Al-Qaeda's new boss: Meet Qassim Al-Rimi

New Delhi, June 17: Nasir al-Wuhayshi the leader of the al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula is dead. Qassim Al-Rimi has already been appointed to succeed Wuhayshi.

While the death of Wuhayshi does create a major vaccum in the al-Qaeda, experts believe that the outfit is capable of bouncing back under the leadership of Rimi.

Rimi is not an unknown face in the al-Qaeda and has been one of the primary recruiters for the outfit since the 9/11 days. Rimi's file with the CIA would suggest that he had played a very important role during the recruitments running up to the 9/11 attack.

Who is Qassim Al-Rimi?

Qassim Al-Rimi was Wuhayshi's deputy in Yemen. He is one of the senior most commanders of the al-Qaeda and carries a reward of 5 million US dollars on his head.

The man who stood behind both Osama Bin Laden and Wuhayshi through thick and thin, Rimi played an extremely important role in sharing the al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula.

A fierce fighter who is cold blooded in nature, he has been one of the most successful recruiters for the al-Qaeda. He had played a key role while recruiting men for important attacks such as the 9/11 and also the Charlie Hebdo strikes.

The US describes Rimi as dangerous and the one who has played a major role in reviving the regional node of the al-Qaeda especially in Yemen. Further he has also been termed as the man who hates the West. The Intelligence that was picked up on him would show that he had been planning several in the West.

Jihad will continue:

Rimi has assured his forces in Yemen that Jihad will continue no matter what. We will pay back those who killed Wuhayshi he has said while taking over the outfit in Yemen. He will now be second only to Ayman al-Zawahiri who is the over all chief of the al-Qaeda after the death of Bin Laden.

Rimi is well versed with the al-Qaeda and has been in the thick of the action since the days of Bin Laden. He was in fact one of the several al-Qaeda militants along with Wuhayshi who had broken out of the Yemen jail in 2006.

Ever since his escape in 2006, he has ensured that the al-Qaeda had grown leaps and bounds. Rimi along with Wuhayshi had focused entirely on Yemen and had decided that they would use this nation as a launch pad for all future attacks especially on the West.

The new generation recruit:

Rimi has a style when it comes to recruiting into the al-Qaeda. He is the man who had decided to recruit the new generation terrorist. He did not want run of the mill jihadis who could hold up an AK-47 and run mindlessly into the battlefield. He chose persons with good knowledge of technology

He had different styles of recruitments for different regions. He has been most successful when it came to recruitments in Yemen. The al-Qaeda realized the importance of Yemen after it lost to the ISIS at Iraq and Syria. The most fierce fighters were chosen for Yemen who could coordinate well with the regional forces.

The death of Wuhayshi was expected to give the ISIS some benefit in Yemen. The ISIS has not managed to beat the al-Qaeda in Yemen. However experts say that the al-Qaeda has a good second in command at Yemen in the form of Rimi and he will not allow the ISIS to beat them.

OneIndia News