Last update - 00:00 11/09/2006
On 9/11 anniversary, Al-Qaida video warns of attacks in Gulf, Israel
By Reuters
DUBAI - Al-Qaida's deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, warned in a new video aired Monday that Israel and Gulf Arab states would be the network's next target.
Zawahri said in the video, an excerpt of which was shown on Al Jazeera television, that the West should not "bother yourselves with defending your forces in Iraq and Afghanistan."
The video showed Zawahri dressed in white and sitting in front of a book case.
"You have to bolster your defenses in two areas... the first is the Gulf, from which you will be evicted, God willing... and the next is Israel..."
Zawahri also urged Muslims to step up their attacks as the United States marked the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 strikes.
CNN, which aired a short extract from the lengthy video, said it was available on Islamist Web sites, but it could not be found on the mainstream sites often used by militant groups.
CNN quoted Zawahri as saying that "new events" were on the way. He also urged Muslims to intensify their resistance to the United States.
"Your leaders are hiding from you the true extent of the disaster," Zawahri, Osama bin Laden's right-hand man, said in the video. "And the days are pregnant and giving birth to new events, with God's permission and guidance."
Zawahri held the U.S.-allied governments of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia responsible for the killing of Muslims in the Middle East, Al Jazeera said.
"Israel has been able to dominate Lebanon and Gaza only because Egypt has been totally removed from the conflict with Israel..," Zawahri said.
The video appeared to be part of Al Qaida's own commemoration of the attacks on New York and Washington which killed almost 3,000 people. Ceremonies to mark the attacks will be held in Washington and New York.
On Sunday, the group's media arm al-Sahab released a 92-minute video entitled "The Manhattan Raids," a collage of video footage showing bin Laden urging the attackers to prepare themselves for martyrdom, the wills of some of the attackers and clips showing the men training in an unidentified location.