November 3, 2015 | Quote

Al Qaeda Leader Calls for Jihadist Unity to Fight ‘Satanic Alliance’

Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri released a new message late on Sunday that called for a united jihadist front against “the satanic alliance that attacks Islam.”

The 16-minute recording accompanies old footage of Osama bin Laden and touches on a wide range of topics, including the necessity of repeated attacks against al Qaeda's enemies, the perils of infighting among jihadists, and renewed violence in Israel and Palestine.

“The message is most likely part of al Qaeda's effort to communicate more broadly its strategic thinking,” said Thomas Joscelyn, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and senior editor of The Long War. “The target audience is probably jihadists in its own ranks and fighters in the Islamic State as well.” Al Qaeda's Syria branch, the Nusra Front, has been engaged in a turf war with the Islamic State since Zawahri formally rebuffed the group last year.

“They think they are fighting against a big conspiracy that includes Russia, the US, Europe, Bashar al-Assad, and Iran,” Joscelyn said.

In order to take on these formidable foes, he says jihadists must “hone our conduct in order to convince our Muslim people that we want to be ruled over by Sharia,” adding that it's important that jihadists of all stripes “do not seek to oppress Muslims.”

According to Jocelyn, this is a not-so-subtle message to the Islamic State to lay off of al Qaeda's Syria affiliate so that they can successfully combat their common enemies.

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Issues:

Al Qaeda Russia Syria