CAIRO: The brother of al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri has sanctioned violence against the West in retaliation for the French-led campaign against militants in Mali.

Mohammed al-Zawahri, one of Egypt's most influential jihadi leaders, made his comments in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, in the wake of the bloody four-day hostage crisis in Algeria, in which al-Qaida-linked militants seized a gas plant in retaliation for the campaign in Mali.

"All Muslims have the right to stop this aggression by any means," he said of the French-led military intervention. "This barbarism, aggression and brutality ... according to Shariah, we have to confront it," he said, adding, "they (West) are making jihadists."

Al-Zawahri was imprisoned for nearly 11 years under Egypt's former president, Hosni Mubarak, but was freed after his ouster.