Zawahiri issues General Guidelines for Jihad

[davidbfpo]

Hat tip to Clint Watts at FPRI alerting us to this public message to his followers and others. Know your enemy alone justifies posting, although the style is - well - different.

It ends with:
We call upon the heads of all groups and organizations that work under Qaidatul Jihad Organization (Al Qaida) and all our supporters and sympathizers to spread these guidelines amongst their followers, whether in positions of responsibility or ordinary individuals; for this document contains no hidden secrets, rather it is a general policy guideline. Its purpose is only to secure the interests established by the Shariah and avert harm in this stage of the Islamic Jihadi work by interpretive judgment (Ijtihad) that does not oppose the rulings of the Shariah and conforms to its principles.

Clint's commentary:http://fpri.org/geopoliticus/2013/10/zawahiris-latest-message-please-listen-me-jihadis-stop-bickering

Link to the guidelines:http://worldanalysis.net/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2224

The link is comes from a Canadian body, who have used the circulation by a known AQ media outlet As-Sahab Media. Worldanalysis.net state their mission is:
to providea single nonpartisan open-source information resource for geopolitical events worldwide

There are a number of threads in this arena on similar themes and several elsewhere on AQ lessons learnt.

[davidbfpo]

An interesting analysis of the al-Zawahiri document by the German journalist, Yassin Musharbash and he asks:
So what is al-Qaeda in 2013? An open network? Or still a hierarchical organization? Is it a network of networks? Or a system of franchise operations?

Link:http://www.abususu.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/al-qaida-revisited.html

Two key points:
After roughly a decade in which al-Qaeda’s main interest was to plot spectacular attacks against Western targets, or “the far enemy,” the pendulum is now swinging back toward the near enemy. This is not only a strategic decision by the central leadership. It is also what most new recruits are interested in.

We are presently witnessing another transformation, as al-Qaeda not only shifts focus but also allows for more co-operation and integration with local groups at the expense of micro-management by a central leadership, which can’t be maintained under these circumstances.

[OUTLAW 09]

This is in fact extremely interesting as it clearly indicates the lessons learned from past failures and is a true example of adaptation.

If one looks at the 10 standing orders of an insurgency published by John Robb in 2007 in Global Guerrilla's I would place this into the area of open source warfare---meaning the AQ leadership is now following the Robb standing orders.

Which is not a good thing for the future as it allows the individual groups to morph the way they want to in order to match their specific ecosystem.

As Robb mentions in one of the standing orders--- innovate, innovate, innovate.

For those that do not believe AQ drives off of a strategy---this should end that discussion---they do.

Iraq and AFG has shown us that the US Army seems to have never "seen/understood" that strategy.

[OUTLAW 09]

Reading the entire document is worth it---this sentence caught my attention as it is virtually the same as the SF motto in their beret--"to free the oppressed."

15. Providing help and support to the victims of oppression, whether Muslims or non-Muslims, against those who oppress them. Supporting and encouraging everyone who helps them, even if he is a non-Muslim.