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Dr. Djallil Lounnas is an Assistant Professor of International Studies at Al Akhawayn University in Morocco. Lounnas holds a PhD in Political Science from Université de Montreal in Canada. After teaching for two years in the School of Governance and Economics of Rabat, he joined Al Akhawayn University in January 2013. His research is focused on jihadist groups in North Africa and the Sahel.
Five months after the elimination of Abdel Malek Droukdel, aka Abu Musab Abdel Wadud, the leader of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), by the French army in the Malian city of Talhandak, AQIM appointed a new emir on Nov. 21. His name is Yazid Mebarek, aka Abu Ubayda Yusef al-Annabi, a 51-year-old Algerian and a jihad veteran.
