Special Dispatch No. 5151
Muhammad Al-Zawahiri, Brother Of Al-Qaeda Leader, At Cairo Demonstration: If France Does Not Withdraw Forces From Mali Immediately, It 'Will Come To A Bitter End'
Following are excerpts from footage of an Egyptian demonstration against French military intervention in Mali, with the participation of Egyptian Salafist Muhammad Al-Zawahiri, brother of Al-Qaeda Leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri. The footage was posted on the Internet on January 18, 2012.
Click here to view this clip on MEMRI TV.
Egyptian Salafist Muhammad Al-Zawahiri: "We are here to protest the French aggression against the Muslims. We consider any aggression against Muslims to be aggression against us all. We are required by the shari’a to repel it.
"France must return to its senses and withdraw [from Mali] immediately, or else it will come to a bitter end.
"Any Arab who collaborates with France is a traitor, who has betrayed the Islamic nation and all its peoples."
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Special Dispatch No. 5150
Jihadis Tally Gains From Attack On Algerian Gas Installation
The following report is a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On January 23, 2013, Al-Rudoud Al-Qawiyya L'il Murjia Al-Ghawiyya, a popular Facebook page (it currently has more than 24,000 "likes") associated with the Salafi-jihadi movement worldwide, and particularly in North Africa, published a post in which it listed the gains the jihad movement had reaped from the attack on the 'Ain Amenas gas installation in Algeria. According to the author of the post, the attack caused economic harm to France and the West, embarrassed the Algerian government, and lifted the spirits of the mujahideen.
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Special Dispatch No. 5149
Northern Mali Jihadi Organization 'Ansar Al-Din' Calls On Muslims To Attack French Interests Worldwide And Carry Out Individual Actions In The Style Of Toulouse Shooter Muhammad Merah
The following report is a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On January 18, 2013, the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat published an interview with the spokesman for the Northern Mali jihadi organization Ansar Al-Din, Sanad Ould Bouamama. In the interview, Sanad Ould Bouamama said that the mujahideen were in excellent shape, and that they still controlled the Kona and Diabaly fronts, as well as other areas, and that the French were not advancing towards them or bombing them. He added that if there were any claims that the French had launched an attack on them, these could refer to a media attack or an online attack, but not an attack on the ground.
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Special Dispatch No. 5148
Ansar Al-Din In Mali: We Have Killed Over 50 Malian Soldiers, Downed French Helicopters
The following report is a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On January 19, 2013, the Mauritanian website saharamedias.net posted a communiqué by the Ansar Al-Din organization, which controls large parts of northern Mali (Azawad). The communiqué deals in detail with the fighting between the organization and the Malian and French forces. It states that Ansar Al-Din was compelled to renew its military activity after discovering that the Malian army meant to attack the city of Douentza with help from the French forces, and after all the initiatives to resolve the crisis peacefully were rejected with "total contempt" by the Malian government. The organization claims that it has killed over 50 Malian soldiers, downed two French helicopters and killed a senior French officer, while sustaining only eight casualties of its own.
