ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Tensions have risen dramatically in the Korean Peninsula after  North Korea  tested an intercontinental ballistic missile last month. Since the 1960s, North Korea has been trying to develop nuclear capabilities, much to the dismay of  South Korea , a close ally of the  United States . North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Un has steadily increased the number of ballistic missile tests since he  came to power after his father Kim Jong-Il passed away in 2011 . The country's  nuclear programme was launched in the Soviet era with the construction of its first nuclear reactor in Yongbyon in 1965, but it  c arried out its first successful nuclear test in 2006 . After withdrawing from the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty in 2003, North Korea has gone on to  conduct  several nuclear tests, most recently in September 2016. Pyongyang has also  ground-tested  a new rocket engine   and  test-launched  ballist...

FILE IMAGE: Facebook, Special Air Service Regiment The UK has quietly halted its efforts to train the so-called Syrian moderate opposition within a network of camps established in Turkey, Jordan and Syria, the Telegraph reported. One of the camps where UK special forces were training the “opposition” was the at-Tanf garrison controlled by the US-led coalition in southeastern Syria. According to the Telegraph, the UK Defense Ministry has confirmed the last 20 UK soldiers involved in the program returned home. The UK troops were involved in the Pentagon’s $500m program aimed at training and equipping 5,000 “moderate opposition” fighters. However, the effort clearly failed.

Written by  Dennis M. Nilsen The Israeli State founded in 1948 has consistently maintained a firm foreign policy of active defense against its regional neighbors who, since independence, have engaged in at least four wars against it.  This state of perpetual insecurity has forced all political parties within Israel to pursue a regional foreign policy of divide and manage in order to prevent the emergence of a powerful, ideologically-united military bloc able to viably oppose its actions, despite the uncritical support of the United States.  In on-the-ground terms, all Muslims in the Middle East possess a cultural dislike of the Israelis because of gross displacement of the Palestinian people during the 1948 War of Independence and the 1967 occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights.  While Israel has withdrawn from Gaza, it still occupies Golan, internationally recognized as belonging to Syria, a majority of the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. Click...

Click to see the full-size map Pro-government forces, led by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) Tiger Forces, have repelled an ISIS counter-attack at the Sukhna-Deir Ezzor highway near the city of Deir Ezzor and established a full control over the Sohlah area following a day of intense fighting with terrorists. Government troops entered the Sholah and Kobajjep areas last weekend. However, the SAA gained a full control over these sites only on Monday after all ISIS counter-attacks had been repelled. At the same time, an intense fighting continued  between Kharratah fields and the 137 Brigade Base  where the Tiger Forces were seeking to establish a secured corridor to the besieged city. Click to see the full-size map