Graphic toont een factbox van Hamza bin Laden.
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TERRORISME

Hamza bin Laden -- voorbestemd leider

By Duncan Mil

August 7, 2018 - De zoon van het meesterbrein van Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden is naar zeggen getrouwd met de dochter van terrorist Mohammed Atta, die met een gekaapt vliegtuig op 11 september 2001 het World Trade Centre in vloog.

In an interview with the Guardian, Osama’s family has claimed that Hamza bin Laden has vowed to avenge his father. Bin Laden senior was shot dead during a dramatic raid by U.S. special forces in the early hours of May 2, 2011.

However, sources close to the bin Laden family denied reports of the marriage. Omar, 37, the fourth son of the former Al Qaeda leader, told London-based Asharq Al-Awsat on Monday (August 6) that his half-brother is married to Maryam Abdullah Ahmad Abdullah -- the daughter of Abu Mohammed al-Masri, an Al Qaeda leader indicted for his role in the August 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

Hamza is seen by many as a future standard bearer of global jihad, unlike the uncharismatic Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri, who took over the leadership of Al Qaeda after bin Laden’s demise.

As a Saudi descended from prominent families on both his father’s and his mother’s side -- his mother, Khairia Sabar, was a leading child psychologist -- Hamza has the family pedigree to command respect and large donations from Gulf supporters.

Writing in the West Point-based CTC Sentinel, author Ali Soufan points out that Hamza has returned to his father’s rhetoric castigating the House of Saud and calling for regime change in the Kingdom. Hamza could be a highly effective leader at a moment when Al Qaeda affiliates are growing in resources and influence across the Islamic world, and Islamic State is crumbling, with tens of thousands of followers looking for fresh leadership.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 07/08/2018; STORY: Graphic News; PICTURES: Associated Press
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