ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

According to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, almost half of the weapons, which the US has delivered to the defense forces of Syrian Kurds, fell into the hands of members of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan believes that almost half of the weapons, delivered by the US to the defense forces of Syrian Kurds, fell into the hands of terrorists. “Three days ago, three aircraft with US armaments for Syrian Kurds’ forces landed in the Syrian city of Kobani. Half of these weapons fell into the hands of terrorists of the Islamic State [IS] group. We warned Barack Obama about this, but could not convince him. Now, unfortunately, they play the same games. This will not lead to concrete results, but will just continue the bloodshed in Syria,” the Anadolu news agency quoted the words of the Turkish President. In addition, the president urged to hand power in Syria over to Syrian people, and called Bashar al-Assad the cause of the death of 600,00...

The US-Russian agreement on Syria – how could it shape the ongoing conflict? Originally appeared at VPK , translated by Vox Veritatis exclusively for SouthFront; Edited by Desi Tzoneva The signing of the US-Russian agreement on the settlement of the situation in Syria has ended the period during which Washington could not come to terms with the failure of the ‘Arab Spring’ and the defeat of its allies there: Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The key role in changing the geopolitical situation in the region was played by the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS). Without its destruction of the terrorists in Syria and attacks on their oil production and transport infrastructure, the activation of the anti-terrorist coalition, led by the United States, is extremely dubious. Jealousy of the US over Russia’s success turned out to be a more effective stimulus for war on terrorism than the regional competition with Iran. Nevertheless, the position on the front is ambiguous. Turkey’s actions on the Syr...

By Pepe Escobar Forget about those endless meetings between Sergei Lavrov and John Kerry; forget about Russia’s drive to prevent chaos from reigning in Syria; forget about the possibility of a real ceasefire being implemented and respected by US jihad proxies. Jonathan Cook is a Nazareth- based journalist and winner of the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism - See more at: http://www.jonathan-cook.net/2016-09-19/palestinians-lose-in-us-military-aid-deal-with-israel/#sthash.H1NbQCac.dpuf Forget about the Pentagon investigating what really happened around its bombing 'mistake' in Deir Ezzor. The definitive proof of the Empire of Chaos’s real agenda in Syria may be found in a 2012 Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) document declassified in May last year. As you scroll down the document, you will find page 291, section C, which reads (in caps, originally): “THE WEST, GULF COUNTRIES, AND TURKEY [WHO] SUPPORT THE [SYRIAN] OPPOSITION… THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY OF ESTABLISHING...

Different jihadi groups fighting the Syrian government have been increasingly recruiting children soldiers as the conflict sweeps the war-torn country for the sixth year. Since the Al-Qaeda franchise in Syria, Jabhet al-Nusra, established itself in Syria in January 2012, child recruitment has become more widely practiced, and even got wider and more organized with the emergence of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in 2013. The two ultraconservative groups created training camps for children where they are brainwashed and instilled with Takfiri ideology to become jihadi fighters and suicide bombers. The process significantly increased with the Nusra-led Jaish al-Fateh taking over the northwestern province of Idlib in May 2015. Analysts identify the notorious Saudi cleric Abdullah al-Muhesini as the godfather of recruiting children soldiers in rebel-held territories, especially Idlib. In 2013, al-Muhesini launched his wide-scale recruiting campaign in Idlib (which later expanded to ...

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 Turke...

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 militan...