Issued by CEMO Center - Paris
ad a b
ad ad ad

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

Wednesday 12/September/2018 - 02:19 PM
The Reference
طباعة

"

 

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.


"