This file frame grab photo taken on November 7, 2001 shows Hamza, who appears to be the youngest son of Saudi born Osama bin Laden, as he recites a poem extolling Kabul and Mullah Mohammad Omar, supreme leader of Afghanistan鈥檚 Taliban rulers, in this frame grab taken from the Qatar based al-Jazeera satellite news channel.
The United States added Hamza bin Laden, son and heir of the late global jihadist leader Osama bin Laden, to its terrorist blacklist on January 5, 2017. Hamza, who is now in his mid-twenties, has become active as an Al-Qaeda propagandist since his father鈥檚 death at the hands of US special forces in 2011. According to letters found in the Navy SEAL raid on Osama鈥檚 hideout in Pakistan, Hamza wrote to the Saudi-born Al-Qaeda leader asking to be trained to follow him.
/ AFP PHOTO / AL-JAZEERA / Handout
WASHINGTON鈥擳he United States added Hamza bin Laden, son and would-be heir of the late global jihadist leader Osama bin Laden, to its terrorist blacklist on Thursday.
Hamza, who is in his mid-twenties, has become active as an Al-Qaeda propagandist since his father鈥檚 death at the hands of US special forces on May 2, 2011.
READ: World hails death of Osama bin Laden
According to letters found in the Navy SEAL raid on Osama鈥檚 hideout in Pakistan, Hamza wrote to the Saudi-born Al-Qaeda leader asking to be trained to follow him.
A CIA analyst who examined the letters told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that, in July 2009, when Hamza wrote to his father鈥檚 Abbottabad hideout, they had not seen each other for eight years.
But the elder bin Laden was making plans to send for his son, who was at the time under house arrest in Iran, and planned to groom him to become Al-Qaeda鈥檚 leader.
Since bin Laden鈥檚 death, his Egyptian deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri has taken up the reins of the organization, but Hamza has also issued audio messages to supporters.
Last year, the fifth anniversary of the death of the man who ordered the 9/11 attacks on the United States, experts began to note the young heir鈥檚 increasing prominence in the movement.
The US Treasury sanctions list estimates that Hamza was born in 1989 in the Saudi city of Jeddah. His mother was Khairiah Sabar, one of bin Laden senior鈥檚 three wives.
The State Department order names Hamza bin Laden as a 鈥淪pecially Designated Global Terrorist鈥� and freezes any assets he may hold in areas under US jurisdiction.
The department also designated Ibrahim al-Banna, whom it described as a senior leader in Al-Qaeda鈥檚 Yemen-based franchise, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
鈥楩orged in steel鈥�
US citizens and companies are forbidden from conducting any business with designated terrorists, and law enforcement agencies around the world are alerted to their status.
In an undated audio message released in August, Hamza bin Laden urged his Saudi supporters to rebel and overthrow the kingdom鈥檚 rulers.
Earlier, in a message released in May, he urged the jihadist factions fighting in Syria to unite, arguing that the 鈥渂lessed Syrian revolution鈥� would lead to 鈥渓iberating Palestine.鈥�
He had previously issued a call for Muslims living in the West to rise up and conduct spontaneous attacks of the kind seen recently in European cities.
鈥淚n 2015, bin Laden called for lone offender attacks against US, French and Israeli interests in Washington, DC; Paris, France; and Tel Aviv, Israel,鈥� the State Department said.
According to the documents seized in Abbottabad and seen by AFP, the younger Hamza boasted to his father that he was 鈥渇orged in steel鈥� and ready for 鈥渧ictory or martyrdom.鈥�
鈥淲hat truly makes me sad is the mujahidin legions have marched and I have not joined them,鈥� Hamza wrote to his father in July 2009, according to an English translation provided by the CIA.
鈥淚 dread spending the rest of my young adulthood behind iron bars,鈥� he added, writing while in Iran, where some bin Laden relatives fled after the US invasion of Afghanistan.
鈥淢y beloved father, I announce to you that I and everyone, God be praised, are following on the same path, the path of jihad.鈥�
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It was not possible to independently verify the origin of the documents or the accuracy of the CIA translation.
Hamza described the 鈥減ain of separation鈥� he felt at age 13, when Al-Qaeda鈥檚 senior figures were separating for security reasons, and his hopes of a reunion.
鈥淵ou bid us farewell and we left, and it was as if we pulled out our livers and left them there,鈥� he wrote.
Explosives training
After Hamza鈥檚 release from Iranian arrest, top Al-Qaeda lieutenant Atiyah Abd al-Rahman wrote to bin Laden on April 5, 2011, detailing possible ways to shepherd him to his father.
The jihadist commander argued that the least dangerous option was sending him through Pakistan鈥檚 Baluchistan province, which borders Iran, to the crowded port city of Karachi.
Meanwhile, Abd al-Rahman had arranged for Hamza 鈥渢o attend a course on explosives鈥� and had promised him firearms training, adding that the young man was 鈥渧ery sweet and good.鈥�
But a month after the plan was suggested, bin Laden senior was dead, and it is not now clear whether Hamza is still in Iran./rga