ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Winds of Change The famous “Assad curse” has a corollary that states whoever says “Poroshenko must stay” is likewise not long for this political world. After all, the forcible regime change in Ukraine was part and parcel of the same strategy that has driven the wars in Libya, Syria, and elsewhere. Therefore if Western leaders who are responsible for these conflicts are being ousted, not only is it not good news for the jihadis in Syria, it also means the Ukrainian neo-nazis’ days are likewise drawing to a close. Poroshenko’s recent trips to United States and France were likely calculated to gauge the level of support his administration can still count on in the changed political environment. While we, as members of the public, are not privy to what was said behind closed doors, the external indicators are that Poroshenko has not received what he came for. The meeting with Trump was extremely brief, took place during a break during Trump’s briefing with other senior administra...

Lebanese army soldiers. Al-Akhbar/Marwan Tahtah On Saturday, the Lebanese Military Intelligence arrested Ahmed Khaled Diab, known as “Ahmed Abu al-Seek” in the vicinity of Arsal town. Abu al-Seek is a member of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and was involved in the attack on the Lebanese Army forces in Mahaniat Arsal in 2014. Abu al-Seek confessed that he had participated in the killing of the colonel in the Lebanese Army, Noureddine al-Jamal. Moreover, Palestinian forces in Ein al-Hilweh camp handed over to the Lebanese Army the terrorist, Khaled Masaad, known as “Al-Sayyid”. Al-Sayyid is accused of plotting a series of terrorist attacks during the holy month of Ramadan in the cities of Beirut and Sidon. The wanted terrorist was handed over to the Lebanese Army at the checkpoint of Al-Hilweh camp south of Sidon City. Meanwhile, the Hezbollah media wing in Syria announced that a group of Israeli Army troops along Merkava tanks, 5 Humvees and a military jeep penetrated the withdr...

FILE IMAGE The Hezbollah media wing in Syria announced on Saturday that the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) managed to secure the entire Al-Baath city in the Quneitra countryside and restore all areas that it had lost to terrorists. The army restored the last two points in western Al-Baath that had been under the control of Haya’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) militants and its allies in the Free Syrian Army (FSA), after violent clashes with them. Meanwhile, The Israeli military announced that a shell fired from the Syrian side landed in the Israeli-controlled territory. In turn, Israel conducted military strikes on the SAA near Naba’a Al-Fuar in Qaunitra countryside. During the HTS-led attack in the province, Israel had repeatedly claimed that its territory were targeted from Syria and had carried out several airstrikes on SAA defenses in Al-Baath. Initially, HTS and its allies in FSA in the operation room “Jaysh Muhammad” managed – with the support from the Israeli Air Force – to cont...

Sputnik/ Mikhail Voskresenskiy The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) has captured Tal Hweimel, east of Tel Dakwa, in the desert of Damascus, after clashes with the US-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) groups. According to the Hezbollah media wing, clashes resulted in the killing and wounding of a large number of FSA fighters. From its side, the US-led coalition denied that it had transferred troops from Jaysh Maghawir al-Thawra from At Tanf to Al-Shadadi north of Deir Ezzor. The US-led coalition also announced that At Tanf is the basic base to defeat ISIS in the Syrian Desert and that it will be very important for the future of fighting terrorism in Syria. Click to see the full-size map It’s worth mentioning that the US-led coalition and the FSA have no front lines with ISIS in southeastern Syria because their forces are surround by the Syrian Army from all sides. It is believed that the US maintains its presence there only in order to threaten the capital Damascus as well as to kee...