DUBAI—Seif al-Adel, a former Egyptian special forces officer and a high-ranking member of al-Qaeda with a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head, is now the “uncontested” leader of the terrorist group, according to a new U.N. report on the organization.
Al-Qaeda has not formally named a successor for Ayman al-Zawahiri, who was believed to have been killed in a U.S. missile strike in Kabul last year, dealing a blow to the terrorist group since its founder Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011.
Although a U.S. intelligence official said in January that Zawahiri’s succession remained unclear, the United Nations report assessing risks from the group said: “In discussions in November and December, many Member States took the view that Seif al-Adel is already operating as the de facto and uncontested leader of the group.”…