Analysts say his videotape which came out on Friday - just a few days before the sixth anniversary of the Sept 11 attacks - is more about timing than substance, an attempt by history's most-wanted fugitive to thumb his nose at the forces arrayed against him, and remind the world that he has not been caught.

Ms Anne Giudicelli, a former French diplomat specialising in the Middle East who now runs the Paris-based consultancy Terrorisc, said

Osama is well aware that his reappearance on the world stage - looking fit and calm despite his years on the run - was itself a victory that went way beyond anything he actually said.

'The objective is obviously to show that despite everything in place against him, he has survived. That's the No. 1 message,' she said. 'The mere fact of appearing in a video is already a message.'

Mr Louis Caprioli, former head of the French intelligence agency DST's anti-terrorism operations, said: 'What's important is that he made an appearance...Now we have proof that he's alive, surprising a lot of experts who thought he was dead.'

While this was Osama's first message in a year, and the first time he appeared in a new video since 2004, other Al-Qaeda leaders have been using the airwaves more and more in recent months.

They have also been reducing the time it takes to get tapes out, a troubling sign that analysts and intelligence experts say could mean that the terror leaders are in greater command than previously feared, and perhaps better able to launch attacks.

While some analysts believe Osama made no overt threats of new attacks in the video, other intelligence experts scouring the tape for clues warned on Saturday that the message offered hints that Al-Qaeda was planning another attack on US interests.

In the video, the elusive Al-Qaeda chief uses language similar to the kind used ahead of other past attacks, said Mr Ben Venzke of the IntelCenter, a US-based intelligence group that monitors terrorism messages.

At times, Osama speaks directly to Americans, using plain language that 'appears to be crafted in a way as to be understood by the average person on the street in Europe or in the US', he said.

Though the message gives no clues 'to indicate when an attack would be attempted', said Mr Venzke, the language, saying peace will befall 'he who follows the guidance', mirrors that used in Osama's 'European truce offer' of April 2004 in which he said: 'Peace upon those who followed the right path.'

The similarity in terms is important because the 2004 message appealing to Europeans to change their ways was the final message aimed specifically at the Europeans before the July 2005 bombings in London which killed 52 people, said Mr Venzke.

The new video was released on the heels of two thwarted terror plots - one in Germany and the other in Denmark - in the past week. Both are believed to be linked to Al-Qaeda.

Whether the video will resonate on the Arab or Muslim street is not at all clear. In Iraq, where disillusionment with the US runs high, most people voiced disgust with the latest message.

'This man (Osama) has nothing to do with religion,' said Mr Saad Ubo Mustafa, a resident in Baghdad.

'He is killing Sunnis, Shi'ites, Kurds, Christians, Jews and foreign people. Islam has got nothing to do with such kinds of people.'

ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE