The Long War Journal(disclosure; Weekly Standard affiliate) makes a very good point;
While news reports have focused of the death of senior al Qaeda operative Sadam Hussein Al Hussami, who is also known as Ghazwan al Yemeni, at the hands of the US in the March 10 airstrike in North Waziristan, one of the three other al Qaeda operatives killed in the same attack was also a longtime al Qaeda fighter and trainer. Among those killed was Abu Jameelah al Kuwaiti Hamed al Aazimi, who is a Kuwati citizen and former government employee who is a three decade veteran of jihad, according to the martyrdom statement written by Abu Abdulrahman al Qahtani and translated by Global Terror Alert.
Both of the figures are, or were, significant.
"Al Yemeni" was amongst al Qaeda Central's top two dozen. He was a conduit between AQC and AQAP(al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, based in Yemen), considered to be a envoy between the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, believed to have been involved in the suicide bombing of CIA personnel at CO Chapman in Afghanistan's Khost province, a top bomb maker and trainer of militants of all stripes fighting in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
"Al Kuwati" was a top aid to Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda's franchise in Iraq before he was killed in an air strike. "Al Kuwati" was also a veteran of the fight against the Soviets and believed to have been a trainer for recruits in bomb making and engagement.
Two other al Qaeda members were reported dead in the martyrdom statement. All in all, this is another hit against their operational capability. It's not any one of these hits that has been weakening al Qaeda Central but the long series of such strikes. Indeed, any of these guys could be replaced by guys who just happen to have less experience.
It's not yet clear if these al Qaeda operatives were amongst the intended targets of the drone strike. Hafiz Gul Bahadar, the Waziri commander of the Taliban in North Waziristan, was rumored to have been killed in that same strike. Sources in the U.S. intelligence community told the Long War Journal that Bahadar was the intended target of last week's drone strike.
Three more drone strikes have occurred since then over the past several days. The first of these strikes is thought to have possibly taken out another high level member of al Qaeda Central although no other word has come since then.