Saif al-Adel ( ar, سيف العدل; born April 11, 1960/63) is a former
Egyptian
Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt.
Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to:
Nations and ethnic groups
* Egyptians, a national group in North Africa
** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...
colonel,
explosives expert, and a high-ranking member of
al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...
who is still at large. Adel is under indictment by the United States
[Copy of indictment](_blank)
''USA v. Usama bin Laden et al.'', Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Monterey Institute of International Studies
The Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS), formerly known as the Monterey Institute of International Studies, is an American graduate school of Middlebury College, a private college in Middlebury, Vermont.
Established ...
for his part in the
1998 United States embassy bombings
The 1998 United States embassy bombings were attacks that occurred on August 7, 1998. More than 200 people were killed in nearly simultaneous truck bomb explosions in two East African cities, one at the United States Embassy in Dar es Salaam, ...
in
Kenya
)
, national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
, ...
.
According to the Egyptian authorities, the
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
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
Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...
in 1991, but was never a member of the
Egyptian Islamic Jihad
The Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ, ar, الجهاد الإسلامي المصري), formerly called simply Islamic Jihad ( ar, الجهاد الإسلامي, links=no) and the Liberation Army for Holy Sites, originally referred to as al-Jihad, and ...
. The other individual, 'Mohammed Ibrahim Makkawi', is a former Egyptian Special Forces Colonel and a former member of the
Egyptian Islamic Jihad
The Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ, ar, الجهاد الإسلامي المصري), formerly called simply Islamic Jihad ( ar, الجهاد الإسلامي, links=no) and the Liberation Army for Holy Sites, originally referred to as al-Jihad, and ...
, who traveled to
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
in 1987 after his release from prison, and later joined Al-Qaeda.
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
The Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ, ar, الجهاد الإسلامي المصري), formerly called simply Islamic Jihad ( ar, الجهاد الإسلامي, links=no) and the Liberation Army for Holy Sites, originally referred to as al-Jihad, and ...
in
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
,
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
, and
Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
, 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
Kamboni (; so, Kambooni) is a town in the Badhaadhe district of Lower Juba region, Somalia, which lies on a peninsula near the border with Kenya. It is the southernmost town in Somalia. The tip of that peninsula is called Ras Kamboni (Cape K ...
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
''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' ( ar, مُجَاهِدِين, mujāhidīn), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' ( ar, مجاهد, mujāhid, strugglers or strivers or justice, right conduct, Godly rule, etc. doers of jihād), an Arabic term th ...
in repelling the
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
.
He is believed to have traveled to southern
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
along with
Abu Talha al-Sudani
Abu Talha al-Sudani (also Abu Taha al-Sudan or Tariq Abdullah), born in Sudan, was a suspected member of Al Qaeda terrorist organization, an explosives expert and a close aide Osama bin Laden.
He is believed to have traveled to Southern Lebanon ...
,
Saif al-Islam al-Masri
Saif al-Islam al-Masri ( ar, سيف الإسلام المصري) is the name of a certain member of al-Qaeda. The name is probably, but not certainly, a nom de guerre; ''Saif al-Islam'' means ''Sword of Islam'' and al-Masri means ''the Egyptian'', ...
, Abu Ja`far al-Masri, and Abu Salim al-Masri, where he trained alongside
Hezbollah Al-Hejaz
Hezbollah Al-Hejaz ( ar, حزب الله الحجاز; literally Party of God in the ''Hejaz''), or Hizbollah in the Hijaz, was a militant Shia organization operating in Saudi Arabia. It was founded in May 1987 in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Provinc ...
.
In
Khartoum
Khartoum or Khartum ( ; ar, الخرطوم, Al-Khurṭūm, din, Kaartuɔ̈m) is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing n ...
, Sudan, Adel taught recruited militants how to handle explosives.
Jamal al-Fadl
Jamal Ahmed al-FadlJamal al-Fadl testimony, United States vs. Osama bin Laden et al., trial transcript, Day 2, Feb. 6, 2001. ( ar, جمال أحمد محمّد الفضل, ''Jamāl Aḥmad Muḥammad al-Faḍl'') (born 1963-) is a Sudanese milit ...
testimony, ''United States vs. Osama bin Laden et al.'', trial transcript, Day 2, February 6, 2001. Along with
Saeed al-Masri and
Mahfouz Ould al-Walid
Mahfouz Ould al-Walid (Arabic: محفوظ ولد الوالد), kunya Abu Hafs al-Mauritani ( ar, أبو حفص الموريتاني), is a Mauritanian Islamic scholar and poet previously associated with al-Qaeda. A veteran of the Soviet–Afgh ...
, he is believed to have opposed the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
two months prior to their execution.
Many analysts believe that Saif al-Adel will be named as the successor of
Ayman al-Zawahiri
Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri (June 19, 1951 – July 31, 2022) was an Egyptian-born terrorist and physician who served as the second emir of al-Qaeda from June 16, 2011, until his death.
Al-Zawahiri graduated from Cairo University with ...
since he was a loyal aide of
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...
. However, this is seen as a complicated issue due to his residency in Iran.
Early life
It is believed that Saif al-Adel (which translates to "Sword of Justice") is a pseudonym. His real name is Mohammed Salah al-Din Zaidan. He was born around 1960 (The FBI claims 11 April). He joined the Egyptian Military around 1976 and became a Colonel in the Special Forces as an Explosives expert, possibly being trained in the Soviet Union.
He fled Egypt in 1988 and reportedly made his way to Afghanistan, joining the relatively small but well funded (and mainly Egyptian and Saudi)
Maktab al-Khidamat
The ''Maktab al-Khidamat'' () was an Arab charitable organization founded in 1984 by Abdullah Azzam, Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and other volunteers during the Soviet–Afghan War, It raised funds and recruited foreign mujahideen for the ...
, which was the forerunner to al-Qaeda.
He became a trainer in Explosives to new recruits, and would stay in Afghanistan after the war to train members of the newly formed Taliban. The leader of the Somali militant Islamist group
al-Shabaab,
Moktar Ali Zubeyr
Ahmed Abdi Godane ( so, Axmed Cabdi Godane; ar, أحمد عبدي جودان; 10 July 1977 – 1 September 2014), also known as Mukhtar Abu Zubair, was the Emir (leader) of Al-Shabaab, an Islamist group based in Somalia with ties to Al Qaeda. ...
, has said that Saif al-Adel and
Yusef al-Ayeri
Yusuf al-Ayeri ( ar, يوسف العييري) or Yusuf bin Salih bin Fahd al-Ayeri (1974 – 2003; known by a number of aliases, including '' al-Battar''—the Arabic name of one of the swords of Muhammad—conventionally rendered "Swift Sword" in ...
played an important role in the
1993 Battle of Mogadishu by providing training and participating in the battle directly.
Adel would later join Bin Laden in Sudan after 1994.
Militant connections
Embassy bombings
Several months before the 1998 embassy bombings, Adel was helping
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...
move his followers from
Najim Jihad Najim Jihad (نجم الجهاد; also ''Nazim Jihad'', ''Abu Mahajin'', ''Najim al Jihad complex''
) is the name given to a housing compound outside Jalalabad, Afghanistan, which is the former home of Osama bin Laden and approximately 250 follower ...
to
Tarnak Farms
Tarnak Farms refers to a former Afghan training camp near Kandahar, which served as a base to Osama bin Laden and his followers from 1998 to 2001.
9-11 hijackers believed to have trained at Tarnak Farms
Home to bin Laden
In 1998, bin Laden m ...
. The group had begrudgingly agreed to care for the troublesome Canadian 16-year-old,
Abdurahman Khadr, since his father was away and his mother couldn't control his drinking, smoking and violent outbursts. However, while they were in
Kabul
Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...
, bin Laden asked Adel to take Abdurahman to the bus station and send him back to his family's home.
In approximately 2000, Adel was living in the
Karte Parwan district of Kabul. On the local
walkie-talkie
A walkie-talkie, more formally known as a handheld transceiver (HT), is a hand-held, portable, two-way radio transceiver. Its development during the Second World War has been variously credited to Donald Hings, radio engineer Alfred J. Gross, ...
communications in the city, he was identified as #1.
On 9 September 2001, Adel was approached by
Feroz Ali Abbasi, who said he was so impressed by the killing of
Ahmed Shah Massoud
)
, branch = Jamiat-e Islami / Shura-e Nazar Afghan Armed Forces United Islamic Front
, serviceyears = 1975–2001
, rank = General
, unit =
, commands = Mujahideen commander during the Soviet–Afghan WarC ...
that he wanted to volunteer for something similar.
In early November 2001, the
Taliban
The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
government announced they were bestowing official Afghan
citizenship
Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection".
Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...
on Adel, as well as Bin Laden,
Zawahiri,
Mohammed Atef
Mohammed Atef ( ar, محمد عاطف, ; born Sobhi Mohammed Abu Sitta Al-Gohary, also known as Abu Hafs al-Masri) was the military chief of al-Qaeda, and was considered one of Osama bin Laden's two deputies, the other being Ayman Al Zawahiri, ...
, and Shaykh
Asim Abdulrahman
The son of Omar Abdur Rahman, Asim Abdulrahman was described as "among the closest" of Osama bin Laden's followers in the days following the September 11 attacks, September 11th attacks in 2001.
Under the Kunya (Arabic), kunya ''Abu Asim'', he was ...
. During the American bombardment of
Kandahar
Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a List of cities in Afghanistan, city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population ...
, Adel was present and witnessed the deaths of Abu-Ali al-Yafi'i and his wife, Abu-Usamah al-Ta'zi with his wife and two children, the wife of Rayyan al-Ta'zi, the wife of Abu-Usamah al-Kini, and the wife of Al-Barra al-Hijazi who was arrested in Morocco before the
Casablanca bombings.
On 18 November, Adel was working with Abu-Muhammad al-Abyad, Abd-al-Rahman al-Masri, and Abu-Usamah al-Filastini, Abu-Husayn al-Masri and Faruq al-Suri; all of whom were staying in his empty house with him at night. In the early morning hours of 19 November, he woke them up just minutes before the
al-Wafa charity building was bombed. Phoning friends in the area, he learned that Abdul Wahid had been killed in the explosion.
He later learned that Asim al-Yamani, from
Al Farouq training camp The Al Farouq training camp, also called ''Jihad Wel al-Farouq'', was a Taliban and Al-Qaeda training camp near Kandahar, Afghanistan. Camp attendees received small-arms training, map-reading, orientation, explosives training, and other training. Na ...
, and the elderly Abu-Abd-al-Rahman Al-Abiy had run to the charity's headquarters and begun rescuing survivors and pulling out the dead bodies. The pair agreed the area was not safe, and sent their women to the smaller villages, while they used their two cars to try and pack up their house's contents. An American jet bombed the pair, killing al-Yamani and wounding al-Abiy.
As it was the third day of
Ramadan
, type = islam
, longtype = Religious
, image = Ramadan montage.jpg
, caption=From top, left to right: A crescent moon over Sarıçam, Turkey, marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Ramadan Quran reading in Bandar Torkaman, Iran. ...
, the group in Adel's house began to prepare and eat
Suhoor, but were interrupted by a
cruise missile
A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial or naval targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhe ...
striking 100 metres away, destroying an empty house belonging to an
Afghan Arab
Afghan Arabs (also known as Arab-Afghans) are Arab and other Muslim Islamist mujahideen who came to Afghanistan during and following the Soviet–Afghan War to help fellow Muslims fight Soviets and pro-Soviet Afghans.
Estimates of the volunt ...
family, and a
Taliban
The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
barracks. They gathered their belongings and quickly left, fearing another strike.
Adel went to the hospital, where he visited the wounded al-Abiy, and arranged for him to be transferred to a hospital in Pakistan.
After Adel was told by Abu Ali al-Suri that the American aircraft had machinegunned women leaving the city on the road to Banjway, Adel said that he would send aid. A convoy of 4–6
Corolla Fielder
The is a series of compact cars (formerly subcompact) manufactured and marketed globally by the Toyota Motor Corporation. Introduced in 1966, the Corolla was the best-selling car worldwide by 1974 and has been one of the best-selling cars in ...
s set out to Banjway, followed closely by American helicopters. The Americans attacked the lead vehicle, killing Abu-Ali al-Yafi'i, his wife, four women, and two children, and the second vehicle, killing Suraqah al-Yamani and Hamzah al-Suri. Abu-Ali al-Maliki quickly veered off the road with the third vehicle, turning off his
headlights
A headlamp is a lamp attached to the front of a vehicle to illuminate the road ahead. Headlamps are also often called headlights, but in the most precise usage, ''headlamp'' is the term for the device itself and ''headlight'' is the term for ...
, and drove into the mountains, escaping the attack.
Since al-Qaeda's military chief
Mohammed Atef
Mohammed Atef ( ar, محمد عاطف, ; born Sobhi Mohammed Abu Sitta Al-Gohary, also known as Abu Hafs al-Masri) was the military chief of al-Qaeda, and was considered one of Osama bin Laden's two deputies, the other being Ayman Al Zawahiri, ...
was killed in 2001, journalists reported that Adel was likely his successor in that role.
Pearl kidnapping
Since 2011, he has been connected with the kidnapping of the journalist
Daniel Pearl
Daniel Pearl (October 10, 1963 – February 1, 2002) was an American journalist who worked for ''The Wall Street Journal.'' He was kidnapped and later decapitated by terrorists in Pakistan.'
Pearl was born in Princeton, New Jersey, and rais ...
in 2002.
2003 Riyadh bombing
Al-Adel and
Saad bin Laden
( ar, سعد بن أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بن لادن; 19792009), better known as Saad bin Laden, was one of Osama bin Laden's sons. He continued in his father's footsteps by being active in Al Qaeda, and was being groomed to be ...
were implicated in the 12 May 2003 suicide bombing in
Riyadh
Riyadh (, ar, الرياض, 'ar-Riyāḍ, lit.: 'The Gardens' Najdi pronunciation: ), formerly known as Hajr al-Yamamah, is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the R ...
,
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
. In May 2003, then-State Department official
Ryan Crocker
Ryan Clark Crocker (born June 19, 1949) is an American retired diplomat who served as a career ambassador within the United States Foreign Service and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He has served as United States Ambassador to ...
provided information on the upcoming attack to Iranian officials, who apparently took no action. However, according to Saad's family and an interrogation of former al-Qaeda spokesman
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith ( ar, سليمان بوغيث; born 14 December 1965) is a Kuwaiti regarded as one of al-Qaeda's spokesmen.
He is married to one of Osama bin Laden's daughters. In 2013, Gaith was arrested in Jordan and extradited to the Un ...
, Saad and al-Adel were being held prisoner in Iran when the attack took place.
[http://kronosadvisory.com/Kronos_US_v_Sulaiman_Abu_Ghayth_Statement.1.pdf ] In 2004, he published a "terrorist manual" entitled ''The Base of the Vanguard'', an Arabic
pun
A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...
on the phrases ''al-Qaeda'' ("the base") and the
Vanguards of Conquest The Vanguards of Conquest (''Talaa'al al-Fateh'') is a terrorist organization that was originally founded in 1993 as a branch of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad operating in Somalia but became a separate faction that eventually folded back into the grou ...
.
Al-Adel was a key source in a 2005 book on al-Qaeda's global strategy by the journalist
Fouad Hussein.
Al-Adel is a leader of al-Qaeda in Iran, according to American security expert Seth Jones.
Current location
Adel has been on the FBI's list of
Most Wanted Terrorists since its inception in 2001. The
State Department's Rewards for Justice Program The Rewards for Justice Program (RFJ) is the counterterrorism and counterintelligence platform administered by the U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service agency. The Rewards For Justice program is seeking information leading to the ...
is offering up to US$10 million for information on his location.
[Saif al-Adel wanted poster](_blank)
, Rewards for Justice The Rewards for Justice Program (RFJ) is the counterterrorism and counterintelligence platform administered by the U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service agency. The Rewards For Justice program is seeking information leading to the ...
, US Department of State
In late 2001, Adel fled
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
to
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
and was detained under house arrest in
Tehran
Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...
. Later reports indicated that he was released by Iran in March 2010 in exchange for the release of Heshmatollah Attarzadeh, an Iranian diplomat kidnapped in November 2008, and made his way to northern
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
.
[Al-Qaida finds safe haven in Iran](_blank)
, NBC News
NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...
, 24 June 2005 Although
Mahfouz Ould al-Walid
Mahfouz Ould al-Walid (Arabic: محفوظ ولد الوالد), kunya Abu Hafs al-Mauritani ( ar, أبو حفص الموريتاني), is a Mauritanian Islamic scholar and poet previously associated with al-Qaeda. A veteran of the Soviet–Afgh ...
was reported killed in a January 2002 American airstrike, it was later revealed that he fled to Iran with Adel.
In October 2010, ''
Der Spiegel
''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...
'' reported that Adel was in the
Waziristan
Waziristan (Pashto and ur, , "land of the Wazir") is a mountainous region covering the former FATA agencies of North Waziristan and South Waziristan which are now districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Waziristan covers some . ...
region in the
Federally Administered Tribal Areas
, conventional_long_name = Federally Administered Tribal Areas
, nation = Pakistan
, subdivision = Autonomous territory
, image_flag = Flag of FATA.svg
, image_coat = File:Coat of arms ...
between
Northwest Frontier Province
The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP; ps, شمال لویدیځ سرحدي ولایت, ) was a Chief Commissioner's Province of British India, established on 9 November 1901 from the north-western districts of the Punjab Province. Followi ...
, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
In July 2011, it was reported that Adel returned to Iran.
Egyptian authorities reported in 2012 that he was arrested at the Cairo International Airport upon his return to Egypt from Pakistan via the United Arab Emirates.
However, according to Ghaith, al-Adel never left Iran and was still under house arrest when Ghaith was captured in 2013.
On 20 September 2015,
Al Arabiya
Arabiya ( ar, العربية, transliterated: '; meaning "The Arabic One" or "The Arab One") is an international Arabic news television channel, currently based in Dubai, that is operated by the media conglomerate MBC.
The channel is a flag ...
reported that al-Adel and four other captives were part of a prisoner exchange Iranian authorities made with
Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula in
Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
.
On 16 March 2016, a Twitter account affiliated with al-Qaeda implicated al-Adel as having been sent to aid against the
Russian intervention in the
Syrian Civil War.
A similar report also placed al-Adel as having been sent to Syria as an emissary on behalf of al-Qaeda emir
Ayman al-Zawahiri
Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri (June 19, 1951 – July 31, 2022) was an Egyptian-born terrorist and physician who served as the second emir of al-Qaeda from June 16, 2011, until his death.
Al-Zawahiri graduated from Cairo University with ...
. However, ''
Long War Journal
''FDD's Long War Journal'' (LWJ) is an American news website, also described as a blog, which reports on the War on terror. The site is operated by Public Multimedia Incorporated (PMI), a non-profit media organization established in 2007. PMI is ...
'' claims that al-Adel is still residing in Iran.
On August 2, 2022, a day after it was reported that al-Zawahiri was killed in a U.S. drone strike, al-Adel was still reported to be in Iran, which also complicated his ability to succeed al-Zawahiri as Al Qaeda's leader. ''
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
'' journalist Colin P. Clarke described al-Adel's legal status in Iran as "semi-house arrest."
Real name
It was originally believed that his real name is Mohammed Ibrahim Makkawi. However, on 29 February 2012, Egyptian authorities arrested a man by that name at
Cairo International Airport
Cairo International Airport (; ''Maṭār El Qāhira El Dawly'') is the principal international airport of Cairo and the largest and busiest airport in Egypt. It serves as the primary hub for Egyptair and Nile Air as well as several other ...
and it was discovered that he was not Adel.
Adel's real name is instead Mohammed Salah al-Din Zaidan.
Writings
In February 2006, the
Combating Terrorism Center
The Combating Terrorism Center is an academic institution at the United States Military Academy (USMA) in West Point, New York that provides education, research and policy analysis in the specialty areas of terrorism, counterterrorism, homelan ...
at
West Point
The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...
published a number of declassified documents from the Harmony database, some of which are known or believed to have been written by Saif al-Adel. One is a letter signed "Omar al-Sumali, previously known as Saif al-Adel", about the author's activities in southern
Somalia
Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...
during
UNOSOM II
United Nations Operation in Somalia II (UNOSOM II) was the second phase of the United Nations intervention in Somalia and took place from March 1993 until March 1995, following the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991.
UNOSOM II carried on ...
(1993–1995). It identifies
Ras Kamboni
Kamboni (; so, Kambooni) is a town in the Badhaadhe district of Lower Juba region, Somalia, which lies on a peninsula near the border with Kenya. It is the southernmost town in Somalia. The tip of that peninsula is called Ras Kamboni (Cape K ...
as a suitable site for an al-Qaeda base.
It mentions an accomplice of Adel called "Mukhtar".
In a letter
["Adel letter to Mukhtar"](_blank)
handwritten Arabic original, at USMA from "'Abd-al-Halim Adl'" to "'Mukhtar'", dated 13 June 2002, the author strongly criticises the leadership of
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...
, blaming the defeats of the preceding six months for al-Qaeda on bin Laden's recklessness and unwillingness to listen to advice:
From the following section, the 2002 addressee, "'Mukhtar'" appears to be
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (sometimes also spelled Shaikh; also known by at least 50 pseudonyms; born March 1, 1964 or April 14, 1965) is a Pakistani Islamist militant held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp under terrorism-re ...
, the commander of the
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...
:
The East Asia, Europe, America, Horn of Africa, Yemen, Gulf, and Morocco groups have fallen, and Pakistan has almost been drowned in one push. I, not to mention the other individuals who have also moved and fallen, have often advised on this matter. Regrettably, my brother, if you look back, you will find that you are the person solely responsible for all this because you undertook the mission, and during six months, we only lost what we built in years.
In 2004, Adel was alleged to be the author of ''The Al-Battar Military Camp'', a manual that advised prospective militants about how to strike easy targets.
On 11 March 2005,
Al-Quds Al-Arabi published extracts from Adel's document, "Al Quaeda's Strategy to the Year 2020".
In March 2007, the
Pentagon
In geometry, a pentagon (from the Greek πέντε ''pente'' meaning ''five'' and γωνία ''gonia'' meaning ''angle'') is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°.
A pentagon may be simpl ...
posted on the Internet a transcript
[Verbatim Transcript of Combatant Status Review Tribunal Hearing for ISN 10013](_blank)
US Department of Defense of part of the hearing into the combatant status of detainee
Ramzi bin al-Shibh
Ramzi Mohammed Abdullah bin al-Shibh ( ar, رمزي محمد عبدالله بن الشيبة; also transliterated as bin al-Shaibah; born 1 May 1972[Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...](_bl ...<br></span></div>. Some of the evidence against bin al-Shibh came from a diary of Saif al-Adel found in <div class=)
in 2004.
The CSRT document described al-Adel by the following:
Sayf al-Adel is a senior al Qaida military commander with a long-term relationship with Usama bin Laden. Sayf al-Adel's role in the organization has been as a trainer, military leader, and key member of Usama bin Laden's security detail.
The diary of Sayf al-Adel was recovered during a raid in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
in 2004. The diary details the Detainee's involvement in the 11 September 2001 terrorist plot and subsequent attack.
In addition, the paragraph continued:
The Detainee is listed as a "highly professional jihadist" along with "9/11 hijackers", Mohammed Atta and Ziad Jarrah
Ziad Samir Jarrah ( ar, زياد سمير جراح, '; May 11, 1975 – September 11, 2001) was a Lebanese terrorist and one of the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks. He was the hijacker-pilot of United Airlines Flight 93, crashing the pl ...
. The diary states that the three were briefed on an operation involving aircraft by Abu Hafs Abu Hafs may refer to:
* Abu Hafs Umar al-Nasafi, a Muslim scholar of 11th/12th century
* Mohammed Atef (Abu Hafs al-Masri), past military chief of al-Qaeda
* Abu Hafs Umar al-Iqritishi, early ninth-century Andalusian pirate and founder of the Emir ...
, a senior al Qaida planner.
In December 2010, Adel allegedly sent a series of five letters
[Brown, Valid (10 February 2011)]
"Al-Qa’ida Revisions: The Five Letters of Sayf al-‘Adl"
''Jihadica''.[Hamid, Mustaf]
"القاعدة - رسالة القاعدة إلى موقع مافا السياسى بقلم"
to
Abu Walid al Masri
Mustafa Hamid ( ar, مصطفى حامد; born March 1945 in Alexandria, Kingdom of Egypt), also known as Abu Walid al-Masri ( ar, أبو وليد المصري) and Hashim al-Makki ( ar, هاشم المكّي), is a journalist who in the 1980s fough ...
, then under
house arrest
In justice and law, house arrest (also called home confinement, home detention, or, in modern times, electronic monitoring) is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to their residence. Travel is usually restricted, if all ...
in Iran. He discusses the
War in Afghanistan
War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to:
*Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC)
*Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (637–709)
*Conquest of Afghanistan by the Mongol Empire (13th century), see als ...
, criticises the religious failings of the
mujahidin
''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' ( ar, مُجَاهِدِين, mujāhidīn), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' ( ar, مجاهد, mujāhid, strugglers or strivers or justice, right conduct, Godly rule, etc.
Or or OR may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* "O.R.", a 1974 episode of List of M*A*S*H episodes (Season 3), M*A*S*H
* Or (My Treasure), a 2004 movie from Israel (''Or'' means "light" in Hebrew)
Music
* Or (album), ''Or ...
doers of jihād), an Arabic ter ...
and hypocrisy of
Islamic scholars
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
, and the failure of the
Jihadist
Jihadism is a neologism which is used in reference to "militant Islamic movements that are perceived as existentially threatening to the West" and "rooted in political Islam."Compare: Appearing earlier in the Pakistani and Indian media, Wes ...
movement to learn from previous mistakes. Al Masri posted the letters on the Internet in December 2010. In March 2011, Adel allegedly released another five letters through al Masri,
[Hamid, Mustaf]
"القاعدة - الخمسة الشداد : مقالات جديدة من عابر سبيل"
/ref>[Farrall, Leah (24 March 2011)]
"New Sayf al-Adl letters"
which covered the Arab Spring
The Arab Spring ( ar, الربيع العربي) was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in T ...
uprisings.
In August 2015, a eulogy written by al-Adel for Abu Khalid al Suri, an al-Qaeda veteran who served as both a senior figure in the Syrian opposition group Ahrar al-Sham
Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya ( ar-at, حركة أحرار الشام الإسلامية, Ḥarakat Aḥrāru š-Šām al-Islāmiyah, lit=Islamic Movement of the Freemen of the Levant), commonly referred to as Ahrar al-Sham, is a coalition ...
and as Ayman al Zawahiri's representative in Syria, was released. In the eulogy he criticized the Islamic State
An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...
and described them as having "twisted" and "perverted" thoughts.
Personal life
He is married to the daughter of Mustafa Hamid; they have five children.
See also
* List of fugitives from justice who disappeared
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adel, Saif
1960s births
20th-century criminals
Al-Qaeda leaders
Egyptian al-Qaeda members
Egyptian Islamic Jihad
Egyptian mass murderers
FBI Most Wanted Terrorists
Fugitives
Individuals designated as terrorists by the United States government
Living people
Qutbism
Egyptian Qutbists
People from Monufia Governorate
Salafi jihadists
Year of birth uncertain