Twenty years after the devastating attacks of September 11, 2001, the Al-Qaeda terrorist network is broadcasting a new video. Leader Al-Zawahiri threatens the West.
New York / Beirut – 20 years ago, terrorists from the Islamist network Al-Qaeda hijacked four planes and carried out attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the US Pentagon. September 11, 2001, with almost 3,000 deaths, is considered the worst attack in US history to date. Al-Qaeda has now published a new video message from its leader Aiman Al-Zawahiri.
In the video distributed on Saturday (September 11th, 2021) via social media, Al-Zawahiri calls on his followers to fight the Western states and their allies in the Middle East. The approximately 60-minute film shows the first speech by the al-Qaeda chief since there were unconfirmed rumors about his death at the end of last year.
20 years after September 11, 2001: New Al Qaeda video exposed
Experts see indications in the new recording that Al-Zawahiri was still alive at least at the beginning of this year. For example, he mentioned an attack on the Russian military in northwest Syria on January 1, tweeted the director of the Site Intelligence Group, which specializes in propaganda by extremist forces, Rita Katz.
“As tragic as it is, this 9/11 anniversary is a uniquely positive day for al-Qaeda,” wrote Katz on Twitter. An al-Qaeda supporter said the US withdrawal from Afghanistan was a confirmation of bin Laden’s vision and the ‘blessed’ 9/11 attacks, said Katz. In addition, the trailer wrote that Afghanistan was only “the beginning”.
The US left the country after 20 years of war “broken and beaten,” Al-Zawahiri explains in the video message. On the other hand, he does not say a word about the advance there of the militant Islamist Taliban, who are allied with al-Qaeda. Al-Zawahiri said the 9/11 attacks were “an injury” the US had never experienced.
Al-Qaeda video on September 11th: Al-Zawahiri succeeds Osama bin Laden
He describes the rapprochement between several Arab states on Israel as “treason”. This is a “crusade” led by America: “And Israel is one of the most important tools of this crusade.” The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco had agreed with Israel last year, their diplomatic ones Normalize relationships.
The Egyptian Al-Zawahiri is the successor to Osama bin Laden, who is considered to be the head of the terrorist attacks of September 11th. Bin Laden was killed by a US special unit in Pakistan in 2011. The US has put a bounty of 25 million dollars (around 21 million euros) on Al-Zawahiri. Experts always assumed that he was hiding in the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan. (tvd / dpa)
