After two decades of the ghastly attack in United States, Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, who was rumoured to be dead, has surfaced in a new video released by the outfit’s official media arm on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in the United States.

US-based SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks the online activity of jihadist groups, reported that al-Zawahiri spoke on a number of issues, including a raid on a Russian military base by the al-Qaeda-aligned Hurras al-Deen in Syria, which it claimed on January 1.

Rita Katz, SITE’s director, noted that al-Zawahiri made no mention of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan. A Hindustan Times report stated that Katz pointed out al-Zawahiri was shown in the video even though reports last November claimed he had died. He last appeared in a video message for the group on the 19th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks.

Rita Katz tweeted: Amid rumours of his death, al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri shown in a new 60-minute video, this time offering some evidence that he is not dead–particularly, reference to events after December when rumours of death surfaced.

Katz further tweeted that Zawahiri didn’t mention Taliban’s Afghanistan victory, and his talk of US making its exit from Afghanistan could have been said early as February 2020 upon Doha Agreement. Thus, he could still be dead, though if so, would have been at some point in or after January 2021.

Nonetheless, intelligence agencies have, as of yet, offered no proof or solid assessments that Zawahiri is dead, leaving the question of his current status in the air, Katz said.

The United Nations claimed that most of the terror outfit Al Qaeda leadership resides in the Afghanistan and Pakistan border region, including al-Zawahiri. One member state reports that he is probably alive but too frail to be featured in propaganda, the UN report said.

Al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian, succeeded Osama Bin Laden after he was killed by US SEAL forces in Pakistan’s Abbottabad.

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