ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

In the coming days, president Trump is expected to announce that he will decertify the Iran Nuclear Deal, a step that potentially could cause the historic Obama-era accord to unravel. Under the 2015 deal, Iran agreed to limit its disputed nuclear program in return for the easing of economic sanctions. Realizing the dire threat that such a move presents for its economy – not to mention Iranian oil exports –  Iran has escalated the rhetoric,  and overnight it warned the United States that U.S. regional military bases “would be at risk” if further sanctions were passed or if the US designated its Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) as a terrorist group. On Friday the  Financial Times reported  that Donald Trump is expected to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist group,  as part of a new hardline strategy against the Islamic republic. Mr Trump is expected to announce new measures against Iran, including the prospect of additional targe...

On October 7, the Syrian pro-government radio station Sham FM claimed that 8 US soldiers were killed after two US-led coalition helicopters crashed near the western dam of al-Hasakah governorate. According to Sham FM, the two US-led coalition helicopter took off from the SDF military base in Tell Beydar village in the northern al-Hasakah countryside. Sham FM. Click to see the full-size image However, US Army Colonel Ryan Dillon Spokesman for the US-led coalition denied that any US helicopter crashed in Syria. Colonel Dillion confirmed that all the helicopters of the US-led coalition in Syria are operational.  Moreover, local sources also confirmed to South Front that no US helicopter crashed in Syria on October 6.  Follow OIR Spokesman   ✔ @OIRSpox Reports of Coalition/US aircraft crash/collision in Syria is FALSE. All Coalition/US aircraft accounted for. 20:51 - 7 Oct 2017   20 20 Replies     152 152 Retweets   ...

FILE IMAGE: Jaish al-Izza member The US has resumed its support to few Free Syrian Army (FSA) groups in Idlib governorate after 2 months of pausing it, the Syrian opposition news website Enab Baladi reported on October 8. According to the report, the US Military Operation Center in Turkey, named by Turks “MOM”, resumed its support for Jaish al-Nasser in Idlib. Jaish al-Nasser is considered one of the main allies of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda). However, the US didn’t resume its support for Jaysh al-Izza, another ally of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Idlib governorate. The report claimed that the US paused its support to the FSA groups that refused to take part in the Astana talks and to the FSA groups that supported the HTS attack in the northern Hama countryside. However, these claims are untrue as Jaish al-Nasser was the key HTS ally in its attack on the northern Hama countryside back in March not only Jaysh al-Izz...

The United States spends billions of dollars every year on military aid to foreign governments around the world to increase American influence. The US Army is creating permanent units dedicated to  advising foreign forces . The Army personnel are more often engaged in training and building local security forces rather than doing the fighting for them. The service needs a dedicated element to focus on advisory role without interfering with the combat capability of fighting units. It is implementing the plans to create six new, permanent, fully-trained brigades that can be deployed around the world as professional advisers. Instead of having to other militaries, such as the Iraqi ground forces, the US Army can now turn to specialized advisory units, manned by experienced soldiers with special training. The objective is to avoid problems created by the current training programs when chunks of combat brigades have been deployed to serve as trainers and advisers to local forces deg...