Al-Qaeda chief appears in video marking 9/11 anniversary

The SITE Intelligence Group that displays jihadist web sites stated the video was launched Saturday.

In it, Mr al-Zawahri stated that “Jerusalem Will By no means be Judaised,” and praised al-Qaeda assaults together with one which focused Russian troops in Syria in January.

SITE stated Mr al-Zawahri additionally famous the US army’s withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of struggle.

It added that his feedback don’t essentially point out a latest recording, because the withdrawal settlement with the Taliban was signed in February 2020.

Mr al-Zawahri made no point out of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan and the capital Kabul final month, SITE added.

However he did point out a January 1, assault that focused Russian troops on the sting of the northern Syrian metropolis of Raqqa.

Rumours have unfold since late 2020 that Mr al-Zawahri had died from sickness. Since then, no video or proof of life surfaced, till Saturday.

“He may nonetheless be lifeless, although in that case, it will have been in some unspecified time in the future in or after Jan 2021,” tweeted Rita Katz, SITE’s director.

Mr al-Zawahri’s speech was recorded in a 61-minute, 37-second video produced by the group’s as-Sahab Media Basis.

Lately, al-Qaeda has confronted competitors in jihadi circles from its rival, the Islamic State group. IS rose to prominence by seizing massive swaths of Iraq and Syria in 2014, declaring a “caliphate” and increasing associates to a number of international locations throughout the area.

IS’s bodily “caliphate” was crushed in Iraq and Syria, although its militants are nonetheless lively and finishing up assaults. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the shadowy chief of IS was killed by U.S. particular forces in a raid in northwestern Syria in October 2019.

Mr Al-Zawahri, an Egyptian, turned chief of al-Qaeda following the 2011 killing of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan by U.S. Navy SEALs.