Not that Assad is a friend of Israel, by any stretch of the imagination. He’s just not moving quickly enough for those who want a full-blown military jihad now, though one wonders if Damascus would get an “E” for “Effort” from al-Qaeda on the Dair Alzour nuclear plant.
Al-Qaeda’s former second banana is also eager to see the end of the Alawite dominance of Syrian politics, and clearly likes the odds of its being replaced with a Sunni Islamic regime more overtly hostile to Israel. “Al-Qaida’s Zawahri tells Syrians to also fight US, Israel,” from Reuters, July 28:
DUBAI – Al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri urged Syrian protesters to direct their movement also against Washington and Israel, denouncing the United States as insincere in showing solidarity with them, according to an Internet video issued on Wednesday.
“America, which cooperated with (Syrian President) Bashar al-Assad during his whole regime, claims today that it stands with you when it saw him floored by the earthquake caused by your fury,” he said in the video posted on Islamist websites often used by al-Qaida.
The video carried the date of the Islamic month corresponding to June, when Zawahri was named by the Islamist group to succeed Osama bin Laden, who was killed by US forces in Pakistan in May after a nearly 10-year worldwide hunt.
“You are standing with your bare chests facing tank and artillery shells and helicopters,” Zawahri said of the Syrians demonstrating against Assad, whom he denounced as “America’s partner in the war on Islam in the name of fighting terror”.
“Tell both America and (US President Barack) Obama: … our powerful uprising will not stop until we raise the victorious banner of jihad (holy war) … over Jerusalem,” said Zawahri, wearing a white turban and robe and seated next to an assault rifle….