Enemy faltering: Zawahri

AL-QAIDA deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri urged all Muslims to support insurgents fighting in Iraq “for the dignity of Islam” and said the “enemy has begun to falter”, according to a video posted yesterday on the internet.

The video was dated with an Islamic month corresponding to November 2005 - and al-Zawahri mentions an October 23 earthquake that hit Pakistan and Afghanistan. But it appeared to be the first time the 28-minute video has been made public.

Al-Zawahri appears sitting, wearing a white turban and a gray robe with a microphone pinned to it. An automatic weapon is leaning against a brown backdrop behind him.

“The Islamic nation must support the heroic mujahedeen (holy warriors) in Iraq, who are fighting on the very front line for the dignity of Islam,” he said.

“And to my brother mujahedeen in Iraq, I say, stay firm. Stay together. Your enemy has begun to falter, so don’t stop pursuing him until he flees defeated,” he said.

He called on Muslims to support his “beloved brother” Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who heads al-Qaida in Iraq. “I have lived with him up close, and have seen nothing but good from him,” al-Zawahri said.