Al-Zawahri issues video on Sept 11 anniversary
Al-Qaida No.2 Ayman al-Zawahri has called on Muslims to step up their resistance against the US, in a video aired by CNN early today on the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
“You gave us every legitimacy and every opportunity to continue fighting you,” al-Zawahri said, addressing the US in the video aired by CNN, which appeared to be new. “You should worry about your presence in the (Persian) Gulf and the second place you should worry about is Israel.”
The bespectacled Al-Zawahri was dressed in white and seated in front of a wall of bookshelves.
“Your leaders are hiding from you the true extent of the disaster,” he said. “And the days are pregnant and giving birth to new events, with Allah’s permission and guidance.”
The video could not immediately be located on any militant websites that normally carry messages and videos from al-Zawahri and other al-Qaida figures.
As-Sahab, the terror network’s media arm, posted notices late yesterday that the video would be posted shortly.
It was unclear where CNN got the video. The network quoted a counterterrorism expert as saying the video had appeared on the website for As-Sahab, but the production company normally uses other Islamic websites to post its material.
The video appeared to be new. In it, al-Zawahri refers to Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon this summer and the capture of Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah and militants in Gaza.
The SITE Institute, an organisation that monitors militant websites, said it also obtained a copy of the one-hour, 16-minute video entitled Hot Issues.
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