Al-Qaida-linked terror group ready to wage holy war against Jews

Declaration comes from group which claimed responsibility for last week's rocket attacks on the north that originated in Lebanon.

By ARIEL BEN SOLOMON
Abdullah Azzam Brigades (photo credit: Abdullah Azzam Brigades)
Abdullah Azzam Brigades
(photo credit: Abdullah Azzam Brigades)
The Abdullah Azzam Brigades, which is linked to al-Qaida and claimed responsibility for the rocket fire at Israel last Thursday, has released a statement saying that the attacks were part of the jihad against the Jews.
Sheikh Sirajuddin Zureiqat, a member of the group, tweeted a link to the statement on Tuesday. The statement was dated from the day the rockets were fired.
Zureiqat also tweeted two pictures of what the group said were some of the rockets it had fired at Nahariya and Acre.
The Abdullah Azzam Brigades and the Ziad al-Jarah Brigades wrote the statement, which again claimed credit for the rocket fire and said the attacks had been aimed against the Jews, who it said were benefiting from the Syrian revolution.
The statement added that recent developments had led to a change and that the group would suspend its activities because of the blatant interference of the Iranianbacked Hezbollah in Syria.
It claimed that Hezbollah, Iran and Israel had a “strategic alliance in the region and common interests” and were striving to thwart the Syrian revolution. The Jews, it said, were fully complicit with Western countries in trying to give Syrian president Bashar Assad cover to fight the rebels.
According to the statement, Israel and the West were giving Hezbollah a green light to fight in Syria so as to protect Israel’s security by keeping the border quiet. But this will not bring security, the statement declared, saying it would instead bring them closer to the fire of the mujahideen.
The US government considers the Abdullah Azzam Brigades a terrorist organization.
According to the US State Department website, the organization was created in 2009 and is based both in Lebanon and in the Arabian Peninsula.
The group, led by Saleh al-Qarawi, is responsible for numerous rocket attacks against Israel.