The killing of Qasim al-Raymi warns al-Qaeda of more defeats and recession

Cairo – North-Press Agency
Muhammad Abu Zayd

Al-Qaeda has recently received a blow through the announcement of the United States that one of the influential leaders of al-Qaeda terrorist group, who is the leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Qasim al-Raymi was killed.

Also, in March 22, 2019 of the same year, the U.S. President Donald Trump announced the end of the Islamic State terrorist group (ISIS), after the elimination of its last pocket in Syria at that time, so that the aspirations of al-Qaeda began to float to the surface to look for a greater presence for them after the collapse of ISIS, and on the ruins of that collapsed state, but after less than a year, the terrorist group "received a severe blow which destroyed its aspirations in rising on the ruins of ISIS.”

The recent blow that the terrorist group received was the announcement of the U.S. of the killing of Qasim al-Raymi, one of the influential leaders of al-Qaeda, and the leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, who was the most prominent name after al-Zawahiri, and was always called "al-Zawahiri successor" or "al-Zawahiri heir,” because of his charismatic personality and overwhelming military presence that enabled him to lead the terrorist group in the Arabian Peninsula despite his young age (born in 1978).

The killing of al-Raymi can be seen as a fatal blow for the aspirations of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen and the Arabian Gulf in general, as he was one of the last major leaders of the terrorist group who were disciples at the hands of Osama bin Laden. According to the observers, his killing also leads to the breakup of al-Qaeda and further defeats and regression in which the terrorist group suffers from in the first place.  

According to Muneer Adeeb, an expert on the jihadist groups, "Qasim al-Raymi posed a great danger, which was realized by the U.S., which set a reward of five million dollars for those who provide information leading to his arrest, then it raised the reward to ten million dollars.”

Adeeb pointed out that, "This person may be the last one of what we might call the first row of the leaders of al-Qaeda group who were trained by Osama bin Laden, or who we call the disciples of Osama bin Laden.”

"The killing of Qasim al-Raymi will greatly affect the presence and the aspirations of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen or in the Gulf in particular, because after his death the matter became difficult for the terrorist group,” Adeeb added.

Adeeb believes that the killing of this figure has a great significance, "because he was almost the first man in al-Qaeda, and most of the intelligence and research which attempted to understand the terrorist group as a whole went to the fact that, he was the closest to succeeding Ayman al-Zawahiri if he was killed or disappeared.”

Al-Qaeda suffers mainly from disintegration and separation in various areas. It had recently sought to restore effectiveness for itself, taking advantage of its presence in the conflict areas, but it received successive strikes which resulted in the failure of its attempts, the latest of which was the killing of Qasim al-Raymi.  

According to the expert on jihadi groups, the dissident scholar of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Khaled al-Zaafrani: "Basically, the role and the noise of al-Qaeda began to diminish significantly, and there is no doubt that the killing of an influential leader in this way would cause the terrorist group to suffer very weakly, especially that it is essentially dissident and has become more like isolated from one another.”

In a statement to North-Press from the Egyptian capital, Cairo via a phone call, al-Zaafrani said that, "As a prominent leader and the Emir of the terrorist group in the Arabian Peninsula, al-Raymi had many lines, so that with his death, many means of communication within the terrorist group are lost, and those important lines have died with him.” Perhaps, his killing may be considered as a devastating blow which increases the pain and the defeats of al-Qaeda in general.