Al Qaeda’s deputy leader Ayman Al-Zawahri reportedly urged Muslims in North Africa to fight NATO forces in Libya, the SITE Intelligence Group reported on April 15. The monitoring group said the video message by the group’s second in command appeared to have been recorded before NATO and Western forces began military operations to support rebels against Libyan ruler Muammar Qaddafi.
“I want to direct the attention of our Muslim brothers in Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and the rest of the Muslim countries, that if the Americans and the NATO forces enter Libya then their neighbors in Egypt and Tunisia and Algeria and the rest of the Muslim countries should rise up and fight both the mercenaries of Qaddafi and the rest of NATO,” Zawahri was cited as saying.