ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Pegasus software, sold to governments for use against terrorists and criminals, found to be used against people across ‘the political and civil society spectrum’   Stickers with the image of the Mexican president, Enrique Peña Nieto, are stuck on columns outside the building of the attorney general’s office during a protest against alleged government spying. Photograph: Alfredo Estrella/AFP/Getty Images The text messages seemed innocuous enough when they buzzed on to the smartphone of Roberto Gil, a senior member of Mexico ’s opposition National Action Party. “I wanted to share this report from [the Mexican newsweekly] Proceso where your name is mentioned,” said one. “My husband just died. I’m sending you information about the wake,” read another. “Do you see what the PRD [another opposition party] is saying about us? Take a look,” said the third message. Each message carried a link, however, and, once clicked, they would have immediately allowed sophisticated spy software to in...

The prototype features a helmet covering the soldier’s face and cutting-edge body armor. The next-generation combat gear also includes a powered exoskeleton to help increase performance and stamina while fighting. The prototype was unveiled on Thursday at the opening of Russia’s largest high-tech prototyping center at the National University of Science and Technology (MISIS) in Moscow. It was developed at the Central Research Institute for Precision Machine Building, a major Russian weapons designer and primary military supplier. “We’re working on a concept for the combat suit of the future. On display is our vision of the suit we would like to develop within the next couple of years,” said Oleg Chikarev, deputy chief of weapons systems at the institute. “We're also working with [Russian] companies specializing in various elements of combat equipment and we’re creating the features which, in our opinion, will help our soldiers carry out their missions on the battl...

US-backed militants, operating under the brand of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), have made another attempt to justify their operations against the Syrian army and its allies in southeastern Syria, along the border with Iraq. The FSA media wing released an “official” map of the military situation in southeastern Syria claiming that the US-backed force have some “frontlines” with ISIS in the area. The map argues that the FSA cotnrols wide areas north and northwest of the US-led coalition garrison in the border town of At Tanf. Click to see the full-size map The real map of the military situation in Syria: Click to see the full-size map Earlier this year, the US-led coalition and its proxies made an attempt to build a buffer zone between the Syrian army and its allies from the Iraqi army and the Popular Mobilization Units in Iraq. However, the attempt failed when Syrian government forces reached the border area northeast of At Tanf. Since then, the Syrian army has widely ex...

Alleged photo confirming the death of the ISIS leader An alleged photo of the dead ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is circulating online. The photo has been released by the Iranian media outlet “IRIB” ( source ) and was widely spread by various media outlets. However, it seems the same photo was already circulating online in 2014 when the reports about the death of al-Baghdadi appeared to be untrue. The video was uploaded on Youtube on November 12, 2014: On Thursday, Representative of Iran’s Leader in IRGC Quds Force, Ali Shirazi, said tht “the death of this terrorist [al-Baghdadi] is certain,” according to  the IFP . However, no details confirming the alleged death of the  terrorist organization has been provided yet.

Written by  Scott Ritter ; Originally appeared at  TheAmericanConservative.com On the night of June 26, the White House Press Secretary released a statement, via Twitter, that, “the United States has identified potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime that would likely result in the mass murder of civilians, including innocent children.”  The tweet went on to declare that, “the activities are similar to preparations the regime made before its April 4 chemical weapons attack,” before warning that if “Mr. Assad conducts another mass murder attack using chemical weapons, he and his military will pay a heavy price.” A Pentagon spokesman backed up the White House tweet, stating that U.S. intelligence had observed “activity” at a Syrian air base that indicated “active preparation for chemical weapons use” was underway.  The air base in question, Shayrat, had been implicated by the United States as the origin of aircraft and...

A bomb attack hit the Donetsk National Univercity of Economy and Commerce in the capital of the Donetsk People’s Republc in eastern Ukraine on June 29. According to media reports  an explosion of the improvised explosive device resulted in destruction  of a part of the univercity building. The DPR authorities said that no people were injured or killed as a result of the incident. In turn, media reports suggested that at least 1 person was injured. The bomb attack in Donetsk  followed a series of bombings in the Kiev-controlled part of Ukraine .