Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed over the weekend in a drone strike in a U.S. counterterrorism operation, President Joe Biden introduced Monday evening.
“He carved a path of homicide and violence towards Americans, American service members, American diplomats, and American pursuits,” President Biden mentioned in his temporary remarks from the White Home balcony. “Now, justice has been delivered. And this terrorist chief isn’t any extra.”
The president mentioned that al-Zawahiri was killed in Kabul.
“After relentlessly in search of Zawahiri for years underneath Presidents Bush, Obama, and Trump, our intelligence group situated Zawahiri earlier this yr,” Mr. Biden mentioned. “He had moved to downtown Kabul to reunite with members of his speedy household.”
The U.S. authorities had a number of, impartial sources confirming al-Zawahiri’s whereabouts at a safehouse, a senior administration official informed reporters on a name Monday night. The strike was a results of cautious, affected person and chronic work by counterterrorism officers over the course of months and years.
The president mentioned that after he thought of “clear and convincing proof” of al-Zawahiri’s location, he “approved a precision strike that will take away him from the battlefield as soon as and for all.” He gave his remaining approval to “go get him” one week in the past.
Al-Zawahiri was in the end taken out by a drone at 9:48 p.m. ET Saturday, whereas he was on the balcony of the safehouse, and his members of the family have been in numerous rooms of the home.
“None of his members of the family have been harm and there have been no civilian casualties,” the president mentioned. The U.S. authorities has a excessive stage of confidence that nobody else was killed within the strike, in response to the senior administration official.
The senior administration official mentioned the president acquired common updates because the U.S. authorities zeroed in on al-Zawahiri. As soon as the safehouse was situated, the president wished to grasp extra in regards to the format of the safehouse’s doorways and home windows to keep away from different casualties. In a July 25 assembly, the president approved a exact, tailor-made air strike that will decrease civilian deaths as a lot as attainable, the senior administration official mentioned.
With al-Zawahiri’s loss of life, all of prime plotters of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks at the moment are both lifeless or captured.
The FBI up to date its “Most Wanted Terrorist” poster Monday with al-Zawahiri’s standing: “Deceased.”
FBI
The president spoke of his visits to Shanksville, Penn., and Floor Zero in New York final yr on the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 assaults, and he mentioned that seeing the names of those that died within the assault etched in bronze was a reminder of the vow People made to “always remember.”
Mr. Biden mentioned his hope was that the motion taken towards al-Zawahiri “will deliver yet another measure of closure” to those that misplaced family members on 9/11.
The strike got here practically one yr after U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan, which was not misplaced on the president. The Biden administration has lengthy made the argument that it might proceed to deal with terrorist threats to the American folks with out boots on the bottom in Afghanistan, from “over the horizon.”
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“Once I ended our army mission in Afghanistan virtually a yr in the past, I decided that after 20 years of conflict, the USA now not wanted hundreds of shoes on the bottom in Afghanistan to guard America from terrorists who search to do us hurt,” Mr. Biden mentioned. “I made a promise to the American folks that we would proceed to conduct efficient counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan and past. We have achieved simply that.”
Two intelligence sources aware of the matter mentioned the strike was carried out by the CIA.
The president, who examined optimistic with a rebound case of COVID-19, delivered his remarks outside from a balcony on the White Home.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on Monday confirmed an airstrike carried out by a drone in Kabul. He mentioned the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan views that as a transparent violation of worldwide rules.
However former Performing CIA Director and CBS Information contributor Michael Morell mentioned after the president’s remarks that “it is actually onerous for me to imagine [al-Zawahiri] was in Kabul with out the data of no less than a few of the Taliban management.”
Noting that al-Zawahiri was “dwelling there pretty brazenly, not attempting to cover,” Morell mentioned the strike additionally makes clear to another al Qaeda members in Afghanistan that they need to nonetheless fear about their safety, even supposing the U.S. now not has troops there.
Al-Zawahiri has lengthy been a wished man. After the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist assaults, then-President George W. Bush launched a listing of the FBI’s 22 most wished terrorists, with al-Zawahiri close to the highest of the record together with Osama bin Laden.
For years, al-Zawahiri was often called al Qaeda’s No. 2, however many analysts imagine he was actually the brains behind bin Laden’s operation.
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Bin Laden was killed by U.S. particular forces in 2011, however al-Zawahiri eluded makes an attempt on his life and a global manhunt till his loss of life.
Zawahiri continued to launch video statements, together with one on Sept. 11, 2021, though it was unclear if that recording was new or previous. It was rumored for years that he had died, and the U.S. supplied $25 million for info that would result in his apprehension.
— CBS Information’ Arden Farhi, Nancy Cordes, Andres Triay, Ahmad Muktar, Pat Milton and Olivia Gazis contributed to this report.
