Analysis of al-Zawahiri's speeches on September 11.

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Sarah Rashad
Al Qaeda's
current leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, spoke on Tuesday with an audio speech about
what Al-Qaeda is suffering, coinciding with the 17th anniversary of the
September 11 attacks.
In his
speech, Al-Zawahiri launched a sharp attack on the United States of America,
describing it as a "state of infidelity" and the reason for the
setback of Islamic countries. He said that Trump's insistence on the transfer
of the US Embassy to Jerusalem - as a practical demonstration of America's
recognition of Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Israel - is a clear
expression of the historical hostility against Muslims and the entire Muslim
world, a religious hostility.
The leader
of al-Qaeda told the organization's terrorists 14 steps to answer the question:
"How do we fight America?" He called on them to unite to prevent the
US strategy, which is based on their fragmentation and weakening, as well as
fighting their allies, who provide them with aid and preserve their interests,
as he claimed.
Since the
events of 2001, al-Qaeda has been keen to review the event, which was said by
the former leader of the organization Osama bin Laden as changing the course of
history, according to his speech, which was broadcast by the Qatari TV channel
Aljazeera a year after the incident specifically on September 10, 2002.
Did the
absence of bin Laden affect the value of September 11?
Over the
course of nine years following the events of September, the spiritual leader of
the organization, "bin Laden" used to appear and warn America of the
ability of "Al Qaeda" to repeat the process.
The threats
that bin Laden kept repeating even before his death in May 2011 following an
incursion into the building he was hiding in Abbottabad (120 km away from
Islamabad) were not realistic. He did not prove that his organization remained
strong.
From here,
al-Qaeda's easing of the its celebratory statements about the September events
can be seen as logical, as it is no longer acceptable to focus on al-Qaeda's
ability to threaten America, while the latter managed to target the first man
in the organization.
This happens
if we take into account the organization's preoccupation with the successive
events in the Middle East region, the so-called "Arab Spring", with
al-Qaeda being at the heart of it.
The
Reference in this report provides an analysis of the most prominent speeches of
the current al Qaeda leader, al-Zawahri, coinciding with the events of
September.
The letter
of denial of fainting (2013)
All the
"September 11" speeches, delivered by bin Laden, were about September
alone. In 2013, when Al-Sahab outlet representing al-Qaeda organization
broadcast a speech by al-Zawahri, the first man in the hardline organization,
the speech came in contrast to that of bin Laden. The current al-Qaeda leader
addressed almost all organizational issues, as if it was a speech to present
the organization's agenda, not to celebrate a specific event.
Throughout
the speech, Zawahri was speaking out of weakness. He began by dismissing the
prevailing views on Washington's ability to curb Al-Qaeda's threat and to
strengthen its position, and threatened to remind the United States of what he
saw as a "failure" in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Zawahri's
threat, in which he tried to appear in the position of power, did not play a
significant role, especially when the leader of al-Qaeda moved to another
location in his speech and incited supporters of his organization and
sympathizers to carry out terrorist operations inside America.
As for the
form of these operations, he said: "The process can be through one or a
few individuals, or through adopting a guerilla style", an incitement that
exposed - at the same time - the vulnerability of Al Qaeda, which no longer has
large cells within America and is not strong enough to repeat the 9/11 process,
resorting to soliciting operations from individuals.
From the
same weakness, al-Zawahiri used the speech to respond to the organization of
Daesh, which had not announced at the time its country of origin but had a
strong presence in Iraq and started to level accusations against al-Qaeda.
In
order to respond to Daesh accusations, Al-Zawahiri went on to refute such
charges with legitimate responses, citing the practical product that al-Qaeda
has produced.
Commenting
on the failure of the Brotherhood's rule in Egypt, and their fall in June 2013,
Zawahiri tried to promote his organization's vision. The leader of al-Qaeda
went on to demonstrate that the peaceful path of reaching power and resorting
to elections did not exist with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, starting from
the fact that resorting to violence and imposing control by force is the
solution.
Responding
to Daesh first (2014)
The first
man in al-Qaeda did not participate in the organization's commemoration of the
events of September of in 2014. Only on the third of the same month did he
appear to announce the establishment of a new al-Qaeda branch in the Indian
subcontinent.
In a strange
incident, an Egyptian terrorist Hossam Abdel Raouf appeared in the video, which
was broadcast by the «Al-Sahab», on the occasion of the events of September
under the title of «We Will Tease Them». Abdel-Raouf repeated what was stated
in the speech of «Zawahiri» in 2013, on the power of al-Qaeda, and denied any
talk about the diminished influence.
Al-Zawahri's
lack of interest in this speech may reflect the lack of interest in the event,
especially since the first man in the organization appeared before the
anniversary of the September events on two occasions. The first was the leader
of the Mujahideen Youth Movement, Mukhtar Abu al-Zubair, September 7. The
second appearance was on September 9, when Al-Sahab broadcast the first episode
of the Islamic Spring series, a series of episodes in which Al-Zawahiri went
out to address extremist groups. The so-called "Arab Spring" proved
its failure, while the coming period will be what he called the «Islamic
Spring».
Then, on
Sept. 13, al-Qaeda's leader appeared in the second episode of the same series,
and only Zawahri praised the perpetrators of the events of September 11,
inciting them to follow them.
It is clear
from the first and second episodes of the series that al-Zawahri is interested
in another matter, namely, the response to the organization of
"Daesh", especially since the new organization - at the time - had
declared the launch of its "state”.
Because
al-Zawahiri sensed the danger to his existence after the establishment of
Daesh, the al-Qaeda leader preferred to devote himself to responding to
criticism of the new organization and refuting its legal beliefs.
Back to bin
Laden's biography
Due to the
political changes that took place at this time in the Middle East, the decline
of the Daesh organization, the opportunity to organize al-Qaeda in Libya and
Syria, and the control of the entire cities, the organization regained relative
confidence.
Zawahri, who
returned to Bin Ladin on this occasion in terms of threatening the American
people and not the state, said: "Our message to the Americans is as clear
as the sun. America will not enjoy stability as long as the Muslims did not
enjoy in their countries.”
Al-Zawahiri
said that al-Qaeda's actions were merely a reaction to what he considered
"crimes" of America, the same as his previous vision, dealing with
the Palestinian cause as the primary motive of al-Qaeda.
The speech
that dates back to the time of bin Laden coincides with the strategic situation
in which al-Qaeda was living at that time, as the organization was preparing
itself for filling the vacuum of Daesh and restoring its legacy.
Zawahiri did
not protest against any views that al-Qaeda was underdeveloped, as was the case
in the organization's speeches in 2013 and 2014.