President Joe Biden will address the nation Monday evening at 7:30 PM ET to officially announce the United States has successfully completed a counterterrorism operation killing the top al-Qaeda leader who succeeded Osama bin-Laden.
“The United States has killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda and one of the world’s most-wanted terrorists, who oversaw the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, alongside the group’s founder, Osama bin Laden, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter,” The Washington Post reports. “The Central Intelligence Agency carried out a drone strike over the weekend in Kabul, Afghanistan, according to officials familiar with the matter.”
“Both men escaped U.S. forces in Afghanistan in late 2001, and Zawahiri’s whereabouts had long been a mystery. Bin Laden was killed in a raid by U.S. forces in Pakistan in 2011.”
It is being described as a “significant moment in his presidency,” by MSNBC’s Kristen Welker.
MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace called al-Zawahiri the”most pursued terrorist the world over,” noting that Biden is the fourth U.S. president to go after him.
President Biden is still recovering from COVID and will make the announcement from the Blue Room balcony.
Watch live below at 7:30 PM ET:
This is a breaking news and developing story.