2:49 pm
Jack
Photo Description : Al Qaeda's new leader, Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri
DUBAI: Al-Qaida has released a message in which Osama bin Laden's successor as the group's leader, Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri, said al-Qaida supported the Arab Spring.
The hour-long video was released to mark the 10th anniversary of al-Qaida's Sept 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
The SITE Monitoring Service,
which tracks jihadist statements, quoted al-Zawahiri as saying he hoped
the protest movements that have overthrown leaders in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya would establish what he called true Islam.
The video was posted on jihadist websites on Monday and titled "The Dawn of Imminent Victory", SITE said.
Al-Qaida, which called for the violent overthrow of secular Arab
governments, lost a great deal of relevance as a result of the political
upheaval across the Middle East and North Africa.
The video also included a message that al-Qaida said was recorded by Osama bin Laden
before his killing in May by US special forces, in which he warns
Americans against "falling as slaves" to the control of major
corporations.
Ahead of events on Sunday in the United States
to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Sept 11 attacks, officials
had warned of a specific, credible but unconfirmed report of a threat to
harm Americans, notably in New York and Washington.
SITE made no mention of any specific threat in its account of the contents of the video.
