Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri called for Islamic terrorists to strike at the US, Israel and their “European allies” in a new video tied to the 18th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
In an Arabic-language speech addressed to “Muslim brothers the world over,” al-Zawahiri urged his followers to be “inventive and creative” as they concoct their diabolical plans.
“The interests of Israel and its American, British, French, Russian, and European allies are spread all over the world,” he said, according to an English-language transcript distributed with the video.
“So just as they conspire and join forces against us everywhere, we must chase them down everywhere – at a time and place of our choosing.”
Al-Zawahiri noted that that “18 years have passed since the blessed raids in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania” and also appeared to reference President Trump’s recent decision to cancel secret peace talks with the Taliban.
“The Islamic Emirate dealt severe blows to America. This is why the Americans showed keenness to negotiate with them a withdrawal from Afghanistan,” he said.
The 33-minute recording was discovered Wednesday morning by Raphael Gluck, co-founder of JihadOScope, a company that monitors terrorist communications on the Web and elsewhere.
The video – produced by al Qaeda’s propaganda arm, “Al-Sahab Media” – was uploaded to several Internet cloud-computing storage sites after being “teased” in messages posted Tuesday on the encrypted Telegram app, he said.
Versions were released in various qualities so the video can be viewed on different types of devices, including smartphones, he said.
The FBI declined to comment.