ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

A FSA militant poses for a photo-report of the FSA’s battle against ISIS” Members of the so-called “Free Syrian Army” (a coalition of pro-Turkey militant groups) run away from the battlefield when clashes between Turksih forces and ISIS terrorists started in western Al-Bab on December 22 , according to reports circulating in the Turkish blogosphere. Reports, citing an injured Turkish officer, say that about 40 FSA fighters remained with the Turkish army when clashes began in the outskirts of al-Bab. The total number of FSA fighters that were in the area was about 400. This means that only 10% of the FSA force decided to fight against ISIS instead of running away. View image on Twitter  Follow ilhan tanir   ✔ @WashingtonPoint El Bab'da TSK ile beraber olan 400 OSO gücünden çatışma başlayınca 40'i kaldi. Gıda sıkıntısı, teneke ile su ısıtma http://www. yenicaggazetesi.com.tr/mobi/isidin-el indeki-silahlar-ve-cepheden-kacan-oso-40998yy.htm  … 6:03 A...

The Islamic State (IS) terrorist group managed to carry out deadly bombings in the eastern part of Mosul, liberated from terrorists two months ago, deceiving the Iraqi security forces. An explosion (representational photo: iq.hathalyoum.net) On Thursday, the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group carried out deadly bombings in the eastern part of Mosul , using a security loophole, as the Iraqi forces failed to scrutinize a fake funeral organized by terrorists, the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights reported on Friday. According to reports, the attacks took place in the area of Kokjali, which was declared liberated from the IS two months ago, and were carried out with three booby-trapped vehicles, driven by IS suicide bombers. As a result of the attacks, at least 30 people, including Iraqi soldiers , were killed, and 60 others were wounded. It was unclear how the terrorists managed to enter the area, until the rights commission provided its report. “The group utilized army forces’ failu...

The authorities of the city of Damascus have been forced to cut water supplies in the city for a few days, after militants polluted the water with diesel. Photo: FAN Water supplies, coming into the city of Damascus , have been turned off by the city’s authorities for a few days, after militants polluted the water with diesel, the Reuters news agency reported on Friday. Currently, the city uses its water reserves. The al-Fija spring, which is used to supply Damascus with water, is located is in the militant-held Wadi Barada valley, to the northwest of the city, in a mountainous area near the Lebanese border. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, while the government controls the most part of the surrounding territory, on Friday, the air power carried out several aerial attacks and the Syrian Army shelled the militant-held area. As a military news outlet of the Hezbollah, an ally of the Syrian government, reported, militants, stationed in the Wadi Barada valley, had refu...

Originally appeared at Memoriabg , translated by Valentina Tzoneva exclusively for SouthFront Part 2: Middle East War (Part 1 of the monograph, ‘US Makes Wars With Foreign Hands – StratCom or Western Propaganda‘ see HERE [English version can be found HERE ]) Ivan Zapryanov is a military expert on defense and security. He graduated from the National Military University, ‘Vasil Levski’, Veliko Tarnovo, specialty ‘Military Intelligence’. He served in the Special Forces brigade. Between 2004 and 2005, he participated in the mission for post-war reconstruction of Iraq in the composition of the 4th Infantry Battalion, and in 2010, in the ISAF mission in the composition of the 18thBulgarian contingent in Afghanistan. He graduated from the Command and Staff College of the University of the Marine Corps, Quantico, USA. In 2014, he graduated in ‘Analysis of Defense’ at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, USA. He has completed a ‘Selection and Training of Operators of the Special Forces’ ...

Government forces are putting pressure on Jaish al-Islam terrorist group in the Eastern Ghouta region near the Syrian capital, Damascus. Recently, the Syrian army captured the Ferzat Hill and launched attacks in terrorists near the villages of Hawsh Salhiyah and Nashabiyah. Government troops deployed the Ferzat Hill and set a fire control over the road between Hawsh Salhiyah and Nashabiyah. In the nearest future, the Syrian army and the National Defense Forces will likely make an attempt to seize these villages localted near the important crossroads in the eastern part of the region. Click to see the full-size map

[AFP] Appeared at MoonOfAlabama The NYT laments today that international negotiations about the situation in Syria now continue without any U.S. participation: Russia, Iran and Turkey Meet for Syria Talks, Excluding U.S. Russia, Iran and Turkey met in Moscow on Tuesday to work toward a political accord to end Syria’s nearly six-year war, leaving the United States on the sidelines as the countries sought to drive the conflict in ways that serve their interests.Secretary of State John Kerry was not invited. Nor was the United Nations consulted. With pro-government forces having made critical gains on the ground, … (Note: The last sentence originally and correctly said “pro-Syrian forces …”, not “pro-government forces …”. It was altered after I noted the “pro-Syrian” change of tone on Twitter.) Russia kicked the U.S. out of any further talks about Syria after the U.S. blew a deal which, after long delaying negotiations, Kerry had made with the Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov. In a recen...

Female Fighters of FARC’s force. Photographer: Alvaro Ybarra Zavala Written by Daniel Edgar There is a disturbing element in the Final Accord negotiated between the Colombian Government and the FARC-EP, a provision which hasn’t been raised in the public discussions and analysis of the Accord or the negotiations that are taking place to finalize a new agreement following its rejection in the referendum held on the 2nd of October 2016. In the main text of the Accord, the Colombian Government and the FARC-EP emphasized that the UN monitoring group will rely heavily on participation by the member countries of CELAC (Latin America and the Caribbean), and Point 6 of the Accord provides that the international component to accompany implementation of specific aspects of the Accord will be comprised of the countries that served in the roles of guarantors and companions during the dialogues. In this respect the text states: “Point 6: Additionally, the accord creates a mechanism so that the inter...