Ayman al-Zawahri has succeeded Osama bin Laden as al-Qaeda's top leader. A doctor who was born into a rich Cairo family, he put in many years as bin Laden's No. 2 man in the terrorist organization. "U.S. intelligence agencies believe Zawahri functions as al Qaeda's most important ideological leader, and perhaps also the main operational leader of the network's activities," the Council on Foreign Relations has written. It's believed that Zawahri is now in Pakistan. The Daily Beast's Bruce Riedel writes that Zawahri is "al Qaeda's thinker—its key ideological spokesman and analyst—but he is also a ruthless operative who has masterminded terrorist attacks for three decades."
