Hamza bin Osama bin Laden – Leader of Al-Qaeda’s New Generation
Recently, Hamza bin Laden has been mentioned in the media as a candidate with a very high probability of succeeding Sheikh Ayman al-Zawahiri as the next leader of Al-Qaeda. There are those who describe Hamza as “the representative of the new generation of Al-Qaeda” or as “the new face of Al-Qaeda” in light of his increased speeches on audio clips published by the organization during the last year.
Hamza bin Laden, the son of Osama bin Laden, who was the leader of Al-Qaeda until 2011, plays a role in the organization’s dawah system despite his young age. Thanks to his family name, in the eyes of the organization’s followers, the young bin Laden represents a longing to return to the glory days of the organization. In addition, the organization hopes that, because of his young age, he represents the “future generation of Al-Qaeda” and will succeed in bringing back to the organization those youth who preferred to blindly follow the Islamic State.
Despite the fact that his many appearances in the media in the framework of the organization’s dawah activities place Hamza as al-Zawahiri’s successor, few know his biography.[1]
