Shabaab's jihad against the 'leaders of disbelief' | FDD's Long War Journal

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Shabaab's jihad against the 'leaders of disbelief' | FDD's Long War Journal
Thomas Joscelyn


Shabaab’s latest video features a clip of Ayman al-Zawahiri criticizing “corrupt regimes” that are allied with America.

Shabaab, al Qaeda’s branch in East Africa, has released a lengthy video that is intended to justify its jihad against the Somali government and opposition to allegedly illegitimate rulers elsewhere. The production is the third installment in Shabaab’s “Then Fight the Leaders of Disbelief” series. It was produced by Al-Kataib Media, a propaganda shop that is part of al Qaeda’s international media network.

Al-Kataib’s video editors want their audience to view Shabaab’s war through the lens of al Qaeda’s global jihadist ideology. Comments from Ayman al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden are included in “Then Fight the Leaders of Disbelief,” as are clips of various other al Qaeda and associated jihadis. For instance, snippets of lectures from deceased figures such as Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman (an influential cleric who died in an American prison in 2017), Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (the founder of al Qaeda in Iraq), Sheikh Abu Zubeir ‘Adil al’Abab (a senior Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula sharia official who was killed in 2012) and Abu Yahya al-Libi (an ideologue killed in 2012) are all spliced together with other footage to explain Shabaab’s ideology and strategy.


A clip of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman is played alongside images of Somalis.

The production opens with a clip of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi explaining his approach to religious tolerance. “We in Egypt do not intervene in religious affairs,” Sisi says. “We do not distinguish between a Muslim and a Christian. There is no difference between a man and a woman, or between religion and another religion. Everyone is equal!”

Read more at: https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2019/08/shabaabs-jihad-against-the-leaders-of-disbelief.php