Saif al-Adel
Saif al-Adel (Arabic: سيف العدل; born April 11, 1960/63) is a former Egyptian colonel, explosives expert, who is widely believed to be the current de facto leader of Al-Qaeda. Adel is under indictment by the United States for bomb attacks on United States embassies in Tanzania & Kenya.A 2023 United Nations report, citing member state intelligence, concluded that Saif al-Adel had been named de-facto leader of al-Qaeda but that he had not been formally proclaimed as its Emir due to "political sensitives" of the Afghan government in acknowledging the killing of Ayman Al-Zawahiri in Kabul and the "theological and operational" challenges posed by location of al-Adel in Iran.According to the Egyptian authorities, the FBI information on Saif al-Adel confuses the biographies of two members of Al-Qaeda. The first, 'Mohammed Salah al-Din Zaidan', known as Saif al-Adel, an economy graduate, joined Al-Qaeda in 1991, but was never a member of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad. The other individual, 'Mohammed Ibrahim Makkawi', is a former Egyptian Special Forces Colonel and a former member of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, who traveled to Afghanistan in 1987 after his release from prison, and later joined Al-Qaeda as a charter member. Al-Adel was a supervisor of Bin Laden's personal security and has been described as an "experienced professional soldier" within the Jihadist movement.According to the indictment, Adel is a member of the majlis al shura of al-Qaeda and a member of its military committee. He has provided military and intelligence training to members of al-Qaeda and Egyptian Islamic Jihad in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Sudan, and to anti-UN Somali tribes. It is possible that his trainees included the Somalis of the first Battle of Mogadishu in 1993. He established the al-Qaeda training facility at Ras Kamboni in Somalia near the Kenyan border.Adel was accused of being involved with Egyptian Islamic Jihad and attempting to overthrow the Egyptian government in 1987. After the charges were dismissed, he left the country in 1988 to join the mujahideen in repelling the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. He is believed to have traveled to southern Lebanon along with Abu Talha al-Sudani, Saif al-Islam al-Masri, Abu Ja`far al-Masri, and Abu Salim al-Masri, where he trained alongside Hezbollah Al-Hejaz.In Khartoum, Sudan, Adel taught recruited militants how to handle explosives. Along with senior leaders Saeed al-Masri and Mahfouz Ould al-Walid, he is believed to have opposed the September 11 attacks in Al-Qaeda's Majlis al Shura two months prior to their execution.
Source: Wikipedia