person:ayman al-zawahri

Al-Qaida leader tells Morsi supporters democracy not the way
Haaretz
3rd of August 2013
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/1.539524

Al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri urged Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters to abandon democracy and seek to govern through the full implementation of Islamic law.

In a 15-minute recording posted on Islamist websites on Saturday, Zawahri also criticized Islamists who had formed political parties in Egypt and supported the Egyptian military in ousting former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi.

“I give this piece of advice to whoever supported Morsi and I tell them first we have to admit that legitimacy doesn’t lie in elections and democracy but it lies in Sharia,” Zawahri said.

“Sharia is not electing Morsi president of a republic, a president of a secular and nationalistic state,” he added.

The recording, posted two days after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry gave his seal of approval to Egypt’s new leaders saying that they had restored democracy, also lashed out against U.S. policy and the Egyptian army.

“The crusaders, the secularists, the pro-U.S. army and former Mubarak supporters and a few of those who are linked to the Islamists have worked with Gulf money and U.S. planning to overthrow Morsi’s government,” Zawahri said.

More than 300 people have been killed in Egypt since the army removed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood from power on July 3 in response to mass protests against his rule.

The popular mood in Egypt had swung against the Brotherhood after Morsi was accused of trying to establish himself as a new dictator during his first year in office.

Pro-Morsi supporters have been staging two main sit-ins in Cairo since his ouster asking to bring him back to power.

“What has happened is the greatest evidence that taking democracy as a path to Islamic rule has failed,” Zawahri said.

Al Qaida leader Zawahri urges Syrians: Unite against Assad and bring down Israel-backing U.S. - Middle East - Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/al-qaida-leader-zawahri-urges-syrians-unite-against-assad-and-bring-down-is

Al Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri urged Syrians to unite to bring down President Bashar Assad and thwart what he said were U.S. plans to set up a client state in Syria to safeguard Israel’s security.

In a 22-minute recording, posted on Islamist websites on Thursday to mark 65 years since Israel’s founding, Zawahri also said the only way to solve the Palestinian problem was through Jihad, an Islamic holy war.

“Lions of the Levant, unite around this honorable goal and rise above sectarian affiliations,” Zawahri said.

“America, its agents and allies want you to shed your blood and the blood of your children and women to bring down the criminal Baathist regime, and then set up a government loyal to them and to safeguard Israel’s security,” he added.

The recording came one day after Syrian government forces, backed by Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, captured the border town of Qusair from rebels. It appeared on the Mujahideen al-Ansar website, which carries statements from al Qaida leaders.

It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the recording, which made no reference to Qusair, suggesting it was recorded before the campaign to retake the town began more than two weeks ago.

Zawahri, an Egyptian-born preacher who became al Qaida’s chief after Osama bin Laden was killed in a U.S. operation in 2011, also criticized Iran for supporting Assad, saying the conflict in Syria had “revealed the ugly face of Iran.”

The Iranian-backed group Hezbollah fought with Assad’s forces which seized the strategically important border town of Qusair from rebels on Wednesday.

Influential Sunni Muslim cleric Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi last week called for Jihad against Assad after Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah acknowledged his forces had joined the fighting in Qusair.

Zawahri warned Syrians not to play into the hands of the United States which, he said, wanted to turn their Jihad into a “Western tool against Iran.”

He said that fighters seeking to topple Assad in Syria had rekindled hope that one day that might happen.

“There is no solution for Palestine except Jihad,” Zawahri said.

“Every free Muslim in Palestine should unite with his Muslim brothers to implement Sharia (Islamic law) and rule by it, and make it a reference above all references, and to liberate Palestine in order to set up an Islamic state, even if the West hates that and calls it terrorism and extremism,” he added.

Zawahri’s last audio message dates to April, when he also urged Muslims to unite and support Jihad to create a state governed by Islamic law.