The Al-Andalus Foundation, the official media outlet of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), issued a video message of AQIM operative Abu Yasir Al-Jaza’iri to Muslims all over the world. The video is titled “Residents of the Islamic Maghreb – Jihad, Jihad”.
In his speech, Al-Jaza’iri asked the Muslims of Egypt to join the ranks of the mujahideen and launch a jihad against apostates. He said fighting against the “apostate” rulers of the country is a personal obligation incumbent on every Muslim and asserts that responding to “the call of jihad” places a Muslim on the same level as the prophets of Islam, while neglecting jihad leads to corruption, diseases, and disasters. He further states that the enemies of Islam have declared war on the Muslims and therefore all Muslims must unite to act against them as one.
Meanwhile, senior officials of the Houthi Ansar Allah Movement, a Yemeni-based Islamist outfit, stated that the US military presence in the Red Sea and the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait was a provocation and demanded that the American forces distance themselves from Yemen’s territorial waters. They warned that the Houthi navy possesses capabilities and “surprises” that will deter the enemy, and threatened that any encroachment into Yemen’s territorial waters by the American forces would lead to the start of “the longest and most expensive war in human history.”
On August 7, 2023, the Houthi Ansar Allah movement’s Deputy Foreign Minister Hussein Al-Ezzi, addressed the American forces in the area in a tweet, and warned them to stay away from Yemen’s territorial waters, saying that approaching them would mark the beginning of the “longest and most expensive war in human history.” The Houthi website stated that such encroachment constituted “direct escalation against Yemen.”
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