New Al-Qaeda video on 9/11 anniversary shows Hamza bin Laden alive
A 50-minute Al-Qaeda video released on the 25th anniversary of 9/11 shows Osama bin Laden's son Hamza, who the US had said was killed in 2019
Twenty-five years have passed since the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States. The attacks on New York's Twin Towers, the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania killed 2,977 innocent people. To mark the anniversary, Al-Qaeda's official media wing, As-Sahab, has released a 50-minute video that has alarmed intelligence agencies.
The video, titled "Twenty-Five Years Since the September 11 Attacks", shows Hamza bin Laden, Osama bin Laden's son and considered his likely successor, appearing directly on camera. This is the most startling element, since the administration of then US President Donald Trump had claimed in 2019 that Hamza was killed in a counter-terrorism operation on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The US had also placed a one million dollar bounty on him. However, Al-Qaeda never officially acknowledged his death, nor issued any statement of mourning for him. The video, arriving seven years later, has reopened the debate over whether Hamza was actually killed or is still alive.
In the video, Hamza bin Laden is seen wearing a traditional white turban, seated against a broken mud wall with an assault rifle placed beside him. This is reportedly the first such footage showing him in person. The same video also shows previously unseen images of Al-Qaeda's former chief, Ayman al-Zawahiri. Intelligence analysts believe that Al-Qaeda's current chief, Saif al-Adel, is once again using the "bin Laden" name and the family's image to spread the group's ideology and recruit new, younger militants.
The video opens with footage of the September 2014 attack on a naval base in Karachi carried out by Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS). Experts say this also makes clear how much influence Pakistani terror groups have on Al-Qaeda's central leadership. The propaganda video has surfaced at a time when US security agencies are already on full alert for the 25th anniversary of 9/11. In light of this, the CIA and the Pentagon have begun a close technical examination of the footage to determine whether it is old or has been made recently.
