Saif al-Adel is being touted as the next chief of international terror outfit al Qaeda post the United States’ execution of Ayman al‑Zawahiri. Presumed to be around 63-59 years old, Adel was born in Egypt and had enrolled into the country’s army, rising to the rank of Colonel. “Saif al-Adel” literally translates to Sword of Justice, but his real name is Mohammed Salah al-Din Zaidan.

Adel is believed to have fled from his home country to Afghanistan in around 1988, where he ended up joining al-Qaeda forerunner, Maktab al-Khidamat. After the Soviet-Afghan War, Adel started training young recruits of the then-newly-formed Taliban.  He is considered to have been involved in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in East Africa, and also in the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu. Also referred to as the Black Hawk Down incident, the Battle of Mogadishu led to the death of 19 US Army officials. Adel’s name has also been floated in connection to the kidnapping of US journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002.

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The former security chief of 9/11 mastermind and former al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, Adel has been on the FBI’s most wanted list since 2001. The FBI has announced a reward of $10 million for any information that can help them apprehend the terrorist leader, and has also stated that he is being sought in connection to a “conspiracy to kill United States nationals, to murder, to destroy buildings and property of the United States, and to destroy the national defense utilities of the United States”.

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Despite Adel being next in the line of succession, the Middle East Institue (MEI) believes that the commander’s presence in Iran, along with the questioning of his instructions by certain affiliates of al-Qaeda, has weakened his image. The MEI is also of the opinion that al-Qaeda’s mode of operation as a global terror outfit will considerably weak if Adel becomes the organization’s chief.