Saif al-Adel is a senior leader of al-Qaeda and a former Egyptian military officer, widely believed to be one of the group's top strategists and operational planners. His real name is thought to be Mohammed Salah al-Din Zaidan, although this has not been officially confirmed.

Key Facts:
Background: Al-Adel was born in Egypt, likely in the early 1960s. He served as a colonel in the Egyptian special forces before joining the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, an extremist group that later merged with al-Qaeda.

Al-Qaeda Role: