Saif al-adel — Wikipédia

Saif Al-Edel (or Saïf al-aadel ) (Arabic: The sword of justice ), from his real name Mohamed Salah Al-Din Zaidan , born the April 11, 1960 /1963 ^{[ first ]} , is a member of Al-Qaeda, briefly head of the organization in spring 2011.

He succeeded this post at Osama bin Laden killed the May 2 ^{[ 2 ] , [ 3 ] , [ 4 ]} and only occupied it temporarily, until June 16, 2011 , enthronement date of Ayman al-Zawahiri ^{[ 5 ]} .

Formation [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Former colonel of Egyptian special forces ^{[ 6 ]} , he is suspected of having collaborated in the assassination of Anouar El-Sadate in 1981. He was arrested in 1987 before being released two years later, and joined Afghanistan, where he met Osama bin Laden ^{[ 6 ]} .

Career [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

He is wanted for his involvement in the attacks of American embassies in Africa in 1998 ^{[ 7 ]} . He is married to the daughter of Mustafa Hamid, with whom he has five children ^{[ 8 ] , [ 9 ] , [ ten ] , [ 11 ] , [ twelfth ] , [ 13 ] , [ 14 ] , [ 15 ] , [ 16 ] , [ 17 ] , [ 18 ] , [ 19 ]} .

Al-Qïda [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

In August 2022, Saif Al-Adel was expected to take the head of Al-Qaeda in the succession of his chief Ayman al-Zawahiri killed by a drone strike in Kabul the previous month ^{[ 6 ]} , but the jihadist network remains silent for several months on the death of his chief and his possible successor ^{[ 20 ]} . Among the hypotheses put forward to explain it, it is possible that the jihadist group failed to contact Saïf al-Adel because the latter, feeling threatened, prefers to be hidden, probably in Iran ^{[ 20 ]} . Another hypothesis is that the silence of Al-Qaeda on the death of its chief would be imposed by the Taliban in power in Afghanistan, to avoid attracting attention and that their territory is again struck by the American army ^{[ 20 ]} .

In Févier 2023, the UN and the United States indicate that Saif al-Adel is now the “de facto” leader of Al-Qaeda, even if the jihadist group has not publicly proclaimed it as such, and resides well in Iran ^{[ 21 ]} . The Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hossein Amir Abdollahian disputes this information, and recalls the historic role played by the United States in the growth of Al-Qaeda (probably referring to the Russian invasion of Afghanistan) ^{[ 21 ]} .