ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

The Ukrainian Army continues to shell the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). Heavy clashes have erupted between Ukrainian soldiers and fighters of the DPR People’s Militia near the village of Staromykhailivka. Photo: YouTube / Ukraine on fire Last evening and night, the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched 410 artillery projectiles and mines on the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), the FAN news agency reported, citing sources in the DPR security agencies. The Ukrainian Army shelled areas in the vicinity of Donetsk , Gorlovka, Yasinovataya and Dokuchaevsk, including the villages of Trudovskiye, Aleksandrovka, Staromykhailivka, Elenovka, Zaytsevo and Ozeryanovka villages near Gorlovka, as well as Kuibyshev district of the capital of the republic. An exchange of artillery fire between Ukrainian soldiers and fighters of the DPR People’s Militia was spotted near the village of Staromykhailivka. Members of the People’s Militia filmed a video, showing the exchange o

(AFP Photo/Dmitry Kostyukov) Written by Alexander Mercouris; Originally appeared at TheDuran Russia’s successful sale of 19.5% of the shares of the state oil company Rosneft for $10.5 billion to the international oil trader Glencore and to the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar is another blow to Western sanctions and a vote of confidence in Russia’s economy. Defying the predictions of some Western analysts, and despite sanctions, Russia has pulled off another coup, successfully selling for $10.5 billion a 19.5% stake in the state owned oil company Rosneft. The buyers are Glencore Plc – a major oil trader, which has ambitions to re-establish itself as the dominant international trader of Russian oil – and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund. The sale of a stake in Rosneft has not been uncontroversial with some people, with some fearing – or hoping – that it is a rerun of the sort of privatisations which took place in Russia in the 1990s. As I have discussed previously, Russian President Putin

On December 8, ISIS terrorists launched multiple offensives against Syrian government forces near Palmyra and made gains south and north of the city. On December 9, clashes continued in the area with army troops, supported by the government’s airpower, were successfully repelling further ISIS attempts to deploy closer to the ancient city. By now, ISIS has failed to achieve its main goal to isolate Palmyra and to cut off the Homs-Palmyra highway. Click to see the full-size map

Western military operations in Iraq were based on the pretext that there was a government-imposed cruelty and weapons of mass destruction during Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship in Iraq. The self-righteous wanted to correct it for the betterment of the Iraqis and for making the world a safer place. There was no evidence that Hussein ever attack the United States through any proxy groups. Prevailing evidence and whistleblowers’ account, however, point to the Central Intelligence Agency, Israeli MOSSAD, and Saudi Intelligence as the ones behind the WTC 9/11 controlled demolition which served as the pretext for the “War of Terror” preemptive military invasions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria, as a prelude to the attack against Revolutionary Iran. The following videos are just a short peep into the outcome of the most recent attempt to recover Mosul from their own rogue terrorists. Warning: Extremely graphic. Man against man, that’s the simplest yet gruesome objective of the true enemie

With yesterday’s failure of Western Daesh benefactors to obtain another ceasefire in Syria that could have extended the “regime change” operations of the CIA and US State Department [ here ], the ISIS commanders on the ground have no other choice but to raise the white flag and avail themselves of the long standing Syrian government offer of amnesty and safe passage away from Aleppo City and neighboring areas. Russian Military Says Thousands of Militants Leaving Khan al-Shih in South Syria Sputnik 06:58 07.12.2016 (updated 07:54 07.12.2016) DAMASCUS (Sputnik) — Some 3,000 militants laid down arms and left the town of Khan al-Shih near Damascus in southern Syria after agreeing to join the ceasefire, the Russian reconciliation center said Wednesday. “After long and troublesome talks an agreement has been made with militants to join the cessation of hostilities regime,” Col. Alexei Leschchenko from the reconciliation center said. The rebels handed in more than 500 firearms,

During his speech in Tampa, Florida, outgoing US President Barack Obama has virtually admitted that the US has created the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group. Outgoing US President Barack Obama (Photo: zeit.de) Outgoing US President Barack Obama delivered a speech about confrontation to international terrorism. Or, rather, about the confrontation as it is understood by the US itself. According to Obama, the US made significant progress in the fight against terrorism, which resulted in creation of a powerful coalition, consisted of more than 60 countries. Will just remind, there are, for example, one Luxembourgish serviceman, as well as the Belgium air power, which ‘misses’ and strikes the Syrian government army instead of terrorists, among members of the ‘powerful’ coalition. Meanwhile, Obama virtually admitted that actions of the US (rather, the previous US administration) produced the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group . The outgoing US President said that mistakes of the country, m

Syrian Troops Are Close To The Biggest Victory In The War   Militant groups that operate in Aleppo city are in panic. On December 6, government forces took control of the neighborhoods of Sheikh Lutfi and Marjeh. On December 7, the Syrian army and its allies liberaed the Old Aleppo and entered the areas north and east of the Aleppo Citadel. Member groups Jaish al-Fatah and Fatah Halab militant coalitions announced that they are ready to withdraw from the city under a deal with the government. A large group of militants already surrendered to government forces.

A screenshot from the Malhama Tactical video on Youtube. You can see a “Welcome to Aleppo” sign at the background A self-proclaimed jihadist consulting firm has been discovered in Syria. The group calls itself “Malhama Tactical”. It’s led by “Abu Rofiq”, a Uzbek national that speaks Russian and claims that he served in the Russian Airbone Troops (also known as VDV). The group consists of mainly Uzbek nationals. It’s well equipped and trained. Since 2016, Malhama Tactical has been operating in Syria (mainly in the area of Aleppo) as a jihadi consulting firm that allegedly conducts advice and assistance missions for other jihadi factions and occasionally serves as an elite offensive unit. Abu Rofiq Pro-militant sources confirm that Malhama Tactical was created in Syria in 2016 and operates as a part of Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda) that is a part of the so-called “opposition coalition” Jaish al-Fatah. They add that the group