Qaeda's Al-Zawahri Tells Syrians To Also Fight U.S., Israel

A December 2005 video grab shows Al-Qaeda's then-deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahri

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri has urged Syrian protesters to direct their movement also against Washington and Israel, denouncing the United States as insincere in showing solidarity with them, in a newly circulating Internet video.

The video carried the date of the Islamic month corresponding to June, when Zawahri was named by the Islamist group to succeed Osama bin Laden, who was killed by U.S. forces in Pakistan in May.

There is little evidence of Al-Qaeda influence in the four-month wave of demonstrations against the Syrian government.

In the past four months, the United States has repeatedly condemned Syria's crackdown against demonstrators, with the U.S. ambassador visiting the restive town of Hama earlier in July in an unusual show of solidarity with anti-Assad demonstrators.

compiled from Reuters reports