Al-Qaida releases first footage of Hamza bin Laden on 9/11 anniversary
Al-Qaida’s media wing As-Sahab posted a 50-minute video showing Hamza bin Laden, who was believed killed in 2019, alongside historic footage of the group’s operations.
On the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, al-Qaida’s official media outlet As-Sahab released a 50-minute propaganda film called “A Quarter Century of the 11 September Raids.” The video features the first known footage of Hamza bin Laden, the son and designated successor of Osama bin Laden, despite previous intelligence indicating he was killed in a U.S. operation along the Afghan-Pakistan border around 2019.
The program also includes previously unseen material of the deceased al-Qaida leader Ayman Al Zawahiri, whose death remains unacknowledged by the group. Opening with archival clips from the 2014 al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent attack on Karachi’s naval dockyard, the film underscores the influence of Pakistani militants within the organization’s leadership and media. Hamza appears repeatedly, seated against a cracked mud wall, wearing a white turban and with an assault rifle nearby, a staging meant to project his authority and evoke classic jihadist visuals. The release aims to bolster recruitment by linking the Bin Laden name to one outlet chief, Saif al-Adl, and to reinforce the group’s ideological narrative.
Why it matters
The video revives a presumed dead al-Qaida heir, potentially boosting the group’s propaganda and recruitment appeal.
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