppressive regimes imposed by the West are gone," it said.
Zawahri was expected to take over the leadership of al Qaeda, one of the most powerful terror networks in the world, after bin Laden was shot dead by U.S. commandos in Abottabad, an army town in Pakistan. Bin Laden was held responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. In a video message posted on the internet on June 8, Zawahri said al Qaeda would move forward with its campaign against the U.S. "The Sheikh (bin Laden) has departed, may God have mercy on him, to his God as a martyr, and we must continue on his path of jihad to expel the invaders from the land of Muslims and to purify it from injustice," Zawahri said. "Today, and thanks be to God, America is not facing an individual or a group ... but a rebelling nation which has awoken from its sleep in a jihadist renaissance, challenging it wherever it is."
Born to an aristocratic Cairo family, the bespectacled Zawahri trained as a doctor and surgeon. He met bin Laden in the mid-1980s when the latter was in Pakistan giving his support to the guerrillas fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan. Believed to be in his late 50s, Zawahri’s whereabouts are unknown although his expected location is along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The United States is offering a $25 million reward for any information leading to his capture or conviction.
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