Africa Center Nonresident Senior Fellow Rudolph Atallah is quoted by ABC News on the new video made by Somalia’s al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabab which urges Americans to join the terrorist organization:
Al-Shabab leader Mukhtar Ali Zubeyr, known as “Godane,” has eliminated rivals within the group and, after finally being designated as an official franchise of al Qaeda in 2012 by al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, wants his foreign fighters “to stay relevant,” said one Africa expert.
“All of his threats are out of the way. His foreign fighters are trying to stay afloat now that they’re part of al Qaeda,” Rudy Atallah, an Atlantic Council expert retired from U.S. special operations, told ABC News today.