Irish citizens will be safer travelling abroad after the US assassination of the leader of Al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, a Senator and former Irish and British army soldier has said.
Independent Senator Gerard Craughwell, who has served in both the Irish Defence Forces and British Army, said that the “danger” for Irish tourists in far-off locations has “now definitely lessened” with the death of al-Zawahiri.
US President Joe Biden revealed to the world yesterday that American special operatives had carried out a successful hit against the head of the Al Qaeda terrorist organisation in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Read More: Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri killed by US drone strike in Afghanistan
Mr al-Zawahiri assumed the role as head of the terrorists responsible for the World Trade Centre attack of September 2001 after his old boss and 9/11 mastermind, Osama bin Laden, was killed by the Americans in June 2011.
The shocking 9/11 attack saw two planes flown into the iconic World Trade Centre towers in New York city on September 11th, 2001, leading to the collapse of both towers.
The world was transformed by the attack which claimed the lives of over 3,000 people, including hundreds with Irish surnames and family links to here.
There were seven full Irish citizens killed in the attacks and their names were Michael James Stewart from Belfast; Ruth Magdaline McCourt, from Co. Cork; Kieran Joseph Gorman, from Co. Sligo; Jeremy Caz Carrington, from Co. Down; Joanne Mary Cregan and Patrick Joseph Currivan, from Dublin; and Martin John Coughlan, from Co. Tipperary.
Air travel has never been the same since with strict security measures now required for all travel and every country in the world has been on constant alert for more attacks since then.
But Mr Craughwell believes the latest successful kill of al-Zawahiri by the Americans, which has weakened Al Qaeda, will make travel safer as the threat of attacks has eased.
.The Senator and former soldier said: “Absolutely, I would say this is good for us, but always with the caveat that we’ve got to bear in mind that we’re very much on our own on the periphery of Europe, well-separated from the United States and well-separated from mainland Europe with our closest neighbour a third country (the UK).”
He added: “There is always a danger with Al Qaeda that they will target any specific target that they don’t like at any particular time and I think the danger has now definitely lessened.
“But it’s one that we’ve got to constantly monitor.
“There is always a danger, especially for Irish travelling to places in the Middle East, that we could be targeted as ’westerners’ by extremists.
“So it is absolutely a great day for us all really to see this dangerous man taken out.”
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