ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

(Reuters) - Israel carried out a successful test of its upgraded Arrow missile interceptor on Monday, an Israeli official said. The U.S.-backed Arrow missile is designed to shoot down incoming ballistic missiles at altitudes high enough to allow for any non-conventional warheads to disintegrate safely. (Reporting by Dan Williams; editing by Crispian Balmer)

(Reuters) - Syria n rebels have captured the site of a suspected nuclear reactor near the Euphrates river which Israeli warplanes destroyed six years ago, opposition sources in eastern Syria said on Sunday. Al-Kubar site, around 60 km (35 miles) west of the city of Deir al-Zor, became a focus of international attention when Israel raided it in 2007. The United States said the complex was a North Korean-designed nuclear reactor geared to making weapons-grade plutonium. Omar Abu Laila a spokesman for the Eastern Joint Command of the Free Syrian Army said the only building rebels found at the site was a hangar containing at least one Scud missile. "It appears that the site was turned into a Scud launch base. Whatever structures it had have been buried," he said, adding that three army helicopters airlifted the last loyalist troops before opposition fighters overran the area on Friday. The Syrian military, which razed the site after the Israeli raid, said the complex was a regu

BAMAKO - Five people, including two suicide bombers, have died in car bombings in northern Mali, a day after fierce urban battles between French-led forces and Islamists left up to 20 extremists dead. Two vehicles targeting civilians and members of the ethnic Tuareg rebel group, the MNLA, exploded near the town of Tessalit, killing three and wounding several others, a security source said yesterday. The suicide bomber drivers also died. A spokesman for the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) in Burkina Faso confirmed the report. Mohamed Ibrahim Ag Asseleh said "the two kamikazes were killed and in our ranks there were three dead and four seriously wounded". The blasts came after Al-Qaeda-linked rebels claimed a car bomb attack on Thursday near a camp occupied by French and Chadian troops in the city of Kidal, local officials said. At least two civilians were reported wounded in that attack. The vehicle, apparently driven by a suicide bomber, was targeting th

In a fascinating discovery, a British academic has stumbled upon a 500-year-old “most wanted” notice for the arrest of Niccolo Machiavelli, the infamous Italian Renaissance political figure. Machiavelli is the author of the masterpiece ‘The Prince’, a political treatise which argues that the pursuit of power can justify the use of immoral means. Professor Stephen Milner from Manchester University discovered the historic document while researching town criers and the proclamations they read out in archives in Florence. The 1513 proclamation, which called for the arrest of Machiavelli, eventually led to his downfall and death. “When I saw it I knew exactly what it was and it was pretty exciting,” Milner said.

The Chadian army says that its troops killed 65 Islamic extremist rebels and destroyed five vehicles in fierce fighting northern Mali. The Chadian military said in a statement on Saturday on state broadcasting that 13 Chadian soldiers were also killed and six were wounded in the fighting Friday in northern Mali. The statement said the clashes were in the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains of northeastern Mali. Chad has deployed some 1,800 troops in Mali as part of the French-led military intervention begun in January to wrest control of northern Mali from the Islamic radicals linked to al Qaeda. The Islamic rebels retreated to mountainous hideouts near Mali's northern border with Algeria, after being expelled at the end of January by French and Malian forces from the major towns in northern Mali.

* NATO discusses size of post-2014 force in Afghanistan * No decisions made, Obama weighing U.S. plans * Afghan troops gradually assuming security role (Adds quotes) By Adrian Croft and Phil Stewart BRUSSELS, Feb 22 (Reuters) - NATO Allies are discussing keeping a training force of between 8,000 and 12,000 troops in Afghanistan after most foreign soldiers leave in 2014, the United States said on Friday. NATO-led forces are gradually handing over responsibility for security to their Afghan counterparts as the bulk of foreign combat forces prepare to withdraw by the end of next year. "A range of 8-12,000 troops was discussed as the possible size of the overall NATO mission," Pentagon spokesman George Little said after a NATO defence ministers' meeting in Brussels. U.S. President Barack Obama has not decided how many American troops would remain in Afghanistan after 2014, he said, adding: "The president is still reviewing options." German Defence Minister Thomas

N'DJAMENA, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Thirteen Chadian soldiers were killed in fighting in northern Mali on Friday, the heaviest casualties sustained by French and African troops since the launch of a military campaign against Islamist rebels there six weeks ago, Chad's army said. Chadian troops killed 65 al Qaeda-linked fighters in the clashes that began before midday in the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains near Mali's northern border with Algeria. "The provisional toll is ... on the enemy's side, five vehicles destroyed and 65 terrorists killed. We deplore the deaths of 13 of our valiant soldiers," said a statement from the army general staff read on state radio. France intervened in its former West African colony last month to stop a southward offensive by Islamist rebels who seized control of the north last April. Troops from neighbouring African nations - including 2,000 soldiers from Chad - have since deployed to Mali and are meant to take over leadership of the o

* Russia criticises US over response to Syria car bomb * Russia backs Assad, Washington blames him over conflict (Recasts, adds quotes, analyst comment) By Alessandra Prentice MOSCOW, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the United States on Friday of having double standards on Syria, saying it had blocked a U.N. Security Council statement condemning a car bomb attack in Damascus. Washington denied it had blocked the statement and said it had only asked for balance. The disagreement was likely to sour the atmosphere before Lavrov meets newly appointed U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry next week in Berlin. Lavrov told a news conference Washington had disappointed Moscow by blocking a statement condemning "terrorist attacks" near the Russian embassy in Damascus that killed more than 50 people and that Washington was threatening international unity in the "war on terror". "We believe these are double standards," Lavrov said after