ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

An armed U.S. drone was shot down in western Yemen on Sunday, the Pentagon confirmed Monday. The incident involving a MQ-9 Reaper is under investigation, Pentagon spokesman Major Adrian Rankine-Galloway said in a statement to The Hill. The Pentagon uses the Reaper “to conduct intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations, including to track terrorist networks,” according to the statement. “We aren't going to talk specifics due to operational security reasons; the U.S. has security interest in Yemen and works very closely with the Government of Yemen to counter terrorism,” Rankine-Galloway said.  Iranian-backed Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for shooting down the drone in Yemen’s capital of Sanaa,  multiple outlets reported . The rebel group’s news agency SABA first posted a photo of the flaming drone after it was shot down. A  video posted later showed the drone falling from the sky. Yemen is in the midst of a civil war ...

S-400. FILE IMAGE: Dmitry Vinogradov/RIA Novosty Saudi Arabia has agreed to buy Russian S-400 air defense missile system, the Saudi television station al-Arabiya reported on Thursday. State-owned Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI) added that the sides also signed a memorandum of understanding on the issue that would help Riyadh to develop its defense industries.  The report came amid a visit by Saudi King Salman to Russia. According to SAMI, the memorandum is signed in the context of contracts to procure the S-400, the Kornet-EM system, the TOS-1A, the AGS-30 and the Kalashnikov AK-103. The procurement was “based on the assurance of the Russian party to transfer the technology and localize the manufacturing and sustainment of these armament systems in the Kingdom”. No additional info about timeframe or the number of each system was provided. The S-400 is an advanced Russian long-range anti-aircraft missile system. It can c...

sraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem, Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke against Palestinian National Authority’s continued reconciliation efforts on October 3. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel won’t accept the appeasement where the Palestinian side is reconciling at Israel’s expense, adding that anyone who discusses a peace process must recognize Israel as a Jewish state,  Haaretz  reports. According to the Prime Minister, the prerequisites for Palestine to reconcile can be summarized as follows: recognize the State of Israel, dismantle Hamas’ military wing and cut ties with Iran. The Prime Minister’s statement comes hours after Education Minister Naftali Bennet called for Israel to stop the transfer of tax revenue to Palestinians, liking it to Israel “acting as ATM for terrorism.” “Transferring funds to a ...

A screenshot from the video Lieutenant Colonel Roman Labusov has defected from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) to the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), according to a  video  published by the DPR Ministry of Information. He was the head of the SBU’s cypher office. During a press conference Labusov cited loyalty to the military oath of enlistment as one of the main motives of his defection. The oath states that a soldier will serve and protect the people of Ukraine. He also added that he defected in order to expose the crimes of the Ukrainian high ranking officers. Labusov claims to possess incriminating SBU documents, and plans making them public, Donetsk News Agency  reports . The current Kiev government does not look any interest of the Ukrainian people. The officer was pushed to defect from the SBU because he understood that there was no more nationhood in the area where he had been serving. It’s hi...