Osama bin Laden’s son tries to refresh al-Qaeda franchise

His whereabouts are unknown.

Al-Qaeda has distributed an audio message on Twitter in which a man it claims is Osama bin Laden’s son Hamza calls for attacks on London, Washington, D.C. and other allied cities.

The al Qaeda supreme leader Osama bin Laden wanted to nurture Hamza as his successor in the group, according to documents confiscated from bin Ladens’ Abbottabad hideout by US forces.

Al Qaeda hopes to renew its popularity by “reviving the brand” of Bin Laden, SITE Intelligence Group’s Executive Director Rita Katz said.

The slain al-Qaeda chief’s son, Hamza, in his mid 20s, told Al Qaeda supporters to carry out lone wolf attacks in Washington, DC, Paris and Tel-Aviv in a video message.

“AQ leadership wants Hamza as a future leader: someone loved & inspirational, without a negative reputation or participation in infighting. Urges: “This is your duty”.

This transition of warfare should take form of “lone wolf” tactics and target “Jewish American interests globally” in the first place.

The message is believed to have been recorded this spring, before the Muslim celebration of Ramadan in June, but has been released only now.

Osama Bin Laden was killed in a raid on his compound in Abbotabad in 2011.

Hamza reportedly wrote to his father to say he was itching to join the fight. A young boy, center right, identified as Hamza bin Laden, reads a poem about Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar in Ghazni, Afghanistan on November 5, 2001.

The message made no mention of Islamic State group.

Letters were found in Osama’s Abbottabad compound suggesting that Hamza was being trained to take the reigns of the terror outfit from his father.