ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Saudi troops at their base in Yemen’s southern port city of Aden in 2015. IMAGE: Reuters Germany banned all weapon sales to Saudi Arabia the Economic Ministry announced on November 19 th . This follows Germany’s decision to halt any new arms sales,  however old ones were to still continue.  This could possibly be significant, since Saudi Arabia imported more weapons than any other country in 2017.  However, it is questionable how significant, since 84% of the Kingdom’s weapons purchases were from the US and the UK. Furthermore, Germany’s foreign minister said Berlin banned 18 Saudi nationals from entering Europe’s border-free Schengen zone because they are believed connected to Khashoggi’s killing. Heiko Maas said there are still “more questions than answers.” It is unclear who the 18 individuals are, but Maas said they are allegedly connected to the incident. According to Maas, Germany made the decision to ban the individuals in “close coordination” with France and the UK.

FILE IMAGE Sputniknews reports ( source ): According to the Turkish media outlet Haberturk, Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, was met by four people in the Saudi Consulate General in Istanbul. Neither Turkish, nor Saudi authorities have commented on the report yet. Turkish news website Haberturk has released the first quotes from alleged audio recordings of Jamal Khashoggi’s last moments before he was killed in the Saudi Consulate General in the city of Istanbul on 2 October. “Release my arm! What do you think you are doing?” Khashoggi reportedly said at the consulate’s visa department after one of the four men grabbed his arm. They then allegedly took the journalist to the consulate’s administrative unit, where three more people joined them. Haberturk claims that one of those three Saudis was Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, the purported leader of the 15-member hit squad. “Traitor! You will be brought to account,” the voice, which sounds like Mutreb, is heard sh

The US military  released a photo report  showing a U.S. Army Special Forces Multi-Purpose Canine team, which was involved in a military operation to support the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the Syrian province of Deir Ezzor. The photos were reportedly made on October 11-12, 2018 when the US-backed force was advancing on ISIS positions in the Hajin area in the Euphrates Valley. Despite an active US support, the SDF was not able to deliver a devastating blow to the terrorist group in the area. Hajin remains the key ISIS stronghold in the war-torn country. Click to see the full-size image Click to see the full-size image Click to see the full-size image Click to see the full-size image Click to see the full-size image