Published by
Al-Araby
Al-Araby
As soon as the president of the United States announced that his country had killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, a lively debate began about his, and al-Qaeda’s, real importance. Zawahiri’s death had been announced before, with false news making the rounds in 2020. At the time, analysts said what they now debate: that Zawahiri was not much of a battlefield leader, and was largely ‘off-the-grid’ and disconnected from the commanders of al-Qaeda’s regional terrorist groups. These groups independent of the centre – in Iraq and Syria, the Maghreb, and north and west Africa – did not rely on Zawahiri for tact…