ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Jean-Philippe Arles / Reuters Based on  BMPD’s article As stated by Fabrice Gliszczynski in an article titled “ A380: Airbus rêve de commandes salvatrices en Chine ”, the head of Airbus China Eric Chen speculated that China would need 60 A380 planes in the next five to seven years. Since the beginning of this project 17 years ago only five planes of this type were sold to China. Although A380 sales are stagnating for quite a few years now, Airbus still plans selling their “Super Jumbo” to the Chinese market. That was the big plan since the start of the project in the year 2000, and said plan has been failing rapidly. A total of five A380 planes were bought by China Southern. Twelve years ago. That’s it. China didn’t order anymore of these planes, and the plan was not exactly the great success Airbus had been envisioning. Quite the opposite — it may actually kill the project. A measly 319 planes had been ordered, and two thirds of them are already delivered. Though Eric ...

AFP 2017/ Ashraf Shazly On September 27, Sundanese Army Rapid Support Forces commander, General Mohamad Hamdan Dalqu, revealed in an interview with the Sudanese newspaper al-Jareeda that 412 service members of the Sundanese Army including 14 officers have been killed in Yemen by the Houthis since March 26, 2015. Gen. Dalqu also announced that the Sundanese Army Rapid Support Forces participated in battles against the Houthis on 40 different fronts in Yemen. Moreover, Gen. Dalqu claimed that the Sudanese forces helped the Saudi-led collation to capture many areas in Yemen. The Sudanese Army is the third largest force in the Saudi-led collation in Yemen after the Saudi Army and the UAE Army. However, unlike what Gen. Dalqu claimed the achievement of the Sudanese Army in Yemen is very limited. The Sudanese Army Rapid Support Forces are mainly deployed around the Houthis-held Yemeni capital Sana’a. So far, the Houthis have repelled dozens of attacks of the Sudanese Army and pro...

Nimr Jamal On September 27, a Palestinian gunman attacked a security gate at the Israeli settlement of Har Adar northwest of Jerusalem city. The gunman (37-year-old Nimr Jamal) opened fire on the security gate after approaching it and killed two security guards Youssef Othman and Or Arish (both 25-years-old) before killing Sergeant Solomon Gavria (20-year-old) of the Israeli border police. After that Jamal was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers. According to the Israel authorities, Jamal had a work permit in the settlement, and he used to enter it throw the same gate on regular bases. Jamal was armed with a 9mm pistol that was stolen from an Israeli Army camp back in 2003. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem that the Israeli authorities will demolish the house of Jamal’s family. Moreover, the Israeli authorities will suspend the work permits for Jamal’s family members according to Netanyahu. “While we are still invest...

Click to see the full-size map On September 27, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) Republican Guard ambushed a group of Faylaq al-Rahman fighters in Ayn Tarma area east of the Syrian capital Damascus, according to pro-government sources. 7 fighters of Faylaq al-Rahman were killed and several others were injured in the ambush. The SAA also targeted shelled positions of Faylaq al-Rahman and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Ayen Tarma area and Jobar district east of Damascus city with Syrian-made Volcano and Golan heavy rockets. From its side, Faylaq al-Rahman announced that its fighters ambushed a group of Syrian soldiers from the SAA 4th Division in Ayn Tarma. Moreover, Faylaq al-Rahman announced that its fighters destroyed a T-72 tank of the 4th Division. Click to see the full-size image Another tank, a Shilka vehicle and a bulldozer of the SAA were damaged by Faylaq al-Rahman fighters. Meanwhile, Jaysh al-Islam claimed that it repelled an attack of the SAA on its position ...