ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

For the first time Iran’s army has tested a suicide drone able to hit aerial and ground targets, as well as ships, said the army's chief commander of ground forces amid the third day of massive drills at the entrance to the Persian Gulf. The unmanned aircraft is "a mobile bomb" that can be used for “hitting aerial and ground targets and can carry out an attack when it identifies a suspicious target,” commander Gen. Ahmad Reza Pourdastan told journalists on Saturday. Local media reports indicated that the drone is called Yasir. It’s a domestically produced combat drone that was unveiled in September. Yasir is equipped with state-of-art, light cameras for reconnaissance. It can fly for eight hours with a range of 200 kilometers and reach an altitude of 4,500 meters. The drone was tested as part of a six-day exercise code-named Mohammad Rasoulallah (Mohammad, the Messenger of God) that started on Thursday, involving all branches of Iran’s military. The second stage of the ma...

A country’s armed forces are centered on its government-sponsored defense, fight and military organizations. Their purpose is to protect the nation from internal and external aggressors, and always be prepared to battle against unexpected attacks. A country’s army services have immeasurable benefits, one of the most obvious being to keep the people safe from internal conflicts and foreign threats. Over the past couple of years, the armed forces have served an emergency civil support role in all sorts of circumstances, mainly post-disaster. One of the world’s most complex continents, Europe, has managed to survive numerous political conflicts between countries over the centuries. It survived many international revolutions, independence wars, and even two world wars. It’s the 21st century and Europe’s most powerful countries reckon the importance of the armed forces for the well-being and political safety of their people. That being said, here are 7 of Europe strongest armies. THE RUSSIA...

Basic services such as water and rubbish collection are failing and residents are struggling to find food Isis’s vaunted exercise in state-building appears to be crumbling, as living conditions deteriorate across the territories under its control, exposing the shortcomings of a group that devotes most of its energies to fighting battles and enforcing strict rules. Residents say services are collapsing, prices are soaring and medicines are scarce in towns and cities across the “caliphate” that Isis proclaimed in Iraq and Syria, belying the group’s boasts that it is delivering a model form of governance for Muslims. Slick videos depicting functioning governing offices and the distribution of aid fail to match the reality of growing deprivation and disorganised, erratic leadership, the residents say. A trumpeted Isis currency has not materialised, nor have the passports the group promised. Schools barely function, doctors are few and disease is on the rise. In the Iraqi city of Mosul, the...

Their town may be destroyed but the residents' spirit is strong Keeping the night watch at a border outpost at the edge of Kobani, one member of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic People's Units (YPG) stands surveying the surrounding area, despite the near total darkness of the city's wartime blackout. The triangular yellow flag of the YPG flutters on a small pole above him, a red star at its centre. "Islamic State [also known as Isis] are over there," he says, pointing south-east, "less than a kilometre away." He adds that the first coalition air strikes came at a crucial moment. "We only had one or two days left when they started bombing," he explains. "We were out of ammunition, everything." Now, whenever an air strike lands, people happily shout "Obama!" and several newborn babies in Kobani have been named in honour of the American President. Mortar strikes and gunfire can be heard throughout the day but, compared to the earl...