ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

A screenshot from www.alwatanonline.com At least five British soldiers were killed in a rocket attack by ISIS in Syria’s eastern province of Deir Ezzor,  according to a January 9 th  report by Syrian Arabic-language newspaper al-Watan. The attack targeted the al-Shaafah village in Abu Kamal district of the province and several more soldiers were injured and airlifted to the coalition hospital in Hasakah, in northeastern Syria, according to the report. As of the morning of January 10 th  there has been no confirmation on the side of the UK, but if true that would make it the second attack on British troops by ISIS within days. On January 6 th ,  two British Special Forces soldiers were injured  in an ISIS attack, also in Deir Ezzor. A member of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) was also reportedly killed in the attack. A Ministry of Defense spokesman said: “We do not comment on special forces.” Thus, if there is an actual remaining Britis...

ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGE Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, who is a former Boeing employee, has reportedly been extremely critical of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter in private meetings, according to a report by  Politico  citing anonymous witnesses of several exchanges. His alleged constant bashing of Lockheed Martin’s handling of the program and claims that Boeing would do better have raised concerns whether he is showing bias. Shanahan, who spent 31 years at Boeing before joining the Pentagon in mid-2017, has signed an ethics agreement recusing him from weighing in on matters involving Boeing. “But that hasn’t stopped him from praising Boeing and trashing competitors such as Lockheed Martin during internal meetings,” according to two anonymous former government officials cited by Politico. Shanahan reportedly called the $1 trillion F-35 stealth fighter “f—ed up,” saying that Lockheed “doesn’t know how to run a program.” “He i...