From the AP:

BEIRUT, Lebanon – Prominent Saudi religious scholars urged Iraqis to support militants waging holy war against the U.S.-led coalition forces as American troops prepared Saturday for a major assault on the insurgent hotbed of Fallujah.

Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch has more.

Donald Sensing adds:

The timing of the fatwa is interesting. One, it comes just as the US and Iraqi national forces are preparing to clean out Fallujah. It’s no coincidence that the Saudis and the Baathist insurgents in Fallujah are Sunnis. This fatwa is underlaid by a revulsion at the idea of a free Iraqi government taking power next January with significant, perhaps majority, Shia representation.

Also, Osama bin Laden’s pre-election surprise videotape hardly mentioned Allah and never even hinted at renewal of jihad, which OBL had emphasized in past public proclamations. So these clerics might have thought they needed to pick up the slack…