The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On July 16, 2024, Al-Sahab, the media arm of Al-Qaeda Central Command, published part four of a 17-page essay titled: "This Is Gaza: A War Of Existence, Not A War Of Borders."
The essay is authored by Salem Al-Sharif, a pseudonym for Muhammad Salah Al-Din Zaydan, also known as Sayf Al-'Adl, who is believed to be the Al-Qaeda de facto leader.
In this, most recent, installment of this essay, the author continued to exploit the ongoing war in Gaza, offering his suggestions on how to improve the mujahideen's combat tactics and skills.
He advises Muslims not to take civilians as prisoners, as Hamas did on October 7, arguing that killing civilians is more beneficial and Islamic.
"Satanic Alliance"
Inciting Muslims against Israel and its western allies, the author begins his essay with the following introduction:
"If the Zionist entity sighs in Palestine, the West will rise up treat it, all the West... not out of love for it, for what is between them is shameful, but so that the Muslims do not have a force that will reformulate the world with a divine hue. This satanic alliance at this stage of history has awakened the people of sound nature around the world, from among the sons of our nation and the oppressed, and they have realized that the world will not gain its freedom and nations will not regain their dignity, except by the defeat of the West and its removal from global political decision-making."
"Gaza-Multi Aspect War"
Arguing that the conflict in Gaza has more than a military aspect, the author advises readers to look at the strategic, political, economic, and social perspectives of the conflict.
"We must collect as much military, political, social and economic information as possible about the enemy, its airbases - especially the overt and covert ones - its ammunition warehouse and fuel depots, his strengths and weaknesses."
Islamic Alliances
Highlighting the significance of forming alliances in wars, the author writes:
"The alliance of our armed Islamic peoples is the program that we must strive to build and make successful. What unites us is much greater than what unites our enemies. We are a nation whose Allah is one, whose religion is one, whose Messenger is one, whose Qiblah (the destination of prayers) is one, whose book (the Quran) is one, and whose political approach to people is one. All people are of a higher stature and a more sublime path than what the West and the pagans did to people around the world. Allah willing, the time will come when we overcome ourselves and the passions and obsessions that accompany them. At that time, the defeat of the local, regional, and global enemy will be a matter of time."
Economic Boycott
Promoting an economic boycott to support Gazans, the author called on the Islamic peoples to boycott all western products, saying it is forbidden to buy any products from the West that have even a modest alternative in Islamic countries.
"Anyone who buys a car from the West contributes to killing Muslims in Gaza. Purchases that have alternatives in our Islamic countries, whether their value is low or high, are forbidden to buy from Western Europe, America, Canada, Australia, submissive Japan, South Korea, India, China, and from anyone who supports and supports the Jews politically, militarily, or economically."
How To Counter Drones, Aircrafts?
Discussing military tactics and ways to improve them, the author offers his suggestion on how to counter airstrikes conducted by helicopters or drones.
"Aircraft remain a major threat until we are able to neutralize them from the conflict by targeting their many weak points - the first of which are airports, military bases, ammunition depots, pilots, weapons technicians, ground pilots, and the entire administrative system associated with them."
As for drones, he argues that their slow speed and low altitude, make them easy to detect with radar devices.
"They are also easy to fire at, or jam and control. In addition, their weak points also include: their launch bases, their operators, the technical rooms from which they are managed, and the spies who provide them with information or direct them by planting chips... etc. The more elements related to them, the more weak points they represent, and each of them can be worked on, according to our strength."
"Eliminate Spies, Pilots"
He further elaborates that "the first step is to blind the enemy by eliminating spies, launching qualitative operations against bases or operation rooms, and carrying out assassinations or kidnappings of ground pilots who operate the drones, including blowing up their stores and ammunition stores and kidnapping or assassinating technicians working on their preparation... etc. Thus, we can neutralize this dangerous weapon, and even the electronically guided suicide aircraft from the beginning, given their short range, this means that their storage and operation sites and their engines are within reach, and they can be harmed through the information our intelligence collects on our land, and through our special elements trained to carry out sabotage operations behind the enemy's ranks, and deep within it."
"Good Communication Between Mujahideen"
Another important point, according to the author, is: "the necessity of communication between the mujahideen in all arenas, and good communication with our peoples, educating them and teaching them how to manufacture drones, and how to manufacture explosives and turn them into projectiles, because our battle is a battle of existence and it needs all the sons of the nation who specialize in this field in any country from the East to the West to exchange experiences, innovations and studies until a strategy for confronting this dangerous weapon is generalized."
"Kill Civilians, Don't Take Them As Prisoners"
In his assessment of the war in Gaza and Hamas's October 7 attack, the author noted that one of the key lessons that should not be repeated is abducting hostages. Instead, he calls for killing them before abducting them.
"Taking [people] as prisoners was not and will not be a deterrent weapon. The Jews destroyed everything, knowing that the Muslims would not cause any harm to the prisoners because Islam urges them not to. However, Islam also tells us that killing takes precedence over taking prisoners."
