Who are the five candidates to succeed Al-Zawahiri in the leadership of "Al-Qaeda"?

KABUL

- In the early hours of the morning of Sunday, July 31, 2022, an American drone fired two missiles at a house in the Diplomatic Quarter, about 3 kilometers from the American embassy in the center of the Afghan capital, Kabul, and assassinated Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.

This assassination paves the way for the transfer of leadership to the third leader in the history of the organization, which was formed on Afghan soil after the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan and the arrival of the Mujahideen groups to power in 1992.

The identity of who will take the position of the leader of al-Qaeda and how he will manage the organization and address the leadership crisis among its members has become questionable in recent days. Al-Zawahiri was appointed to succeed Osama bin Laden as emir of al-Qaeda under the terms of the 2001 merger between Al-Gama’a Al-Islamiya and the Egyptian Islamic Jihad group led by Al-Zawahiri.

Currently, al-Qaeda does not have a clear mechanism for selecting or appointing its new leader, so the organization's leaders and cadres must engage in a delicate process to install a new leader, and then try to maintain the loyalty of leaders and affiliates around the world.

Experts believe that there are 5 candidates for the leadership of Al-Qaeda, most of whom belong to the second generation in the organization, and the competing names are:

"Saif al-Adl" is one of the most famous names nominated for the leadership of al-Qaeda (communication sites)

Mohamed Salah El Din Zidane

Known as "Saif al-Adl", and it is believed that he is the third man in "Al-Qaeda", but he was never in the forefront, and worked for decades behind the scenes. civil.

Saif al-Adl is an explosives expert, and he has supervised the group that provides security to Osama bin Laden since the beginning of the nineties, and has trained al-Qaeda members in many countries, the most famous of which are Somalia and Afghanistan, and ran al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan in the late eighties and early nineties, and he has a high level of education and is fluent in English .

After the events of September 11, 2001, Saif al-Adl moved to Iran and decided to reside there, and if he assumed the leadership of the organization, he would have to leave it, and the Taliban refused to move him to Afghanistan after the killing of Al-Zawahiri, fearing for its interests and the reaction of the international community.

The writer and political researcher Hikmat Jalil tells Al Jazeera Net that Saif Al-Adl's chances of assuming the leadership of "Al-Qaeda" are very few because of his presence over the past two decades in Iran, and because the young generation in Al-Qaeda does not agree to his inauguration for many reasons, the most important of which is his presence in Iran, and their tendency to a new face that does not Be on the US Black List.

Ali Muhammad Mustafa al-Bakri

Ali al-Bakri was known as “Abdul Aziz al-Masry.” He was born on April 18, 1966, a former member of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, from which he moved to al-Qaeda with al-Zawahiri, and became a member of the organization’s Shura Council.

The US State Department announced a $5 million reward for anyone who provides information about him because of his membership in al-Qaeda, whose name was included in the blacklist announced by the UN Security Council, who lives like Saif al-Adl in Iran, and is considered close to Ayman al-Zawahiri and Saif al-Adl.

Khaled Batarfi, a prominent member of the leadership of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (communication sites)

Khaled Said Batarfi

A Saudi citizen and a prominent member of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, he supervised the organization's media network in Yemen, and in 2011 led several battles against the Yemeni government.

He was arrested on March 17, 2011 by the security forces in Taiz governorate, and spent 4 years in the central prison in Mukalla, and was able to get out in 2015.

He assumed the leadership of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula after the killing of Qassim al-Rimi in January 2020.

Abdel Rahman Moroccan

His real name is Muhammad Abatay, a member of Al-Qaeda, and he was the director of Al-Sahab Media Corporation, and he is the son-in-law of Ayman Al-Zawahiri and his chief advisor.

He studied in Germany, and the US State Department blacklisted him on January 12, 2021, and pledged a reward of $7 million for any information on him.

Abu Obeida Yousef Al Annabi (communication sites)

Abu Obeida Yousef Al Annabi

Abu Obeida Youssef al-Anabi or Mubarak Yazid, took over the leadership of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in 2020, succeeding Abdelmalek Droukdel, who was killed during a special French operation.

His real name is Mubarak bin Yazid, born in Annaba, and he was from 2010 until his appointment as a new leader in charge of the Senate, which is the organizing committee.

On September 29, 2015, the US State Department classified him as a "terrorist."

Renewing the blood of the organization

In any case, observers expect that the assassination of Ayman al-Zawahiri, with new faces and blood, will push the organization's leadership and its internal house in order, after its performance declined during al-Zawahiri's leadership. However, this assassination on Afghan soil makes the Taliban movement disavow providing security and protection for a new leader in al-Qaeda.

The leader of the Islamic Party in Afghanistan, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, tells Al Jazeera Net that with the assassination of Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda will not end, and the United States will not achieve its goals in eliminating the organization, as it did not happen after the assassination of Osama bin Laden.