Osama bin Laden's son is rising through the ranks of al Qaeda, and the State Department is offering $1 million to anyone who can provide information on his whereabouts.



Here's what we know

Osama bin Laden is thought to have had at least 20 children. The youngest, Hamza, is roughly 30 years old. When the Navy SEALs killed the older bin Laden, they found evidence that he wanted Hamza to eventually replace him. The State Department revealed that since his father's death, Hamza has been growing in prominence with the terror group.

According to a news release from the State Department which was released on Thursday:

Hamza bin Laden is the son of deceased former AQ [al Qaeda] leader Usama bin Laden and is emerging as a leader in the AQ franchise. Since at least August 2015, he has released audio and video messages on the Internet calling on his followers to launch attacks against the United States and its Western allies, and he has threatened attacks against the United States in revenge for the May 2011 killing of his father by U.S. service members.

The news release also said that the U.S. was "offering a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to the identification or location in any country of al-Qa'ida (AQ) key leader Hamza bin Laden."

During a news conference on Thursday, a State Department representative said that he "could be anywhere."

In January 2017, the U.S. "designated Hamza bin Laden as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist pursuant to Executive Order 13224."

On Thursday, the United Nations 1267 Committee designated Hamza as a terrorist, a move that requires all members states to freeze any of his assets that they have access to.

What else?

On Friday, Saudi Arabia revoked Hamza's Saudi citizenship.



Al Qaeda is currently being led by Egyptian-born Ayman al Zawahiri.