Andrew Jeong
February 15, 2023
Saif al-Adel, who is
wanted by the United States in connection with the 1998 bombings of its
embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, has been identified by many countries as the
new “de facto and uncontested” leader of al-Qaeda, according to a report by
U.N. experts. Many U.N. member states also believe that Adel is located in
Iran, the report said.
Adel is a former member
of the Egyptian military and later fought the Soviets when they invaded
Afghanistan in 1979. He is also a charter member of al-Qaeda and was a loyalist
of Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks,
according to a profile of Adel written by the counterterrorism expert Ali
Soufan.
When U.S. forces killed
bin Laden’s successor, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in Afghanistan last year, Adel was
seen by many experts as the terrorist group’s probable next leader. U.S.
authorities had previously offered a $10 million reward for information leading
directly to his “apprehension or conviction.”
But al-Qaeda has not
publicly declared Adel its new leader, possibly because of the political
sensitivities of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, according to the report,
which was circulated to the U.N. Security Council on Monday.
The Taliban, which has
been seeking a measure of international legitimacy since it retook power in
2021, probably wants to avoid the embarrassment of acknowledging that it
harbored Adel’s predecessor, the report said, citing assessments from member
states. The group had previously signed an agreement with the United States
pledging not to allow terrorist groups with international aims to operate out
of territory it controls.
Rita Katz, an extremism
expert and director of the SITE Intelligence Group, had raised the possibility
of al-Qaeda naming a new leader under an alias and not unveiling a “face to
match the name to,” when U.S. forces killed Zawahiri.
Zawahiri’s legacy:
Querulous bands of militants and a chance for rebirth
But many U.N. member
states suspected that the “key factor” behind al-Qaeda’s silence is Adel’s
suspected longtime residence in Shiite-majority Iran, which is led by Shiite
clerics. The Sunni terrorist group has long viewed Shiite Muslims as apostates,
according to a report by Brookings.
Adel’s alleged presence
in Iran poses “difficult theological and operational questions” for al-Qaeda,
the report’s authors say. (One unidentified U.N. member state denied the
presence of any al-Qaeda members or dependents in the country.)
The alleged terrorist
leader is believed to have been born in the early 1960s. He has been based in
Iran since 2002 or 2003, when he went into hiding after the Sept. 11 attacks,
Soufan wrote in an article for the CTC Sentinel, which is published by the
Combating Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military Academy.
Adel was held by
Iranian authorities for some years before a prisoner swap between Tehran and
al-Qaeda that was reported in 2015, but his apparent continued presence there
is a sign of pragmatism, wrote Soufan, a former FBI official who investigated
the 1998 embassy bombings. The attacks killed 224 people and wounded more than
4,000.
“Despite the hateful
necessity” of living under Shiite rule, “his best chance of survival, and
therefore of continued effectiveness in the jihad, lay in a return to Iran,”
Soufan wrote.
Not much is certain
about the militant leader, with only three images of him known to exist,
according to Soufan, who added that he stands out even among other al-Qaeda
members for his “lack of remorse.”
U.N. member states
assessed that there has been “no significant” recent change in al-Qaeda’s
strength, according to the report. It said the threat from the group and its
affiliates is elevated in and around conflict zones but remains “relatively low
in other areas.”
Iran's supreme leader sent $4b. to son's account in Venezuela - report
Benjamin Weinthal
February 15, 2023
The founder of the Ahvazi Liberal
Party – an organization opposed to the Islamic Republic of Iran – claims to
have secured a document in which the supreme leader of Iran transferred $4
billion to his son's personal Venezuelan account.
According to a translation of the
document by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), the transfer
request was sent by Mohammadi Golpayegani, Chief of Staff of Khamenei's office,
to Dr. Ali Saleh-Abadi, the governor of the Central Bank of Iran. Ali Khamenei
is the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The letter read: "In light of the
current crisis in the country and the extensive wave of rioting by
antirevolutionary elements and rioters across the country, and the security
institutions' declaration of a Level Orange alert, your honor is requested to
transfer the sum of $4 billion (US) [sic] from the state treasury to the
personal account of Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei at the Central Bank of
Venezuela, in Venezuela."
Timing of the letter amid the ongoing
protests in Iran
On February 12, Hamid Mutashar,
founder of the Ahvazi Liberal Party tweeted the letter. The timing of the
letter took place as Iran's regime is gripped by anti-regime protests in
response to the theocracy's alleged murder of the 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in
September because she failed to entirely cover her hair with a hijab.
MEMRI wrote that "It is notable
that the document refers to Mojtaba as 'Ayatollah.' It is anticipated that
Mojtaba will succeed his father."
MEMRI noted that "The Ahvaz
region in southern Iran is home to members of an Arab minority that is harshly
oppressed by the Iranian regime. This region is also where most of Iran's oil
and gas reserves are located. Several Ahvazi movements that operate in the
region are calling for autonomy for its Arab population and even for liberation
from the Iranian regime."
"The Ahvaz region in southern
Iran is home to members of an Arab minority that is harshly oppressed by the
Iranian regime. This region is also where most of Iran's oil and gas reserves
are located. Several Ahvazi movements that operate in the region are calling
for autonomy for its Arab population and even for liberation from the Iranian
regime." MEMRI
However, the consensus among Iranian
dissidents in the diaspora and Iranians within the highly oppressive Islamic
state is to ensure a unified Iran after a possible collapse to retain the
integrity of the ancient nation and its diverse group of ethnic and religious
minorities.
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