ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Iraqi Army aircraft. Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi Ministry of Defense’s War Media Cell announced on Monday, that the Army Aviation warplanes carried out air strikes, based on intelligence information, on the Islamic State’s headquarters in areas west of the city of Mosul. The cell said that the Army Aviation bombarded a gathering of the Islamic State members, who were coming from Syria and Husaiba, in Balij area, south of Tal Afar, killing nearly 50 terrorists and destroying 10 vehicles. The air strikes also destroyed a cache of rockets and explosive, as well as killing 8 IS terrorists in al-Qayrawan area, south of Tal Afar, the statement added. Furthermore, the Army Aviation warplanes destructed a hideout belonging to the IS in Balij area, killing 12 militants inside it, the statement further explained. The statement also revealed that a hideout of the Islamic State was destroyed and a number of militants were killed in al-Mahlabiya area in Mosul.

A female supporter of Iranian presidential candidate Hasan Rowhani flashes a victory sign as she holds his poster during a celebration gathering in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 15, 2013 (photo credit: AP/Vahid Salemi) Written by Evgeny Satanovsky; Originally appeared at VPK, translated by AlexD exclusively for SouthFront The main problem in Middle Eastern politics is the opposition between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) is the centre of the Shi’ite world. The neo-imperial expansion as a basis for Iranian foreign policy, changing the export of the Islamic revolution, is the main threat to Riyadh’s plans and its competitors to dominate the Sunni world. Thus each country has its own project in which it takes on the leadership position, using war, economic or financial power. Support of the army, for those that have it (Egypt or Turkey), or Islamist formations, for those that do not have powerful enough army (such as Qatar or even Saudi Arabia), either hired priv...

FILE IMAGE: Sputnik/ Iliya Pitalev The Syrian Arab Army’s artillery and the Russian Air Force increased military strikes on ISIS militants in the mountains surrounding the ancient city of Palmyra in the province of Homs, especially at the grain silos, Jabal Antar, Arak, Al-Talilah Reserve and the armament depot. This move was a respond to continued ISIS attacks on Syrian Arab Army (SAA) positions near at the areas of Jazal and Silos. Pro-ISIS media outlets claimed that ISIS terrorists had destroyed a tank and two BMP vehicles belonging to the SAA. Three Syrian soldiers were reportedly killed as a result of ISIS mortar shelling in the Jazal Oil Fields area. ISIS remains in control of some of the most important oil and gas fields in the area, like Sha’er fields, Jihar fields, al-Mahr fields, the strategic towns of Sakhna and Khafsa and the nearby oil fields. Opposition sources suggest ISIS withdrew the bulk of its forces from that region onto Raqqa and Tabqa to hamper the progress o...

According to the Die Zeit newspaper, Germany currently has the smallest army in its history. Photo: Getty Images / C. Koall Germany has the smallest army in its history and seems not to be ready to carry out tasks to protect its borders, as well as NATO’s borders, the Die Zeit newspaper reported. According to the article’s author, US President Donald Trump actively calls on Germany to discuss the issue of increasing the defense budget and allows himself to voice “false” allegations, according which Berlin owes NATO. “This is obvious stupidity, but there is a grain of truth in these discussions: during the past 25 years, since the end of the Cold War, the Bundeswehr has been implementing a large-scale disarmament program. And it seems that now it is hardly able to fulfill the main task – to protect the country and, as a consequence, the military alliance in case of an emergency,” the newspaper states. During the Cold War, the Bundeswehr consisted of 500,000 soldiers. Now, its strength ...

The US Embassy to Ankara confirmed that the US Consulate in Istanbul called one of the alleged organizers of the coup attempt in Turkey a few days after the riots. People demonstrate in front of the Republic Monument at the Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey, July 16, 2016 (Photo: Reuters / Murad Sezer) The Turkish security forces found that one of the alleged organizers of the coup attempt in Turkey, Adil Oksuz, received a phone call from the US Consulate in Istanbul a few days after the riots, the Anadolu news agency reported, citing a source in the Ankara prosecutor’s office. According to the news agency’s source, the call from a phone number, registered on the US diplomatic mission, was received by Oksuz on July 21. This fact is reflected in the indictment prepared by the prosecutor’s office, which will be submitted to the court in the near future. The US Embassy to Ankara confirmed that such a phone call to one of the alleged organizers of the coup attempt, Adil Oksuz, really too...