transfer and expand our fighting in the Middle East so we can defend Al Aqsa mosque from the Israelis , '' Al-Shabab commander Abdifatah Aweys Abu Hamza said in Mogadishu , the Somali capital . He is apparently the leader of a new Al-Shabab armed group calling themselves `` Mujahedin Al Aqsa , '' or `` Al Aqsa Holy Warriors , '' which they said is assigned to attack Israel . It is not clear whether Al-Shabab has the capacity to carry out its threats against Israel . But Rashid Abdi of the International Crisis Group , speaking last week before al-Shabab issued its threats against Israel , warned that the group should be taken seriously . `` We should not underestimate the capacity of Al-Shabab , '' he said . `` This is a deadly organization , a formidable foe . '' Abdi said the group had been mutating from a nationalist group into a terrorist organization more like al Qaeda , which was behind the September 11 , 2001 attacks on the United States . `` If you look at the rhetoric and language and if you look at the Web sites , if you hear their preachers
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A militant Islamist group associated with al Qaeda has for the first time threatened to attack Israel , far from its normal base of operations in Somalia . Al-Shabab , which is fighting to control the east African country , accused Israel of `` starting to destroy '' the Al Aqsa mosque , where standoffs have taken place recently between Israeli police and Palestinians . The mosque is part of the complex that Jews call the Temple Mount and Muslims call Haram al-Sharif . `` The Jews started to destroy parts of the holy mosque of Al Aqsa and they routinely kill our Palestinian brothers , so we are committed to defend our Palestinian brothers , '' said Mukhtar Robow Abu Mansur , a prominent Al-Shabab commander . His threat was part of a series of fiery sermons delivered after Friday prayers in Baidoa in southwest Somalia . Al-Shabab controls the region , which is part of a country that has been without an effective national government for nearly 20 years . Other leaders of the group also threatened Israel , the first time the group is known to have done so . `` We will