The Long War Journal (Site-Wide)

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• Qassem Soleimani boasts of Tehran’s expanded footprint throughout Middle East
• US citizen pleaded guilty to training with al Qaeda in Syria, plotting attack
• US targets Shabaab troops in ‘self defense strike’

Qassem Soleimani boasts of Tehran’s expanded footprint throughout Middle East Posted: 06 Jul 2017 04:32 AM PDT Earlier this week, Major General Qassem Soleimani, the chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Qods Force, spoke at an Iran-Iraq war veterans gathering in his home province of Kerman. Soleimani boasted that Iran has expanded its presence throughout the region, but also warned of decreasing religiosity back home. He excoriated Saudi Arabia, as well as domestic, Iranian critics of the Guard Corps. The general lamented drop in religious observance in Iran.

US citizen pleaded guilty to training with al Qaeda in Syria, plotting attack Posted: 05 Jul 2017 01:58 PM PDT The Department of Justice announced on June 29 that Abdirahman Sheik Mohamud pleaded guilty nearly two years ago to training with and fighting for Al Nusrah Front in Syria. Al Nusrah "instructed" Mohamud "to return to the US and commit an act of terrorism." He admittedly planned to kill American "military officers or other government employees or people in uniform."

US targets Shabaab troops in ‘self defense strike’ Posted: 05 Jul 2017 09:36 AM PDT AFRICOM continues to describe offensive operations against al Qaeda's branch in Somalia as "self defense strikes." The July 4 strike in southern Somalia targeted a Shabaab "troop concentration."