Al Qaida leader marks September 11 by calling on Muslims to wage war on US
Ayman al-Zawahri said the US was Islam’s ‘number one enemy’.
The leader of al Qaida has called on Muslims to wage war against the United States throughout the world.
In a 30-minute speech released on the 17th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Ayman al-Zawahri went to great lengths to portray the United States as a religious enemy of Muslims.
He used Washington’s transfer of its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as evidence of that enmity.
The Washington-based Site group, which monitors media material by militants across the world, released an English transcript of the speech.
“America (is) the number one enemy of Muslims … despite its professed secularism,” Mr al-Zawahri said in the video.
He listed 14 directives to fight the United States, including an appeal for Muslim unity and jihadists to close ranks.