Osama bin Laden's deputy has warned of fresh attacks from al-Qaeda - with Israel and the Gulf Arab states as the next targets - in a video message released today to coincide with the fifth anniversary of 9/11.

Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's No 2, said that "new events" which were on the way would seal the West’s economic downfall, and urged Muslims to intensify their battle against the USA and the West.

"We have repeatedly warned you and repeatedly offered a truce with you, and so we now have all legal and rational justification to continue to fight you until your power is destroyed or you give in and surrender," al-Zawahiri is reported as saying in the video, in an apparent address to Western leaders.

"You should not concern yourself with the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are already doomed."

"Instead you should worry about your presence in two areas. The first is the Gulf, from where you will be expelled, God willing, after your defeat in Iraq, and your economic ruin will be achieved.

"And the second is Israel, because the jihadi reinforcements are getting closer, with God’s help and power, and your defeat there will put an end to the superiority of the Zionists and Crusaders."

Al-Zawahiri’s warning of attacks in the Gulf, which is the world’s foremost oil exporting region, follows previous calls by bin Laden to target oil facilities in order to cripple the West.

In the latest video al-Zawahiri also blamed the governments of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia for the killing of Muslims in the Middle East.

"Israel has been able to dominate Lebanon and Gaza only because Egypt has been totally removed from the conflict with Israel," he said, according to al-Jazeera, which showed what appeared to be an extract from the footage, showing al-Zawahiri dressed in white and sitting in front of a book case.

CNN, which also aired a short extract from the video, said that it was available on Islamist websites, although it could not be found on the mainstream sites often used by the terror group.

The message was the latest in a series of footage in recent weeks from Egyptian-born al-Zawahiri, who carries a $25m bounty for information leading to his arrest or death.

Late last night al-Sahab, al-Qaeda's media arm, released a 92-minute video entitled "The Manhattan Raids", which showed collated footage of bin Laden calling upon the hijackers of 9/11 to prepare themselves for martyrdom, as well as the wills of some of the men and clips showing them training at an unidentified location.

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