Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri appears in video on 9/11 anniversary

Beirut, Sep 12 (UNI) Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri appeared in a video released on Saturday, the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, while rumours have suggested that he was dead.
The emergence of the video was noted by the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist websites.
Rita Katz, the director of SITE, said “Amid rumours of his death, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri shown in new 60-minute video, this time offering some evidence that he is not dead–particularly, reference to events after December, when rumours of death surfaced.”
“However, Zawahiri doesn’t mention Taliban’s Afghanistan victory, and his talk of US “making its exit from Afghanistan” could have been said early as Feb 2020 upon Doha Agreement. Thus, he could still be dead, though if so, would have been at some point in or after Jan 2021,” she tweeted.
“Nonetheless, intelligence agencies have, as of yet, offered no proof or solid assessments that Zawahiri is dead, leaving the question of his current status in the air.”
She said “as the Al-Qaeda community continues to flood channels and hype up Zawahiri speech, their incitements remind one that Al Qaeda remains intent as ever to harm America. One pro-AQ magazine released today incites for more attacks with aircraft: “Are we not able to repeat it?”,” she posted.
In the tape, al-Zawahiri reportedly said that “Jerusalem Will Never be Judaized”, and he praised some al-Qaeda attacks including one from January of this year that targeted Russian troops in Syria.
SITE said that those comments don’t necessarily mean that this was a recent recording, since the Taliban had signed an agreement with the U.S. in Doha, Qatar in February of 2020, calling for a May 1, 2021 withdrawal of U.S. troops under certain conditions, and there was no mention in the video of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan which took place last month.
Al-Zawahiri’s speech was recorded in a 61-minute, 37-second video produced by al-Qaeda’s as-Sahab Media Foundation, the terrorist group’s official media arm.
Al-Zawahiri became leader of al-Qaeda following the 2011 killing of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan by U.S. Navy SEALs, and he remains a fugitive on the FBI’s most wanted terrorists list, with a $25 million bounty.
Rumors began spreading of al-Zawahiri’s death from an unspecified illness in late 2020.
In an appearance on CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday, host Margaret Brennan asked former acting and deputy CIA director Michael Morell if the UN’s belief that al-Zawahiri was living in Afghanistan was accurate. “I think so,” said Morell. “Which means that the Taliban is harboring Zawahiri today.”