Agencies-Gaza post
Details of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri’s killing
US President Joe Biden announced on Monday that the United States killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and one of the world’s most wanted suspected masterminds behind the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Biden said in a televised speech that he gave the green light to the high-resolution raid that successfully targeted Zawahiri in the Afghan capital over the weekend.
“Justice has been done and this terrorist leader has been eliminated,” Biden added, adding that he hopes Zawahiri’s killing will help the families of the victims of the attacks on 11 September “turn the page.”
A senior US administration official said Zawahiri was on the balcony of his home in Kabul when he was targeted by Hellfire missiles, an hour after sunrise on July 31, and that there were no US soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan.
“We don’t know if he ever left the safe house. We have identified Zawahiri on several occasions and for long periods of time on the balcony where he was eventually targeted “.
According to the official account, the president gave the green light to carry out the strike on July 25, while he was in isolation due to COVID. Biden said there were no civilian casualties in the operation.
The official considered Zawahiri’s presence in the Afghan capital of Kabul a “clear violation” of the Doha Agreement signed by the Taliban with the United States in 2020 and paved the way for the American withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The raid was the first U.S. target for al-Qaida in Afghanistan since U.S. troops withdrew from the country on August 31, 2021.
Al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian doctor who turned into one of the world’s biggest wanted after being accused of directing the attacks of September 2001 in the United States that killed nearly 3,000 people, has been abrupt ever since.
Al-Zawahiri received al-Qaeda leadership after the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011, and the United States has allocated a $25 million prize to those who give information about him.
On Saturday morning, Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry denied reports on social media of a drone strike in Kabul, telling AFP that a rocket hit an “empty house” in the capital and did not result in any injuries.
Early Tuesday, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted about an “air attack” targeting a house in the Shirpur neighborhood of Kabul.
In his tweet, he said that “the nature of the incident was not initially disclosed, the security and intelligence services investigated the incident and found in their preliminary investigations that the attack was carried out by United States drones”.
The news comes a month before the first anniversary of the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan and left the country under the control of the Taliban, who have fought Western forces for the past two decades.
Various elements of the operation show that the United States used a weapon that has not yet been confirmed as “Hellfire” Ar9x “Flying Genso” missiles with an American knife brand inspired by Japan.
This modified version of the United States missile is devoid of any explosive device but equipped with six blades emanating from the missile to cut off the target without causing a storm.
Joe Biden said, “This task is carefully prepared and detailed, and it was successful “.
