Middle East reactions: Al-Qaeda leader Zawahiri killed in US drone strike
Saudi Arabia and Israel praised the operation which killed the Al-Qaeda leader; a Syrian jihadist group appeared to offer condolences.
Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in Kabul, Afghanistan, by a US drone strike, US President Joe Biden announced yesterday.
Zawahiri was a medical doctor from Egypt who became active in Egyptian Islamic Jihad in the 1980s. After being released from prison over the group’s involvement in the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, Zawahiri joined al-Qaeda and was cemented as Osama bin Laden’s No. 2 in the years leading up to the 9/11 attacks. After bin Laden was killed by the US military in Pakistan in 2011, Zawahiri became the leader of al-Qaeda.
Reactions to Zawahiri’s death in the Middle East have been mixed.
The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it “welcomes” Biden’s announcement in a statement today. The Gulf kingdom referred to Zawahiri as a “terrorist” responsible for the “planning and execution of heinous terrorist operations” against the United States as well as Saudi Arabia.
