Al-Qaeda Vows Global Jihad for Israeli Attacks

Osama bin Laden’s deputy released a video vowing to turn the battles in Lebanon and Gaza into a global jihad.

Al-Qaida’s No. 2 leader warned in a new videotape released Thursday that the terrorist group would not stand idly by while Israeli bombardments “burn our brothers” in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. In the message broadcast by Al-Jazeera television, Ayman al-Zawahri, second in command to Osama bin Laden, said that al-Qaida now saw “all the world as a battlefield open in front of us.”

The Egyptian-born physician said the Hezbollah and Palestinian battles against Israel would not be ended with “cease-fires or agreements.” The fighting began last month following a Palestinian cross-border raid in which an Israeli soldier was captured, then expanded to Lebanon after Hezbollah militants captured two other soldiers in a raid earlier this month. “The war with Israel does not depend on cease-fires. … It is a Jihad for God’s sake and will last until (our) religion prevails,” al-Zawahri said. “We will attack everywhere.”

So much for the idea that al Qaeda will refuse to work with Hezbollah because they are hated Shiites. It’s also rather redundant: Al-Qaeda declared global jihad in 1996 and again in 1998.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Rodney Dill says:

    This is a little unclear, is that a Jihad on top of other Jihad’s or does the Global Jihad replace other Jihads.

    Sounds a little like declaring “Double Secret Probation”

  2. LJD says:

    all the world as a battlefield open in front of us.

    Uh yeah, because you were holding back before.

    battles against Israel would not be ended with cease-fires or agreements.

    Maybe he should have a chat with Kofi.

  3. Rodney Dill says:

    battles against Israel would not be ended with cease-fires or agreements.

    …Unless we need time to reload.

  4. JKB says:

    So what he’s saying is, that now that this has started, we should let Israel finish it as best they can. Any attempt to broker a peace will not be honored by the terrorists. Who knew it would be that way?

  5. McGehee says:

    This is a historic day. Al Qaeda has declared World Jihad I.

  6. DaveD says:

    Yep, we are declaring big jihad right here from our bunker under this pre-school.

  7. They hate us! They really, really hate us!

  8. Rick DeMent says:

    So much for the idea that al Qaeda will refuse to work with Hezbollah because they are hated Shiites.

    Well as long as the immediate goals are aligned, anyone will work with anyone. I mean the US worked with Saddam Hussein after he committed the atrocities for which he is currently standing trial right?

  9. LJD says:

    O.K. Rick, we get it. It doesn’t matter what anyone esle does as long as we know the U.S. is bad, bad, bad.

    So, when are you leaving?

  10. madmatt says:

    The enemy of my enemy is my friend…at least temporarily!!! It is how we work with all sorts of despotic scum like the sauds and uzbeks to torture brown people we can’t get to confess to crimes…and to keep oil flowing and oil company profits rising.

  11. Anderson says:

    Dan Drezner linked to an op-ed which explained that Qaeda and Hezbollah are rivals, and that Qaeda is doubtless upset to see itself becoming the has-been of terror clubs.

    This news fits right into that analysis. The upshot is that Qaeda has all the more incentive to do something dramatic. We may be soon to find out whether or not they’ve actually been working on anything.

  12. ken says:

    If Bush had done his job these guys would all be either captives by now awaiting justice, or dead.

    That al queda even still exists and is free to make such pronouncements is a failure of stupendous proportions.

    But hey, Saddam is in jail.

  13. James Joyner says:

    Anderson: Yep, it’s the Haykel piece that I link in the post 😉

  14. Anderson says:

    Anderson: Yep, itâ??s the Haykel piece that I link in the post 😉

    Small world, isn’t it?

    Okay, so much for my plan to get through the morning without coffee ….

  15. LJD says:

    Well Ken, had Clinton done his job, 9/11 and many other Al Qaeda attacks, would never have happened. Does that blow your mind, or what?

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