Al-Qaeda Leader: Syrian Jihadists Should Wage ‘Patient’ Guerilla War

Says Syrian War a 'Long Battle' Against Crusaders, Shi'ites

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has issued a statement today calling for the various al-Qaeda-linked jihadist factions in Syria to be more patient, and rely of guerilla tactics in what he says is shaping up to be a “long battle with the Crusaders and their allies the Shi’ites.”

Officially, al-Qaeda no longer has an affiliate within Syria, after the Jabhat al-Nusra formally cut ties. This was done at the behest of Zawahiri, who thought cutting ties might help Nusra to court more Islamist allies in establishing a de facto state in the Idlib Province.

In practice, however, several factions, including Nusra, are ideologically aligned with al-Qaeda, including some of the so-called moderate Islamist factions which are backed by Western nations, but whose leadership are very frank about considering themselves ultimately to be loyal to al-Qaeda.

Zawahiri accused the West of doing everything they could to prevent “Islamic rule” in Syria, but insisted that such a wave was sweeping the region at any rate, and that it was just a matter of time before the Islamists won.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.