1998 saw the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania bombed, killing 12 Americans, and Osama bin Laden’s name was first introduced to most Americans. The attack wounded over 4,000 and killed over 200. This is the first time Osama would be added to the FBI’s 10 most wanted list. Fast forward to the year 2000, and the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in which 17 American sailors were killed. The next year, on September 11th, 2001 Bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network would claim the lives of 3,000 Americans. Osama bin Laden was now the most wanted and notorious man in the world.
Ten years later on May 2nd, 2011 a Navy SEALS team executed a raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan, killing al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. While this was a great victory for the U.S., it did not end terrorism or al-Qaeda. At this point, a decade after the attack, Bin Laden was no longer even orchestrating al-Qaeda’s operations. Nor did his death end Bin Laden-ism. Bin Laden-ism is his type of Jihad that kills civilians and empowers the downtrodden and discouraged to fight against western powers that many of his follower’s attribute to their current situation. It’s the reason al-Qaeda had 400 members at the time of the 9/11 attacks and over 20,000 members today. Famed CNN investigative journalist Peter Bergen even described al-Qaeda as “Holy War, Inc.”. After Bin Laden, terrorism is in large part no longer state sponsored, but a more multinational independently operated organization. Bin Laden-ism showed that small groups could go toe-to-toe with world superpowers.
In this installment of ‘Life After ISIS’, I want to try and show how al-Qaeda, the terrorist organization who has killed the most American lives, has purposefully moved into the shadows while ISIS garnered the global terrorism spotlight. With the demise of ISIS, we may see al-Qaeda reemerge with a new Bin Laden at the helm. Hamza bin Laden, Osama’s favorite son, is being groomed to become the next Bin Laden America must deal with.
Hamza is Osama’s 15th child of his 20 to 23 children. Hamza was born sometime in the late 1980’s to Osama’s favorite wife, Khairia Sabar. Therefore, Hamza is probably around 29 years old. Osama and Khairia were married in 1985. This was before the formation of al-Qaeda and Osama’s spree of terrorism activities. Khairia holds a PhD in child psychology and was even a university professor for a while. After many miscarriages, Khairia was able to provide Osama with one son, Hamza. Hamza grew up under Osama’s care in Saudi Arabia, the Sudan, and eventually Afghanistan.
At a very young age, in the late 1990’s, Hamza was well acquainted with jihadi groups and warfare. He appeared alongside his brothers Mohamed, Sa’ad, Khalid, and Ladin dressed as child soldiers in al-Qaeda propaganda videos. Even though Hamza was only around 10 years old, these were the last known images we had of him until the CIA released video captured from Osama’s compound of Hamza’s wedding sometime in the mid-2000’s.
As his father gained more and more notoriety, Hamza did follow him to the various countries in which he lived. This eventually led the family to their hideout safe haven and training camps of Afghanistan. It was at this point that the family began to fracture and separate.
With the September 11th attacks nearing their final planning stages, and anticipation of American retaliation in Afghanistan, Osama wanted his family to leave the country. Some of his sons chose to return to Saudi Arabia and participate in the wealthy family business. Some chose to go into exile with Osama’s urging. Hamza, his mother, and their family decided to go into exile in Iran. Bin Laden also sent his top three officials into Iran along with many of his family members.
Shortly after entering Iran, the members of the exiled party were arrested by Iranian officials. Among the party were those top three al-Qaeda officials comprising of Abu Mohammed al-Masri, Abu Khair al-Masri, and Saif al-Adel. These three men helped plan the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Africa, were in charge of Osama’s security, and responsible for starting networks in other countries. Besides current leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, these three men were three of the highest-ranking officials in the terrorist network. Therefore, Hamza grew up in captivity learning from three terrorist masterminds.
Hamza bin Laden would spend nearly 10 years in Iranian captivity with his family. While the family was allowed some freedom of movement and interaction, they were still isolated to an Iranian compound. Although, they were allowed to play soccer, worship, and even have contact with the outside world. An audio recording was released in 2002 of Hamza reciting jihadi poetry to his father, as well as letters describing his deep desire to rejoin his father. In his prison exile, Hamza married the embassy bombing architect Abu Mohammed al-Masri’s daughter. They also had two children over that time span, named Osama and Khairia to honor Hamza’s father and mother.
Hamza, his mother, and a few other members of his family were finally released on August 10th, 2010. In 2010 al-Qaeda captured their own high value bargaining chip, a high-ranking Iran diplomat. They were able to perform a prisoner swap, and many members of Osama’s family were released from Iran. Upon release, Osama urged them to join him at his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Khairia, Osama’s wife and Hamza’s mother decided to undertake the journey to Pakistan.
Osama did not want his wife bringing any possessions with her that she owned in Pakistan, for fear that they might be bugged. He even urged her to have a tooth removed that contained a filling she had done while in Iranian captivity. She finally arrived in Abbottabad on February 12th, 2011, less than two months before the raid.
Hamza also desperately wanted to join his father in Pakistan, but it was much more difficult for him to get there than his mother. Hamza was the best suited son to carry out Osama’s legacy. Upon leaving Iran, Hamza traveled to Waziristan. Waziristan is a mountainous ungoverned lawless region stretching across Afghanistan and Pakistan, in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas. This was the ideal place for him to hide out. Even though he wanted to journey to his father’s home, Osama did not even want Hamza leaving his house.
Osama had learned his lesson by bestowing too much responsibility too quickly on one of his sons. He groomed his son Sa’ad to help run al-Qaeda after Sa’ad was released from Iran in 2008. But Sa’ad became too well known and sought after and was killed by an American airstrike in 2009. So, Osama wanted Hamza to stay much more hidden and behind the scenes. In April of 2011 Hamza formulated a plan to travel to Abbottabad. By the time Hamza put his plan into action, it was too late. Osama bin Laden’s compound was raided in May, and he and Hamza’s brother Khalid were killed in action. Khairia and Bin Laden’s other wives in the compound were taken into custody by Pakistani authorities.
Hamza was heard from again for the first time since he was a teenager, in 2015. Osama’s No. 2, and now current leader of al-Qaeda Zawahiri released an audio recording featuring the new “lion from the den of al-Qaeda”. This new speaker was none other than Hamza bin Laden. Hamza proceeds to insult President Obama, praise the AQ affiliates in other countries, and recognize the Boston Marathon bombers, and Fort Hood Shooter, who it turns out was partly inspired by Hamza’s writings.
In 2016 and 2017 he released even more audio recordings, and quite frequently addressing current events. Some focused on Syria and using the civil war to help liberate Palestine and attack the Jews. Some recordings praised his father’s legacy, and some called for increased attacks in the West and against America. His most recent audio messages, released just a few months ago, discusses tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and the current conflict in Yemen, calling on followers to take up arms in Yemen.
With ISIS’s influence slowly dissipating, Hamza’s messages have not been critical of the group as past al-Qaeda messages have been. This is in an effort to hopefully have remaining Islamic State members join their affiliate groups. With the frequency and ease of his messages, that goes to show he is not deep underground in hiding anymore. It also goes to show the Crown Prince of al-Qaeda’s voice is the one leading their messaging. The next sign indicating he is taking leadership will be if a video message shows his face, or unfortunately, if he pulls off some form of an attack. With recent messaging including statements such as to “rise in rebellion against oppression and tyranny” and “revolt against the agents of the Americans”, the next Bin Laden clearly has America in his sights.
Sources:
Bergen, Peter, “Holy War, Inc.”, 2001, Simon & Schuster
Cohen, Zachary; Todd, Brian, “CIA reveals rare images of Osama Bin Laden’s son”, 11/03/2017, cnn.com
Coll, Steve, “The Bin Ladens”, 2008, The Penquin Press
“Hamza bin Laden, son of Osama, appears set to become the new face of al-Qaeda”, 9news.com.au, 05/17/2017
Joscelyn, Thomas, “Hamza bin Laden lionizes his father and incites ‘rebellion’ in new audio message”, 11/07/2017, longwarjournal.org
Joscelyn, Thomas, “Hamza bin Laden warns of Shite expansion in the Middle East”, 04/01/2018, longwarjournal.com
Soufan, Ali, “Anatomy of Terror”, 2017, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Soufan, Ali, “Hamza bin Laden, Osama’s Son, Is Helping Al-Qaeda Stage a Deadly Comeback”, newsweek.com, 06/19/2017
Staling, Steven, “A Millennial Bin Laden Prepares To Take Over Al-Qaeda – And Possibly The Global Jihad Movement”, The Middle East Media Research Institute, 02/16/2018
Warrick, Joby; Mekhennet, Souad, “Bin Laden’s son steps into father’s shoes as al-Qaeda attempts a comeback”, Washington Post, 05/27/2017
Withnall, Adam, “Hamza bin Laden: Could Osama’s son be the future leader of al-Qaeda?”, independent.co.uk, 05/11/2016