ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

After the incident with allegedly downed Israeli aircraft over Syria , the Israeli Air Force continued to conduct air strikes on the Syrian army’s positions in the province of Quneitra. At least 1 Israeli air strike was reported at the Jandal Castle at the top of al-Shiekh mountain and another one targeted the Syrian army’s artillery base near the village of Ayn Burj.

Click to see the full-size map Today, the Syrain army has been forced to return to the Castello Highway (is set to be turned into a humanitarian corridor according to the US-Russian agreements) in northwestern Aleppo after militants of the US-backed Jaish al-Fatah operation room shelled Russian military servicemen and representatives of the Red Crescent Society in the area. There are also reports that militants have attempted to advance in the area. The Syrian army answered to this deploying forces along the Castello Highway and the Russian Aerospace Forces, according to AlMasdarNews , delivered an air strike on the militant-controlled 46th Regiment Base in northwestern Aleppo. This has been the first Russian air strike in Aleppo since the implementation of the ceasefire agreement . We recall on September 15, the Syrian army started to withdraw heavy and light military equipment from the strategic Castello Highway and hand over checkpoints along it to the Red Crescent Society and...

BAGHDAD, IRAQ (3:20 A.M.) - Minutes ago, the Iraqi Air Force reportedly carried out several powerful airstrikes in the Nineveh and Al-Anbar governorates, killing a large number of Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) terrorists along the Euphrates River. According to the Iraqi Army's official media wing, Iraqi F-16 jets conducted 7 airstrikes over the Nineveh and Al-Anbar governorates on Friday night, killing 30+ ISIS terrorists and destroying 14 of their vehicles. The airstrikes reportedly targeted the Islamic State's IED factories around the country. Among the 30+ ISIS militants killed on Friday night was the aforementioned terrorist group's regional leader "Abu Musad Al-Shishani (Chechen) and several members of his council.

A report by the Cost of War Projects has claimed that the US spent $4.79 trillion on wars in the Middle East and on the ‘War on Terror’ after the September 2001 terrorist attacks. The report which is run by Brown University’s Watson Institute, counted the total budgetary cost of the wars America waged in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Syria as well as on counter-terrorism and includes future obligations to spend budgetary money through 2053, estimated future spending on veterans, interest already paid for money borrowed for the war effort and other commitments. “Interest costs for overseas contingency operations spending alone are projected to add more than $1 trillion to the national debt by 2023. By 2053, interest costs will be at least $7.9 trillion unless the US changes the way it pays for the wars,” wrote report author Neta Crawford, professor of political science at Boston University and co-director of the Costs of War Project. “This paper’s estimate of current and future costs ...