Al Qaeda Chief Urges Rebels in Syria to Establish an Islamic State

Also warns France of attacks in response to the intervention in Mali

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, April 7 (UPI) -- In his first message since November, al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri urged rebels in Syria to fight to establish an Islamic state governed by Sharia law.

"Let your fight be in the name of Allah and with the aim of establishing Allah's Sharia (law) as the ruling system," he said in an Internet video. "Do all that you can so that your holy war yields a jihadist Islamic state."