In an audio message marking the 12th anniversary of the group’s attack on the United States, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri says the U.S. has “fled” Iraq and Afghanistan “in defeat.”

Al-Zawahiri also called for small-scale, “lone wolf” style attacks to damage the U.S. economy.

“We must bleed America economically by provoking it, so that it continues its massive expenditures on security. America’s weak spot is its economy, which began to totter from the drain of its military and security expenditure,” he said in his recording.

“Keeping America in a state of tension and anticipation does not cost us anything but dispersed strikes here and there. In other words, just as we defeated it in a war of nerves in Somalia, Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan, we must afflict it with a similar war in its own home. These dispersed strikes can be carried out by one brother, or a small number of brothers.”

His call for economic boycotts was a new tactic in rhetoric and may indicate the leadership of al-Qaeda knows they can no longer carry out large scale attacks.

Al-Zawahiri also blames the U.S. for the removal of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. He also told the rebels in Syria not to join with non-Muslims in the rebellion against the government.