Al-Qaeda leader urges attacks on Saudi Arabia

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The leader of al-Qaeda called for attacks on Saudi Arabia after the kingdom’s mass execution of 47 people in January, many of whom were tied to the terror group.

Ayman al-Zawahiri’s comments came in a seven-minute audio recording released earlier this week and reported by a US-based terror monitor, the SITE Intelligence Group, on Thursday.

In it, the Egyptian doctor and militant leader exhorted his followers to launch new attacks against the interests of the kingdom’s ruling Al Saud family, which he called a “rotten regime that corrupted your religion.”

Zawahiri also called for attacks on “the Zionist-Crusader alliance,” referring to Israel and its Western allies, as “this is what hurts Al Saud much.”

In this May 30, 2015 file photo, religious flags, photographs and tributes to 21 victims of a suicide bombing, claimed by the Islamic State group, of a Shiite mosque are seen attached to their graves at a cemetery in Qudeeh, Saudi Arabia. (AP/Hasan Jamali)

However, Saudi Arabia likely faces a greater threat from the Islamic State, which has claimed a series of attacks in the kingdom in recent months.

The January 2 Saudi executions included a number of people convicted in al-Qaeda attacks that roiled the kingdom some 10 years ago. In the time since, however, al-Qaeda has been eclipsed by the Islamic State, originally a breakaway faction that now holds territory in Iraq and Syria.

Zawahiri’s message comes amid high tensions between Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia and Shiite power Iran over the executions, which included that of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Al-Zawahiri dismissed the killing of Nimr as part of the “Saudi-Iranian competition for power in the region.”

Iranian and Turkish demonstrators hold pictures of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr as they protest outside the Saudi Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, Sunday, January 3, 2016, following Saudi Arabia’s execution of 47 prisoners in one day. (A/Burhan Ozbilici)

After Nimr’s death, protesters in Iran attacked two of the kingdom’s diplomatic posts and the kingdom cut diplomatic ties to the Islamic Republic, raising regional tensions.

In November, Zawahiri released a Twitter video praising Palestinian attacks against Israelis and calling for lone wolf attacks against Western countries, in particular the US.

“The first matter is striking the West and specifically America in its own home, and attacking their interests that are spread everywhere,” Zawahiri said at the time, according to SITE.

“The supporters of Israel must pay with their blood and their economy,” he added.

AFP contributed to this report.