Saif al-Adel | |
|---|---|
سيف العدل | |
 Al-Adel in 2000 | |
| 3rd GeneralEmir ofal-Qaeda[a] | |
| Assumed office 1 August 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Ayman al-Zawahiri (as General Emir) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Mohamed Salah al-Din al-Halim Zaidan[2] (1960-04-11)11 April 1960 (age 65) or (1963-04-11)11 April 1963 (age 62)[3] |
| Spouse | Asma |
| Relations | Abu Walid al-Masri (father-in-law) Rabiah Hutchinson (mother-in-law) Khaled Cheikho (brother-in-law) |
| Children | 5 |
| Other names | |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |
|
| Years of service | 1976–present |
| Rank | Colonel(before 1988) Emir (de facto)(2022–present) |
| Battles / wars | |
Mohamed Salah al-Din al-Halim Zaidan (Arabic:محمد صلاح الدين الحليم زيدان; born 11 April 1960/1963), commonly known by hisnom de guerreSaif al-Adel (Arabic:سيف العدل,lit. 'sword ofjustice'), is an Egyptian Islamic militant who is thede facto leader ofal-Qaeda.[1][7] Previously anEgyptian Army officer, Al-Adelfought the Soviets as anAfghan Arab before becoming a founding member of the al-Qaeda organization. He is a member of al-Qaeda'sMajlis al-Shura and has headed the organisation's military committee since the death ofMohammed Atef in 2001.[8][9] It is alleged that he is currently[as of?] living inIran along with several other senior members of the group though this remains unproven.[1][7][needs update]
Once a colonel inEgypt'sEl-Sa'ka Forces during the 1980s,[10] theEgyptian military expelled al-Adel in 1987 and arrested him alongside thousands ofIslamists amid allegations of attempting to rebuild theEgyptian Islamic Jihad and plans to toppleHosni Mubarak. The charges were dismissed, though al-Adel soon left Egypt forAfghanistan, joiningAfghan Arabmujahideen resisting theSoviet invasion under the banner of al-Qaeda forerunnerMaktab al-Khidamat in 1988.[11][10] al-Adel would go on to become the chief of newly formed al-Qaeda's media department, and was involved in the production ofOsama bin Laden's videos which quickly found audiences worldwide.[11] By the early nineties, al-Adel is thought to have then traveled tosouthern Lebanon withAbu Talha al-Sudani,Saif al-Islam al-Masri, Abu Ja`far al-Masri, and Abu Salim al-Masri, where they trained alongsideHezbollah Al-Hejaz.[12] Sometime after, al-Adel became a member of the AQ Shura council, and by 1992 had become a member of its military committee, then headed byMuhammad Atef. He has provided military and intelligence training to members of al-Qaeda andEgyptian Islamic Jihad inAfghanistan,Pakistan, andSudan, and to anti-AmericanSomali tribes.[13] Shifting toKhartoum in 1992, al-Adel taught militant recruits how to handle explosives.[14][10] It is possible that his trainees included Somalis who participated in the firstBattle of Mogadishu in 1993.[15] al-Adel also established the al-Qaeda training facility atRas Kamboni in Somalia near the Kenyan border.[16]
The9/11 Commission Report states that in July 2001, three senior AQ Shura council members including al-Adel,Saeed al-Masri, andMahfouz Ould al-Walid opposed bin Laden andAyman al-Zawahiri's decision to execute theSeptember 11 attacks.[17] Following the subsequentUnited States invasion of Afghanistan, al-Adel was given secret asylum in Iran during which he was monitored by theIslamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). In 2015, al-Qaeda made a deal with the IRGC'sQods Force to return Saif to Afghanistan, though he reportedly refused, stating a preference for maintaining Iran as his base of activities.[18] al-Adel is currently under indictment in the United States, with charges related to his alleged role in the1998 US Embassy bombings inTanzania andKenya.[13][4]
BeforeZawahiri's assassination in 2022, Saif al-Adel had become the effective micro-manager of field commanders of AQ branches in Somalia, Yemen and Syria from his communication base in Iran.[18] A 2023 United Nations report concluded that al-Adel had been namedde facto leader of al-Qaeda but that he had not been formally proclaimed as itsemir due to "political sensitives" of theTalibangovernment in acknowledging the killing of Zawahiri inKabul and the "theological and operational" challenges posed by location of al-Adel inShia-led Iran.[19][20][21][22] With the death of Zawahiri, Saif al-Adel is one of al-Qaeda's few surviving founding members. al-Adel has been tightening his grip over the AQ branches, promoting a loyalist base of field commanders and increasing his influence inthe group's branch in theArabian Peninsula, known as AQAP, while waiting to be officially declared emir. Saif has made attempts to shift AQ's central command toYemen, a country where the grouphas long had a branch.[18]
| External image | |
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 TheFBI Most Wanted Terrorists entry for Saif al-Adelcontains a photo of him inTehran in 2012 alongsideAbu Muhammad al-Masri (killed 2020) andAbu Khayr al-Masri (killed 2017). |
Al-Adel was born around 1960 (theFBI claims April 11), joining theEgyptian Armed Forces around 1976 and became a colonel in the El-Sa'ka Forces by the 80's as an explosives expert, possibly being trained in theSoviet Union.[23] He fled Egypt in 1988 and made his way to Afghanistan, joining the relatively small but well funded (and mainlyEgyptian andSaudi)Maktab al-Khidamat, the forerunner to what would become al-Qaeda.[23] He became an explosives trainer for new recruits and would stay in Afghanistan after the war to train members of the newly formed Taliban. The late emir ofSomali al-Qaeda affiliateal-Shabaab,Ahmed Godane, stated that al-Adel and futureal-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia leaderYusuf al-Ayiri played an important role in the1993 Battle of Mogadishu by providing training and participating in the battle directly against American forces.[24] Al-Adel would later join Osama bin Laden in Sudan after 1994.
Until 2012, there was much dispute over al-Adel's real name and identity. According to theUniversity of Exeter professorOmar Ashour, the FBI's previous information on al-Adel had confused the biographies of two different members of al-Qaeda; 'Mohamed Salah al-Din al-Halim Zaidan' and 'Muhammad Ibrahim al-Makkawi'. Ashour states that imagery of al-Adel inFBI "Most Wanted List" depicts Zaidan and asserts that, like Makkawi, Zaidan was also a colonel of the Egyptian military. As of present, most intelligence agencies and analysts today confirm that al-Adel's real identity is that of Zaidan's.[25][2][26] Makkawi was arrested by the Egyptian police on 29 February 2012 upon arrival atCairo Airport fromPakistan. During interrogation, Makkawi denied that he was al-Adel and claimed that he had splintered his affiliation with the organization in 1989. By the time of his arrest, Makkawi had been married in Pakistan and had a family there, and was reportedly distressed to see his name being promoted under the image of Saif al-Adel. An Egyptian lawyer asserted that Makkawi was an Egyptian military officer who was arrested in the 1980s over ties to jihadist organizations. He later escaped to Afghanistan and became a member of al-Qaeda. However, the lawyer also claimed that Makkawi was a different person from Saif al-Adel and had severed ties with al-Qaeda long ago. The real al-Adel, currently based in Iran, was a supervisor of Bin Laden's personal security and has been described as an "experienced professional soldier" within the jihadist movement.[27][7]Noman Benotman, a former leader of the al-Qaeda-linkedLibyan Islamic Fighting Group, stated that he had met both Makkawi and al-Adel.[28][29] Some analysts believe that al-Adel may have once used Makkawi's name as analias.[4]
Several months before the 1998 embassy bombings, al-Adel was helpingOsama bin Laden move his followers fromNajim Jihad toTarnak Farms. The group had begrudgingly agreed to care for the troublesome Canadian 16-year-old,Abdurahman Khadr, since his father was away and his mother couldn't control his drinking, smoking and violent outbursts. However, while they were inKabul, bin Laden asked Adel to take Abdurahman to the bus station and send him back to his family's home.[30]
In approximately 2000, Adel was living in theKarte Parwan district of Kabul. On the localwalkie-talkie communications in the city, he was identified as #1.[30] On 9 September 2001, Adel was approached byFeroz Ali Abbasi, who said he was so impressed bythe killing ofAhmed Shah Massoud that he wanted to volunteer for something similar.[31]
The entire crew of the tank escaped. Shrapnel hit Khalid in the head, paralyzing the left side of his body. He recovered after four months, except for a slight effect in his left hand.
In early November 2001, theTaliban government announced they were bestowing official Afghancitizenship on Adel, as well as Bin Laden,Zawahiri,Mohammed Atef, and ShaykhAsim Abdulrahman.[33] During the American bombardment ofKandahar, Adel was present and witnessed the deaths of Abu-Ali al-Yafi'i and his wife, Abu-Usamah al-Ta'zi with his wife and two children, the wife of Rayyan al-Ta'zi, the wife of Abu-Usamah al-Kini, and the wife of Al-Barra al-Hijazi who was arrested in Morocco before theCasablanca bombings.[34]
On 18 November, Adel was working with Abu-Muhammad al-Abyad, Abd-al-Rahman al-Masri, Abu-Usamah al-Filastini, Abu-Husayn al-Masri and Faruq al-Suri; all of whom were staying in his empty house with him at night. In the early morning hours of 19 November, he woke them up just minutes before theal-Wafa charity building was bombed. Phoning friends in the area, he learned that Abdul Wahid had been killed in the explosion.[34] He later learned that Asim al-Yamani, from Al Farouq training camp, and the elderly Abu-Abd-al-Rahman Al-Abiy had run to the charity's headquarters and begun rescuing survivors and pulling out the dead bodies. The pair agreed the area was not safe, and sent their women to the smaller villages, while they used their two cars to try and pack up their house's contents. An American jet bombed the pair, killing al-Yamani and wounding al-Abiy.[34]
As it was the third day ofRamadan, the group in Adel's house began to prepare and eatSuhoor, but were interrupted by acruise missile striking 100 metres away, destroying an empty house belonging to anAfghan Arab family, and aTaliban barracks. They gathered their belongings and quickly left, fearing another strike.[34] Adel went to the hospital, where he visited the wounded al-Abiy, and arranged for him to be transferred to a hospital in Pakistan.[34]
After Adel was told by Abu Ali al-Suri that the American aircraft had machinegunned women leaving the city on the road to Banjway, Adel said that he would send aid. A convoy of 4–6Corolla Fielders set out to Banjway, followed closely by American helicopters. The Americans attacked the lead vehicle, killing Abu-Ali al-Yafi'i, his wife, four women, and two children, and the second vehicle, killing Suraqah al-Yamani and Hamzah al-Suri. Abu-Ali al-Maliki quickly veered off the road with the third vehicle, turning off hisheadlights, and drove into the mountains, escaping the attack.[34]
Since al-Qaeda's military chiefMohammed Atef was killed in 2001, journalists reported that Adel was likely his successor in that role.[15][11][35]
Since 2011, he has been connected with the kidnapping ofDaniel Pearl in 2002.[36]
Al-Adel andSaad bin Laden were implicated in the12 May 2003 suicide bombing inRiyadh,Saudi Arabia.[37][38][39] In May 2003, then-State Department officialRyan Crocker provided information on the upcoming attack to Iranian officials, who apparently took no action.[40] However, according to Saad's family and an interrogation of former al-Qaeda spokesmanSulaiman Abu Ghaith, Saad and al-Adel were being held prisoner in Iran when the attack took place.[41][42] In 2004, he published a "terrorist manual" entitledThe Base of the Vanguard, an Arabicpun on the phrasesal-Qaeda ("the base") and theVanguards of Conquest.[43][irrelevant citation]
Al-Adel was a key source in a 2005 book on al-Qaeda's global strategy by the journalistFouad Hussein.[44]
Al-Adel is a leader of al-Qaeda in Iran, according to American security expert Seth Jones.[45]
| External image | |
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| image from FBI in 2011 (Saif al-Adel in Iran) |
According to multiple Western news agencies, Saif al-Adel is currently based in Iran since the 2000s. Following theU.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Saif al-Adel was given secret asylum in Iran, during which he was monitored by theIRGC. As an ideologue who favoured engagement with Iran to jointly promoteanti-American revolutions in the region,[46] this and the constant US-led accusations of Iran and al-Qaeda's cooperation is seen as an attempt to unite their enemies into one entity, even going as far as to claim that Sayf al-Adel had a friendship with IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani[46] when al-Qaeda wasactively fighting forces under his command in Syria. Due to the publication of an article by al-Qaeda mediaGlobal Islamic Media Front Adel's location is speculated to have moved to Afghanistan following theTaliban takeover in 2021, since the article included a lot of praise for the newly established emirate which Adel urged all Muslims to migrate to.[47][48] Adel has been on the FBI's list ofMost Wanted Terrorists since its inception in 2001. TheState Department'sRewards for Justice Program is offering up to US$10 million for information on his location.[49][50]
In late 2001, Adel fledAfghanistan toIran and was detained under house arrest inTehran. Later reports indicated that he was released by Iran in March 2010 in exchange for the release of Heshmatollah Attarzadeh, an Iranian diplomat kidnapped in November 2008,[51] and made his way to northernPakistan.[52][53] AlthoughMahfouz Ould al-Walid was reported killed in a January 2002 American airstrike, it was later revealed that he fled to Iran with Adel.[54]
In October 2010,Der Spiegel reported that Adel was in theWaziristan region in theFederally Administered Tribal Areas betweenNorthwest Frontier Province, Pakistan and Afghanistan.[55]
In July 2011, it was reported that Adel returned to Iran.[56]
Egyptian authorities reported in 2012 that he was arrested at the Cairo International Airport upon his return to Egypt from Pakistan via the United Arab Emirates.[57][58] However, according to Ghaith, al-Adel never left Iran and was still under house arrest when Ghaith was captured in 2013.[42]
On 20 September 2015,Al Arabiya reported that al-Adel and four other captives were part of a prisoner exchange Iranian authorities made withAQAP inYemen.[59][60]
On 16 March 2016, a Twitter account affiliated with al-Qaeda implicated al-Adel as having been sent to aid against theRussian intervention in theSyrian Civil War.[61] A similar report also placed al-Adel as having been sent to Syria as an emissary on behalf of al-Qaeda emirAyman al-Zawahiri.[62] However,Long War Journal reported that al-Adel is still residing in Iran.[63]
On 2 August 2022, a day after it was reported that al-Zawahiri was killed in a U.S. drone strike, al-Adel was still reported to be in Iran, which also complicated his ability to succeed al-Zawahiri as al-Qaeda's leader.[64][65]NPR journalist Colin P. Clarke described al-Adel's legal status in Iran as "semi-house arrest."[66] In February 2023, a report from the United Nations, based on member state intelligence, concluded thatde facto leadership of al-Qaeda had passed to Saif al-Adel.[19][22]
We say to those who want a quick victory, that this type of war waged by
the Mujahideen employs a strategy of the long-breath and the attrition and
terrorization of the enemy, and not the holding of territory.
In February 2006, theCombating Terrorism Center atWest Point published a number of declassified documents from the Harmony database, some of which are known or believed to have been written by Saif al-Adel. One is a letter signed "Omar al-Sumali, previously known as Saif al-Adel", about the author's activities in southernSomalia duringUNOSOM II (1993–1995). It identifies the southern town ofRas Kamboni as a suitable site for an al-Qaeda base.[16] It mentions an accomplice of Adel called "Mukhtar".[16]
In a letter[67][68] from "'Abd-al-Halim Adl'" to "'Mukhtar'", dated 13 June 2002, the author strongly criticises the leadership ofOsama bin Laden, blaming the defeats of the preceding six months for al-Qaeda on bin Laden's recklessness and unwillingness to listen to advice:[67]
If someone opposes [bin Ladin], he immediately puts forward another person to render an opinion in his support, clinging to his opinion and totally disregarding those around him ...Perhaps, brother Abu Mattar has warned you that his opinion [of bin Ladin's leadership] has changed a lot since he got out of his previous situation.
From the following section, the 2002 addressee, "'Mukhtar'" appears to beKhalid Sheikh Mohammed, the commander of theSeptember 11 attacks:
The East Asia, Europe, America, Horn of Africa, Yemen, Gulf, and Morocco groups have fallen, and Pakistan has almost been drowned in one push. I, not to mention the other individuals who have also moved and fallen, have often advised on this matter. Regrettably, my brother, if you look back, you will find that you are the person solely responsible for all this because you undertook the mission, and during six months, we only lost what we built in years.
In 2004, Adel was alleged to be the author ofThe al-Battar Military Camp, a manual that advised prospective militants about how to strike easy targets.[69]
On 11 March 2005,al-Quds al-Arabi published extracts from Adel's document, "Al Qaeda's Strategy to the Year 2020".[70] In his May 2005 correspondence to Deputy EmirAyman al-Zawhiri, Saif al-Adel outlined the key pillars in al-Qaeda's revolutionary strategy:[71]
"mujahidin should have short-term plans aimed at achieving interim goals and long-term plans aimed at accomplishing the greater objective, which is the establishment of a state."[71]
March 2007, thePentagon posted on the Internet a transcript[72] of part of the hearing into the combatant status of detaineeRamzi bin al-Shibh. Some of the evidence against bin al-Shibh came from a diary of Saif al-Adel found inSaudi Arabia in 2004.
The CSRT document described al-Adel by the following:[72]
Sayf al-Adel is a senior Al-Qaeda military commander with a long-term relationship with Osama bin Laden. Sayf al-Adel's role in the organization has been as a trainer, military leader, and key member of Osama bin Laden's security detail.
The diary of Sayf al-Adel was recovered during a raid in Saudi Arabia in 2004. The diary details the Detainee's involvement in the 11 September 2001 terrorist plot and subsequent attack.
In addition, the paragraph continued:[72]
The Detainee is listed as a "highly professional jihadist" along with "9/11 hijackers",Mohammed Atta andZiad Jarrah. The diary states that the three were briefed on an operation involving aircraft byAbu Hafs, a senior al-Qaeda planner.
In December 2010, Adel allegedly sent a series of five letters[73][74] toAbu Walid al Masri, then underhouse arrest in Iran. He discusses theWar in Afghanistan, criticises the religious failings of themujahideen and hypocrisy ofIslamic scholars, and the failure of theJihadist movement to learn from previous mistakes. Al-Masri posted the letters on the Internet in December 2010. In March 2011, Adel allegedly released another five letters through al Masri,[75][76] which covered theArab Spring uprisings.
In August 2015, a eulogy written by al-Adel forAbu Khalid al-Suri, an al-Qaeda veteran who served as both a senior figure in the Syrian opposition groupAhrar al-Sham and as Ayman al Zawahiri's representative in Syria, was released. In the eulogy, he criticized theIslamic State and described them as having "twisted" and "perverted" thoughts.[61]
In September 2024, a book was released online called "Free Reading of33 Strategies of War", a commentary on the book of the same name byRobert Greene. For the first time, publishing under his real name Muhammad Salah al-Din Zaydan, he outlines a radical new strategy for Al-Qaeda and global Jihad. This strategy seems to support a moving away from traditional old-school Jihadi thinking and especially from Sunni-centric focus and seeks to be flexible and build relationships with other Jihadi groups and nation states friendly to their ultimate goal, the destruction of the West.[77] It has since been published onAmazon.[78]
Adel is married to the daughter of EgyptianAfghan Jihadist and journalistAbu Walid al-Masri. The couple reportedly have five children.[29][79][80]
In 1987, Egypt accused Adel - whose real name is Muhammad Ibrahim Makkawi - of trying to establish a military wing of the militant Islamic group al-Jihad, and of trying to overthrow the government.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Omar Ashour, a lecturer in Politics of the Modern Arab World at the University of Exeter, told the BBC that Saif al-Adel's real name was Mohammed Salah al-Din al-Halim Zaidan, and that the two men had different dates and places of birth, and different experiences with jihadism and al-Qaeda.
Sayf-al-Adl criticized the "al-Qa'ida" elements' security indiscipline for not following the security instructions when using satellite telephones, saying that this helped the Americans pinpoint easily the "Arab Afghans" locations in Kandahar during October and November 2001.
'KSM told the FBI that he was pulled into the kidnapping by a high-level leader in al Qaeda circles, an Egyptian named Saif al-Adel, who told him to make the kidnapping an al Qaeda operation,' said the investigators in their report which was published in January.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)Speculation is mounting that al-Qaeda has appointed a former Egyptian army colonel, Saif al-Adel, as temporary leader to replace Bin Laden. Adel was once Bin Laden's security chief, and is suspected of involvement in the 1998 US embassy bombings in East Africa, training the Somali fighters who killed 18 US servicemen in Mogadishu in 1993, and instructing some of the 11 September 2001 hijackers. He fled to Iran from Afghanistan after the US-led invasion in 2001, and was reportedly held under house arrest near Tehran. Reports at the end of last year said he may have been released and made his way to northern Pakistan. Some Western analysts have expressed scepticism over reports of his appointment. Bin Laden's long-time deputyAyman al-Zawahiri, also Egyptian, is thought to be the front-runner for the role.
Egyptian Saif al-Adel's story is similar to al-Mughassil's. He was also wanted by the United States and Saudi Arabia. Both terrorists were protected by Iran.
Media related toSaif al-Adel at Wikimedia Commons
