The fingerprints of Al Qaeda's operations commander Saif al Adal were all over the assault on the important Pakistani Mehran naval air base in Karachi, which began Sunday night, May 22 and ended only after 17 hours of fierce combat, debkafile's counter-terror sources report. The attack  hit a shared strategic Pakistani-US-Chinese installation, destroying US surveillance aircraft. It also impaired Pakistani reconnaissance capabilities against al Qaeda's strongholds in North Waziristan and its watch over the Arabian Sea dividing Pakistan from India. 

More al Qaeda appointees were named Wednesday, May 18 after its Shura council at its meeting on May 10 made Egyptian Saif al Adal interim operations chief. The appointment of Osama bin Laden's top terror whiz underlined the council's focus on revenge, say debkafile's sources. His team mates are Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri and Adnan G. El Shukrijumah. Other new appointees are Adnan al-Khairi al-Masry as Head of General Command and Muhammed Adam Khan al-Afghani as Head of the Afghanistan/Pakistan arena.

Osama bin Laden's shoes are likely to stay empty for some time. Al Qaeda is not structured for a large-scale terror attack as an organization to avenge his death. Some ten top-notch operatives listed here have the will or ability - or both - for a lone wolf operation.

Gen. David Petraeus reports substantial battlefield damage since Tehran consigned Al Qaeda's most talented tactician Saif Al-Adal to command terrorist forces in Afghanistan against the US army. His mission includes the reorganization of Al Qaeda, Taliban and the Haqqani network forces under a joint command.