MSA Security Blog

Al Qaeda Leader Calls on Muslims to Support Syrian Uprising

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Overview

In a video released on extremist websites on Saturday, February 11^th, al Qaeda’s leader Ayman al-Zawahiri calls on Muslims around the world to support the Syrian uprising against Bashar al-Assad’s “pernicious, cancerous regime.”  More specifically, Zawahiri addresses Muslims living in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, asking them to join in the uprising while also warning Syrian rebels not to rely on the West for help.  The video is titled “Onward, Lions of Syria” and runs eight minutes long. 

This is not the first time Zawahiri has directly addressed Syrians in one of his messages.  Last July, Zawahiri urged protesters in Syria to also direct their movement against Israel and the United States, saying that the US was insincere in showing solidarity with them.

Implications

This latest message comes just a few days after the release of the video in which Zawahiri announced the merger between al Qaeda and Somalia’s al-Shabaab.  Zawahiri’s newest call to Muslims to support the uprising in Syria may be yet another attempt by the al Qaeda leader to showcase the group’s relevance as the network has been challenged by the deaths of prominent figures over the last year.  After the death of Zawahiri’s number two Atiyah Abd al-Rahman last year, we learned that the two had been working on rebranding al Qaeda’s messaging and discussing ways for al Qaeda to take advantage of current events in the Muslim world.  The new video may be evidence of this attempt to rebrand the al Qaeda image.

It currently remains to be seen whether or not Zawahiri’s message will actually resonate with the Syrian rebels or Muslims in neighboring countries.  However, the revolutions and civil unrest throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa have provided opportunities for the jihadist movement.  For instance, it was reported late last year that several senior al Qaeda-linked militants travelled from Afghanistan to Libya in an effort to boost recruitment in the country after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi.  Additionally, the upheaval in Egypt has allowed for the emergence of Ansar al-Jihad in the Sinai Peninsula, a jihadist group which declared its allegiance to al Qaeda last month. 

In Syria specifically, US officials say that there may be a growing presence of operatives belonging to al Qaeda in Iraq.  Some reports reference American officials saying that al Qaeda in Iraq may have been behind two recent attacks in Syria’s capital Damascus in December and January.  It is our assessment that Zawahiri is currently focused on al Qaeda’s operational expansion and is looking to take advantage of the political turmoil in Syria for al Qaeda to gain a foothold in that country.