Zawahiri calls to cleanse Maghreb of sons of France and Spain

[Menydh]

Zawahiri calls "to cleanse" the Maghreb of "sons of Spain"

El Periódico Mediterráneo
September 21, 2007

The number two of Al Qaeda says that Islam must recover Al Andalus


Spain has turned into a priority enemy for number two of Al Qaeda, Ayman al Zawahiri. Yesterday, in a video broadcasted over the internet, Zawahiri made a call to the Maghreb branch of Al Qaeda "to cleanse the Maghreb of sons of France and Spain", in a sentence that the Spanish security forces have interpreted as a threat to the cities of Ceuta and Melilla. Besides, Zawahiri exhorted the extremists from the Maghreb to reconquer Al Andalus --in a referrence to Spain-- as he believes that it is a duty to recover any territory that was Islamic in the past.

Yesterday was not the first time that Zawahiri threatens Spain. Since december, he has been making referrence to Ceuta and Melilla, and to Al Andalus, in numerous messages. "The recovering of Al Andalus is a duty to the Islamic community in general, and to you [the Maghrebis] in particular", he claimed.

A coalition of groups

Zawahiri's words were directed to the groups of Al Qaeda in the Maghreb, the alliance of terrorist groups led by the Algerians of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat of which are also a part Morocco's Islamic Combatant Group (the author of the 11-M massacre in Madrid) and Libyan and Tunecian extremists. "It is a very bad news that Zawahiri threatens us directly", said a Spanish agent of the counter-terrorist service. He continued by saying that "for the extremists world-wide, the messages of Zawahiri are basics, where they study every single sentence searching for hidden meanings".

Nonetheless, the threats against Spain are not the only message that Zawahiri launched in the video. The Islamist leader called Pakistan's president Pervez Musharraf a "bulldog under the crucifix of Bush". An extremist web also broadcasted yesterday a message of Bin Laden where the leader of Al Qaeda declared the Jihad against Musharraf.

[Menydh]

I haven't found the video yet, but there is an earlier video posted in June, where Zawahiri greets the Maghreb members of Al Qaeda and calls them to act against Spain and France.

+ YouTube Video

The text reads:

Originally Posted by Al Zawahiri

.. and although the Aethiopian forces announced that they would be withdrawing after two weeks
but Allah frustrated their plotting at the hands of the lions of Islam in Somalia of Jihad, by His Grace.

And I ask Him to grant victory to our brothers in the Maghreb of Islam who,
with the strength of their faith and reliance on their Lord are shaking the pillars of the regime of France's sons,
and who, with their confidence in their Lord are striking the interests of the Crusade in the Maghreb of Islam,
and who, with their firmness and garrisoning have thwarted the conspiracies of the reconciliation and ruses of the defeatist backtrackers.

So O Ummah of Islam in the Maghreb of garrisoning and Jihad the Maghreb of Arabness and Islam, the Maghreb of defiance and resistance:
here are your devoted sons carrying your concern and the concern of defending your religion, honour and resources.

In fact they are carrying the concern of the entire Muslim Ummah, from Kashgar to Granada,
and the concerned of its plundered Al Aqsa, which has been enveloped in conspiracies and deals.

So stand with them and help and support them in confronting the fiercest Crusade ever faced by the Ummah of Islam.