ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

The Russian leader is reportedly mounting an enormous military mission to take control of the terror group's stronghold of Raqqa. The city is the self-declared capital of ISIS in Syria and is patrolled by as many as 5,000 jihadi members. Putin is set to mobilise 150,000 reservists who he conscripted into the military earlier this week. An insider revealed:  "It is very clear that Russia wants to sweep up the west of the country, taking Raqqa and all the oil and gas resources around Palmyra. "This is fast becoming a race to Raqqa – to secure the oil fields they need to cleanse the region of insurgents, and the IS capital is vital to do that." It comes a day after Russian jets obliterated nine ISIS outposts in just 24 hours using bunker-busting bombs. Russian jets pounded terrorist targets and blew up a command centre, potentially killing dozens of fighters. Confirming the successful raids, Andrei Kartapolov from the Russian army vowed to ramp up the pressure, s

In an official statement, the group said France was its “top target”. It says it carefully studied the locations for the attacks, which were carried out by fighters wearing suicide belts and carrying machine guns. In the statement, released in French, Islamic State said “soldiers of Caliphate” had targeted “the capital of abomination and perversion”. The statement from Islamic State goes on to call the attacks a response to insults directed at the Prophet Mohammed, as well as airstrikes by France on Islamic State-held territory. It continues:  Eight brothers carrying explosive belts and guns targeted areas in the heart of the French capital that were specifically chosen in advance: the Stade de France during a match against Germany which that imbecile François Hollande was attending; the Bataclan where hundreds of idolaters were together in a party of perversity as well as other targets in the 10th, 11th and 18th arrondissement France and those who follow its path must know t

Written by Akram Abu Abs exclusively for SouthFront Yemeni scholars held a forum on the issue of resistance and called on the Yemeni nation to unite against Saudi Arabia. They also condemned the international silence over the ongoing Saudi atrocities. Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders, on an official visit to Iran, said that there is no military solution to the conflict in Yemen and urged political dialog to end the fighting there. He said the goal is to bring about a ceasefire and get all political actors in the country to the negotiating table. The Saudi aggression has reportedly claimed the lives of more than 7,100 people and injured nearly 14,000 others. The strikes have also taken a heavy toll on the impoverished country’s facilities and infrastructure, destroying many hospitals, schools, and factories. Human rights groups and international organizations have voiced deep concern over the rising number of civilian casualties in Yemen, calling for an end to the conflict.

The recent events in Egypt have shown that Cairo hasn’t succeeded in its local war on terror in Sinai. Furthermore, this means that an unwritten agreement between Egypt, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia on not allowing terror acts in Egyptian resorts doesn’t work more. 2 month ago SouthFront: Analysis & Intelligence noted that Sinai is a place with the high terrorist activity and local terrorist formations, mostly pro-Qatari, conduct a serious threat to the Egyptian domestic security. The Ansar Bait al-Maqdis group claimed allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is entrenched in the northern Sinai. If the A321 was destroyed by a pro-Qatari group, it will cause Egypt’s anger and Riyadh’s displeasure. It will definitely conduct additional jitters among shaky Middle Eastern alliances. We remember, in October, Cairo continued a series of trials of Islamists. 16 of them were sentenced to death. Meanwhile, experts believe that the Parliament strongly supporting decisions of Egyp

Members of the U.S. defense and national security communities are increasing questioning ties between technology giants including Microsoft, IBM, Cisco Systems and the Chinese military, sharing concerns that joint project development could be endangering national security, The New York Times reported. “One Chinese technology company receives crucial technical guidance from a former People’s Liberation Army rear admiral. Another company developed the electronics on China’s first atomic bomb. A third sells technology to China’s air-to-air missile research academy,” the Times reported. “Their ties to the Chinese military run deep, and they all have something else in common: Each Chinese company counts one of America’s tech giants — IBM, Cisco Systems or Microsoft — as a partner.” Those ties are not well publicized, but they are nevertheless serve as the crux of a growing debate among defense and national security officials, including many former U.S. military officials, analysts and other

Although the US military “do not seek” a new Cold War, it is determined to oppose the rising global powers – Russia and China – in order to protect the US-dominated “international order,” US Defense Secretary Ash Carter has said. Carter delivered this surprisingly direct and candid program statement, riddled with accusations against Russia for what he called “nuclear saber-rattling” and “violating sovereignty” of US allies, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, AP reported on Saturday. The US official once again put Russia and China in the same league as Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) when listing America’s top-ranked bogeymen. “Terror elements like ISIL, of course, stand entirely opposed to our values. But other challenges are more complicated, and given their size and capabilities, potentially more damaging,” he said. “Some actors appear intent on eroding these principles and undercutting the international order that helps enforce them… Of course, neither Russia nor Ch

Egypt's Prime Minister Sherif Ismail looks at the remains of a Russian airliner after it crashed in central Sinai near El Arish city, north Egypt, October 31, 2015. © Reuters While the investigation into the causes of the Russian passenger jet crash over the Sinai Peninsula continues, civil aviation and security experts agree that theories that the plane was downed by a militant group can be ruled out, despite terrorists making such claims. All 224 people on board the Kolavia airline’s flight from resort area Sharm El-Sheikh to Russia’s St. Petersburg died after the aircraft crashed in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Saturday. Experts are still decoding the flight recorders, and the Russian Air Transport Agency has said that there is no point in hypothesizing about the cause of the crash until there is reliable data on the circumstances. While Islamic State jihadist group allegedly claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it downed the Airbus A321 as retaliation for Russia’s