Middle East: Western forces in Iraq and Afghanistan are "fighting their last battles", al-Qaeda's deputy leader says in a new video apparently timed to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the September 11th attacks.
"You shouldn't bother yourselves with defending your forces in Iraq and Afghanistan because they are doomed to defeat and are all but defeated, fighting their last battles," Ayman al-Zawahiri says in the 76-minute recording.
"Rather, you should reinforce your defences in two regions. The first is the Gulf, from where you will be expelled, God willing, after your defeat in Iraq, at which point your economic ruin will be achieved.
"The second is Israel, because the jihadi reinforcements are getting closer to it."
The video, entitled Hot Issues, was posted on the web. Its contents were reported by the terrorism research group SITE Institute. CNN also aired extracts.
It was filmed by al-Qaeda's multimedia production arm, as-Sahab, and shows an interview with Zawahiri dressed in white and seated by bookshelves, SITE reported.
"Your leaders are hiding from you the true extent of the disaster which will shock you," Zawahiri says, addressing western viewers.
Besides Iraq and Afghanistan, Zawahiri also discusses the recent conflict between Hizbullah and Israel; Muslims who collaborate with the West; and Somalia.
He specifically attacks President Bush and Tony Blair for not accepting the truce offered by Osama bin Laden.
He also urges Muslims to take up jihad, support Muslims in Lebanon and Palestine, and attack America in revenge for its jailing of Sheikh Umar Abd al-Rahman for the 1993 World Trade Center bombings.
On Sunday another tape showed previously unseen footage of Bin Laden and others allegedly planning the 9/11 attacks.
- (Guardian service)