ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

A shocking video released by Islamic State shows two French boys brutally murdering two pro-government Syrians in Aleppo. The footage, partially in French and titled ‘Sur les traces de mon pere’ (‘In the footsteps of my father’), features two French teenagers named ‘Abu Musa’ab’ and ‘Abu Qaqa’a’. The boys are allegedly brothers, brought to Syria with their father, who was later killed in fighting. The two men murdered in the video were supposedly found guilty of espionage, Islamic State's (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) Telegram account stated. In the video, two French teenagers are shown living the IS ‘life’, and being raised as jihadists. They fire at posters of world leaders, including French President Francois Hollande. Afterwards, they are shown executing two unarmed Syrian men, claiming that one of them is a spy for the Nusayri Army (Alawites, the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad), and the other a soldier of the Nusayri Army. Children have often become a frightening tool of...

BEIRUT: Fighting raging between rival Islamist rebel factions to control a key opposition stronghold near Damascus since late last month has killed more than 300 fighters, activists said Sunday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the clashes in Eastern Ghouta pitted the Saudi-backed Jaish al-Islam faction, which has been taking part in peace talks in Geneva, against the Faylaq al-Rahman and Jaish al-Fustat groups, both led by Nusra Front, Syria's Al-Qaeda affiliate. "More than 300 fighters have been killed as Islamist rebel factions battle for influence in the Eastern Ghouta," since April 28, Observatory head Rami Abdel-Rahman said. He said most of the rebels killed belonged to Jaish al-Islam or Nusra. Abdel-Rahman said the clashes broke out after several attacks launched by Faylaq al-Rahman on positions held by Jaish al-Islam in Eastern Ghouta, a belt of countryside and small towns east of the capital that seen heavy fighting throughout Syria's 5-year-old ...

The Obama administration poked Russia in the eye again by activating a missile defense site in Romania while building up NATO forces on Russia’s borders, acts that could escalate toward nuclear war, notes Jonathan Marshall. By Jonathan Marshall If the United States ever ends up stumbling into a major conventional or nuclear war with Russia, the culprit will likely be two military boondoggles that refused to die when their primary mission ended with the demise of the Soviet Union: NATO and the U.S. anti-ballistic missile (ABM) program. The “military-industrial complex” that reaps hundreds of billions of dollars annually from support of those programs got a major boost this week when NATO established its first major missile defense site at an air base in Romania, with plans to build a second installation in Poland by 2018. President Barack Obama meets with President Vladimir Putin of Russia on the sidelines of the G20 Summit at Regnum Carya Resort in Antalya, Turkey, Sunday, Nov. 15, 20...