Al-Qaeda has named Zain Al-Abedin Hasan, a 30-year-old Palestinian from Gaza Strip as Osama bin Laden's successor in case the latter is arrested or killed. Quoting sources in Dubai, Ria-Novosti said Al-Qaeda members fleeing Afghanistan have revealed this to Pakistani intelligence. Hasan has been based in Peshawar for the last few years, overseeing the recruitment and dispatch of mercenaries from different parts of the world to Afghanistan. He is accused of masterminding the terrorist attacks on westerners in Amman on New Year's eve in 2000. The sources said during the 1990s more than 20,000 mercenaries, mainly from Arab countries, had entered Afghanistan to join Al-Qaeda.
Does that mean al-Zawahri is dead? Or not expected to remain alive?
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