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August 10, 2010 Special Dispatch No. 3157

Al-Qaeda Instructs Sympathizers in Saudi Armed Forces to Assassinate King 'Abdallah and Western Citizens, and Asks Pilots to "Seek Martyrdom in the Skies of Palestine"

August 10, 2010
Special Dispatch No. 3157

On August 10, 2010, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) released a 15-minute audio recording from Sa'id Al-Shihri, aka Abu Sufyan Al-Azdi, the Saudi deputy commander of AQAP, who is also a former Guantanamo detainee. In the recording, Al-Shihri says that the organization has received communications from supporters of Al-Qaeda in the Saudi armed forces, who asked whether they should remain in their positions, or whether they should leave to join up with AQAP in Yemen. Al-Shihri tells them that they should remain in the Saudi armed forces and take advantage of their positions to further infiltrate the armed forces, carry out assassinations against the government, the royal family, and Westerners living in the country, and to provide logistical assistance to the mujahideen.

Al-Shihri told the Saudi servicemen that a great responsibility was on their shoulders, since they had the obligation to depose the apostate rule of the Saud family in the heartland of Islam. He also placed his instructions in the context of regional developments, saying that a war was expected between the U.S., Israel, and their apostate Arab allies on the one hand, and Iran on the other, with the goal of the former being the building of the Temple in Jerusalem and the establishment of Greater Israel, and the goal of the latter being to take over the Arabian Peninsula. Al-Shihri said that the mujahideen's stance on this coming war was clear, and that they would absolutely not be the lackeys of the apostate rulers in the face of the external threat. [This is in contrast with the First Gulf War, in which Bin Laden offered to establish an international Islamist force to defend Saudi Arabia from Saddam Hussein.]

He then says that following the receipt of the communications from Saudi servicemen, the Shura Council of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula met to discuss the issue, and formulated 11 directives. Following is a summary of the principal ones:...

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