ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

By the Turkish Army, click to see the full-size image On March 21, the Turkish Army and its proxies from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) captured the historical Christian town of Barad and the village of Kimar south of the city of Afrin, according to sources linked to the FSA. The sources said that the Turkish Army artillery had backed the attack on the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Barad and had shelled several positions of the SAA and the YPG in the town and south of it. However, the Turkish Air Force (TAF) was not involved in the offensive. In a related development, local residents of the Afrin area handed over 21 fighters of the YPG to the Turkish Army, according to a report of the Turkish Anadolu Agency. Since  capturing Afrin city on March 18 , the Turkish Army and its proxies have been conducting security operations in the newly captured area in order to eliminate any remaining YPG fighters. By the Turkish Army, click to see th

Over the last week ISIS fighters had managed to capture the neighborhood of al-Asali and 90% of al-Madaniyah neighborhood in the al-Qadam district south of the Syrian capital of Damascu, according to an infographic released by the ISIS-linked news agency Amaq on March 21. Click to see the full-size image Amaq also claimed that ISIS fighters had killed 173 soldeirs of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and had destroyed 2 battle tanks, a rocket launcher, a bulldozer and a BMP-1 armored vehicle during their advance in al-Qadam district . Syrian pro-government sources have acknowledged that the SAA and the Syrian Military Intelligence lost around 100 fighters along with a battle tank and a BMP-1 armored vehicle in the al-Qadam district. The high casualties of the SAA in al-Qadam were a result of the bad timing and terms of the evacuation agreement with opposition fighters in the district, according to pro-government sources. Currently, the SAA is deploying more units to its positions

On March 21, a suicide bomber blew himself up near Kabul University in the Afghan capital of Kabu, according to the Chinese Xinhua News Agency. The media outlet said that the bomber had been trying to target a celebration which had been held in a Shiite Shrine near the university. “A terrorist tied explosive device in his body obviously was going to target Sakhi Shrine where thousands of people were gathered to celebrate Nawroz or the solar new year of 1397,” a unnamed Afghan official told Xinhua News Agency. According to the Afghan TOLO TV, the Afghan Ministry of Public Health revealed that 29 people had been killed and 52 others were injured in a suicide attack in Kabul. The ISIS-linked news agency Amaq confirmed that the terrorist organization had been behind the suicide attack. Amaq claimed that over 100 Shiite civilians had been killed and injured in the attack. Click to see the full-size image This was the third and most brutal attack, which hit the Afghan capi