Who Is Osama Bin Laden?

Osama (which means 'Lion') was born in 1957 in Saudi Arabia.   His father (Mohammed bin Laden) was of Yemeni origin, his mother Syrian.  Osama's parents divorced, and Osama was mostly raised by his mother with several step-siblings.  Mohammed bin Laden started as a humble porter but developed a successful construction company from which most of the family wealth arises.  The bin Laden family publicly disowned him in 1994, when he was also stripped of Saudi citizenship, and it is believed that he has only seen his mother once since 9/11.

Osama has married at least five times (and divorced at least once).  Most of his wives have been highly educated university lecturers.  He has at least 24 children.

He studied civil engineering, economics and management at University in Jedda, Saudi Arabia.  Then, as now, he is described as mild-mannered, polite, charming and respectful in person.  He is 6'4' tall, weights about 160 lbs, is left-handed and walks with a cane.  He is said to be near-fluent in English.

Bin Laden appears to have been radicalised by the Irananian Revolution and Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.   He cut his teeth fighting against the Soviets, turning his attentions against Western targets in the early 1990s after the Gulf War.