As per statements from al-Zawahiri. It is interesting that France would be regarded as the enemy despite all their efforts to accommodate. “Algerian Islamist group threatens French interests,” by Adrian Morgan for Spero News:
The Algerian terror group GSPC (Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat) has long touted its connections to Al Qaeda. However, a video speech by Ayman al-Zawahiri, published on a jihadist website on September 11 2006, for the first time confirmed this from Al Qaeda’s perspective. The video also said that the GSPC was being urged to attack France. Zawahiri also said that there would be new attacks against the Gulf and against Israel.
In the video, the deputy leader of Al Qaeda said: “Osama Bin Laden has told me to announce to Muslims that the GSPC has joined al-Qaeda. This should be a source of chagrin, frustration and sadness for the apostates [of the regime in Algeria], the treacherous sons of France.”
He said that GSPC should be “a bone in the throat of the American and French crusaders. We pray to God that our brothers from the GSPC succeed in causing harm to the top members of the crusader coalition, and particularly their leader, the vicious America.”
French terror experts were taking the implied threats seriously. In September 2005 the GSPC’s leader, Abu Mossab Abdelwadoud aka Abdelmalek Dourkda made in internet statement, in which he threatened France and Algeria. He mentioned France 15 times. He said: “France is our enemy number one, the enemy of our religion, the enemy of our community.”
Read it all.