In the third episode of his “Brief Messages to a Victorious Ummah” series, Ayman al Zawahiri calls on “the mujahideen of the Levant” to help the jihadists in Iraq “reorganize themselves” for a “protracted” campaign of “guerrilla war.” Zawahiri clearly expects the Islamic State’s caliphate claim to be rendered moot and he wants jihadists to follow a new strategy in Iraq going forward.
In a newly released audio message, Ayman al Zawahiri calls for unity to “liberate” Jerusalem. Zawahiri argues that the jihadists must strike the West and build Islamic states in the Levant and Egypt in order to achieve this goal.
Tayseer Allouni aired the first televised interview with Abu Muhammad al Julani, the head of the Al Nusrah Front, earlier this month. Allouni was controversially convicted by a Spanish court on terrorism charges in 2005. A Spanish court alleged that Allouni assisted the al Qaeda operative who now heads al Qaeda in the Levant, among other charges.