ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

The ISIS launched one of its fiercest assaults yet on the besieged Syrian city. BEIRUT: The ISIS on Saturday launched one of its fiercest assaults yet on the besieged Syrian city of Deir Ezzor, leaving more than 30 regime fighters and jihadists dead. The brutal attack -- on a day that saw many outbreaks of violence across Syria -- came as the political opposition said it "supported" upcoming peace talks in the Kazakh capital Astana. The negotiations will attempt to bring an end to the nearly six-year war by building on a fragile truce agreement. But ISIS is excluded from the deal, brokered by rebel backer Turkey and regime ally Russia. Unleashing a wave of suicide attacks, rockets, and tunnel bombs, ISIS killed at least 12 government forces and two civilians in Deir Ezzor, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The British-based monitoring group said 20 jihadists were killed in fierce air raids by Syrian and allied warplanes on the city, where around 200,000...

By Patrick Cockburn I read the text of the dossier on Donald Trump’s alleged dirty dealings with a scepticism that soon turned into complete disbelief. The memo has all the hallmarks of such fabrications, which is too much detail – and that detail largely uncheckable – and too many names of important people placed there to impress the reader with the sheer quantity and quality of information. I was correspondent in Moscow in the 1980s and again during the first years in power of Vladimir Putin . Every so often, people would tell me intriguing facts about the dark doings of the Kremlin and its complicity in various crimes, such as the infamous apartment block bombings in 1999. But my heart used to sink when the informant claimed to know too much and did not see that what they were saying contained a fatal contradiction: Putin and his people were pictured as unscrupulous and violent people, but at the same time they were childishly incapable of keeping a secret damaging to themselves. T...

By Doina Chiacu CIA Director John Brennan on Sunday had a stern parting message for Republican Donald Trump days before he assumes the U.S. presidency, cautioning him against loosening sanctions on Russia and warning him to watch what he says. Brennan rebuked the president-elect for comparing U.S. intelligence practices to Nazi Germany in comments that laid bare the friction between Trump and the intelligence community he has criticized and is on the verge of commanding. In an interview with "Fox News Sunday," Brennan questioned the message sent to the world if the president-elect broadcasts that he does not have confidence in the United States' own intelligence agencies. "What I do find outrageous is equating intelligence community with Nazi Germany," Brennan said. "I do take great umbrage at that." His comments followed a tumultuous week of finger-pointing between Trump and intelligence agency leaders over an unsubstantiated r...

The Syrian Air Force and the Russian Aerospace Forces have launched coordinated attacks on positions of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in the area of al-Bab city, making the Turkish Air Force to decrease and even completely stop its combat sorties. Photo: Sputnik / Maksim Blinov The Syrian Air Force and the Russian Aerospace Forces have started to carry out airstrikes on positions of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in the area of al-Bab city, located in northern Aleppo, making the Turkish Air Force to stop its operation in the region, the Alquds Alarabi newspaper reported, citing an unnamed Syrian military source. According to the newspaper’s source, Syrian and Russian fighter jets have launched coordinated attacks on IS positions in the terrorist-held town of al-Bab. The joint operations made the Turkish Air Force to decrease and even completely stop its combat sorties in some areas of northern Syria. The newspaper specified that helicopters of the Syrian Air Force , ...

According to the Spanish authorities, among the 10,000-12,000 pieces of weapons, seized earlier this week, there are some, capable to shoot down aircraft. Spanish police seized 10,000-12,000 pieces of weapons, intended for sale to terrorists and organized crime groups (Photo: RIA Novosti / Spanish Ministry of the Interior) The weapon, seized by Spanish police earlier this week, is estimated at 10 million euro on the black market, the RIA Novosti news agency reported on Sunday, citing the Spanish National Police Corps. Reportedly, the police seized 10,000-12,000 pieces of weapons, including anti-aircraft guns, which can be used to shoot down aircraft. The weapons were destined for sale to terrorists and organized crime groups. View image on Twitter  Follow Ministerio Interior   ✔ @interiorgob Las armas que encontró la  @ policia , entre 10.000 y 12.000, el pasado jueves, estarían valoradas en 10 millones de euros en el mercado negro 1:55 PM - 15...