Al Qaeda #3 Reported Killed in Drone Strike
ABC News: Al Qaeda #3 Killed
Shaikh Sa’id al-Masri is the senior most al Qaeda official killed under President Obama, the officials said. An Egyptian, Shaikh Sa’id was formerly the chief financial officer of al Qaeda. The official said Shaikh Sa’id’s “death would be a major blow to al-Qaeda, which in December lost both its internal and external operations chiefs.
This is obviously an important occurrence; al-Masri was a top-ranking Al Qaeda figure and core founding member with experience and connections that the organization may very well have some trouble effectively replacing. It is important to point out, though, that it is still unclear how important Al Qaeda central is to global jihadist movement and what effect this sort of high level killing with actually have on the frequency or scope of terrorist operations in Pakistan or beyond.
Does this have any effect on Al Qaeda’s operations in Yemen? In East Africa? Maybe. Given that regional affiliates seem to be planning and executing attacks fairly regularly without AQ central guidance, however, there would seem to be considerable evidence pointing toward maybe not.
Targeted killings can off-balance an organization considerably, but for an organization like Al Qaeda the “big blow” that they deliver is inherently temporary. This is especially true when regional organizations seem perfectly capable of acting independently.
Successes like these should not be dismissed by any means, but before we go patting ourselves on the back too much we should probably temper any exuberance with the knowledge that in many respects we really don’t know what the strategic implications of those successes will actually be in the short or long run.
