On March 5, 2013 Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) released a 30-minute video mourning the death of one of its leading clerics, Sheikh 'Adel Al-'Abbab.[1] The video, which was released with English subtitles, contains footage, most of it previously unreleased, showing U.S.-Yemeni jihadi cleric Anwar Al-'Awlaki glorifying martyrdom and martyrs, and lashing out at the West. Parts of Al-'Awlaki's speech were released by AQAP before, in a different video titled "Martyr of Da'wa" (see MEMRI TV Clip #3761, Anwar Al-Awlaki and Other AQAP Clerics Eulogize Slain AQAP Scholar Adel Al-Abbab and Calls on Yemenis to Join the Jihad Against America, March 5, 2013).
Following is an overview of the new video:
The video reveals images and footage of Al-'Abbab for the first time. Two other AQAP clerics, Sheikh Harith Al-Nadhari and the group's mufti, Ibrahim Al-Rubaish, are also featured. In their messages, they eulogize Al-'Abbab, and praise his scholarship and efforts on behalf of Islam.
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The video also contains a powerful speech by Al-Nadhari in which he lashes out at the U.S., and at the Yemeni regime for cooperating with it. He makes defiant statements toward the U.S., vowing to defeat it and repel its "crusade" on Yemen. Addressing President Obama, Al-Nadhari declares that the U.S. is mistaken in its presumption that it is fighting a war against individuals or organizations. Rather, he says, it is a battle pitting all the Muslims against the U.S. Al-Nadhari reiterates that killing jihad leaders will not stop jihad as a whole, and calls upon Yemenis to join the jihad against America, and upon Muslim scholars to support this jihad against America and the "collaborative" Yemeni regime.
[1] Alfidaa.info, March 5, 2013.
