ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

‘Rebels’ are set to withdraw from this area in Aleppo. Source: @Tutomap/Twitter Last night, Jaish al-Fatah militants launched a major offensive against government forces in Hikmah from the direction of Rashiddeen 4 in the southwestern Aleppo countryside. After a series of firefights, the Syrian Army and Hezbollah forced Jaish al-Fatah units to retreat. As result a group of militants, that sabotaged evacuation from Aleppo on December 14, agreed to all terms and conditions of the Syrian government. Reuters (15.12.2016): But rebel officials said late on Wednesday that they had agreed to an evacuation of the wounded from those Shi’ite villages in Idlib province, and that the Aleppo deal would now go ahead as planned. “Within the coming hours its implementation will begin,” said Abdul Salam Abdul Razak, a military spokesman for the Nour al-Din al Zinki rebel group. An official with the Jabha Shamiya rebel group said implementation would begin around 6 a.m. (0400 GMT) on Thursday. He said

Russian sappers have demined 16.3 hectares of Aleppo’s territory in the past 24 hours, defusing 1,200 explosive devices, the Russian Center for Reconciliation of opposing sides in Syria said in a statement on Tuesday. "The Russian military servicemen of the International Mine Action Center continue to demine the recently liberated quarters of eastern Aleppo. Over the past 24 hours, they demined 16.3 hectares of the city territory. Besides that, 48 buildings, including five schools, a residential compound and a home for elderly people, have been cleared of explosive devices, as well as a park and motor roads with a total length of 2.5 kilometers," the statement reads. "On the whole, 1,225 explosive objects, including 1,182 homemade explosive devices, have been defused," the center added. Almost 7,800 civilians have left the areas of Syria’s Aleppo controlled by the militants over the past 24 hours, the center said. "Over the past 24 hours 7,796 civilians, inc

The Iranian President has ordered to develop a nuclear powerplant, which could be used for marine transportation, in response to US ‘violation’ of the nuclear deal with Iran. Iranian military personnel stand on a submarine during a naval parade on the last day of the Velayat-90 war game in the Sea of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz (Photo: Reuters / Stringer Iran) On Tuesday, the Iranian national nuclear agency has received a presidential order to start developing of a nuclear powerplant, which could be used for marine transportation. According to Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, the move became a response to US ‘violation’ of the nuclear deal with Iran. The order was sent to head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, who should control the process of developing of reactors for maritime usage and fuel production for this purpose, both of which should be ready in three months. As Rouhani noted, the order is the response of Tehran to the prolongation of anti-Ir

On December 11, ISIS terrorist group  seized the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra from the Syrian army and the National Defense Forces . ISIS used a high number of vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs) as one of the key elements of its operation in the area. SouthFront posts this analysis to reveal why VBIEDs are a major threat to the Syrian army and its allies across the war-torn country and to highlight the means that can be used to decrease this threat. This text  originally appeared at SouthFront on October 10  when Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda) and its allies launched a major offensive with a major usage of VBIEDs against Syrian government forces in western Aleppo. A suicide bomber of the group “Islamic State” attacked a convoy of the Iraqi military east of Mosul, as reported by the Kurdish Firat agency. According to the agency, the attack took place on October 17, 2016 near the village of Bilavet in an area to

© 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