Al Qaeda’s Zawahri Calls for Supporting Terrorists in Syria

Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri has called on Muslims to join terrorist groups in Syria.

Al-Zawahri, who became al Qaeda leader last year after the death of Osama bin Laden, spoke in a message that lasted more than two hours, SITE Monitoring reported on Saturday, citing a two-part film posted on an al Qaeda website.

In his new message, he urged fellow Muslims to join the armed rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

“I incite Muslims everywhere, especially in the countries that are contiguous to Syria, to rise up to support their brothers in Syria with all what they can and not to spare anything that they can offer,” he said.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011 with organized attacks by well-armed gangs against Syrian police forces and border guards being reported across the country.

Hundreds of people, including members of the security forces, have been killed, when some protest rallies turned into armed clashes. The government blames outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups for the deaths, stressing that the unrest is being orchestrated from abroad.

After around 20 months of bloodshed stirred by a number of Persian Gulf Arab states, Turkey and the US-led western countries, the UN could broker a truce in Syria on Friday on the occasion of the advent of the Muslim eve of Eid al-Adha.

The truce in Syria was put into effect on Friday and was due to last until Monday, but the armed rebels and terrorist groups fighting the Damascus government did not respect the ceasefire and embarked on several bomb blast in various parts of the country, bring the truce to an actual failure.

In similar conditions in October 2011 when calm was eventually restored in the Arab state after President Assad started a reform initiative in the country, Israel, the US and its Arab allies brought the country back into chaos. Tel Aviv, Washington and some Arab capitals have been staging various plots to increase unrests in Syria.

Turkey along with the US, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been supporting terrorists and rebel groups in Syria and have practically brought a UN peace initiative into failure to bring President Assad’s government into collapse.