ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Aleppo, Syria (6:34 P.M.) - Less than 24 hours after the announcement of the Aleppo offensive aimed at capturing the rebel-held districts of east Aleppo, government forces were able to secure the Ramousah-'Amiriyah highway and its intersection following consistent advances around Al-Badawi mosque in 'Amiriyah. Preceding this advance were 8 intense hours of violent clashes on the Ramousah Bakery axis. This sensitive advance places the Syrian Army forces on the outskirts of Sukkari district, the militants' administrative hub in the embattled city. Moreover, government troops now have fire control over the jihadist forces in the aforementioned areas. Notably, opposition forces suggested that Jabhat Fath Al-Sham (formerly Jabhat Al-Nusra) is relocating many of its fighters from all jihadist-held Aleppo and massing them at Sukkari where they have imposed a curfew. Meanwhile, Syrian helicopters dropped thousands of leaflets atop east Aleppo neighborhoods calling on militants to t

By Ellen Brown Several central banks, including the Bank of England, the People’s Bank of China, the Bank of Canada and the Federal Reserve, are exploring the concept of issuing their own digital currencies, using the blockchain technology developed for Bitcoin. Skeptical commentators suspect that their primary goal is to eliminate cash, setting us up for negative interest rates (we pay the bank to hold our deposits rather than the reverse). But Ben Broadbent, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, puts a more positive spin on it. He says Central Bank Digital Currencies could supplant the money now created by private banks through “fractional reserve” lending – and that means 97% of the circulating money supply. Rather than outlawing bank-created money, as money reformers have long urged, fractional reserve banking could be made obsolete simply by attrition, preempted by a better mousetrap. The need for negative interest rates could also be eliminated, by giving the central bank more

“I am the police chief who was asked to guard ISIS terrorists” By Nafeez Ahmed + Turkey’s intelligence chief, Hakan Fidan, named as member of terror group linked to al-Qaeda and ISIS + Turkish intelligence directly supplied military aid to ISIS for years + Turkish government siphoned military supplies to ISIS through humanitarian relief agency + ISIS fighters, including al-Baghadi’s deputy, received free medical treatment in Turkey and “protection” from Turkish police + Head of ISIS in Turkey received “24/7 protection” under the personal order of President Erdogan + Turkish police investigations into ISIS are being systematically quashed + ISIS oil is sold with complicity of authorities in Turkey and Kurdish region of northern Iraq + NATO affirms Turkey’s role as ally in war on ISIS  A former senior counter-terrorism official in Turkey has blown the whistle on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s deliberate sponsorship of the Islamic State (ISIS) as a geopolitical tool to expand Turkey’s

By Staff writer, Al Arabiya English  More than 60 Syrian government soldiers were killed and dozens of others injured Saturday in US-led coalition air strikes on an air base in the east of the war-torn country, the Russian army said. “Warplanes from the international anti-militant coalition carried out four air strikes today against Syrian forces surrounded by ISIS in the Deir Ezzor air base,” the army said in a statement. “Sixty-two Syrian soldiers were killed and a hundred others were injured in these strikes.” “Straight after the coalition’s strikes, ISIS militants launched an offensive,” said the statement, adding that “fierce fighting against the terrorists” ensued nearby. “If these strikes were due to an error in the target coordinates, that would be a direct consequence of the US’ refusal to coordinate with Russia its fight against the terrorist groups in Syria,” it said. The Russian defense ministry said fierce battle was being waged between the Syrian army and ISIS militants n

After the incident with allegedly downed Israeli aircraft over Syria , the Israeli Air Force continued to conduct air strikes on the Syrian army’s positions in the province of Quneitra. At least 1 Israeli air strike was reported at the Jandal Castle at the top of al-Shiekh mountain and another one targeted the Syrian army’s artillery base near the village of Ayn Burj.

Click to see the full-size map Today, the Syrain army has been forced to return to the Castello Highway (is set to be turned into a humanitarian corridor according to the US-Russian agreements) in northwestern Aleppo after militants of the US-backed Jaish al-Fatah operation room shelled Russian military servicemen and representatives of the Red Crescent Society in the area. There are also reports that militants have attempted to advance in the area. The Syrian army answered to this deploying forces along the Castello Highway and the Russian Aerospace Forces, according to AlMasdarNews , delivered an air strike on the militant-controlled 46th Regiment Base in northwestern Aleppo. This has been the first Russian air strike in Aleppo since the implementation of the ceasefire agreement . We recall on September 15, the Syrian army started to withdraw heavy and light military equipment from the strategic Castello Highway and hand over checkpoints along it to the Red Crescent Society and

BAGHDAD, IRAQ (3:20 A.M.) - Minutes ago, the Iraqi Air Force reportedly carried out several powerful airstrikes in the Nineveh and Al-Anbar governorates, killing a large number of Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) terrorists along the Euphrates River. According to the Iraqi Army's official media wing, Iraqi F-16 jets conducted 7 airstrikes over the Nineveh and Al-Anbar governorates on Friday night, killing 30+ ISIS terrorists and destroying 14 of their vehicles. The airstrikes reportedly targeted the Islamic State's IED factories around the country. Among the 30+ ISIS militants killed on Friday night was the aforementioned terrorist group's regional leader "Abu Musad Al-Shishani (Chechen) and several members of his council.

A report by the Cost of War Projects has claimed that the US spent $4.79 trillion on wars in the Middle East and on the ‘War on Terror’ after the September 2001 terrorist attacks. The report which is run by Brown University’s Watson Institute, counted the total budgetary cost of the wars America waged in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Syria as well as on counter-terrorism and includes future obligations to spend budgetary money through 2053, estimated future spending on veterans, interest already paid for money borrowed for the war effort and other commitments. “Interest costs for overseas contingency operations spending alone are projected to add more than $1 trillion to the national debt by 2023. By 2053, interest costs will be at least $7.9 trillion unless the US changes the way it pays for the wars,” wrote report author Neta Crawford, professor of political science at Boston University and co-director of the Costs of War Project. “This paper’s estimate of current and future costs