‘He was charismatic – he knew how to talk to the new generation of militants’

Internet savvy and fluent in American-accented English, Anwar al-Awlaki was a master propagandist who sought to seduce a younger generation of disaffected Muslims in the US and Europe into carrying out terrorist acts.

His death will be a huge blow to the global terror network’s most lethally potent offshoot, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. That “franchise” will now find it harder to recruit, inspire and raise funds, according to experts.

The demise of the radical cleric of Yemeni descent will also deepen the sense of doom among other key al-Qaeda figures across the region. Their ranks have been decimated by a devastating, 18-month CIA drone campaign.

“Awlaki’s death is extremely significant,” said Abdelbari Atwan, editor-in-chief of the London-based pan-Arab daily al-Quds al-Arabi. “He was charismatic, a very good speaker in both English and Arabic, and he knew how to talk to the new generation of al-Qaeda.”

Jason Burke, another al-Qaeda expert, agreed Awlaki’s death was significant because he was one of the organisation’s few leaders who “could bridge the gap between the West and the Middle East”. But he cautioned there was a danger of overestimating Awlaki’s importance. “His primary role was propaganda and the dissemination of ideology, not operations. So the impact is going to be more in the realm of those more intangible elements”, Mr Burke said.

MICHAEL PURCELL