This post is part of our special coverage The Death of Osama Bin Laden [1].
Saudi terror mastermind Osama bin Laden was killed in a United States’ CIA operation in Abbottabad, Pakistan, yesterday. Netizens from around the Arab world have reacted to the news.
On Twitter, reactions flowed all day, with some cheering his death and others mourning [2] the demise of the Al Qaeda's 54-year-old head, whom they called a martyr.
Questions
Many questions were also raised following the announcement and here are some of them:
From the United Arab Emirates, Sultan Al Qassemi asks [3]:
I wonder if Arab & world leaders will send Obama cables congratulating the US on killing OBL…
Egyptian Rania Hafez adds [4]:
So are they going to prove to us that they killed him or should we take their word for it?!!
NPR‘s social media specialist Andy Carvin, who has been actively tweeting Arab revolutions and news, too has a similar [5]question:
Surprised to hear the actual op was today. Wonder how they're absolutely sure. Fingerprints? Fast DNA kit of some sort?
And Lebanese Antoun Issa wonders [6]:
Are we to assume Al-Qaida never came up with a contingency should Osama Bin Laden die? Plenty of radicals to take his spot. #notoveryet
Hopes
Back in Egypt, Mahmood Salem, aka Sandmonkey, tweets [7]:
If only they had taken out Ghaddafi yesterday and then OBL today, then it would've been a twofer!
and taunts Saudi Arabia saying [8]:
Dear Saudi, we feel bad about taking control of the Region & AlQaeda both at the same year. You can have AlQaeda back! #WeAreSoGenerous
Libyan Ibn Omar hopes that the death of Bin Laden will bring closure to the families of all his victims. He writes [9]:
hopefully the death of binladin will bring closure to all of the victims all over the world of his terrorist attacks
And Brian Conley, who tweets at @BaghdadBrian, notes [10]:
Does this mean we withdraw troops and forget #afghanistan existed again? Is it 2011 or 1991? Still a lot of reconciliation etc needed
Obama
United States President Barack Obama got both praise and ridicule from tweeps for the statement he made in which he announced the operation, which killed Bin Laden.
Sarah Raslan praised [11] the speech saying:
Nice speech, #Obama . Major respect for pointing out that #OBL was not a #Muslim leader and killed Muslims as well as non-Muslims
While Eman Hashim, from Egypt, notes [12]:
Obama: America never chose to go to war! Are you kidding me? Let me remind of something called.. hmmm ….IRAQ!!! #Obama #OBL #Iraq
British Prime Minister David Cameron too was not spared some ridicule, when Arab-American group blog KABOBfest’s Twitter account took a stab [13]:
Actually, no one's problems are gone. (MT @AJELive) British PM Cameron: Osama death “will bring great relief” to world http://aje.me/jlqOzi
Correcting mistakes
Meanwhile, Egyptian columnist Mona El Tahawi sees the killing of Bin Laden as a mistake which took 31 years to rectify. She tweets [14]:
It was a huge mistake for the US to side w #OBL and his money to defeat Soviets in Afghanistan. It's taken 31 yrs to correct that mistake.
Stay tuned for more reactions on the death of Bin Laden from across the Arab world.
This post is part of our special coverage The Death of Osama Bin Laden [1].