18 Facts About Saif al-Adel

Saif al-Adel is a former Egyptian colonel and explosives expert, who is suspected to be the de facto leader of Al-Qaeda.

Saif al-Adel has provided military and intelligence training to members of al-Qaeda and Egyptian Islamic Jihad in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Sudan, and to anti-UN Somali tribes.

Saif al-Adel established the al-Qaeda training facility at Ras Kamboni in Somalia near the Kenyan border.

Saif al-Adel is believed to have traveled to southern Lebanon along with Abu Talha al-Sudani, Saif al-Islam al-Masri, Abu Ja`far al-Masri, and Abu Salim al-Masri, where he trained alongside Hezbollah Al-Hejaz.

Saif al-Adel joined the Egyptian Military around 1976 and became a Colonel in the Special Forces as an Explosives expert, possibly being trained in the Soviet Union.

Saif al-Adel fled Egypt in 1988 and reportedly made his way to Afghanistan, joining the relatively small but well funded Maktab al-Khidamat, which was the forerunner to al-Qaeda.

Saif al-Adel became a trainer in Explosives to new recruits, and would stay in Afghanistan after the war to train members of the newly formed Taliban.

Saif al-Adel recovered after four months, except for a slight effect in his left hand.

Saif al-Adel later learned that Asim al-Yamani, from Al Farouq training camp, and the elderly Abu-Abd-al-Rahman Al-Abiy had run to the charity's headquarters and begun rescuing survivors and pulling out the dead bodies.

However, according to Saad's family and an interrogation of former al-Qaeda spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, Saad and Saif al-Adel were being held prisoner in Iran when the attack took place.

However, according to Ghaith, Saif al-Adel never left Iran and was still under house arrest when Ghaith was captured in 2013.

On 16 March 2016, a Twitter account affiliated with al-Qaeda implicated Saif al-Adel as having been sent to aid against the Russian intervention in the Syrian Civil War.

However, Long War Journal claims that Saif al-Adel is still residing in Iran.

Some evidence against bin al-Shibh came from a diary of Saif al-Adel found in Saudi Arabia in 2004.

Sayf Saif al-Adel is a senior Al-Qaeda military commander with a long-term relationship with Osama bin Laden.

The diary of Sayf Saif al-Adel was recovered during a raid in Saudi Arabia in 2004.

Saif al-Adel discusses the War in Afghanistan, criticises the religious failings of the mujahidin and hypocrisy of Islamic scholars, and the failure of the Jihadist movement to learn from previous mistakes.

Saif al-Adel is married to the daughter of Mustafa Hamid; they have five children.