ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

FILE (AP Photos/Allauddin Khan, File) On Thursday,  the Taliban captured Qarai, Chakna, Balai Bam and Jawdana villages in Qaysar district of Faryab province  in northern Afghanistan, according to the Taliban news agency Voice of Jihad. Voice of Jihad also announced that an Afghan Army soldiers was killed and 3 others were injured in the attack on the villages. Moreover,  the Taliban attacked Borghan Bala and Borghan Payan areas and a strategic checkpoint in Faryab province.  Voice of Jihad said that clashes in the newly captured areas were ongoing. Two Afghan soldiers were injured in the clashes. Meanwhile,  Taliban fighters attacked two checkpoints of the Afghan Army and Police in Arghandab district of Kandahar Province  in southern Afghanistan. 3 Afghan soldiers were killed and 2 others were injured in the attack according to Voice of Jihad. In a related development, Afghan officials announced that  17 Taliban fighters were kill...

The ISIS-linked news agency Amaq has released a photo report showing an ambush of Egyptian military column by ISIS members in Northern Sinai.  ISIS members attacked the column on September 11.  18 Egyptian service members were killed and 5 others were wounded in the attack. 3 ISIS militants were also killed in the clashes.   

FILE IMAGE The US and Russia rejected an Israeli request to prevent the presence of any Iranian forces or Iranian-backed militias near the Israeli border as a part of the ceasefire agreement in south Syria,  the Israeli Haaretz newspaper reported  on Thursday. According to the report,  Israel demanded to create a 60-80km wide buffer zone inside Syria against Iranian-backed forces.  The supposed buffer zone would spread from the Golan Heights to the west of the Damascus-al-Suwayda highway in southwestern Syria. Israel proposed its idea to Russia and the US during the talks that preceded the cease-fire agreement in southern Syria. According to the report,  Russia refused the Israeli proposal, while the US didn’t back it for real mostly. However, Russia promised Israel that the Iranians and their allies will not move any closer to Israel than five kilometers in the areas held by the Syrian government. The report noted that no Iranian presence was n...

Late on Thursday, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) captured Al-Husseiniyeh town along the eastern bank of the Euphrates river north of Deir Ezzor city. With this advance ISIS was fully besieged in the  area along the Euphrates River between the southern Raqqa countryside and the northwestern Deir Ezzor countryside. Click to see the full-size map The SDF will likely continue its advance northwest and southeast of Deir Ezzor city along the eastern bank of the river. Pro-government sources believe that no less than 1000 will-armed ISIS fighters are now trapped in the created Euphrates Valley pocket. Meanwhile, the ISIS-linked news agency Amaq claimed that 120 civilians including 100 child were killed in an airstrike by the US-led collation on a refugee camp near the village of Jadid A’akidat in the eastern Deir Ezzor countryside. Amaq claims are yet to be confirmed by any other side. Amaq also claimed that ISIS fighters destroyed two vehicles of the Syrian Ara...