ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

© Patrik Stollarz / AFP German police will deploy 1,500 officers to the streets of Cologne on New Year’s Eve and implement a number of increased security plans, aiming to prevent a repeat of the wave of sexual assaults that were reported on the holiday last year. In addition to federal police officers and city security officials, trained specialists will be available to help women and girls in case of harassment, intimidation, assault, or rape, Deutsche Welle reported. Officers will wear reflective vests to make themselves highly visible, police chief Jürgen Mathies said during a presentation of the city's New Year's Eve security plan on Monday. The city will also limit access to the immediate area around the city's cathedral, the site of many of last year's alleged assaults, which on that day were reported in their hundreds. The church, the adjacent square, and nearby buildings will be illuminated in bright colors. Bags will be searched, and fireworks will be strict...

Click to see the full-size map The Syrian army and the National Defense Forces (NDF) have repelled the ISIS attack on the strategic Tyas Airbase west of the ancient city of Palmyra . Now, the Tyas Airbase is a key defence locality of the Syrian army that it will use to repell ISIS attempts to develop the advance. In turn, the goal of Syrian government forces is to regroup, to deploy reinforcements and to prepare an operation to retake the ancient city from the terrorist group. Syrian troops are repelling the ISIS attack on the Tyas Airbase: Syrian troops near the Tyas Airbase:

ISIS terrorists seized the ancient city of Palmyra from Syrian government forces. The terrorist group also took control of Biyarat, Dawah and Hayyan oil facility west of Palmyra after a series of clashes with the Syrian army and the National Defense Forces (NDF). Terrorists also attacked the Qadri farms and shelled government forces in the outskirts of the Tayfor Airbase. Heavy clashes were also at the Tiyas village near the Tayfor Airbase, but the Syrian army repelled ISIS attacks there. ISIS was able to achieve all these gains despite massive airstrikes by the Syrian Air Force and the Russian Aerospace Forces. Only Russian warplanes and helicopters have delivered over 150 airstrikes on ISIS terrorists near Palmyra since Saturday. On Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that eleven battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, 31 cars with heavy machineguns, and over 300 militants were destroyed. Government forces are now regrouping and deploying reinforcements in the area w...

On Sunday, Russian state VGTRK TV channel released a video that had somewhat lifted a veil of secrecy over Russian Ministry of Defense's Special Operation Forces (SOF) and their role in Syrian war. The reportage is focused on a commander of a SOF unit regularly operating in Syria, Colonel Vadim, whose first name might well be fictitious, while his last name is not disclosed at all. Speaking to a VGTRK correspondent, the commander reveals some details about SOF's mission in Syria. Based on his words, the primary objectives of the operations carried out by his unit in this Middle Eastern country can be summarized as follows: Providing the Russian Air Force with target designation which allows fighter jets and attack helicopters to carry out precise airstrikes on positions and movements of various jihadists groups; Carrying out special operations in the enemy's rear, that include intelligence data collection and liquidation of jihadist field commanders; Destroying fortified po...

BEIRUT, LEBANON (3:05 A.M.) - The jihadist rebels of Fatah Halab and Jaysh Al-Fateh have had a rough 24 hours in the eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo, thanks in large-part to the Syrian Arab Army's (SAA) relentless assault that has netted large gains around the provincial capital. Led by the Tiger Forces and Republican Guard , the Syrian Arab Army began the day by seizing the Al-Asilah Neighborhood near the Aleppo Citadel, killing over 15 enemy combatants before advancing to the Al-Jalloum District. Minutes after entering Al-Jalloum, the Syrian Armed Forces managed to seize more than half of this district after launching another powerful attack on Fatah Halab's defenses. While the Syrian Arab Army was advancing in the Old Aleppo District, the Desert Hawks Brigade launched a new assault on the key Sheikh Sa'eed District, striking the enemy defenses from the western and southern flanks. According to a military source in Aleppo, the Desert Hawks Brigade seized the entire She...

BEIRUT, LEBANON (1:30 P.M.) - The Turkish Army suffered heavy losses on Saturday afternoon, following a suicide bombing by the so-called "Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham" near the key town of Al-Bab in eastern Aleppo. According to the Islamic State's official media wing, one of their suicide bombers killed more than 20 Turkish soldiers and destroyed over 10 armored vehicles near Al-Bab today. Using a VBIED (vehicle borne improvised explosive device), the Islamic State suicide bomber reportedly scored a direct hit against the stationary Turkish Armed Forces inside the village of Baratah, which is located west of Al-Bab. Intense clashes broke-out after the Islamic State suicide bombing near Al-Bab, as the Turkish Army attempts to avenge their losses to the aforementioned terrorist group.

Israeli military has admitted that a map, which was posted on its Twitter account and allegedly showed military positions of the Hezbollah resistance movement, is fake. A fake map of Lebanon, allegedly, showing military positions of Hezbollah, which was tweeted by Israeli military earlier. The Israeli Army has admitted that a map, titled “Declassified map of Hezbollah’s military infrastructure in Lebanon,” which was posted on its Twitter account on December 6, is fake. The map, accompanied by the text “This is a war crime,” allegedly shows positions of antiaircraft systems, rocket launchers, infantry, and tunnels of the Hezbollah resistance movement in 85 villages in south Lebanon. However, online users noted that the map was fabricated, as it was clear that its history was created by using Google Maps. Commentators also pointed out that the dots, marked on the map, represent a repetitive pattern. On Thursday, the fact that the map, which, according to Israeli media, has been circ...

Click to see the full-size image Russia’s Kalashnikov Concern presented the AK-15 assault rifle at the Army 2016 defence exhibition held outside Moscow in September. It has a rate of fire of 700 rounds per minute, which is 50 rounds faster than that of the AK-74M. The AK15 brandishes a Picatinny rail for various devices, a telescopic-type buttstock, and a pistol-type grip. The magazine-opening cover, foregrip, and gas tube are modified to ratch up the rifle’s grouping of shots and ergonomics. The AK-15 was developed under the Ratnik program with aim to replace the AK-103. AK-15 (left) and AK-12. Source:Vasily Raksha AK-15 (left) and AK-12. Photo: Nikolai Novichkov AK-15. Photo: Nikolai Novichkov More about the Army 2016: Army 2016