Source:  www.assistnews.net

Date:  2007-12-29

By Jeremy Reynalds
Correspondent for ASSIST News Service

DUBAI (ANS) -- Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden vowed that Islamic militants will expand their holy war to liberate Palestinian land and said his group will not recognize Israel.

Reuters reported that the Saudi-born militant also criticized Iran-backed Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah for accepting the deployment of United Nations forces in south Lebanon after the Shi'ite group's war with the Jewish state in 2006.

Reuters added that bin Laden said in a recording posted on the Internet on Saturday that peacekeepers dispatched to expand a U.N. force in Lebanon after the war were there to "protect the Jews."

Al Qaeda belongs to a school of Islam that sees Shi'ite Muslims as heretics.