Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri sets out his first jihad guidelines

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has issued his first specific guidelines for jihad (holy war), 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.

However, he reiterated his support for a violent struggle against authorities in Xinjiang .

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 US and Israel, Zawahiri 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," Zawahiri said in his "general guidelines for jihad" posted on jihadist forums.