Abu-Zaid al Kuwaiti (born Khalid Bin Abdul Rehman Al-Hussainan (Arabic: خالد بن عبد الرحمن الحسينان); 1965 or 1966 – December 6, 2012[1][2][3][a]) was a high-ranking member of Al-Qaeda, and was considered a potential successor to Ayman al-Zawahiri, the head of the Salafistjihad group. Abu-Zaid was killed in a drone strike in Pakistan.
Abu Zaid was considered a potential heir to the organization,[6] and accordingly became a high-value target for the United States and Pakistani government. He was killed in a drone attack[2][1] while eating breakfast (Suhur)[7][b] near Mir Ali in Pakistan,[2] and Al-Qaeda acknowledged his death three months later.[8] He was 46 years old when he was killed.[6]NBC News journalist and United States Department of Justice consultant Evan Kohlmann commented on his death in an interview with NBC. “That's a big gap in the leadership. He was the last senior Al-Qaida leader in the Afghanistan-Pakistan area who was, one, from the Arabian Peninsula and, two, who had serious clerical credentials. Now there is no obvious publicly recognizable candidate left to succeed Zawahiri.”
