Free Republic

The United States killed al Qaeda boss Ayman al-Zawahiri in a drone strike Saturday, following a more than 20-year effort to assassinate the terrorist. Labeled by US officials as Osama bin Laden’s number-two, al-Zawahiri, 71, was a key plotter of the September 11 terrorist attacks and took over as the leader of the notorious terror group following bin Laden’s death in 2011. The strike was carried out early Sunday at an Afghanistan safe house the elderly terrorist had be holed up in, at 6:18 am local time and 9:48 pm Saturday in the US. The early morning attack saw al-Zawahiri...

President Biden addresses the nation about a counterterrorism operation in Afghanistan.

DUBAI, July 19 (Reuters) - An Iranian general collaborated with al Qaeda to arrange the transit through Iran of nine of the September 11 hijackers, the Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported on Monday. "A general in the apparatus (Revolutionary Guard) coordinated with the number two man in al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahri, to provide 'safe passage' to around nine of those who carried out the attacks," the London-based paper said. It cited as its source an official in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and said Zawahri, who requested the help, had links with the general going back to the early 1990s. Iranian...

Al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria is facing mounting pressure from its members to form an ultra-alliance with the rival Islamic State to confront a common enemy after U.S.-led air strikes hit both groups this week. Al Nusra, long one of the most effective forces fighting Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, was weakened this year by battles with Islamic State, an Al Qaeda splinter group that routinely employs ruthless methods such as beheadings and mass executions. U.S.-led air and missile strikes, which have hit Al Nusra as well as Islamic State bases in Syria, have angered many Al Nusra members who...

Al-Qaida has expanded into the Indian subcontinent, the leader of the terror group said in a video statement released Thursday, with a regional group that he vowed would bring Islamic law to the region and “wage jihad against its enemies.” At least three Indian states with large Muslim populations had been put on alert in the wake of the video’s release, local TV stations reported. In the video, which was seen online by the SITE monitoring group, Ayman al-Zawahri said al-Qaida had been preparing for years to set up in the region. The new group “is the fruit of a...

The leader of al-Qaida called on rival Islamic groups in Syria to end their infighting and focus on battling President Bashar Assad's forces in a recording released Thursday. The call by Ayman al-Zawahri came as activists said that fighting between the al-Qaida-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and an array of other Islamic militant groups intensified in northern Syria. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said "Islamic State" fighters fully captured the northern town of Manbij on Thursday after days of fighting. The Observatory said that 1,395 people, mostly rebel fighters, have been killed since the infighting...

As the nation’s spy agencies assess the fallout from disclosures about their surveillance programs, some government analysts and senior officials have made a startling finding: the impact of a leaked terrorist plot by Al Qaeda in August has caused more immediate damage to American counterterrorism efforts than the thousands of classified documents disclosed by Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor. Since news reports in early August revealed that the United States intercepted messages between Ayman al-Zawahri, who succeeded Osama bin Laden as the head of Al Qaeda, and Nasser al-Wuhayshi, the head of the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in...

Al-Qaida's leader on Friday marked the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks by calling on Muslims to strike inside the United States, with big attacks or small, using any opportunity they can to "bleed" America financially. In an audio message released two days after the 12th anniversary of the attacks, Ayman al-Zawahri said America is not a "mythic power" and that the mujahedeen - Islamic holy warriors - can defeat it with attacks "on its own soil." Al-Zawahri, the successor to Osama bin Laden, used the anniversary to argue that the United States can be defeated by targeting its...

Beirut: Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri has urged Sunni Muslims to spare no effort to join the battle in Syria, overthrow President Bashar Assad and set up Islamic rule in the country. Zawahri called on Sunnis everywhere to devote their lives, money and expertise for the fight and prevent a US-allied government from taking over in post-Assad Syria. He urged Sunnis to "rise above their differences" and fight expanding Shiite influence in Syria. The message came in a new audio recording posted today on the Internet. Its authenticity could not be independently confirmed but the message was posted on a militant...

BAGHDAD — Al-Qaida’s chief has called on Muslims from other countries to support rebels in Syria seeking to overthrow President Bashar Assad, saying they cannot depend on the West for help. Ayman al-Zawahri, in a videotaped statement released late Saturday, asked Muslims in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey to join the uprising against Assad’s “pernicious, cancerous regime.” All four states border Syria. 0 Comments Weigh In Corrections? A senior Iraqi security official also told the Associated Press on Saturday that intelligence over the last four months has revealed a flow of al-Qaida-linked fighters from the northern Iraqi city of Mosul...

WASHINGTON -- The health of terrorist cleric Omar Abdel-Rahman, the so-called Blind Sheik, is deteriorating _ renewing fears that his death in prison could trigger an attack on the United States, officials said Thursday. There is no credible indication that an attack on the U.S. is imminent, said several law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the situation. In a two-page bulletin, dated Dec. 8, the FBI reported to federal intelligence officials that Rahman was rushed from prison to a Missouri hospital two days earlier for a blood transfusion. There, doctors discovered...

The CIA has come closer to capturing or killing Osama bin Laden’s top deputy than was previously known, during a nine-year hunt at the root of a devastating 2009 suicide bombing at an agency base in Afghanistan, The Associated Press has learned. The CIA missed a chance to nab Ayman al-Zawahiri in 2003 in the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar, where he met with another senior al-Qaeda leader who was apprehended the next day, several current and former U.S. intelligence officials said. The fugitive Egyptian doctor may also have narrowly survived a bombing by Pakistani military planes in 2004, the...

The CIA has come closer to capturing or killing Osama bin Laden's top deputy than was previously known during the past nine years, the Associated Press has learned. Tragically, the agency thought it had its best chance last year at a secret base in Afghanistan, but instead fell victim to a double agent's devastating suicide bombing. The CIA missed a chance to nab Ayman al-Zawahri in 2003 in the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar, where he met with another senior al Qaeda leader who was apprehended the next day, several current and former U.S. intelligence officials said. The fugitive Egyptian...

Al Qaeda releases new 9/11 video showing Zawahri DUBAI | Wed Sep 15, 2010 10:07am BST (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's number two Ayman al-Zawahri has appeared in an apparently new video marking the September 11, 2001 attacks...

Note: The following news brief is a quote: Turkey Arrests 50 Suspected al-Qaida-Linked Militants By VOA News 15 October 2009 Turkish police have detained at least 50 suspected al-Qaida-linked militants in raids across nine provinces. Local media say the militants, thought to be members of a group (the Islamic Jihad League) tied to al-Qaida, were planning attacks against U.S., Israeli and NATO targets in Turkey. They say the suspects may have had contact with al-Qaida's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, and may have been trained in Afghanistan. Turkey's Hurriyet daily says police Thursday seized an unlicensed gun, documents, CDs and laptops during...

Al Qaeda's second-in-command on Friday accused the United States of leading a crusade to turn Pakistan into a divided nation and urged Pakistanis to join in a jihad to resist. The tape from Ayman al-Zawahri, the second this month, comes after Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a U.S. missile strike on Aug. 5. It also comes after Pakistan's army went on the offensive in late April against an insurgency by al Qaeda allies, the Taliban, in Swat valley after the militants took over the district 120 km (80 miles) from Islamabad, raising fears for Pakistan's stability and...

In the past President Bush had turned this offer for a "truce" with Al Qaeda. Will the Islamic loving President Obama do the same? Qaeda tells Obama conditional truce offer stands DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri said a truce offered to the last U.S. administration was still on the table, but President Barack Obama must withdraw troops from Muslim lands and meet other demands.

CAIRO – Al-Qaida's deputy leader on Tuesday criticized President Barack Obama's upcoming speech to the Islamic world in Cairo, saying it will not change the "bloody messages" the U.S. military is sending Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan. Al-Qaida has repeatedly lashed out at Obama since he was elected, a move some analysts believe indicates the terrorist organization is worried he will be effective in improving the U.S. image in the Muslim world. Obama has pitched his speech at Cairo University on Thursday as a key part of that process. "His bloody messages were received and are still being received by...

(CBS) Al Qaeda's deputy commander, Ayman Zawahri, has issued another scathing attack on President Obama in a new audio tape released on jihadi Web sites. Zawahri argues that the U.S. president is following the same policies as his predecessor, George W. Bush.

Al Qaeda's second-in-command urged Palestinians in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip not to succumb to Arab pressure for a truce with Israel and vowed to support fighting against the Jewish state. The militant leader in a recording posted on the Internet on Monday also called on Muslims in Yemen, Afghanistan and Somalia to press ahead with fighting "crusaders" -- a term used to denote the West -- and their agents. "Israel's Arab aides are trying to impose a calm (truce) on the people of Gaza to stop their jihad ... I tell our brothers and folk in Gaza that jihad to...