"My Brother Against My Brother, But Both Of Us Against Our Cousin" Alert from [1] AKI, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

Doha, 27 July (AKI) - The latest statement by Ayman al-Zawahiri aired on Thursday by al-Jazeera is an unprecedented step by the number two leader of a Sunni militant group towards Shiite movements and perhaps even the Hezbollah militias. At the end of the statement announcing that al-Qaeda will avenge Israel's offensive on Lebanon and the Palestinians, Al-Zawahiri launches an appeal to the 'disposessed of the world' (in Arabic 'Mustadifin fil ard'), a Koranic term often used by the founder of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in his speeches following the 1979 revolution.

Such a quote by the man who is widely considered al-Qaeda's strategist is unlikely to be a coincidence. An overture to a potential alliance with the Shiites must be viewed as part of a new Middle Eastern context within which the leader of the Shiite militia Hezbollah, Hassan Nasralla, is consider the new leader in the war on Israel.