Marking the 17th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, the leader of al-Qaida has called on Muslims to wage war against the United States throughout the world.

In a 30-minute speech released Tuesday, Ayman al-Zawahri went to great lengths to portray the United States as a religious enemy of Muslims, using Washington’s transfer of its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as evidence of that enmity.

The Washington-based SITE group, which monitors media material by militants across the world, released an English transcript of the speech.

“America (is) the number one enemy of Muslims … despite of its professed secularism,” al-Zawahri said in the video. He listed 14 directives to fight the United States, including an appeal for Muslim unity and jihadists close ranks.

(AP)