Al-Qaida's deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has warned that the Persian Gulf region and Israel will be the terrorist group's next targets.

The Egyptian-born Zawahiri made the threat in a videotaped message that aired Monday, the fifth anniversary of the September 11th attacks on the United States.

Zawahiri said Western leaders should be more concerned about attacks in the Gulf or Israel than violence in Iraq or Afghanistan. He said the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are already doomed.

Zawahiri urged the Muslim world to intensify resistance against the United States and Israel, and said the United Nations peacekeeping force for Lebanon is, in his words, "hostile to Islam."

The message was not dated, but Zawahiri referred to the war between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas and the peacekeeping force that will oversee the ceasefire in Lebanon.