ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Click to see the full-size image On February 22, helicopters of the Syrian Arab Air Force (SyAAF) dropped thousands of leaflets over the Eastern Ghouta pocket, in which the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) called on the civilians to leave the pocket through several safe routes and warned them that a military operation will begin soon in the  region. Click to see the full-size image The SAA promised the civilians that it will move them to secured area, provide medical care and food and then allow them to return to their homes once terrorists there are eliminated. Similar procedures were taken by the SAA and its allies during the battle of Aleppo in late 2016. This allowed tens of thousands of civilians to leave the battle areas safely. The SAA’s plan to evacuate the civilians from the East Ghouta pocket hints that the SAA and its allies are planning to clear the entire pocket from militant groups operating there: Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra), Ahrar al-Sham,...

By Bill Van Auken The US State Department has issued a fresh ultimatum on the Iran nuclear deal to Washington’s ostensible major allies in Europe, demanding that Germany, Britain and France commit themselves to altering the agreement along the lines demanded by President Donald Trump or face its unilateral abrogation by the US. A secret State Department cable obtained by Reuters presents what are essentially the same demands made by Trump last January. At that time, he announced that he was prepared to relaunch all-out US economic warfare against Iran unless the European powers joined Washington in imposing a rewritten nuclear accord on Tehran, including provisions that the Iranian government cannot and will not accept. The occasion for Trump’s threat was his reluctant announcement on January 12 that he had decided to waive the reimposition of US sanctions that were lifted as part of the nuclear agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). He vo...

Pictures of what appears to be a ship-mounted electromagnetic railgun have surfaced on Twitter. The weapon, semi-obscured by cloth, was spotted aboard the  Haiyang Shan , a landing ship tank (LST), under the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). No official word has been given on the authenticity of these photos. But if true,  this makes the  Haiyang Shan  the world’s first railgun-armed ship . There are several clues to suggest that it is indeed a railgun, however.  As per  TechCrunch.com , first is the ship itself. The  Haiyang Shan  is a Type 072-class landing ship. The test bed ship most commonly used in China is the Type 909 weapon trials ship. According to the Twitter user, Dafeng Cao, PLAN chose to use a Type 072 to test the railgun because it’s capable of bearing the power load required for such a powerful weapon. Moreover, a Type 072 is easier to retrofit with, say, shipping containers storing power equipment. Another clue ...