US Reportedly Kills Longtime AQ Leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri In Drone Strike

The Associated Press is reporting that a US drone strike in Afghanistan has killed top Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri.

The news is breaking minutes after the White House announced that President Biden will speak Monday evening on a “successful” operation against a “significant al-Qaida target” in Afghanistan.

“Over the weekend, the United States conducted a counterterrorism operation against a significant Al Qaeda target in Afghanistan. The operation was successful and there were no civilian casualties,” a senior administration official announced later afternoon.

US STRIKE KILLED TOP AL-QAEDA LEADER AYMAN AL-ZAWAHRI: AP

Other journalists and pundits have also been pointing to a high-level strike on a top terror operative…

The CIA carried out a drone strike in Kabul over the weekend, two U.S. officials tell me. This would mark the first publicly known CIA strikes (that I can recall) since the fall of Kabul last year.

— Idrees Ali (@idreesali114) August 1, 2022

Source just told me AQ chief and bin laden successor, Ayman Zawahiri, has been smoked. Hope it’s true. Rest in pieces.

— Eli Lake (@EliLake) August 1, 2022

Biden is speaking despite having a “rebound” case of Covid-19, though the administration says the address won’t be open to the full press corps.

Fox News’ Lucas Tomlinson reviews the following background:

Zawahiri had a $25 million bounty on his head since 2001. In addition to planning 9/11, also behind attack on USS Cole that killed 17 American sailors in Yemen in 2000. State Dept. says he played role in August 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224.

As for Zawahiri’s reported death… there’s been ‘false-starts’ in the recent past:

Remember back in Nov. 2020 when it was authoritatively stated that Zawahiri was dead, and the rest of the counterterrorism field and the press treated it like gospel? Because it was what they wanted to hear… https://t.co/9PtAmxyXE1

— Bill Roggio (@billroggio) July 20, 2022

And remembering bin Laden’s death deep inside (US ally) Pakistan’s territory, and the strange details surrounding it…

Did they already throw the body of Ayman al-Zawahiri in the ocean?

— Kevork Almassian🇸🇾🇦🇲 (@KevorkAlmassian) August 1, 2022

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Biden’s address is scheduled for 7:30pm eastern time. Watch Live: