New Al-Zawahiri Speech Titled "Tremendous Lessons and Events in the Year 1427 AH"

On February 14, 2007, Islamist websites posted 41-minute video [1] of Ayman Al-Zawahiri's speech summarizing the events of the Muslim year 1427, under the title "Tremendous Lessons and Events in the Year 1427 AH." The video, produced by Al-Qaeda's "Al-Sahab" media group, is accompanied by English subtitles.

In his speech, Al-Zawahiri said that in the past year Bush was forced to admit his failure in Iraq and to acknowledge that the Taliban had intensified its jihad in Afghanistan. He characterized the U.S.'s "collaborators" in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other Muslim countries as traitors and "merchants of religion," and said that the jihad fighters had defeated the Americans and acted to bring glory to Islam. Al-Zawahiri called on Arab nationalists and secularists to return to Islam and to join the jihad for the sake of Allah against "the cruelest Crusade in history." He said that "fighting for the sake of Allah and bearing arms are today a personal obligation [incumbent on every Muslim], and those who cannot bear arms themselves must aid those who bear arms."

Al-Zawahiri blessed the jihad fighters in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia, and urged the mujahideen all over the world - in Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Chechnya, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Kashmir - not to lay down their arms and to remain steadfast, since victory was near. Finally, Al-Zawahiri thanked those in the Islamic jihadist media for "their blessed efforts, which cause the Crusaders, the Zionists, and their helpers to lose sleep."

"Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghrib" Claims Responsibility for the Six Car Bombs in Algeria

In a communiqué posted on Islamist websites on February 13, 2007, the "Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghrib" organization, formerly known as "The Salafi Group for Preaching and Combat" (GSPC), claimed responsibility for the February 13, 2007 simultaneous explosions in Algeria. According to the message, the mujahideen "selected their targets carefully... using remote guidance technology [for the car bombs]." The message adds that the successful attack caused the total destruction of five police stations in both the Boumerdes and Tizi Ouzo districts, and led to the death and wounding of over 140 people associated with the police.

The message ends with a warning to "the robbers' state and the slaves of the French Jews and Christians that the descendants of Tariq Ibn Ziyad and the youth of Islam in the Islamic Maghrib have made a decision to uproot [you] and to liberate the lands of Islam from every Christian, apostate, and collaborator."