Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – On May 9, Hamza bin Laden, the son of late al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, delivered an audio message in which he warned that “Jerusalem is a bride and our blood is her dowry.” His reemergence did not come as a surprise to those interested in the affairs of extremist groups and their ideology.

However, there were those who underestimated the importance of his message and repercussions on the reality of rival extremist factions as they thought it meant nothing more than “the end of being embraced by the party which has looked after him for years.”

The 24-yeard-old Hamza sought to synchronize his message with an earlier audio release of Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda organization’s current leader. Both messages were released through al-Sahab foundation, al-Qaeda’s media wing.

Confusion over his announcement as the new emir, observers say, does not represent a dispute over the organization’s leadership. The message represents al-Qaeda’s administrative restructuring to accommodate all extremist factions in Syria, ending their divisions and putting an end to infighting.

The restructuring of the organization centered on three main wings within a new organization that unites all factions - the militant wing led by al-Qaeda, political wing led by the Muslim Brotherhood, probably under Zawahiri, and religious front led by a group of Salafist Sharia scholars.

Iran-al-Qaeda link through Hamza

Born in 1991, Hamza, his mother Khairiah Saber and some of the Bin Laden clan, moved to Iran following the September 11, 2001 twin attacks. They fled to Iran following negotiations between al-Qaeda and Tehran which hosted several al-Qaeda figures and their families for many years. Among those hosted by was Hamza bin Laden. A special team was tasked with shaping Hamza’s ideology, vision and approach. At a later stage, a special taskforce within Taliban resumed training and educating him.

Letters written by Osama bin Laden, and recovered from Abbottabad after the raid that killed him, suggest the extent of Tehran’s resonance with the al-Qaeda leader. One such document revealed that Bin Laden had sent an operative called Kareem a letter dated October 18, 2007, sternly objecting to threatening Iran without consulting him and to opening a front with Tehran and Hezbollah.

“You know that Iran is our main artery for funds, personnel, and communication, as well as for the matter of hostages,” he wrote.

Osama also proposed negotiating on releasing one of the Iranian hostages - without hinting anything about his identity - in exchange of his family members held hostage in Iran along with other al-Qaeda operatives. He wrote: “As for the person whom you said you will send me his statements; I did not receive anything. Anyway, regarding this person or anyone else, I think you should go ahead and begin negotiating over swapping him with our hostages.”

Infographic: Who is Hamza Bin Laden?

After several years living in Iran, al-Qaeda managed to bring Bin Laden’s family members from Iran and sent them to different places. Some went to Syria, like his son Mohammed, while others travelled to Pakistan. Al-Qaeda succeeded at doing so via adopting different means of pressure such as negotiating over the release of some Iranian hostages.

This is in addition to Khaled bin Laden’s communication with Khamenei, as per his father’s request. Osama bin Laden reportedly voiced the importance of releasing these family members and hinted at exposing their mutual relations by taking the issue of hostages to western and Arab media outlets.