Bin Laden's son urges 'jihadists to unite' in chilling audio message
The son of Al-Qaeda's late founder Osama bin Laden is urging jihadists to unite in Syria to fight and pave the way to "liberating Palestine".
The chilling audio message is titled, “Jerusalem Is a Bride and Our Blood Is Her Dowery” and was released at around the same time Islamic State created a series of videos on taking Jerusalem from Israel..
Hamza Bin Laden appears to be encouraging all “mujahideen” from across the world to “unite” in Syria to fight the West.
"The Islamic umma (nation) should focus on jihad in Al-Sham (Syria) ... and unite the ranks of mujahedeen there," the 23-year-old said.
"There is no longer an excuse for those who insist on division and disputes now that the whole world has mobilised against Muslims."
His undated message comes after Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri also urged jihadists in Syria to unite, despite his continued rejection of the rival Islamic State (IS) group and its proclaimed caliphate.
"The matter of unity today is one of life and death," Zawahiri said in an audio message posted online on Saturday.
"Either you unite to live as Muslims with dignity, or you bicker and separate and so are eaten one by one," he added, according to SITE Intelligence monitoring group.
Al-Qaeda's Syria affiliate Al-Nusra Front is a rival of IS, which is an Al-Qaeda offshoot whose leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2014 declared an Islamic caliphate across territory seized in Iraq and Syria.
Bin Laden's son said Syria is the "best battlefield" leading to "liberating Al-Quds", the Arabic name for Jerusalem.
"The road to liberating Palestine is today much shorter compared to before the blessed Syrian revolution," he said.
US intelligence officials have said that Hamza was the favourite son of the 9/11 mastermind who had been grooming him to take over as Al-Qaeda's leader.
Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan on May 2, 2011, by US Navy SEAL Team Six.
