Ayman al-Zawahiri, one of the FBI’s most wanted terrorists, was Osama Bin Laden’s right-hand man for many years before taking over as al-commander Qaeda’s after Osama’s death. He is also suspected of being one of the masterminds behind the fatal 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States. Zawahiri, a well-educated man, was born in Egypt and graduated as a surgeon from Cairo University before joining Osama bin Laden in his quest to destroy world peace while dressed in extremist Islamic garb. He was a member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad before meeting Osama and merging it with al-Qaeda in 1998. He was tried in Egypt for his Jihad activities and was sentenced to death. In the aftermath of the 1998 US embassy assaults, he was added to America’s most wanted list for the first time. After the attacks in Pakistan’s Damadola in 2006, the US conducted many operations in search of Ayman, and he was presumed dead. He did, however, escape with a video clip criticizing the United States of America and its acts. The US government has issued a USD 25 million reward for Zawahiri’s capture, but no concrete information on his whereabouts have emerged. After Osama Bin Laden’s death in 2011, he was named the new commander of al-Qaeda, and in 2012, he declared that all Muslims must kidnap western tourists as a form of vengeance for their leader.
Childhood and Adolescence
Ayman al-Zawahiri was born in Cairo, Egypt’s capital, on June 19, 1951, into a wealthy and prosperous Zawahiri family. His father, Mohammad Rabie al-Zawahiri, was a well-known physician and a professor of pharmacy at Cairo University. Umayma Azzam, Ayman’s mother, came from a well-respected family. Coming from a family of doctors and professors, Ayman was expected to excel in the classroom, which he did.
Ayman was a studious boy who enjoyed poetry and art, but he despised violent sports, claiming that they were unethical and uninteresting. He moved on to Cairo University to study medicine and graduated as a surgeon in 1974. In 1978, he completed a master’s degree and worked for the Egyptian military for three years. His involvement with young student organizations planted the first seeds of radical Islam in his mind, and his later experience working alongside his uncle Mahfouz Azzam solidified his views on the establishment of an Islamic state.
Beginning days of Ayman al-Zawahiri
He began his terrorist activities with the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and he was one of many suspects in the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. The president was obsessed with linking up with Israel and ignored radical Muslim demands, which led to his death.
While the trial was ongoing, Zawahiri gained center stage as the group’s leader, claiming that they were attempting to establish an Islamic state. Ayman was cleared of the assassination accusations due to a lack of evidence, but he was sentenced to three years in prison for other minor offenses in 1981. That particular experience in prison, in which he was violently abused by the authorities, altered his perspective, and when he was released in 1985, he moved to Saudi Arabia and resumed his career as a surgeon with a bitter heart.
When Ayman was working as an eye surgeon in Jeddah, he met Osama for the first time. In 1986, he met Osama bin Laden, and after sitting down and talking, their ideas aligned, and Ayman became Osama’s personal advisor and medic. He travelled to Pakistan and Afghanistan, inspired by Osama bin Laden, to recruit fighters for Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and he was detained for a few months because Afghanistan was under Soviet rule at the time.
The EIJ had been largely suppressed by this time, but when it resurfaced in 1993, Zawahiri became its commander and organized multiple attacks, including the assassination of Egyptian Prime Minister Atif Sidqi. In their ongoing attacks in Egypt, they killed over 1200 innocent people in the name of eliminating the central government and establishing an Islamic state. He was regarded one of the most feared terrorists towards the end of the 1990s, and an Egyptian military court sentenced him to death in absentia.
While planning strikes in Egypt and neighboring states, Zawahiri continued to travel the world in search of sanctuaries and potential funding sources for his organization. Ayman traveled to numerous Western and European nations under false names and passports/visas before being apprehended in Chechnya, Russia, in 1996. He and his two accomplices were sentenced to six months in prison in April 2017. They were released a month later, though, and fled without paying their lawyers.
He was unable to secure funds, and by 1997, he had become discouraged owing to a lack of assistance.
At Al Qaeda organization
In 1998, Ayman al-Zawahiri met Osama bin Laden and other extremist Muslim leaders, and they joined hands to strengthen themselves. And, by long, Zawahiri had become al-brains, Qaeda’s with assaults planned in African countries under his direction. More than 200 people were killed when US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were assaulted. As a response, the US struck al-alleged Qaeda’s training centers in Afghanistan, and the next day, a US journalist received a phone call from Zawahiri, who declared that the fight had just just begun.
The 9/11 attacks were considered to be his brainchild and the ultimate act of war against the United States, which enraged the US to the point that bombs in Afghanistan on the supposed whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri became commonplace. Zawahiri’s wife and children were killed in one of these bombings.
In videotapes produced during the 2010s, Zawahiri expressed his hatred for Israel and the United Regimes, and he urged Muslims all over the world to take over and attack US, UK, and Norwegian embassies, as well as numerous Middle Eastern states he referred to as “puppets of the US government.” He also acknowledged al-role Qaeda’s in the 2005 London bombings and blamed Tony Blair for the attacks.
According to US intelligence sources from April 2009, al-Zawahiri has emerged as al-commander, Qaeda’s and Osama bin Laden has been reduced to an ideological figure. When Osama bin Laden was killed in mid-2011, a senior US intelligence officer claimed that Osama was still the group’s leader and that Zawahiri was only his right-hand man. After Osama bin Laden’s death, al-leadership Qaeda’s was called into doubt, and Zawahiri was not popular among Osama’s followers, but despite some protests, he was named the organization’s head in May 2011.
Zawahiri proclaimed the establishment of al-Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent in September 2014, urging Muslims to take control of their territories and purge the ‘kaafirs’. His dissatisfaction with the ISI’s involvement in Syria is clear, and he has asked the group to leave Syria, claiming that their presence was needed more in Iran. He cut all links with the group once they refused.
Personal Experiences of Ayman al-Zawahiri
Ayman al-Zawahiri married for the first time in 1978 to Azza Ahmed Nowari, a philosophy student at Cairo University, and they had five daughters: Fatima, Umayma, Nabila, Khadiga, and Aisha, as well as a boy named Mohammed, with whom he was not particularly pleased. According to reports, his son was a shy, introverted, and ‘girly’ youngster who enjoyed assisting his mother around the house.
Ayman has been married four times and has a large family. Azza, his first wife, was killed in a US bombing in Afghanistan in December 2001, along with two of her children, in an attempt to kill Zawahiri.
Ayman is a hardline Islamist who followed the custom of hiding his women; if it hadn’t been for this, his wife Azza would have been rescued. Onlookers stated she could have been rescued, but she refused to let other men touch her and died the next day from her deadly injuries and hemorrhaging.
Despite his fiery personality, it is well known that his fans do not regard him as highly as Osama. Despite the fact that he lacks Osama’s charisma, his followers continue to follow him, and he has become the world’s most sought terrorist.
‘Knights under the Prophet’s Banner,’ ‘World Islamic Front Statement,’ and ‘Fatawa of Osama Bin Laden’ are the titles of three volumes authored by Ayman al-Zawahiri. He also continues to release video tapes and give interviews in which he encourages Muslims to join their efforts to rid the world of non-Muslims and construct an ideal world for themselves.
Ayman al-Zawahiri Net Worth
Ayman al-Zawahiri is one of the wealthiest and most well-known criminals. Ayman al-net Zawahiri’s worth is estimated to be $1.5 million, according to Wikipedia, Forbes, and Business Insider.