Jeff Seldin Profile picture
Jul 28 18 tweets 16 min read
NEW: #China "proceeding to increase their access & influence on the continent" & seeks to establish more military bases in #Africa, outgoing @USAfricaCommand Commander Gen Stephen Townsend tells @GWUPMNS
"Some of the most lethal terrorists on the planet are now in Africa...#alQaida & #ISIS " per @USAfricaCommand's Gen Townsend
"We've prevented strategic distraction" per Gen Townsend on his time at @USAfricaCommand - says US has been able to address threats in #Africa without taking focus on primary challenges, pacing threat from #China and also #Russia
Expect potential increase of US engagement in West Africa "even as all our partners are recalibrating there," & recent coups, per @USAfricaCommand's Gen Townsend

Says effort will NOT likely involve more troops
Looking back, the #Syria|n Democratic Forces (#SDF) are "the best partner forces I have worked w/in 40 years...They took the training we gave them, they took the equipment we gave them & provided immediate returns" per @USAfricaCommand's Gen Townsend
Best partner forces in #Africa, #Niger's forces capable & willing, and also #Somalia's #Danab forces, per @USAfricaCommand's Gen Townsend

Townsend said when asked by Somalia's new president how to get more US support, he advised, "Be more like #Ukraine & less like #Afghanistan"
#Somalia -"We're already seeing the benefits" of being back in - w/"bolder" operations & better tempo from Somali forces, per @USAfricaCommand's Gen Townsend
"We see #China competing mostly through economic means...mostly keeps them off the radar in the sphere of military competition" per @USAfricaCommand's Gen Townsend
"We see the Chinese making military efforts across the continent" inlcu #Tanzania & some tractional in #EquitorialGuinea, per @USAfricaCommand's Gen Townsend

"We know they [#China] would like to have a base on the Atlantic Coast"
#Somalia's military - "They seem to be back on task. Their president seems to be focused on all the right things" per @USAfricaCommand's Gen Townsend

"I have optimism for what lies ahead"
#alShabaab in the 18 months US forces were 'commuting to work' in #Somalia "got bigger, bolder, stronger...so now we've got to blunt their initiative"
per @USAfricaCommand's Gen Townsend

Points to recent incursion into #Ethiopia & new attacks in #Mogadishu
NEW: #Russia has abt 1,000 #Wagner troops in #Mali & has also brought in sophisticated air defense systems/radars, warns @USAfricaCommand's Gen Townsend

"There are ppl there [in Mali] who has a soft spot in their heart for #Russia"
#Russia involvement in #Mali already paving the way fro increased activity from #alQaida's #JNIM, per @USAfricaCommand's Gen Townsend
#Drones in #Africa - Terrorist groups in Africa making use of drones - for reconnaissance, fire direction, & used by groups before launching attacks, per @USAfricaCommand's Gen Townsend
NEW: #alShabaab incursion in #Ethiopia "largely contained" by Ethiopian forces, per @USAfricaCommand's Townsend

BUT #alShabaab fighters got up to 150 km deep into Ethiopia - "I don't believe this is a one-off" he says, calling it part of increased emphasis on external attacks
Watch out for "growing influence" by #alQaida #ISIS affiliates on the core movements

Affiliates like #alShabaab not directing core leadership "yet" but "they have, let's say, corporate board positions now" per @USAfricaCommand's Townsend
#Russia using war in #Ukraine as cover for more activity in #Africa? "I'm not loosing a lot of sleep over it" per @USAfricaCommand's Townsend

"Russia is very stretched...We've seen Wagner draw down" in #Libya to support efforts in #Ukraine, he says
#Russia not pulling forces from #Mali to support war efforts in #Ukraine but #Wagner Group presence, which was expected to grow there has not as Ukraine war has dragged on, per @USAfricaCommand's Townsend

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More from @jseldin

Jul 29
NEW: #Saudi-born, #Canada citizen gets life in prison for performing executions for #ISIS

39yo Mohammed Khalifa surrendered to the #SDF in January 2019, was transferred to the US & pled guilty to conspiring to support ISIS in December 2021 ImageImage
Khalifa, aka Abu Ridwan Al-Kanadi & Abu Muthanna Al-Muhajir, joined #ISIS in 2013 & became the lead translator for the terror group's propaganda & the English-speaking narrator on multiple violent videos, per @TheJusticeDept
Per @TheJusticeDept, Khalifa narrated 2 of the most influential & most violent #ISIS videos - Flames of War I & II

The videos also show Khalifa executing kneeling #Syria|n soldiers
Read 4 tweets
Jul 29
"...at least 18 so-called filtration camps where #Ukrainians are subject to inhumane conditions, including abuse & in some cases executions" per the senior US defense official
"We do not have details on the current numbers of #Ukrainians that have been deported" per the sr US defense official, citing #Ukraine claims #Russia was holding 1,700 soldiers & civilians as of mid-April

"I would imagine that that number is significantly higher now"
"We have seen reports of the the individuals who are being detained & put into this detention process via the filtration centers facing torture, threats of gender based violence, harassment & even execution" per senior US defense official
Read 5 tweets
Jul 29
NEW: Day 156 of #Russian invasion of #Ukraine - "We continue to see #Russia failing...paying a high price for ver little gain" per senior US defense official

But "Russian rhetoric trying to mask these losses" per official, citing comments by Lavrov, others
US has intelligence Russia running at least 18 so-called filtration camps in occupied parts of #Ukraine, with some #Ukrainians being executed, per senior US defense official
"The #Ukrainians are giving it to them pretty good" per senior US military official on #Ukraine progress vs #Russia, per senior US defense official
Read 16 tweets
Jul 29
NEW: @USTreasury sanctions 2 individuals, 4 entities - part of #Russia's malign influence operations & election interference activities ImageImageImage
One of the sanctioned #Russia|ns - Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov - is described by @USTreasury as a "FSB co-optee who uses his positions & various companies to promulgate the #Kremlin’s disinformation"

Ionov has also been charged by @TheJusticeDept
"In the summer of 2021, Ionov informed the FSB about a known US person’s political ambitions; the FSB subsequently expressed an interest in this person" per @USTreasury
Read 7 tweets
Jul 29
NEW: #Russia|n national charged w/years-long foreign malign influence campaign

Per @TheJusticeDept's Asst Ag Matthew Olsen, Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov "orchestrated a brazen influence campaign, turning US political groups & US citizens into instruments of the Russian gvt" ImageImageImage
Ionov, the founder/president of the #Moscow-based Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia (AGMR), worked w/#Russia's FSB, to recruit US political groups in #Florida, Georgia & #California "& exercised direction or control over them on behalf of the FSB" per @TheJusticeDept
"Ionov provided financial support to these groups, directed them to publish pro-#Russia|n propaganda, coordinated & funded direct action by these groups within the United States intended to further Russian interests" per @TheJusticeDept
Read 10 tweets
Jul 22
NEW: #Ukraine unleashing "very precise, very accurate" targeting of #Russia , per senior defense official

"They're paying a high price" official says of #Russia, saying its forces suffering "low morale"
On the new $170 million drawdown/aid package -"The capabilities in this package are going to be useful on the battlefield immediately" per senior US defense official

That include the #Himars, more artillery ammo
580 #PhoenixGhost drones that will be procured - "steady deliveries" will begin in August, per senior US defense official
Read 23 tweets

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