Al Qaeda Leader Cheers Attacks on 9/11 Anniversary, Calls them “Blessed Raids”

NBC News reports Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri put out a video Wednesday to again cheer the slaughter of thousands of Americans on 9/11, 18 years ago.

The CIA and U.S. military is still trying to find the elusive Al Qaeda leader who is believed to be hiding in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. Analysts believe he does not use cell phones and has little contact with the outside world in order to avoid being captured or killed.

But al-Zawahiri is still releasing video and audio messages to try to inspire his thousands of followers, with three recordings released in just the last few weeks — including the one today. In the tape released for 9/11, al-Zawahiri called the killing of 3,000 people in New York, the Pentagon and on the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania “blessed raids.”

WATCH:

Per MSN, Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri appealed to Muslims on Wednesday to attack US, European, Israeli and Russian military targets in a speech on the 18th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

Al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian surgeon, became al-Qaeda chief following the 2011 killing of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, by US commandos.

He is believed to be hiding somewhere in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region

“If you want jihad to be focused solely on military targets, the American military has presence all over the world from the east to the west,” he said in a 33-minute, 28-second video produced by the group’s as-Sahab Media Foundation.

“Your countries are littered with American bases with all the infidels therein and the corruption they spread.”

The al-Qaeda hijackings on September 11, 2001 – its most notorious attack – killed nearly 3,000 people when commercial airliners slammed into the World Trade Center’s twin towers and the Pentagon while another crashed in rural Pennsylvania.

The SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks online activity of armed groups, reported in the video al-Zawahiri, 68, called the 9/11 attacks unacceptable because civilians were harmed.

He also criticised “backtrackers” – referring to former fighters who changed their views in prison.

“Just as they conspire and join forces against us everywhere, we must chase them down everywhere at a time and place of our choosing. Be inventive and creative in your methods,” he added.

This article was written by the staff of TheConservativeOpinion.com