ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

(AFP) A suicide bomber killed at least 30 Yemeni soldiers on Sunday when he detonated his explosives at a gathering in the southern city of Aden, military officials and medics said. Many others were wounded in the attack that targeted a crowd of soldiers gathered to collect their salaries at a base in northeastern Aden, the sources said. The attacker immersed himself among the soldiers at Al-Solban base, in Al-Arish district, a military official said. The attack comes eight days after a similar bombing in Aden claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group killed 48 soldiers and wounded 29 others. Yemeni authorities have for months pressed a campaign against jihadists who remain active in the south and east of the war-torn country. IS and its jihadist rival Al-Qaeda have taken advantage of a conflict between the government and Yemen's Huthi rebels, who control the capital Sanaa, to bolster their presence across much of the south. The two extremist groups have carried o

Photo: filmski.net Danny Froberg from Al Masdar News SF comment: Despite the propaganda and biased approach of mainstream media, people in the global world themselves are able to understand where the truth, distortion and blatant falsehood lie. Expulsion of journalists from a country due to the fact that authorities do not like the way they comment on current events is a vicious practice. Results of such actions for public we can see in today’s Ukraine . Another example of the censorship is total control of western journalists by terrorist organizations in Aleppo that surfaced after the liberation of the city. So, according to Independent , “the jihadis holding power in east Aleppo were able to exclude Western journalists, who would be abducted and very likely killed if they went there, and replace them as news sources with highly partisan ‘local activists’ who cannot escape being under jihadi control.” In July, the Amnesty International activist organization published a report, accor

At least 14 US-led coalition military advisers have been captured by the Syrian Special Forces in a bunker in the city of Aleppo, according to media reports. The event allegedly took place in the morning on December 16, 2016 ( Voltaire.net ): “The Security Council is sitting in private on Friday, December 16, 2016, at 17:00 GMT, while NATO officers were arrested this morning by the Syrian Special Forces in a bunker in East Aleppo.” 21stcenturywire.com also provided a list of names of the coalition’s military advisers captured in Aleppo, citing a Syrian member of Parliament: Fares Shehabi, a prominent Syrian Parliamentarian and head of Aleppo’s Chamber of Commerce published the names of the Coalition officers on his Facebook page on the 15th December (emphasis added): Mutaz Kanoğlu – Turkey David Scott Winer – USA David Shlomo Aram – Israel Muhamad Tamimi – Qatar Muhamad Ahmad Assabian – Saudi Abd-el-Menham Fahd al Harij – Saudi Islam Salam Ezzahran Al Hajlan – Saudi Ahmed Ben Naoufel

Written by Boyan Chukov; Originally appeared at A-specto , tranlsated by Desi Tzoneva exclusively for SouthFront Turkish Prime Minister, Binali Yildirim, returned from a visit to Moscow a few days ago. Previously, Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a statement that Ankara will seek to become a member of the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization). A proposal for amendment of the Turkish Constitution was submitted to the Turkish parliament, moving the country to a presidential regime. It is an old dream of Recep Erdogan. If these adjustments are made, the constitution will abolish the post of a prime minister. The president will appoint ministers. As a whole, the Turkish President will become a true “Sultan”. Comments on these events had not subsided yet when on 10th December 2016, Istanbul was covered in blood again. Two blasts exploded in the center of the city, near the football stadium, “Besiktas”. 38 people were killed. 30 of them were employees of law enforcement. The youth organization, ‘

Source: VPK/Andrey Sedih Written by Yevgeny Satanovskiy; Originally appeared at VPK , translated by Alice Decker exclusively for SouthFront On December 11, militants from the “Islamic State” (IS), which is banned in Russia, forced Assad’s troops out of Tadmora, historic Palmyra, for the second time and captured the provincial town of world historical significance — not so important strategically, unless you take into account the nearby intersection with the road leading to Deir ez Zor, besieged by IS for several years, with its refineries and air force base. Characteristically, the attacking forces of five thousand fighters with tanks, armored personnel carriers and rocket artillery made their way through the desert for several hundred kilometers without being detected by Assad’s intelligence, which makes experts speak of a possible betrayal at the highest level of the Syrian army command and its Mukhabarat (or military intelligence). Betrayal or Gullibility? The specific question is,

A Chinese Navy ship stole an American underwater research drone in full view of a US crew in the area of the South China Sea, contested by China and the Philippines. Engineers inspect a littoral battlespace sensing glider aboard the USNS Pathfinder in 2010 (Photo: US Navy) An American underwater research drone was stolen by a Chinese Navy ship in full view of a US crew in the area of the South China Sea, contested by China and the Philippines , the Fox News TV-channel reported on Friday, citing US defense officials. The incident took place approximately 65 kilometers west of the Philippines and about 240 kilometers from Scarborough Shoal on Thursday around noon local time. Reportedly, the Chinese ship had been secretly monitoring the American USNS Bowditch ship, which deployed the drone, a Slocum Glider, during several days. “This is an act of war against the United States,” analyst and author of ‘The Coming Collapse of China’, Gordon Chang, told Fox News. According to Chang, the move

The war in Syria and the simmering conflict on the Donbass have tended to obscure significant changes within the Russian Ground Forces, namely the raising of new motorized rifle and tank divisions on the basis of permanent readiness brigades, the reactivation of regiments within existing reduced-strength divisions, and the creation of numerous artillery and air defense brigades and other non-divisional units apparently for inclusion in the combined arms and tank armies for which the new divisions are being intended. News reports from just the last few weeks have identified the following units undergoing reactivation procedures: The 42nd Guards Red Banner Evpatoriya Motorized Rifle Division, which is being rebuilt using two motorized rifle brigades stationed within the Republic of Chechnya, assigned to the 58th Army of the Southern Military District. The 90th Guards Twice Red Banner Vitebsk-Novgorod Tank Division, being reconstituted on the basis of the 7th Guards Separate Tank Brigade

US Army soldiers stand at attention before a homecoming ceremony at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Colorado February 12, 2009 (Photo: Reuters / Rick Wilking) The US Army’s Reserve (USAR) plans to establish units of highly combat readiness, new commander of the USAR, Lieutenant-General Charles Luckey, said in an interview with a group of journalists on Monday. As Luckey admitted, there is still no full understanding of how these units would look. He specified that they are still trying to decide how such formations would look and what military plans would define the requirements, imposed on them. However, Luckey also confirmed that he has already required his command structure to explore the question of what kind of forces and means of the USAR can be provided to combat units in the case of receiving a request without prior warning at this stage. The US Army ‘s Reserve is going to be ready for combat deployment “in less than 90 days [before it] and, in some cases, significantly l