This may be true, but people such as al-Zawahiri tend to die more than once. Take, for example, the Islamic State’s caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He was reported seriously injured or dead several times before he was actually killed in 2019:
Islamic State’s caliph al-Baghdadi said to be severely injured, flees to Syria July 5, 2014
Several months later, after widespread reports that he had been killed in an airstrike: Islamic State caliph undead, calls for “volcanoes of jihad” November 13, 2014
Islamic State’s caliph Ibrahim, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, again reported seriously wounded April 21, 2015
Bin Laden protege reportedly leading Islamic State after injury to caliph al-Baghdadi that Pentagon denies happened April 23, 2015
UK’s Guardian: Islamic State’s caliph still alive, but paralyzed from spinal injury in airstrike Pentagon denies hit him April 27, 2015
Radio Iran: Islamic State’s caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead of injuries from airstrike Pentagon denies hit him April 27, 2015
Is the Islamic State’s caliph al-Baghdadi dead (again)? June 17, 2016
Also, Osama bin Laden was widely thought to be dead when he made no public statements for a couple of years; then he resurfaced.
From a practical standpoint, it hardly matters whether or not al-Zawahiri is dead. Al-Qaeda is not based around the charismatic leadership of a single figure, but around an ideology that no one wants to admit exists, and it will continue.
“Al-Qaeda chief Zawahiri has died in Afghanistan — sources,” by Baker Atyani and Sayed Salahuddin, Arab News Pakistan, November 20, 2020:
ISLAMABAD/KABUL: Egyptian national Ayman Al-Zawahiri, 69, has died in Afghanistan likely of natural causes, several sources in Pakistan and Afghanistan told Arab News this week, just days after reports of the Al-Qaeda leader’s passing made the rounds on social media.
Zawahiri’s last appearance was in a video message on this year’s anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in the United States.
His death, if confirmed, opens up a deep leadership vacuum within Al-Qaeda as at least two senior commanders who would have been in line to replace him have been killed recently: Hamza bin Laden, a son of slain Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who was killed in a US counter-terrorism operation, the White House announced last year; and Abu Muhamamd Al-Masri, believed to be Al-Qaeda’s second-in-command, who was killed in Iran this year, according to media reports.
Arab News spoke to at least four security sources in Pakistan and Afghanistan to confirm Zawahiri’s death. Two said he had died. All spoke off the record as they were not authorized to speak to the media on the issue.“He [Zawahiri] died last week in Ghazni,” an Al-Qaeda translator who still enjoys close ties with the group, told Arab News on Tuesday. “He died of asthma because he had no formal treatment.”
A Pakistani security official based in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan also said Zawahiri had died.
“We believe he is no longer alive,” he said, declining to be named. “We are firm that he has died of natural causes.”
A source close to Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan told Arab News on Monday that the militant leader had passed away this month, November, and a limited number of followers had attended his funeral prayers….
Walter Sieruk says
If Zawahiri is really dead then it won’t be long before another wicked, dangerous and scheming fiendish jihadist takes his place a the chief of al Qaeda . We may also be sure that the replacement of will be just a much a tool of the Devil as the last two villains who had headed al Qaeda
mortimer says
Al-Zawahiri was one of a kind. He came from the inner circle of Islamists of classical Salafism. He would be hard to replace. He is an example of a well-educated jihadist. Western politicians would learn about 60% of the essentials of jihadism by studying the life of Al-Zawahiri.
The life of al-Zawahiri disproved the Marxist theory that want causes jihadism.
uma says
I pray God for no replacements and the place be vanished.
Buraq says
Years of whacking his head off the ground, nurturing a ‘zebiba’ to prove his commitment to Islamic prayer, he dies of natural causes. But it might have been Covid! Maybe they’re lying.
Keith O says
Buraq, Yeah would be poetic if the Chinese plague got him, considering how many Mudslimes were screaming that it was sent by Allah to kill unbelievers!
Bikinis not Burkas says
Did he forget the Violet leaf oil?
Mural says
If this is True, a bit of good news to end this darned long year.
Rick Spencer says
And… It’s entirely possible that Osama bin Laden died of natural causes (i.e. kidney failure) in Afghanistan several years before he was “killed” by US Navy Seals in Abbattabad, Pakistan, in 2011 under B Hussein Obama’s watch.
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2014/02/23/292850/iranian-intelligence-figure-bin-laden-not-killed-by-us
[Keep in mind that the US did not provide any photographic evidence… and before the Commander-in-Chief could say “Jack Robinson” the corpse (?) was buried at sea. What BS!]
gravenimage says
I believe the Navy Seals.
Bikinis not Burkas says
So do I.
unbeliever1 says
So do I.They did the right thing by dumping his a** at Sea.
James Lincoln says
Rick Spencer,
My wife’s cousin is a Navy SEAL instructor.
He knows unequivocally that US Navy SEALs took out Osama bin Laden in Pakistan as reported.
No need for any conspiracy theory on this bit of history…
gravenimage says
+1
gravenimage says
Several sources claim that al-Qaeda top dog Zawahiri has died of natural causes in Afghanistan
This may be true, but people like al-Zawahiri tend to die more than once.
……………….
Could be–but I think he has “died” several times already…
OLD GUY says
Could we be so lucky that its his final time.