Target: Yemen

Most of the coverage of Ayman Al Zawahiri's latest video message has focused on his support for Somalia and the Al Shabaab faction (Islamists so hardcore that they have transformed the previously scary Islamic Courts Union into Somalia's "moderate" faction).

While Zawahiri's discussion of Somalia was the better part of the tape and quite important, his discussion of Yemen in the second part of the tape was extremely alarming. For a while it was fashionable to analyze these tapes for secret code words that would trigger attacks.

In this video, there's no secret about it. Zawahiri repeatedly called for attacks in Yemen, specifically on U.S. interests in Yemen. There have already been strong signs of trouble in Yemen, and there's a healthy contingent of Al Qaeda terrorists in the country who have sworn loyalty to Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al Zawahiri specifically. The video showed messages of solidarity from released Guantanamo detainee Said Ali al-Shihri and Al Qaeda in Yemen's emir, Nasir al-Wuhayshi.

The latest video elevates the threat level in Yemen to red plus plus plus.

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Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink