Zawahiri, Ayman al-
By the late 1990s Zawahiri was in Afghanistan again and had established an alliance with Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda. He became second-in-command in Al Qaeda, the group's chief ideologist, and a leader in its planning of terror attacks. On the run after the Al Qaeda attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the subsequent U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, he replaced bin Laden as the principal public face and voice of Al Qaeda and is believed to be in hiding in Pakistan. After bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces in 2011, Zawahiri became Al Qaeda's leader.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Middle Eastern History: Biographies