ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Dead bodies of Islamic State militants (representational photo) Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Thirty Islamic State militants were killed on Wednesday when Iraqi fighter jets pounded a location where they held a leadership meeting east of Anbar, a senior local militia commander said. Nazem al-Jugheifi, an intelligence official at Al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units), said the deaths included senior leaders of the extremist group who were leading a security meeting in central Rawa. He said the dead commanders belonged to the group’s branch in the Syrian Boukamal region. Jugheifi said the meeting tackled the group’s status in the province’s western regions. Iraqi forces launched last week operations to retake those areas, most notably tee towns of Annah and Rawa. Security sources in Anbar said earlier this week that the operations, backed by tribal militias, had halted until security troops consummate the liberation of Mosul, Islamic State’s largest stronghold in Iraq that has been wit...

By The Saker  In my recent article “ Risks and Opportunities for 2017 ” I made a statement which shocked many readers. I wrote: Russia is now the most powerful country on the planet. (…) the Russian armed forces are probably the most powerful and capable ones on earth (albeit not the largest ones) (…) Russia is the most powerful country on earth because of two things: Russia openly rejects and denounces the worldwide political, economic and ideological system the USA has imposed upon our planet since WWII and because Vladimir Putin enjoys the rock-solid support of about 80%+ of the Russian population. The biggest strength of Russia in 2017 is a moral and a political one, it is the strength of a civilization which refuses to play by the rules which the West has successfully imposed on the rest of mankind. And now that Russia has successfully “pushed back” others will inevitably follow (again, especially in Asia). While some dismissed this as rather ridiculous hyperbole, others have ...

The first six Anka-S systems will be delivered to the Turkish Armed Forces in 2017. Photo: Turkish Aerospace Industries The Turkish Armed Forces will receive the first batch of the Anka-S unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), developed in Turkey, until the end of 2017, the Defense News portal reported, citing the Turkish Defense Ministry. According to Tusas Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), which developed the Anka and Anka-S drones, this year, the Turkish military will get six Anka-S systems, while the remaining four systems will be delivered in 2018. A contract for the design, development and production of ten Anka-S systems was signed by TAI and the Turkey’s defense procurement agency, the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (SSM), in 2013. In the last quarter of 2016, the Anka-S started its test flights. The UAV is currently going through a qualification process. At the same time, flight simulators for the drone are being developed by TAI engineers. The Anka-S is capable to fly ...

Click to see the full-size map Eastern Mosul is almost liberated and only a few areas remain under the control of ISIS terrorists, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a statement on Wednesday. The statement says that “the basic military plan” for Mosul’s liberation had been completed “in most combat axes” and operations continue to liberate the Ghabat and Presidential Palaces area besides “a few other regions” in the north of Mosul. Meanwhile, representatives of the Iraqi army’s Counter-Terrorism Forces told journalists at a press conference that they had retaken all districts assigned to them in eastern Mosul. 3300 ISIS militants have been killed since operations there were launched in October 2016 Click to see the full-size map