Al-Qaida No. 2 Called for "Violent Jihad" in Syria Before he was killed in a U.S. drone strike last week, al-Qaida's second-in-command urged Arabs to take up arms to assist Syrian rebels in their uprising against President Bashar Assad. The call came in a nearly 15-minute-long video message by Abu Yahya al-Libi. It was released Tuesday, but a jihadist website said it was produced in November. Al-Libi was killed last week in North Waziristan, Pakistan. Residents stand next to a hole in a building that was damaged after shelling at the Talbisah area in Homs city Syria Monday June 11, 2012. (AP Photo/David Manyua/United Nations) Close According to the SITE monitoring group, al-Libi called on Syrians to abandon any "illusions of peacefulness" and fight Assad and what he called U.S. conspiracies against the revolution. Al-Qaida has tried to capitalize on the Arab Spring uprisings that swept the region. The Syrian revolt, which activists say has claimed more than 13,000 lives, is a popular topic on jihadist online forums.