Following quickly on the heels of the U.S. presidential election, al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri proclaimed that the terror attack against the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghaz indicates that American “awe is lost” in the region. In an audio message addressed to the Somali jihadist group, al-Shabaab, Zawahiri said American influence in the region is floundering due to weakness.
“They were defeated in Iraq and they are withdrawing from Afghanistan and their ambassador in Benghazi was killed and the flags of their embassies were lowered in Cairo and Sanaa (Yemen),” a translation the militant’s message reads in the Long War Journal.
