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September 30th, 2013 
Peter Nolan
But the inside experts also cautioned that it would take months to properly
assess the impact of Mr Snowden’s revelations on counter-terrorism efforts.
Separately, at least three Yemeni soldiers were killed and six others wounded
on Monday when a group of suspected al Qaeda militants disguised as security
personnel attacked an army base in the southeastern city of al-Mukalla, a
military official said.
The official said soldiers were still trading fire with the militants inside
the base.
“Some of the attackers managed to infiltrate into the base,” the official
said. “They caused confusion because soldiers at the base thought they were
being attacked by members of the Central Security apparatus.”
Zawahri issued his first specific guidelines for jihad, urging restraint in
attacking other Muslim sects and non-Muslims and in starting conflicts in
countries where jihadis might find a safe base to promote their ideas.
The document, published by the SITE monitoring service, provides a rare look
at al Qaeda’s strategy 12 years after the September 11 attacks on the United
States and the nature of its global ambitions from North Africa to the
Caucasus to Kashmir.
While al-Qaeda’s military aim remained to weaken the United States and Israel,
Zawahri stressed the importance of “dawa”, or missionary work, to spread its
ideas.
“As far as targeting the proxies of America is concerned, it differs from
place to place. The basic principle is to avoid entering into any conflict
with them, except in the countries where confronting them becomes
inevitable,” he said.
Those comments are particularly relevant for North Africa, where many analysts
believe al Qaeda is using the less restrictive environment which followed
the 2011 Arab uprisings to seek new followers, often through local
alliances, while avoiding drawing attention to itself by eschewing attacks.
“Our struggle is a long one, and jihad is in need of safe bases,” Zawahri said
in his “general guidelines for jihad” posted on jihadi forums.
Senior American officials say that Mr. Snowden’s disclosures have had a
broader impact on national security in general, including counterterrorism
efforts. This includes fears that Russia and China now have more technical
details about the N.S.A. surveillance programs. Diplomatic ties have also
been damaged, and among the results was the decision by Brazil’s president,
Dilma Rousseff, to postpone a state visit to the United States in protest
over revelations that the agency spied on her, her top aides and Brazil’s
largest company, the oil giant Petrobras.
On September 20, suspected Al-Qaeda fighters killed at least 56 soldiers and
police in coordinated dawn attacks in Shabwa province further west.
That was the deadliest day for the Yemeni security forces since the army
recaptured a string of southern towns from the jihadists in a major
offensive last year.
Washington regards Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula as the global jihadist
network’s most dangerous affiliate and has stepped up its drone strikes
against the group in recent weeks.
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