Saudi Arabia has revoked the citizenship of Hamza bin Laden, the son of the late al-Qaida leader who has become an increasingly prominent figure in the terror network -- and whose whereabouts remains in question, the country announced on Friday.

There was no immediate explanation why the royal decree stripping his citizenship -- signed in November -- was only becoming public now. But the announcement came after the U.S. government on Thursday offered a reward of up to $1 million for information on the son of the Sept. 11 mastermind.

The kingdom similarly stripped Osama bin Laden's citizenship in 1994 while living in exile in Sudan when Hamza bin Laden was a child.

"This is an example of history rhyming," said Thomas Joscelyn, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies who studies al-Qaida and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). "He's basically born right after al-Qaida is founded, so his life is totally consumed in the establishment, the formation of al-Qaida and the launching of its war against the West and America."

The State Department said this week, in announcing its $1 million reward, that Hamza bin Laden has urged his followers to launch attacks against the U.S. and its Western allies. Through video and audio messages posted online, he has "threatened attacks" against the U.S. in revenge for his father's killing in May 2011.

As leader of al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden oversaw a series of attacks, including the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, as well as the bombing of the USS Cole off Yemen. He and others plotted and executed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and the Pentagon, which led to the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. U.S. Navy SEALs ultimately killed bin Laden in a raid on a house in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in 2011.

Video released by the CIA in 2017 that was seized during the raid shows Hamza bin Laden with a trimmed mustache, but no beard, at his wedding. The State Department said Thursday it believes he married the daughter of Mohamed Atta, the lead hijacker in the Sept. 11 attacks.

"What that would say is that the 9/11 alumni remains very viable and very real even 17 years after the fact," Guardian journalist Martin Chulov told CBSN last summer.

In this image from video released by the CIA, Hamza bin Laden is seen as an adult at his wedding. CIA via AP

Hamza bin Laden is now believed to be around 30. He began appearing in militant videos and recordings in 2015 as an al-Qaida spokesman.

"If you think that your sinful crime that you committed in Abbottabad has passed without punishment, then you thought wrong," he said in his first audio recording.

Joscelyn at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies warned that al-Qaida remains a transnational threat, something that authorities may now pay more attention to as ISIS withers away in Syria.

A United Nations report published last year noted that Hamza bin Laden "continued to emerge as a leadership figure in al-Qaida." It suggested both he and Ayman al-Zawahiri, who took over al-Qaida after Osama bin Laden's death, "are reported to be in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border areas."

"While there is as yet little evidence of a re-emerging direct global threat from al-Qaida, improved leadership and enhanced communication will probably increase the threat over time," the U.N. report said.</s>On 28 February 2019, the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1989 (2011) and 2253 (2015) concerning ISIL (Da’esh), Al‑Qaida, and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities approved the addition of the entry specified below to its ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List of individuals and entities subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo set out in paragraph 1 of Security Council resolution 2368 (2017), and adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations.

A. Individuals

QDi.421 Name: 1: HAMZA 2: USAMA 3: MUHAMMAD 4: BIN LADEN

Name (original script): حمزة أسامة محمد بن لادن

Title: na Designation: na DOB: 9 May 1989 POB: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Good quality a.k.a.: na Low quality a.k.a.: na Nationality: Saudi Arabia Passport no: na National identification no: na Address: na Listed on: 28 Feb. 2019 Other information: Son of Usama bin Laden (deceased). Announced by Aiman Muhammed Rabi al-Zawahiri (QDi.006) as an official member of Al-Qaida (QDe.004). Has called for followers of Al-Qaida to commit terror attacks. Is seen as the most probable successor of al-Zawahiri. INTERPOL-UN Security Council Special Notice web link: https://www.interpol.int/en/notice/search/un/6297888.

In accordance with paragraph 55 of resolution 2368 (2017), the Committee has made accessible on its website the narrative summary of reasons for listing of the above name, at the following URL: www.un.org/securitycouncil/sanctions/1267/aq_sanctions_list/summaries.

The ISIL (Da’esh) and Al‑Qaida Sanctions List is updated regularly on the basis of relevant information provided by Member States and international and regional organizations. An updated List is accessible on the ISIL (Da’esh) and Al‑Qaida Sanctions Committee’s website at the following URL: www.un.org/securitycouncil/sanctions/1267/aq_sanctions_list.

The United Nations Security Council Consolidated List is also updated following all changes made to the ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List. An updated version of the Consolidated List is accessible via the following URL: www.un.org/securitycouncil/content/un-sc-consolidated-list.</s>The UN Security Council has designated Hamza bin Laden, the son of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, under its sanctions list, subjecting him to a travel ban, assets freeze and an arms embargo as it described him as being seen as the “most probable successor” of the group’s current leader Aiman al-Zawahiri.

The UN Security Council’s 1267 ISIS and Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee listed 29-year old Hamza bin Laden on Thursday, the day the US announced a reward of up to one million dollars for information about him.

Saudi Arabia also announced on Friday it had revoked the citizenship of Hamza bin Laden via a royal decree in November. A Security Council press release said al-Zawahiri has announced that the Saudi Arabia-born Hamza bin Laden is an official member of Al Qaeda.

Hamza bin Laden “has called for followers of Al-Qaeda to commit terror attacks. Is seen as the most probable successor of al-Zawahiri,” the powerful 15-member Council said.

An assets freeze under the Sanctions Committee requires that all states freeze without delay the funds and other financial assets or economic resources of designated individuals and entities.

The travel ban entails preventing the entry into or transit by all states through their territories by designated individuals. Under the arms embargo, all states are required to prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale and transfer from their territories or by their nationals outside their territories, or using their flag vessels or aircraft, of arms and related materiel of all types, spare parts, and technical advice, assistance, or training related to military activities, to designated individuals and entities.

Just hours before the UNSC Sanctions Committee designated Hamza bin Laden, the US State Department’s Rewards for Justice Program announced a reward for up to USD 1 million for information leading to his identification or location in any country, saying he is emerging as a leader in the Al-Qaeda franchise.

“Since at least August 2015, he has released audio and video messages on the Internet calling on his followers to launch attacks against the United States and its Western allies, and he has threatened attacks against the United States in revenge for the May 2011 killing of his father by U.S. service members,” the State Department said.</s>The United States of America has offered a $1 million reward for any information regarding the location of Hamza bin Laden, a son of late Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. A State Department in a statement said that the location of Hamza bin Laden has been the subject of speculation as it is considering him as an emerging leader of the terrorist outfit. Earlier, there were reports that Hamza bin Laden aka “crown prince of jihad” was in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria or under house arrest in Iran.

Bin Laden has also threatened attacks against the US to avenge the 2011 killing of his father. AQ leader Osama bin Laden was killed by the US special forces when he was hiding in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad. Now, his son, who is around 30 according to the US, has taken the responsibility of global jihad as a successor to his father.

In 2015, bin Laden released an audio message in which he urged the terrorists in Syria to come together, claiming that the fight in the country will make a way to free Palestine. Like his father, he also urged to overthrow leadership in their native Saudi Arabia.

After killing Osama bin Laden, the US had allowed his three wives and children to return to Saudi Arabia. One of Hamza bin Laden’s half brother has said that his whereabouts are unknown but he may be in Afghanistan. There are reports that he also married the daughter of Mohammed Atta, the lead hijacker in Al-Qaeda’s September 11, 2001 attacks on the US.</s>WASHINGTON - The United States on Thursday (Feb 28) offered a US$1 million (S$1.3 million) reward for information on a son of late Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, seeing him as an emerging face of extremism.

The location of Hamza bin Laden, sometimes dubbed the "crown prince of jihad," has been the subject of speculation for years with reports of him living in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria or under house arrest in Iran.

"Hamza bin Laden is the son of deceased former AQ leader Osama bin Laden and is emerging as a leader in the AQ franchise," a State Department statement said, referring to Al-Qaeda.

The State Department said that it would offer US$1 million for information leading to his location in any country.

Bin Laden, who according to the United States is around 30, has threatened attacks against the United States to avenge the 2011 killing of his father, who was living in hiding in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad, by US special forces.

US intelligence agencies increasingly see the younger bin Laden as a successor to his father for the mantle of global Islamic war, especially as the even more extreme Islamic State in Ieaq and Syria (ISIS) group is down to its last sliver of land in Syria.

In 2015, bin Laden released an audio message urging extremists in Syria to unite, claiming that the fight in the war-torn country paves the way to "liberating Palestine." And in a message a year later, following in the footsteps of his father, he urged the overthrow of the leadership in their native Saudi Arabia.

Osama bin Laden's three surviving wives and his children were quietly allowed to return to Saudi Arabia after his killing.

But Hamza bin Laden's whereabouts have been a matter of dispute. He is believed to have spent years along with his mother in Iran, despite Al-Qaeda's strident denunciations of the Shi'ite branch of Islam that dominates the country.

Observers say that the clerical regime in Teheran kept him under house arrest as a way to maintain pressure on rival Saudi Arabia as well as on Al-Qaeda, dissuading the Sunni militants from attacking Iran.

One of Hamza bin Laden's half-brothers told The Guardian last year that Hamza's whereabouts were unknown but that he may be in Afghanistan.

He also said that Hamza bin Laden married the daughter of Mohammed Atta, the lead hijacker in Al-Qaeda's Sept 11, 2001 attacks on the United States that killed some 3,000 people and sparked the US intervention in Afghanistan.</s>DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia announced Friday it had revoked the citizenship of Hamza bin Laden, the son of the late al-Qaida leader who has become an increasingly prominent figure in the terror network.

There was no immediate explanation why the royal decree stripping his citizenship, signed in November, was only becoming public now. However, the announcement comes after the U.S. government on Thursday offered a $1 million reward for information leading to his capture as part of its "Rewards for Justice" program. He also was added Thursday to a United Nations Security Council terrorism sanctions list.

The kingdom similarly stripped Osama bin Laden's citizenship in 1994 while he was living in exile in Sudan when Hamza bin Laden was just a child. Where he is now remains in question.

"This is an example of history rhyming," said Thomas Joscelyn, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies who studies al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. "He's basically born right after al-Qaida is founded, so his life is totally consumed in the establishment, the formation of al-Qaida and the launching of its war against the West and America."

Saudi Arabia revoked Hamza bin Laden's citizenship in November, according to a circular by the Interior Ministry quietly published Friday by the country's official gazette. State-run media in the kingdom did not report on the decision.

Bin Laden is believed to have been born in 1989, the year of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, where his father became known among the mujahedeen fighters. His father returned to Saudi Arabia and later fled to Sudan after criticizing the kingdom for allowing U.S. troops to deploy in the country during the 1991 Gulf War. He later fled Sudan for Afghanistan in 1996, where he declared war against the U.S.

As leader of al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden oversaw a series of attacks, including the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, as well as the bombing of the USS Cole off Yemen. He and others plotted and executed the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and the Pentagon, which led to the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. U.S. Navy SEALs ultimately killed bin Laden in a raid on a house in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in 2011.

For Hamza bin Laden, now believed to be around 30, his father initially worried for his safety and thought to send him away for study, but his son instead "wants to get into the fight," Joscelyn said. He's then sent away for explosives training in Pakistan.

Video released by the CIA in 2017 that was seized during the Abbottabad raid shows Hamza bin Laden with a trimmed mustache but no beard, at his wedding. Previous images have only shown him as a child. The State Department said in its announcement Thursday about the $1 million bounty on him that it believes he married the daughter of Mohamed Atta, the lead hijacker in the Sept. 11 attacks.

Hamza bin Laden began appearing in militant videos and recordings in 2015 as an al-Qaida spokesman.

"If you think that your sinful crime that you committed in Abbottabad has passed without punishment, then you thought wrong," he said in his first audio recording.

In recent years, the Islamic State group, which began as al-Qaida in Iraq before breaking away from the terror group, has taken much of the international attention. However, Joscelyn warned al-Qaida remains a transnational threat, something that authorities may now pay more attention to as the Islamic State group withers away in Syria.

The U.N. Security Council committee in charge of al-Qaida-related sanctions said Thursday that Hamza bin Laden's prominence has grown in recent years, calling him "the most probable successor" to lead a potential new version of the terror group.

His addition to the sanctions list subjects him to a travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo that all U.N. member states are obligated to enforce.

A U.N. report published last year suggested both he and Ayman al-Zawahiri, who took over al-Qaida after Osama bin Laden's death, "are reported to be in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border areas."

"Al-Qaida's leadership demonstrates strategic patience and its regional affiliates exercise good tactical judgment, embedding themselves in local issues and becoming players," the U.N. report warned. "While there is as yet little evidence of a re-emerging direct global threat from al-Qaida, improved leadership and enhanced communication will probably increase the threat over time."

Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellap . Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz at the United Nations contributed.</s>Saudi Arabia announced on Friday that it has revoked the citizenship of Hamza bin Laden, one of the sons of former al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, Reuters reported. The interior ministry’s statement to this effect was published by the official gazette.

The announcement came a day after the United States announced a reward of up to $1 million (over Rs 7 crore) for information on him, with the State Department saying Hamza bin Laden was “emerging as a leader” in the al Qaeda.

However, according to a statement published in the Um al-Qura official journal, the decision to strip him of his citizenship was made by a royal order in November.

The US State Department had designated Hamza bin Laden a global terrorist in 2017 after he called for acts of terrorism in Western capitals and threatened to take revenge against the US for his father’s killing. He had also threatened to target Americans abroad and urged Saudi tribes to unite with Yemen’s al Qaeda to fight against Saudi Arabia.

Hamza bin Laden is the son of Khairiah Sabar, one of Osama bin Laden’s three surviving wives. Sabar was living with her husband when he was killed in Pakistan’s Abbottabad in a military operation in 2011, a decade after the September 11 attacks. Hamza bin Laden, who is suspected to be around 30 years old, has reported to have been living in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria and even Iran in the past.

Osama bin Laden’s wives and other children have gone back to Saudi Arabia, where they were given refuge by the former Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef. They reportedly still stay in touch with Bin Laden’s mother, Alia Ghanem.

In August, reports emerged that Hamza bin Laden had married the daughter of Mohammed Atta, the chief hijacker in the 9/11 terror attacks in the United States. He is considered the second-in-command to current leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in the al Qaeda. Bin Laden has reportedly threatened to exact revenge against the United States for his father’s death. In January 2017, the US added him to its counter-terrorism list, prohibiting its citizens from doing business with them.</s>Saudi Arabia has removed the citizenship of Hamza Bin Laden, the son of slain former al-Qaeda leader, Osama Bin Laden, according to reports.

Reports say that the Gulf Kingdom's leadership announced the decision on Friday, 1 March, in the country's official Gazette newspaper, saying that Bin Laden's citizenship had been revoked by royal decree back in November 2018, but that there was no explanation offered as to why it was made public now. 



READ MORE: US Offers $1 Million Reward for Hamza bin Laden, Osama's Son

The decision comes as the United States has issued a $1 million reward for any information that leads to Mr Bin Laden's capture, amidst alleged concerns among US intelligence agencies that the younger Bin Laden has ambitions to follow in his late father's footsteps by proclaiming a global jihad against the West and allied targets. In a statement released on February 28, the US Department of State said that Hamza, "is emerging as a leader in the [Al-Qaida] franchise."

​In 2015, Mr Bin Laden released an audio message calling for unity among Jihadist fighters in Syria, saying that they should come together to focus on "liberating Palestine." He also called upon Muslims around the world to continue attacking the US and its allies. Then, in 2017, he was branded a "specially designated global terrorist" by Washington.

READ MORE: Who is Hamza bin Laden, the US' Newly Minted Million Dollar Wanted Man

Recently, the United Nations Security Council committee added Hamza to its sanctions list. In a statement the committee explained its move was the result of Hamza being "given a more prominent role within al-Qaeda." The decision subjects Hamza to an assets freeze, travel ban and an arms embargo.

* Terrorist groups banned in Russia and many other countries</s>The U.S. government is offering $1 million for help tracking down the son of the late terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.

A State Department notice Thursday says the reward will be paid for help locating Hamza bin Laden in any country as part of its "rewards for justice" program.

The announcement says bin Laden's son has emerged as a leader of the terrorist group al-Qaeda. His father was killed in a U.S. military raid in Pakistan in May 2011.

Hamza bin Laden was named a "specially designated global terrorist" in January 2017. He has released audio and video messages calling for attacks against the U.S. and its allies.

Al-Qaeda was responsible for the 9/11 attacks in the U.S. and other attacks around the globe.

Hamza bin Laden was believed to be in Pakistan not long before the 2011 raid that killed five people in total.

Hours after the U.S. reward announcement, the Saudi government announced that it was stripping bin Laden of citizenship.

The move from Saudi Arabia's interior ministry mirrors a similar declaration for his father in 1994. by that point, Osama bin Laden had been given sanctuary in Sudan, moving later in the decade to Afghanistan.</s>RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has stripped citizenship from Hamza bin Laden, the son of dead Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden, who is thought to be about 30, had his citizenship removed on Feb. 22, the official gazette Umm Al-Qura said on Friday.

The US State Department offered a reward of up to $1 million on Thursday for information leading “to the identification or location in any country” of bin Laden, who it described as a key Al-Qaeda leader.

“Since at least August 2015, he has released audio and video messages on the internet calling on his followers to launch attacks against the United States and its Western allies,” the department said.

Osama bin Laden was killed by US special forces who raided his compound in Pakistan in 2011. Hamza was thought to be under house arrest in Iran at the time, and documents recovered from the compound suggested attempts to reunite him with his father.

Hamza was introduced by the new Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri in an audio message in 2015. He has called for acts of terrorism in Western capitals and threatened to take revenge against the US for his father’s killing, the State Department said in 2017 when it designated him as a global terrorist.

He also threatened to target Americans abroad and urged Saudi tribes to unite with Yemen’s Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to fight against Saudi Arabia, it said.

Bin Laden’s whereabouts have been the subject of speculation for years, with reports of him living in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria and Iran.
Through a royal decree, King Salman of Saudi Arabia revokes the citizenship of Hamza bin Laden, Osama bin Laden's son, who works in the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization. The announcement comes after the United States government offered a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to the identification or location of him. Interpol has issued an Interpol notice for him after United Nations Security Council imposed sanctions on him which includes assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo. He remains at large.