ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Repeating what Russian diplomats said  informally at the start of the week , the Russian foreign ministry said on Friday that “ too many American spies operated in Moscow ” under diplomatic cover and warned it might  expel some of them  to retaliate against Washington’s December 2016 expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats. The warning, delivered by Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova,  reflects the growing frustration in Moscow  over the Trump administration’s refusal to hand back two Russian diplomatic compounds which were seized at the same time as the Russian diplomats were sent home. “The seized objects have not been returned. Washington has not only failed to cancel the decision to expel our employees, but also refuses to issue visas to those who are to replace them,” Zakharova said and  added that at least Washington could have given access to Russian diplomats to the compounds while the issue is stalled. As a reminder, then-president Barack Obama ...

Russia had asked the Kurds in Afrin to allow the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) to deploy in Afrin and Tal Rifat to stop the Turkish attack, Bahjat Abdo, Head of Defense Authority in Afrin and a commander of the Kurdish YPG militia said in an interview to the Kurdistan24 TV channel. “Russians say if we allow the Syrian regime forces enter Afrin, they will stop the Turkish attacks,” Abdo said. “We drove the Syrian regime out of Afrin five years ago, and it is impossible to allow them back.” Abdo also criticized Russia’s policy toward Afrin. “Russians say they are supporting us when their forces enter Afrin, but unfortunately when the Russians entered Afrin, the Turkish attacks increased,” he said adding “Russians and Turks want to create more chaos and disturb people’s lives and forcibly displace them.” Kurdish sources claimed that a new meeting between Russian representatives and Kurdish forces was held in Afrin to discuss the issue of the next Turkish Operation in the north...

Written and produced by  SF Team : J.Hawk, Daniel Deiss, Edwin Watson; Voiceover by Oleg Maslov Early July 2017 saw the release of photos showing a single BMPT-72 “Terminator” tank support combat vehicle in service with the Liva al-Quds Palestinian brigade serving with Syrian government forces. So far there have been no indications the vehicle has seen combat use, and it also appears that the vehicle was sent to Syria mainly for combat evaluation rather than in response to any urgent tactical requirement. The BMPT concept represents an answer to the need to provide a high volume of suppressive fire against enemy anti-tank guided weapons and static weapon emplacements such as machine-gun nests. While modern infantry fighting vehicles are usually armed with automatic cannon which can fill that function, their inferior level of protection means they are hard-pressed to truly accompany tanks and are instead forced to provide overwatch fire with anti-tank guided missiles which ...