ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Militants from Daesh (also known as ISIL/ISIS) are currently undergoing civil aviation training in the Libyan city of Sirte, the group’s apparent stronghold in North Africa, according to the Saudi-run, London-based newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat. The outlet says that the terrorists “practice take-off and landing, [using] a radar screen, and a communications device to contact the control tower.” The “prevailing belief amongst investigators” is that the flight simulator was seized from the training departments of Gaddafi’s looted airports. © AFP 2015/ MAHMUD TURKIA Members of forces loyal to Libya's Islamist-backed parliament General National Congress (GNC) secure the Al-Ghardabiya airbase as they fight Islamic State (IS) group jihadists on the outskirts of Libya's western city of Sirte on March 16, 2015 However other sources note that it is a brand new device and “may have arrived from abroad”. A group of Daesh leaders, including retired officers from Libya and a number of neighb...

A massive manhunt for the people who opened fire on a holiday party outside of Los Angeles ended Wednesday afternoon with a man and a woman, both suspected shooters, dead and a third person detained, police said. Fourteen people were killed and 17 wounded at a social services facility east of Los Angeles, according to the San Bernardino Police Department. Police initially sought up to three gunmen, but now believe the two people killed in a gun battle later on Wednesday were the only shooters involved in the deadly shooting – the worst in the U.S. since 2012. Gunmen in San Bernardino Mass Shooting 'Came Prepared' Police identified the suspected attackers as American Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Malik, 27, whose nationality was unknown. It is not clear how they were related. "I am in shock that something like this can happen," Farhan Khan, Farook's brother-in-law, said at a press conference Wednesday evening. "I hope everyone can understand and (that) ...

The Russian Defense Ministry has released evidence which it says unmasks vast illegal oil trade by Islamic State and points to Turkey as the main destination for the smuggled petrol, implicating its leadership in aiding the terrorists. The Russian Defense Ministry held a major briefing on new findings concerning IS funding in Moscow on Wednesday. According to Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov, Russia is aware of three main oil smuggling routes to Turkey. “Today, we are presenting only some of the facts that confirm that a whole team of bandits and Turkish elites stealing oil from their neighbors is operating in the region,” Antonov said, adding that this oil “in large quantities” enters the territory of Turkey via “live oil pipelines,” consisting of thousands of oil trucks. The routes of alleged oil smuggling from Syria and Iraq to Turkey © syria.mil.ru Antonov added that Turkey is the main buyer of smuggled oil coming from Iraq and Syria. “According to our data, the top polit...