Al Qaeda leader urges attacks on coalition states

Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri has called on young Muslim men to carry out attacks the United States and any other Western State making up the coalition in Iraq and Syria.

“I call on all Muslims who can harm the countries of the crusader coalition not to hesitate. We must now focus on moving the war to the heart of the homes and cities of the crusader West and specifically America,” he said, referring to nations making up the Western-led coalition in Iraq and Syria.

The coalition, which includes the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands, was set up to intervene against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria and Iraq and bomb ISIS targets.

Despite exhorting Muslims to carry out attacks on these countries, the Al Qaeda leader said that the group’s claim as a caliphate was illegitimate. Nevertheless, he said he would join them in fighting Western and secular forces in Iraq and Syria.

The Al Qaeda leader also urged unity between Islamic State militant factions in Syria and Iraq but recognised it would be difficult.