Hamza bin Laden, the son of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, has been confirmed dead.
The New York Times confirmed the report, citing two unnamed U.S. officials Wednesday. The sources said the U.S. was involved with the operation that led to Hamza's death, but did not provide details about the strike, including where and when exactly it occurred; however, the officials said Hamza was killed sometime during the first two years of the Trump administration, before the State Department announced it would pay up to $1 million for information on his whereabouts.
Hamza, who was believed to have been born around 1989, was considered to be an heir to al Qaeda leadership, and reportedly sought to stage attacks against Western countries as part of an al Qaeda resurgence. His last known public message was released by the terrorist organization's media arm in 2018, when he denounced Saudi Arabia and encouraged the people of the Arabian peninsula to revolt.
Per the Times:
“If in fact he is dead, this makes the ranks of Al Qaeda’s senior leadership that much thinner and the connection to Osama bin Laden even more attenuated,” said Nicholas J. Rasmussen, a former director of the National Counterterrorism Center.
Osama was killed in 2011, when Navy SEALS raided his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Osama's son, Khalid bin Laden, was killed in the that raid; his other son, Saad bin Laden, died about two years prior in a drone strike in Pakistan.
U.S. officials continue to search for other key members of al Qaeda, including Saif al-Adel, Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, and Al Qaeda's chief Ayman al-Zawahiri.
