Earlier than his loss of life in an in a single day US particular forces raid, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi was amongst one of many world’s most needed terrorists. Al-Qurayshi took the helm of the Islamic State after Abu Bakr al-Baghadi died in the same US operation in 2019.
In remarks on Thursday, President Joe Biden stated al-Qurayshi’s loss of life would despatched a robust message to terrorists worldwide: “We are going to come after you and discover you.” Right here’s a take a look at a number of different Center East terrorists who stay at massive and whose whereabouts are sought by the USA.
Ayman al-Zawahiri is the present chief of al-Qaeda. Born right into a distinguished Egyptian household, al-Zawahiri merged his group, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, with al-Qaeda in 1998. He served as Osama bin Laden’s private doctor and closest adviser till his loss of life in 2011.
The US authorities accuses al-Zawahiri of plotting the USS Cole bombing in Yemen, which killed 17 US sailors in October 2000. He’s additionally believed to have helped coordinate the 9/11 assaults and was indicted in the USA for his position within the 1988 twin US embassy bombings that killed 224 individuals in Kenya and Tanzania. In September 2021, al-Zawahiri, who was rumored lifeless, appeared in a brand new video marking the twentieth anniversary of 9/11. The US State Division has provided a $25 million reward for info on his location.
Abu Mohammed al-Golani heads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the US-designated terrorist group that controls a lot of Idlib province in northwest Syria. HTS emerged from al-Qaeda’s former affiliate in Syria referred to as al-Nusra Entrance and has undergone a number of rebrands. Golani formally broke ties with al-Qaeda in 2016 and in recent times, he has sought to painting HTS as a moderate Syrian opposition group preventing the federal government of President Bashar al-Assad.
Khalid al-Batarfi has been the emir of al-Qaeda within the Arabian Peninsula since February 2020, following the loss of life of the Yemeni group’s former chief Qasim al-Rimi in a US airstrike. Al-Batarfi, who beforehand served as a spiritual decide and AQAP’s chief spokesperson, referred to as for violence against Jews and the USA in a 2018 video. In February 2021, a United Nations report mistakenly claimed al-Batarfi was captured months earlier in Yemen’s jap Mahra governorate.
Salim Jamil Ayyash is a former high Hezbollah operative who performed a key position within the 2005 assassination of Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. In accordance with the State Department, Ayyash was a senior determine in Unit 121, the group’s assassination squad that receives orders straight from Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. In 2020, a world tribunal convicted Ayyash in absentia of terrorism and murder for his position within the truck bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others. The US authorities additionally says Ayyash has been concerned in efforts to hurt American army personnel.
Abd al-Rahman al-Maghrebi, often known as Muhammad Abbatay, is an al-Qaeda chief who the US authorities believes is based in Iran. The Moroccan-born terrorist is the son-in-law of al-Zawahiri. The State Division describes him because the longtime director of al-Qaeda’s media arm, al-Shahab.
Ibrahim al-Banna, often known as Abu Ayman al-Masri, is a senior AQAP chief and founding member of the terrorist group. In accordance with the State Division, he has served because the group’s head of safety and supplied army and safety steerage to AQAP’s management.
