ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has confirmed that Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) has executed a Chinese national in the Middle East. The ministry has vowed to bring the perpetrators “to justice.” China has confirmed the identity of the victim as Fan Jinghui. He had been previously identified by the terrorists as a 50-year-old freelance consultant from Beijing. The man was apparently featured in the terrorist group’s magazine back in September, where he was mockingly put up for“sale” along with a Norwegian hostage. Both China and Norway refused to pay the ransom that the terrorists had demanded. Beijing is now saying that it had attempted to rescue the “cruelly murdered” Chinese national. “The Chinese government strongly condemns this savage act devoid of humanity and will certainly bring the criminals to justice,” the ministry said in a statement quoted by Reuters. “The Chinese government will resolutely oppose all forms of terrorism, and resolutely strike at any violent t...

The so-called Islamic State should have learned by now: they've picked a fight against the wrong guys. We have entered "take no prisoners" territory. For Russia, now all the gloves are off. Especially after online terrorist magazine Dabiq published a photo of the alleged bomb that downed the Metrojet: a crude device inside a can of Schweppes Gold, placed under a passenger seat. Also published were photos of passports of Russian victims, allegedly taken "by the mujahedeen." Their collective fate was sealed the minute the Director of the Federal Security Service Aleksandr Bortnikov told President Putin, about the Metrojet crash on October 31 in Egypt that: “We can say with confidence that this was a terrorist act.” Caliphate goons may run – in the deserts of ‘Syraq’ and beyond - but they can’t hide, as per Russia’s presidential message:“We will search for them everywhere - wherever they are hiding. We will find them in any spot on the planet and we will pu...

During the summit, “I provided examples based on our data on the financing of different Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) units by private individuals. This money, as we have established, comes from 40 countries and, there are some of the G20 members among them,” Putin told the journalists. Putin also spoke of the urgent need to curb the illegal oil trade by IS. "I’ve shown our colleagues photos taken from space and from aircraft which clearly demonstrate the scale of the illegal trade in oil and petroleum products," he said. “The motorcade of refueling vehicles stretched for dozens of kilometers, so that from a height of 4,000 to 5,000 meters they stretch beyond the horizon," Putin added, comparing the convoy to gas and oil pipeline systems. It’s not the right time to try and figure out which country is more and which is less effective in the battle with Islamic State, as now a united international effort is needed against the terrorist group, Putin said. Put...

The SAA, the National Defense Forces (NDF) and the Palestine Liberation Army (PLA) made several advances in the northern of the Dara’a province after making another push to reenter the town of Sheikh Miskeen on Saturday. According to the field reports, the Syrian forces captured the northern farms of Sheikh Miskeen, and the Water Resource Facility after a series of intense firefights against of the vestiges of the Free Syrian Army’s “Southern Front Brigades”. Now, the government’s forces are in position to launch an advance on the town of Sheikh Miskeen. The town of Nawa will likely become the next target of the SAA if Sheikh Miskeen is captured. The Syrian forces are continuing operations in Southern Aleppo. Considering the reinforcements noted by SouthFront: Analysis & Intelligence on Nov. 13, the government’s spearhead at the sector consists of the SAA, Hezbollah, the NDF, the Ba’ath Battalions, the Iraqi paramilitary groups of Harakat Al-Nujaba and Kataeb Hezbollah, and a joint...

The recent Paris attacks demonstrated existence of the well-armed and well-disciplined terrorist network. It’s ready to exercise large-scale sabotage attacks. This network could be hardly built up from refugees. The network members likely live in the EU for a long time and have an EU citizenship. Also, they apparently have wide contacts in the criminal environment. The Paris attacks were first or, considering the Russian plan crash, second act of the terroristic war against the West and anti-terroristic coalition. It could be claimed that we should expect new attacks in the nearest future. Moreover, directions of attacks will be hardly forecasted because of a “creative approach” of the terrorist leadership. It’s possible that terrorists had to show their capabilities in the EU ahead their plans. Considering the Paris case, we could suggest that terrorists could coordinate attacks in a number of European cities. In French operation pursued other aims: Put a moral pressure on European ...

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 kn...

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. ...