OBL’s youngest son steps into father’s shoes as al Qaeda attempts comeback

In recent months, Hamza bin Laden has been promoted as a rising star on pro al-Qaeda websites

A recent audio recording on militant websites is the voice of 28-year-old Hamza bin Laden, calling for followers to kill.

“Prepare diligently to inflict crippling losses on those who have disbelieved,” the voice says. “Follow in the footsteps of martyrdom-seekers before you.”

The recording first aired two weeks before the Manchester Arena attack called for attacks on Europe and US to avenge the deaths of children in Syria.

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Hamza, the youngest of all of Osama bin Laden's children, was the one chosen to take revenge for his father's death. He was introduced by the organisation's new chief Ayman al-Zawahiri as the 'lion' of al-Qaeda in an audio message in 2015.



"We will continue striking you and targeting you in your country and abroad in response to your oppression of the people of Palestine, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia and the rest of the Muslim lands that did not survive your oppression," Hamza had said.

"As for the revenge by the Islamic nation for Sheikh Osama, may Allah have mercy on him, it is not revenge for Osama the person but it is revenge for those who defended Islam."

Al Qaeda has in recent years been destroyed by US strikes and overshadowed by the Islamic State. However, this new recording may be signaling changes within the organisation, reports The Washington Post.

“Al Qaeda is trying to use the moment — [with] Daesh being under attack — to offer jihadists a new alternative,” said a Middle Eastern security official, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State. “And what could be more effective than a bin Laden?”

Hamza, now in his late-twenties, was at his father's side in Afghanistan before the 9/11 attacks and spent time with him in Pakistan after the US-led invasion pushed much of al Qaeda's senior leadership there, according to the Brookings Institution.

This file photo taken on November 7, 2001 shows Hamza, reciting a poem extolling Kabul and Mullah Mohammad Omar, supreme leader of Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers. Picture: Al-Jazeera/AFP

In recent months, Hamza has been promoted as a rising star on pro al Qaeda websites. Hamza provides a younger voice for the group whose aging leaders have struggled to inspire militants around the world galvanised by Islamic State.

“Hamza is the most charismatic and potent individual in the next generation of jihadis simply because of his lineage and history,” said Bruce Riedel, who spent 30 years in the CIA and is now director of the Brookings Institution’s Intelligence Project. “At a time when Zawahiri and al-Baghdadi seem to be fading, Hamza is the heir apparent.”

"Hamza provides a new face for al Qaeda, one that directly connects to the group's founder. He is an articulate and dangerous enemy," Reidel adds further.

Hamza's style of militancy seems to differ from his father's. Osama was known for his ambitious and carefully planned attacks. Hamza by contrast, urges his followers to take any opportunity to strike at Jews, Americans and Europeans, using any weapon at their disposal.

"It is not necessary that it should be a military tool," he says in the May 13 recording. "If you are able to pick a firearm, well and good; if not, the options are many."

In his audio messages Hamza has applauded 'lone-wolf' attacks, namely Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan who murdered 13 in Texas in 2009 and two Britons who killed a British solider in London in 2013.



While the perpetrators were not known al Qaeda members, by applauding the attacks Hamza associates himself with a more aggressive style of terrorism. He also brings an assurance that al-Qaeda is far from defeated, says Bruce Hoffman, a former US adviser on counterterrorism and director of Georgetown University’s Center for Security Studies.

“He brings assurance that, even though al Qaeda has been hammered in recent years, it’s still in good hands, with a junior bin Laden who is ideally situated to carry on the struggle,” Hoffman said. “Since a very young age, Hamza bin Laden wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps. And from al Qaeda’s perspective, now is the critical time for him to come of age and assume the reins of authority.”

This story originally appeared on The Washington Post