JUST IN: White House Releases Photo of Biden Meeting with Advisers on Plan to Kill al Zawahiri – On July 1

Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz

The White House has released a photo of President Joe Biden meeting with advisers on the plan to kill now-deceased al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.

The day after the news broke that President Biden ordered the airstrike that killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri over the weekend, the White House released a photo that shows the planning for the strike, which apparently has been underway for a very long time.

According to the White House, the photo depicts the president at a meeting that occurred just over a month ago.

“On July 1, President Biden meets with his national security team to discuss the counterterrorism operation to take out Ayman al-Zawahiri. At this meeting, the President was briefed on the proposed operation and shown a model of the safe house where Al-Zawahiri was hiding,” the White House said.

The photo was taken by White House photographer Adam Schultz.

Biden addressed the nation Monday to talk about the strike, saying “My fellow Americans, on Saturday, at my direction, the United States successfully concluded an airstrike in Kabul, Afghanistan, that killed the emir of al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri.”

Biden also spoke about the planning for the strike:

After relentlessly seeking Zawahiri for years under Presidents Bush, Obama, and Trump, our intelligence community located Zawahiri earlier this year. He had moved to downtown Kabul to reunite with members of his immediate family.

After carefully considering the clear and convincing evidence of his location, I authorized a precision strike that would remove him from the battlefield once and for all.

This mission was carefully planned and rigorously minimized the risk of harm to other civilians. And one week ago, after being advised that the conditions were optimal, I gave the final approval to go get him, and the mission was a success. None of his family members were hurt, and there were no civilian casualties.

The photo appears intended to mirror the iconic photo of the Obama team watching the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.