Biden will address the nation at 7:30 tonight on successful counterterrorism raid

President Joe Biden on Monday evening announced the killing of Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, calling him the ‘mastermind behind attacks against Americans’ for decades.

In his remarks, Biden repeatedly invoked the September 11th terrorist attacks, which al-Zawahiri helped plan, and said the killing of al-Zawahiri demonstrated the resolve of the United States to go after terrorist leaders, no matter where they hide. 

‘Now, justice has been delivered, and this terrorist leader is no more,’ he said. ‘We made it clear again tonight that no matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the United States will find you and take you out.’

Al-Zawahiri, 71, was killed by two hellfire missiles fired from CIA drones as he stood on the balcony of his safe house in downtown Kabul this weekend in a mission that took six months to plan. 

His wife, daughter, and grandchildren were living with him but were not harmed, American officials said.

In his remarks, Biden laid out al-Zawahiri’s role in the terrorist organization, noting that, in addition to the 9/11 attacks, he was behind the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000 and the attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

‘He carved a trail of murder and violence against American citizens, American service members, American diplomats, and American interests,’ Biden said.

Biden concluded his remarks with a warning: ‘To those around the world who continue to seek to harm the United States, hear me now. We will always remain vigilant, and we will act, and we will always do what is necessary to ensure the safety and security of Americans at home and around the globe.’ 

It was the United State’s most significant strike against al Qaeda since the killing of Osama bin Laden in 2011. Al-Zawahiri replace bin Laden as the terrorist group’s top leader.

Biden, who remains in isolation after a rebound case of covid, made his address from the first floor balcony off the Blue Room of the White House.

Al-Zawahiri was on the FBI’s most-wanted terrorist list. There was a $25 million reward for information leading directly to him. 

President Joe Biden announced the killing of Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, calling him the ‘mastermind behind attacks against Americans’ for decades

Osama bin Laden’s second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in a CIA drone attack in Kabul this weekend

Al-Zawahiri was Bin Laden’s No 2 in Al-Qaeda, the radical jihadist network once led by the Saudi millionaire. The two are seen above in this September 2006 file photo

In a statement, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed that a strike took place and strongly condemned it, calling it a violation of ‘international principles.’ 

The strike was conducted on a residential house in Kabul’s Sherpur area, a wealthy downtown neighborhood where several Taliban government officials live.

The house that was struck was owned by a top aide to Sirajuddin Haqqani, the first deputy leader of Afghanistan. He is close to senior al Qaeda officials and is wanted by the FBI for questioning.

The strike was carried out in the early morning hours of Sunday Kabul time – 6:18 am there and 9:48 pm Saturday night in the States after U.S. intelligence officials learned al-Zawahiri moved to Afghanistan in th last year.

‘This year we identified that al-Zawahiri family his wife, his daughter, and her children relocated to a safe house in Kabul,’ a senior administration official told reporters on a background briefing call ahead of Biden’s speech.

Al-Zawahiri was never seen leaving that safe house, the official said.

The official said only al-Zawahiri was killed and that members of the Haqqani network, a terrorist group that is part of the Taliban government, removed his family from the safe house ‘to another location consistent with a broader effort to cover up that they had been living in the space.’

‘Al-Zawahiri family members were present in other parts of the safe house at the time of the strike, and were purposefully not targeted and were unharmed,’ the official said.

Biden was first briefed on Al-Zawahiri’s location on July 1. The official described their intelligence as ‘rock solid.’

The official said Biden asked ‘detailed questions’ on their intelligence, examined a model of the house that intelligence officials built and brought into the Situation Room for him to see, and asked about the possibility of civilian casualties.

On July 25th, Biden made the decision to authorize the strike.

‘He was particularly focused on ensuring that every step had been taken to ensure the operation would minimize that risk. And he wanted to understand the basis upon which we had confidence in our assessments. The President requested further information on the building plans and about likely effects of a strike,’ the official said.

Biden was in isolation with his rebound case of covid when the strike was carried out but was kept informed when it began and when it ended, the official noted.

The Biden administration also made clear they expect the Taliban to abide by the terms of the Doha agreement, which outlined the terms for the American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, and that al-Zawahiri’s presence in the Afghan capitol city was a ‘clear violation’ of the agreement.

‘Obviously this is a very important point for us to make clear that follow up on that we expect them to abide by the terms of the Doha agreement, and the presence of al-Zawahiri in downtown Kabul with a clear violation of that,’ the official said.

‘Going forward with the Taliban, we will continue to hold them accountable for their actions,’ the officials. ‘We will take action to protect our interests, pursuant to the terms of the agreement, which is firm that it al Qaeda should never be allowed to re-establish itself in Afghanistan.’

It was the first attack in Afghanistan since American forces left last year. It took six months to plan.

President Biden, in his remarks, said the drone strike on al-Zawahiiri was evidence that he was right when he told Americans last summere that removing all U.S. troops from Afghanistan would not undermine the United States’ ability to fight terrorism. 

‘When I ended our military mission in Afghanistan almost a year ago, I made the decision that after 20 years of war, the United States no longer needed thousands of boots on the ground in Afghanistan, to protect America from terrorists who seek to do us harm. And I made a promise to the American people that we would continue to conduct effective counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan and beyond. We’ve done just that,’ he said.

Al-Zawahiri took over al Qaeda after bin Laden’s death in 2011, when bin Laden was killed in a raid by U.S. forces in Pakistan in 2011.

In 1998, he was indicted for his alleged role in the August 7, 1998, bombings of the United States Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya. 

On August 7, 1998, nearly simultaneous bombs blew up in front of the American embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in Africa – 224 people died in the blasts, including 12 Americans, and more than 4,500 people were wounded.

Both he and bin Laden escaped U.S. forces in Afghanistan in late 2001. 

Zawahiri’s whereabouts had long been a mystery.  Rumors have spread since late 2020 that al-Zawahiri had died from illness.

But he appeared in a new video in April, where he denounced the ‘enemies of Islam.’

He appeared after a school in India banned the wearing of the hijab. 

Before April, Al-Zawahiri last appeared in a video last year marking the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, months after thee rumours spread that he was dead.

In that video, he proclaimed ‘Jerusalem will never be Judaized’ and praised al-Qaeda attacks – including one that targeted Russian troops in Syria in January 2021. SITE said al-Zawahiri also noted the US military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan 20 years after the invasion.

Al-Zawarihi and his family were living at home in Kabul owned by Taliban Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani (above)

Al-Zawahiri’s FBI wanted poster – there was a $25 million reward for information on him 

Al-Zawahiri appeared in a video last year marking the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks

Smoke rises from the US Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in this frame grabe from TV, after a suspected car bomb exploded outside in 1998; al-Zawahiri was indicted for his alleged role in the August 7, 1998, bombings of the United States Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya

Armed US Marines stand guard by the US embassy entrance in Nairobi in 1998 as FBI agents gather evidence in the bombing

U.S. military pall bearers carry the first five flag-draped coffins of 10 Americans killed in the bombings at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, during a memorial service at Andrews Air Force Base in 1998

Al-Zawahiri was born in Egypt in 1951 and worked as a surgeon. He grew up in an upper-class neighborhood in Cairo, Egypt, the son of a prominent physician and grandson of famous scholars.

An Islamic fundamentalist, al-Zawahiri joined the outlawed Egyptian Islamic Jihad group as a teenager, being jailed twice for helping plot assassinations of two Egyptian leaders.

He eventually became the group’s leader, which was dedicated to the creation of an Islamic state in Egypt, and in the 1980s he joined Mujahedeen fighting Soviet forces in Afghanistan.

There he befriended and joined forces with bin Laden, becoming his personal physician.

He formally merged his group, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, with al Qaeda in 1998. 

The two men later issued a fatwa, or decree, that said: ‘The judgment to kill and fight Americans and their allies, whether civilians or military, is an obligation for every Muslim.’