Al-Masri: The al-Qaeda commander coming under US microscope
The US embassy in Yemen has pledged $5 million in rewards for those who would provide information about Essam al-Banna, codenamed 'Abu Ayman al-Masri'.
Al-Masri is a prominent leader of the branch of al-Qaeda in Yemen.
Who is he?
Al-Masri is a founding member of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. He is also a godfather of the intelligence apparatus of the terrorist organization there.
According to information available about him, he was born in Egypt in 1965. He was a leader of Jihad Group in Yemen between 1996 and 1998. Al-Masri was responsible for training and intelligence in the group. He also served as the head of the media wing of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
It is noteworthy that al-Masri has a knack for hiding and moving between countries. He enjoys esteem among the leaders of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. The US State Department classified him in 2017 as a 'global terrorist'. Former al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, once revealed that al-Masri helped al-Qaeda's members pass through airports around the world.
Bin Laden noted that al-Masri was good at fabricating official documents, consequently helping al-Qaeda's elements escape intelligence services.
In an article published by the English online magazine, Ilham, part of the media arm of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, in 2010, al-Masri described the 9/11 attacks in Washington and New York as a 'good thing'.
The magazine noted that al-Masri had threatened to attack Americans around the world, in response to the actions of the US.
The magazine pointed out that before joining al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, al-Masri was the commander of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad Organization in Yemen from 1996 to 1998, after which he was in charge of the group's training and intelligence sector.
On June 5, 2017, the US State Department specifically designated al-Masri as a 'global terrorist' under Executive Order no. 13224.
As a result of this classification, all his properties were seized. American citizens were forbidden from conducting any transactions with him.
The financial reward pledged by the US for information about the man raises questions about Washington's quest for this information.
Some observers said the US has a fixed line in targeting the leaders of terrorist organizations.
This line can be described as a 'beheading strategy'. The US has used the same strategy to target al-Qaeda's leadership structure since 2002.
Washington has been targeting the leaders of the organization in a large number of countries for 20 years now.
