Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has threatened attacks on Saudi Arabia in a new video calling for revenge over the country’s Jan. 2 mass execution of dozens of alleged extremists.
In the video, recorded on Tuesday and released by the SITE Intelligence Group on Thursday, al-Zawahiri encouraged Saudis to rise up against their “rotten regime that corrupted your religion,” saying it “will never defend you.”
The gulf nation received a similar message from the Islamic State group shortly after it executed 47 alleged militants on Jan. 2. The mass execution was the largest in 35 years, with those killed – including Shia cleric and opposition leader Nimr al-Nimr – convicted of terrorism. The Islamic State group also threatened attacks after the Saudi defense minister proclaimed Dec. 15 the formation of a coalition of 34 mostly Sunni Muslim countries to fight terrorism.
Despite the announcement, that coalition has yet engaged in any joint military actions.
The “Zionist-Crusader alliance,” another target that al-Zawahiri mentioned in the video, is “what hurts Al Saud so much.”
Though Saudi Arabia receives significant military and financial support from the United States, it has mostly been funneling its resources what some consider a proxy war against Iran in Yemen.
Besides allegedly committing war crimes in Yemen itself, from bombing weddings to hospitals, the kingdom has also cracked down on Shiite protesters on its eastern border with Yemen.
One of the leaders of Saudi Arabia’s Shiite minority was al-Nimr, a cleric who was executed alongside the alleged Sunni militants shortly before the Arab Spring’s five-year anniversary.
The execution of al-Nimr was condemned by Iran, the region’s major Shiite power, and led to a series of retaliations – including the burning of the Saudi embassy in Tehran – that ended with Saudi Arabi cutting diplomatic ties with its rival.
In his video, al-Zawahiri said the moves were indicative of a “competition for power in the region,” but one “under the umbrella of protecting and complying with the interests of America.”
telesurtv.net
