ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Click to see the full-size map On October 15, the US artillery and the US-led coalition’s airpower delivered massive strikes on ISIS targets inside and outside the city of Mosul, de-facto starting a long-awaited operation to liberate the last major ISIS stronghold in Iraq. The Iraqi military, the semi-autonomous, predominantly Shia, Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), the Kurdish Peshmerga, some pro-government Sunni tribal fighters and US and French Special Forces will participate in the operation. Up to 40,000 fighters, over 130 artillery guns, few hundreds of military vehicles will participate in the operation. Warplanes and combat UAVs, belonging to the US-led coalition, and US artillery units will provide support to the main forces. Such a scrappy anti-ISIS force on the ground will create additional troubles during the operation. Almost all participants are interested to gain political, economic and PR revenue from the operation and to avoid significant casualties as more as it’

A screenshot from Almasirah TV’s video Forces of the Houthi-Saleh alliance have destroyed a Saudi military convoy at the Saudi-Yemeni border. The incident took place at October 14, 2016. As result of the attack up to 60 Saudi military sevicemen were killed, 3 battle tanks and 6 vehicles destroyed. Almasirah TV released a video of the battle:

US targets three radar stations reportedly used by Houthi rebels to fire missiles at American destroyers By MEE A US destroyer fired cruise missiles on Houthi rebels early Thursday morning, attacking radar installations that the US claims were used by the rebels to target the USS Mason, another destroyer. The missile launches from the USS Nitze mark the first time the US had directly attacked the Houthis in Yemen. “These limited self-defence strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway,” the US defence department said. “The US will respond to any further threat to our ships and commercial traffic." “Initial assessments show the sites were destroyed,” it added. The US strike followed a second missile fired from rebel-held territory in Yemen targeting a US destroyer, a US defence official said on Wednesday. However, Houthi rebels issued a statement denying they had fired a missile at the US vessel.

A Jordanian writer, accused of sharing a cartoon considered offensive to Islam, killed two weeks after his release from prison on bail. A perfect assassination starts with demonizing of a person and ends with a condemnation of the assassin. On 25 September 2016, the prominent Jordanian writer Nahed Hattar, 56, was shot dead ahead of a trial before the courthouse in Jordan's capital Amman. He was accused of sharing a caricature deemed offensive to Islam on his Facebook page. Hattar was an outspoken leftist, secular writer and a self-described Christian atheist, known for his controversial views on issues regarding refugees, his support of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and his hostility to movements of political Islam. According to the Jordanian state news agency Petra, an armed man fired three shots at the writer at close range in front of the courthouse ahead of a hearing. The long-bearded shooter, who was wearing a long grey robe characteristic of ultra-conservative Muslims, wa

Plans to deploy a battalion of marines near Ulleungdo Island, located dangerously close to Liancourt Rocks, claimed by Japan, have been announced by South Korea. South Korea has announced its plans to deploy a battalion of marines near Ulleungdo Island, located dangerously close to Liancourt Rocks in Sea of Japan, a group of islets – a resource-rich territory, also claimed by Tokyo . According to the Seoul’s military command, the main reason of such a move, which may anger the US and provoke Japan, is North Korean aggression. As the Yonhap news agency reported, citing South Korean military officials, construction of facilities on the island will begin next year. According to the plan, the South Korean Armed Forces will deploy a company or battalion-sized force of marines and assault amphibious vehicles on the island by 2018. It is the first time, when any definite dates for the deployment have been mentioned by South Korean military. Meanwhile, the Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported th

By Peter Koenig Just as this article was ready to go to print, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Juan Manuel Santos, President of Colombia. This is what the Official website of the Nobel Prize reports: “The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2016 to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos for his resolute efforts to bring the country’s more than 50-year-long civil war to an end, a war that has cost the lives of at least 220 000 Colombians and displaced close to six million people.” The announcement was made on Friday 7 October, 11:00 a.m., well after the rejection of the gratuitous plebiscite by less than 0.5% of less than 40% of eligible voters, and after President Santos had already decided and declared to extend the ceasefire to 31 October 2016 until which date a renegotiated arrangement had to be found with the FARC ‘rebels’ – a virtually impossible task. – This is so reminiscent of another Peace pr

Written by Dr. Radko Handjiev; Originally appeared at A-specto , translated by Borislav exclusively for SouthFront Hardly anyone now doubts that the Hungarian referendum on October 2016, was the start of the inevitable disintegration of the European Union as such. Just as in October 1956, Hungarians again marked the beginning of the disintegration of the Soviet bloc. Whether the collapse of the EU will be total, or on its remains will form several sovereign interstate associations (Scandinavian, Visegrad, etc.) as the British one already did, depends on the will of the peoples of these countries, and especially on the antagonism between different factors of realpolitik. So let’s not speculate before the White House acquires a new owner … On October 2, Hungarians had to answer the question: “Do you want the European Union to decide to allocate persons in Hungary who are not Hungarian citizens, without the consent of the Hungarian Parliament?” Democratically through a referendum! As in 2