Shibley Telhami of the Brookings Institution concludes that al-Qaeda is more likely to continue planning its attacks without regard to America's electoral timetable or outcome.

ECONOMIST: The terror alert

Several liberal and secular members of the assembly had already withdrawn because of the criticism, as well as the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church and Al-Azhar Institution, one of the most influential Islamic entities.

CNN: Row over Egypt's new constitution reflects wider tensions

But Telhami, the Anwar Sadat professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland and a Brookings Institution scholar, said the decision to enter al-Shater is a risky move reflected in the leadership's split vote on whether to nominate him.

CNN: Brotherhood steers tricky currents of post-Mubarak Egypt

The capture of Mr. Abu Ghaith is significant because it takes a key player out of the game and will provide "a much better firsthand understanding of the Iranian dimension to al Qaeda, " said Seth Jones, an al Qaeda specialist at the nonprofit research institution Rand Corp.

WSJ: U.S. Captures bin Laden Son-in-Law

The new thinking among the leaders caught the attention of the clerics at Al Azhar, the thousand-year-old institution of Islamic learning in the center of ancient Cairo.

NEWYORKER: The Rebellion Within

The meeting is a significant move and it is not the first time that Al-Azhar, a highly-respected Sunni Muslim institution, has intervened to help solve a political crisis, the BBC's Yolande Knell reports from Cairo.

BBC: Egypt politicians condemn violence in Al-Azhar meeting

Afterwards, Egypt's Grand Imam summoned rival political factions, youth groups and church officials to the headquarters of al-Azhar, the 1, 000-year-old institution that is the top seat of Sunni Islam.

BBC: Egypt: Betrayed but not broken

The political crisis in Lebanon leaves an opening for al-Qaida, says Bruce Reidel, of the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.

NPR: Al-Qaida-Inspired Groups on Rise in Lebanon