US says Iran-based Saif al-Adel is new al-Qaida chief

Saif al-Adel, an Iran-based Egyptian, has become the head of al-Qaida following the July 2022 death of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the US State Department said Wednesday. But the group has not formally declared him "emir" because of sensitivity to the concerns of the Taliban, who haven't wanted to acknowledge that Zawahiri was killed by a US rocket in a home in Kabul last year, according to the UN report.