Saudi Opposition Clerics Make Sectarian Call to Jihad in Syria

THE DAILY STAR: RIYADH: Dozens of Islamist Saudi clerics have called on Arab and Muslim countries to "give all moral, material, political and military" support to what they term a jihad, or holy war, against Syria's government and its Iranian and Russian backers.

Although the clerics who signed the online statement are not affiliated with the government, their strong sectarian and anti-Christian language reflects mounting anger among many Saudis over Russian and Iranian involvement in Syria's war.

Russia last week started airstrikes against Syrian opposition targets that it describes as aimed at weakening ISIS, a move Riyadh has denounced. The clerics' statement compared it to the Soviet Union's 1980 invasion of Afghanistan, which prompted an international jihad.

"The holy warriors of Syria are defending the whole Islamic nation. Trust them and support them ... because if they are defeated, God forbid, it will be the turn of one Sunni country after another," the statement said. » | Reuters | Monday, October 5, 2015

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Urges Jihad
BBC: A Yemen-based offshoot of al-Qaeda has called on Muslims in the region to wage holy war against the US and its allies.

A purported audio statement by Said al-Shihri, deputy leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, warned "American and Crusader interests are everywhere".

"Attack them and eliminate as many enemies as you can," Mr Shihri urged.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has said it was behind a failed bomb attack on a US passenger jet as it flew into Detroit on Christmas Day.

A Nigerian man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, has been charged with attempting to blow up the Northwest Airlines Airbus A330.

He has allegedly said AQAP operatives trained him in Yemen, equipped him with a powerful explosive device and told him what to do.

'Glorious invasion'

In an audio message posted on a jihadist website, Mr Shihri praised the "glorious invasion" by Mr Abdulmutallab and said it had been carried out in co-ordination with al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.

"We repeat what our Sheikh Osama said, that America will not dream of security until we live in security in Palestine," he said, referring to a purported audio statement issued by the Saudi militant leader last month.

Mr Shihri, a Saudi national who was released from the US military detention centre at Guantanamo Bay in November 2007, urged Muslims in the Arabian Peninsula to "prepare and carry your weapons and to defend your religion and yourselves, and to join your mujahideen brothers".

"The Christians, the Jews and the treacherous apostate rulers have pounced on you," he said. "You have no other way out from this plight other than to wage jihad." >>> | Monday, February 08, 2010

VOICE OF AMERICA: Al-Qaida Threatens to Attack US Interests 'Everywhere' >>> | Monday, February 08, 2010

Yemen Qaeda Wants Red Sea Blocked, Website Says
REUTERS INDIA: DUBAI - The Yemen-based wing of al Qaeda, in a recording posted on the Internet on Monday, called on Somali insurgents to help gain control over a narrow strait at the mouth of the Red Sea to block U.S. shipments to Israel.

The wing's deputy leader, Saeed al-Shehri, urged Somalia's al Shabaab Islamist insurgents to help return the Bab al Mandab strait, which separates Yemen from the Horn of Africa, "to the lands of Islam".

"At such a time the Bab (al Mandab) will be closed and that will tighten the noose on the Jews (Israel), because through it America supports them by the Red Sea," Shehri said in the audio recording posted on a website often used by Islamist groups. >>> Editing by Michael Roddy | Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Terrorisme : Le no2 d'Al-Qaïda au Yémen menace d'attaquer «partout» les intérêts US
20 MINUTES ONLINE: Le numéro deux d'Al-Qaïda au Yémen a appelé ses partisans à attaquer «partout les intérêts américains et croisés».

Saïd al-Shihri a affirmé l'ambition du réseau de prendre le contrôle d'un détroit stratégique commandant l'entrée de la mer Rouge.

Dans un message audio mis en ligne lundi sur un site islamiste, Saïd al-Shihri, recherché par les autorités yéménites, exhorte les musulmans à «proclamer le jihad».

«Les intérêts américains et croisés se trouvent partout, et leurs agents se déplacent partout. Attaquez-les et éliminez autant d'ennemis que vous pouvez», lance le numéro deux d'Al-Qaïda dans la péninsule arabique (Aqpa).

Il accuse «les croisés et les sionistes» de mener «une invasion haineuse du Yémen» et appelle les tribus, très influentes et qui contrôlent de vastes régions échappant au contrôle du gouvernement, à «attaquer les agents qui complotent avec les croisés contre les musulmans». >>> ats/afp | Lundi 08 Février 2010

Al-Kaida ruft zu Anschlägen auf Saudi-Arabien und USA auf: Lebenszeichen des stellvertretenden Führers in Arabien
NZZ ONLINE: Der Ableger des Terrornetzwerks al-Kaida in Jemen hat zu Anschlägen gegen die saudiarabische Herrscherfamilie und gegen US-Einrichtungen in der Region aufgerufen.

Die am Montag im Internet verbreitete Audio-Botschaft der Kaida stammt von Said al-Jiri und ist das erste Lebenszeichen des stellvertretenden Führers der Kaida auf der Arabischen Halbinsel (AQAP) seit dem 24. Dezember. >>> ddp | Montag, 08. Februar 2010

Obama Ignores Terror Threat at His Own Peril
FOX NEWS: Communism is gone but Islamic radicalism and jihadism are with us. President Obama will have to find an effective way to deal with this new threat or the American people will find someone else who can.

In the wake of “11/5,” the attack at Fort Hood, Barack Obama faces a tough choice--like it or not.

The 44th president must choose to confront an unpleasant reality, head on--or else it will run him over. The issue is the threat of terrorist violence, here on the homefront.

Terrorism, and the debate over how to respond to terrorism, was the defining issue of the 43rd presidency. And now it’s apparent that Obama, too, will spend the bulk of his presidency confronting terror, from Afghanistan to new battlezones, such as central Texas.

Obama and fellow Democrats would rather, of course, talk about health care. But over the next few years, the Fort Hood shooting is going to be a bigger story, since it is connected to our relations, good and bad, with the entire Islamic world, including nuclear Pakistan and almost- nuclear Iran.

For his sake, and for ours, Obama needs to understand that sometimes even presidents don’t get to decide the agenda -- the agenda is decided for him. In such a situation, the question is whether or not the president can adapt to the new era and its new challenges.

So this president needs to launch an aggressive investigation, digging into every aspect of Thursday’s shooting rampage that left 13 dead and dozens injured. How did it happen? Who bears responsibility? And, most importantly, what must we change now? Otherwise, if Obama simply talks about health care and “cap-and-trade” and “don’t ask, don’t tell” and all the other staples of his 2008 agenda, he will be left in the dust by the cyclonic events of 2009 and beyond. And in the wake of the 11/5 shootings, his presidency could be blown away by a whirlwind of damaging leaks, embarrasing reports, and well-justified fears.

Obama will always have his base of support, of course, especially in the media. Taking their cues, as ever, from the siren song of secular liberalism, the Mainstream Media would rather talk about health care, with an occasional digression into gay marriage. As documented by the Media Research Center, MSM reporters are mostly loathe to draw anything outher than politically correct conclusions about the religious and ethnic dimensions of the Fort Hood mass murder.

Thus the MSM is likely to be left in the dust by more fearless, more energetic media. Columnists Dick Morris and Eileen McGann were blunt in their e-mail headline: “Ft. Hood Attack Was Terrorism.” And also on Sunday morning, the top dozen headlines at WorldNetDaily, a popular conservative Web site, dealt forcefully with Fort Hood. So while the MSM is bemoaning “stress,” “PTSD,” and “over-extension,” WorldNetDaily is offering an entirely different narrative, featuring headlines such as “Muslims: ‘America’s chickens have come to roost,’ U.S. Islamic street preachers declare Fort Hood victims got just desserts,” and “Shooter advised Obama Transition: Fort Hood triggerman aided team on Homeland Security task force,” and “Military jihadists fill ‘every branch’: Ultimate 5th column penetration, warns best-selling ‘Muslim Mafia’ [author]” One additional piece was penned by Joseph Farah, the Arab-American editor of WND, whose headline blared, “PC sickness killed our soldiers.” How will the commander-in-chief react to that?

Having bungled his first public remarks after the news of the killings at Fort Hood, Obama is already on the defensive. So, most likely, he and his staff will seek to change the subject as quickly as possible.

But if they try doing that, getting back to, say, “the public option,” they will fail. Because the issue isn’t going away. As Georgetown University terrorism expert Bruce Hoffman said over the weekend:

“I’m not saying it’s part of an organized campaign or a systematic strategy, but we're seeing a sea change when we have once a month a plot that is related somehow to Afghanistan, Iraq or what these people see is a war against Islam. It's too easy to dismiss them as unstable individuals when they have expressed strong religious beliefs with politics. That's the essence of the radicalization we're facing.”

In other words, Fort Hood was not a random event; it was part of a pattern. >>> James Pinkerton | Monday, November 09, 2009