ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Belgrade airport security service has discovered two Hellfire missiles on an Air Serbia passenger flight heading from Lebanon to the US. The munitions, packed in wooden crates, were found by bomb-sniffing dogs. Serbian officials are investigating the incident, a source at the prosecutor's office told Reuters on Monday. Air Serbia has said it is helping with the probe. The shipment was accompanied by proper documentation and would have passed unnoticed, but for the dogs which sniffed out the explosives, local media reported. "Experts are determining whether the missiles were equipped with live or training warheads ... They were packed in proper transportation crates and supplied with paperwork which is also being scrutinised," a source close to the investigation told Reuters. According to the same source, the Lebanese and US authorities were aware of the shipment and ensured that the missiles posed no threat to the public. The rockets arrived on an Air Serbia flight from

The Iraqi military has released a video displaying the combat deployment of a CH-4B drone which the country recently bought from China. Baghdad has been diversifying its arms supply to decrease its reliance on American producers. The Caihong (Rainbow) 4B drone flew from the al-Kut Air Base southeast of Baghdad and shot an AR-1 laser-guided anti-tank missile at an Islamic State target, according to the Iraqi Defense Ministry. The first-ever Iraqi combat drone mission was supervised by Defense Minister Khaled-al-Obeidi. Iraq purchased a number of Chinese combat drones in early 2015, with photos of the robotic aircraft already in Iraq surfacing since at least March. The CH-4B is a dual reconnaissance/combat UAV with a range of 5,000 km, according to producer, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). The drone is similar to the US-made MQ-9 Reaper can carry a payload of up to 350kg carried on six pads. Its designated weapons include Lan Jian 7 (Blue Arrow 7) laser-gu

Police in the Austrian town of Korneuburg have detained an Afghan man in his 20s for allegedly intimidating a 13-year-old girl to engage in sexual relations – an ordeal that lasted three months for the teenager. "The accused did not use any violence, but he did threaten her and scared her into doing what he wanted," said a police spokesman, as cited by Austrian newspaper Kurier. The man, who reportedly was still living in a refugee shelter at the time of the crime, encountered the girl online in early January. The ensuing pen-friendship took a serious turn and the two eventually met in person in a wooded area, where they reportedly had sex. According to the police, the girl was too frightened to tell anybody about the events and stayed silent for three months, during which time the suspect repeatedly coerced her into having intercourse. "Over the course of three months the asylum seeker repeatedly sexually abused the schoolgirl,"added the police spokesman. After t

BEIT JALA, Palestine: Israel began construction on a controversial part of its separation barrier in the occupied West Bank Thursday, near a Palestinian Christian town, an AFP journalist reported. Cranes began lifting eight-meter(yard)-high blocks into place near Beit Jala, south of Jerusalem and close to Bethlehem, a photographer witnessed. This part of the wall could cut Palestinians from their olive groves. Nicola Khamis, mayor of Beit Jala, condemned what he saw as a land grab. "This land is for our families, our children," he said by phone from the bridge next to the construction site. The Israeli army referred questions to the defence ministry, which did not immediately respond. Residents of Beit Jala fear the construction of the wall may lead to the expansion of the nearby Israeli settlements of Gilo and Har Gilo. Khamis said they hoped to battle the wall's construction, with emergency strategy meetings planned, but he conceded they had no further appeals within th

BEIJING: China's first special envoy for the Syrian crisis praised Russia's military role in the war Friday, and said the international community should work harder together to defeat terrorism in the region. Russia's military intervention in Syria in September helped turn the tide of war in President Bashar Assad's favor after months of gains in western Syria by rebel fighters, who were aided by foreign military supplies including U.S.-made anti-tank missiles. While President Vladimir Putin announced last month that "the main part" of Russian armed forces in Syria would start to withdraw, the Russian air force has continued to carry out strikes on targets in the country. Russia says it has targeted ISIS militants. But rebels on the ground and Western officials say the strikes have mainly targeted moderate rebel groups, including U.S.-trained fighters, not associated with Islamic State. Speaking to reporters in Beijing after being appointed last week, China

The Jaysh al-Islam militant group fighting government forces in Syria has admitted to using “forbidden” weapons against Kurdish militia in Aleppo. The group’s statement comes after reports of chemical gas being used in shelling Aleppo’s Sheikh Maqsood district. The hardline Islamist group did not not specify what substances were used, but claimed that it will punish those responsible. The group’s statement reads: “During the clashes one of the Jaysh al-Islam brigade leaders used [weapons] forbidden in this kind of confrontations.” The group claims that the brigade commander in question was summoned to a military court, where it was decided he is to be held accountable. “This situation is contrary to the charter of Jaysh al-Islam,” says the group. Aleppo’s Sheikh Maqsood neighborhood was shelled with mortars containing chemical agents earlier on Thursday. The Kurdish Red Crescent confirmed reports that chemicals had been used in the attack. “The symptoms of those affected by the attack

The former Bank of England head Mervyn King said this week that the “depression” in Europe “has happened almost as a deliberate act of policy”. Specifically, King said that the formation of the European Union has doomed Europe to economic malaise. He points out that Greece is experiencing “a depression deeper than the United States experienced in the 1930s”. The depths of Greece's depression The depths of Greece’s depression Credit: RBS economics/RBS Indeed. Moreover – as Martin Armstrong has warned for decades – letting countries like Greece join he Euro without first structurally adjusting their debts was a recipe for disaster. So it is fascinating to learn that the U.S. was largely behind the creation of both the European Union and the Euro. The European Union: Funded By the CIA Professor of International Security at the University of Warwick Richard J. Aldrich reviewed available historical documents, and concludes that the European Union was largely an American project: US offi