After the Aug. 7 attack on Masri, Iran concocted a cover story. ADMany of al-Qaeda’s senior commanders have been sheltered in Iran, though one by one, they have been killed in recent years. With Masri’s death, the only remaining member of al-Qaeda’s shura council — its core leadership — with operational al-Qaeda terrorist experience is Saif al-Adel, who is believed still to be in Iran. ADAl-Qaeda’s leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who assumed the mantle after the 2011 killing of Osama bin Laden by U.S. Special Operations forces in Pakistan, is 69 and ailing. “Al-Masri’s death leaves limited choices for al-Qaeda to select a new emir with the legitimacy of a bin Laden or Zawahiri,’’ Soufan said in an email.

Source: Washington Post November 14, 2020 23:45 UTC