ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

TEHRAN (FNA)- Yemeni security sources disclosed that a Turkish plane has transferred tens of Al-Qaeda terrorists from Syria's Northern city of Aleppo to Yemen's Aden and evacuated wounded pro-Saudi militias to medical treatment centers outside the country when returning to Turkey. "The Turkish airplane landed at Aden International Airport to transfer the pro-Saudi mercenaries wounded in the Yemeni forces' offensives in Ta'iz province for treatment in Turkish hospitals," the Arabic-language al-Ahd news website quoted informed sources as saying on Saturday. The sources noted that some 150 al-Qaeda terrorists stepped out of the plane as soon as it landed, adding that they had been relocated from Syria's Aleppo to Aden. Then when the Turkish plane was preparing to fly back home, a sum of 158 wounded pro-Saudi militias went on board to be transferred to Turkey. More than 12,800 Yemenis, including women and children, have been killed in the course of the Saud

By John W. Whitehead “What’s past is prologue.” ― William Shakespeare, The Tempest What a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year this has been. Endless wars. Toxic politics. Violence. Hunger. Police shootings. Mass shootings. Economic downturns. Political circuses. Senseless tragedies. Loss. Heartache. Intolerance. Prejudice. Hatred. Apathy. Meanness. Cruelty. Poverty. Inhumanity. Greed. Here’s just a small sampling of what we’ve suffered through in 2016. After three years of increasingly toxic politics, the ruling oligarchy won and “we the people” lost. The FBI’s investigation of Hillary’s emails ended with a whimper, rather than a bang. FBI director James Comey declared Clinton’s use of a private email server to be careless rather than criminal . Bernie Sanders sparked a movement only to turn into a cheerleader for Hillary Clinton. Clinton won the popular vote but lost the election. Donald Trump won the White House while the American people lost any hope of ending the corporate e

By Finian Cunningham Future historians may well record 2016 a vintage year for Russian President Vladimir Putin. At any rate, at this point we can say it has been a good year for the Russian leader and his country’s international standing. Even Western media, which did its best to discredit, even demonize, Putin have had to admit so, albeit begrudgingly. This week, the London Financial Times described the Russian leader as «Buoyant Putin». While last week, the Washington Post headlined : «Moscow has the world’s attention. For Putin, that’s a win». The Washington Post surveyed some of the key developments over the past year as being in Putin’s favor, including a shaky European Union and the British Brexit vote to quit the bloc, an unwieldy NATO military alliance unsure of its purpose, the election of Donald Trump to the US presidency, and the retaking of the strategic Syrian city of Aleppo. The victory by the Syrian army in Aleppo, crucially aided by Russian military power, was surely

2016 marked by important of diplomatic, political and military developments around the world. Britain voted to leave the European Union by 52% to 48% in a national referendum. The outcome of the Brexit referendum has caused strong reaction at home and worldwide. Brexit was supported by the popular majority of Britain and a significant portion of the UK national elite. Even the use of lobbying clout by Cameron’s cabinet did not allow EU supporters to attain victory. Indeed, leaving the EU would allow the UK to control immigration more efficiently, save billions of pounds in membership fees and advocate its own trade deals while leaving all trade conditions between the UK and the EU relatively unchanged – all while getting rid of restrictive EU regulations, bloated Brussels bureaucracy and run down Eastern and South European economies. In fact, the UK has simply jilted continental Europe. After all, it was Britain that was an active supporter of many decisions that have had a negati

At least 35 people were killed and 40 badly wounded in the attack, Istanbul’s governor Vasip Şahin said, calling the incident a terrorist attack.  The attack took place at the well-known Reina nightclub in the Ortakoy neighborhood, in Istanbul’s Besiktas district. A policeman and a civilian are reported to be among the two known casualties at the nightclub. There were two attackers involved, according to NTV, but conflicting reports also described a lone gunman.  The gunmen were dressed in Santa Claus outfits, wielding assault rifles, Turkish media said. The attackers opened fire on clubgoers, injuring at least 20-30 and killing two, according to NTV. One of the gunmen has reportedly hidden inside the club, while the whereabouts of the second one were not immediately clear.  The number of casualties may rise, as it is estimated that between 700 and 800 people could have been in the club at the time of the attack, Mynet Haber reports. Emergency crews have been evacuating inju

The AH-64D Apache Longbow is a US four-blade, twin-turboshaft attack helicopter for rear, close, and shaping missions including deep precision strike. It is able to conduct distributed operations, precision strikes against relocatable targets and to provide armed reconnaissance in day, night, obscured battlefield and adverse weather conditions. The AH-64D Apache Longbow is equipped with a glass cockpit and advanced sensors. The AN/APG-78 Longbow millimeter-wave fire-control radar (FCR) target acquisition system is capable of simultaneously tracking up to 128 targets and engaging up to 16 at once. A radio modem integrated with the sensor suite allows data to be shared with ground units and other Apaches, allowing them to engage targets detected by a helicopter. Click to see the full-size map

According to the Italian intelligence, one of the commanders of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group has left the Syrian battlefield and returned to Europe with about 400 fighters of his group. Lavdrim Muhaxheri, also known as Abu Abdullah al Kosova (Photo: liveleak.com) Lavdrim Muhaxheri, a former NATO soldier, who became a commander of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, has left the Syrian battlefield and returned to Europe with about 400 fighters of his group, posing themselves as refugees, the Daily Mail newspaper reported, citing a report of the Italian intelligence. According to the report, Muhaxheri, also known as Abu Abdullah al Kosova, is a Kosovo Albanian, who was trained at the largest military base of the US Army in the Balkans. The US State Department has recognized him as a serious threat to Kosovo and Albania, as well as a global terror threat after his accession to the IS. Muhaxheri is not only one of the most active recruiters of the IS, but also one of the m

Originally appeared at RT A Vermont utility sounded the alarm after finding malware code on a laptop that the FBI and DHS had touted as associated with Russian hackers. However, cybersecurity specialists say the code came from an outdated Ukrainian hacking tool. On Thursday, the FBI and DHS released a joint report on a hacking operation they called ‘Grizzly Steppe’. They claimed the operation was linked to the Russian government, alleging that it had targeted “US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations.” Along with the report, the US security agencies released a sample of the malware code allegedly used in the Grizzly Steppe operation to compromise US computer networks. The code was also shared with executives from 16 industries around the nation, including the financial, utility, and transportation sectors, according to a Washington Post report . On Friday, Burlington Electric, a Vermont-based power company, released a statement saying that the malware cod