Key Takeaways:

  1. An Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Intelligence Organization representative released details on the recent arrest of several media professionals in a probable effort to contain President Hassan Rouhani's domestic influence after the nuclear deal.
  2. An American contractor died in custody in Sana’a, Yemen. Details surrounding the circumstances of his death are still forthcoming. A second American contractor and an American teacher remain in al Houthi custody in Yemen’s capital.
  3. A second small group of al Shabaab militants pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and al Sham (ISIS). The first major defection from al Shabaab occurred at the end of October and prompted al Shabaab senior leadership to crack down on potential defectors.