Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has called on Muslims to forge unity after the Arab Spring revolts toppled what he called "tyrants" and the "breakdown of the US-led Western alliance" in Iraq and Afghanistan, dpa reported.
"Lest (Muslims) should lose the opportunity again, we in the group of Qaeda al-Jihad seek to remind the Muslim nation of the Islamic duty of getting united," al-Zawahiri said in an audio message attributed to him and posted on a militant website Sunday.
He launched what he called "a document for Islam's victory" based on enforcing Islamic sharia law, halting "pillage of Muslim wealth", supporting the Muslim people in rebelling against their rulers and pursuing the creation of a Muslim caliphate.
The Egyptian-born former surgeon took over the terrorist group after Osama bin Laden was killed in a US operation in Pakistan in May 2011.
Al-Zawahiri also said in the purported message that France would be defeated in Mali.
"I warn France that it will meet in Mali, God willing, the same fate of America in Iraq and Afghanistan."
France launched a military intervention in January, answering a call by Mali's government to oust Islamist rebels who were advancing on the capital Bamako.