ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Illustrative image At the late Hours of October 25, ISIS cells in the area of al-Safa, north of the governorate of al-Suwayda, handed over the bodies of 50 Syrian soldiers, who were killed during clashes there, to the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), according to the Syrian news outlet Enab Baladi. From its side, the Damascus government returned the bodies of 15 ISIS fighters and allowed 4 trucks carrying food and other supplies to enter al-Safa. These steps are a part of the wider agreement to end the presence of the terrorist group in al-Safa and release more than 20 hostages, who were abducted by ISIS elements during  a brutal attack  in late July. Under the agreement,  the first 6 hostages were released last week  in exchange for 25 people affiliated with ISIS. A source familiar with the situation told the al-Suwayda 24 blog that the U.S. is a part of the agreement with ISIS. According to the source, the US-led coalition released several ISIS members from its prisons in eastern S

Illustrative image This analysis is made by  Pentapostagma Enimerosis  and translated exclusively for  SouthFront As Turkey escalates in the Eastern Mediterranean the real question is how determined Greece is to respond. Greece is confronting a huge diplomatic and military dilemma after Turkey sent a seismic vessel to the eastern Mediterranean to allegedly explore the existence of natural gas deposits. The vessel began investigating on Tuesday night (16.10.2018) before withdrawing temporarily after the Greek Navy sent a strict radio alert. After the incident, Turkey sent three frigates and two patrol ships there to protect the movements of their own seismographic ship. Turkey, however, seems to be pushing tension by sending Barbaros Hayreddin Pasa vessel to explore in an area that includes part of the continental shelf of Greece. If Barbaros returns to Greek waters, however,  Athens will face a dilemma : either issue another radio alert or increase its naval presence