ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Written by Evgeny Satanovsky; Originally appeared at VPK , translated by AlexD exclusively for SouthFront Contemporary Egypt is the subject of sharp discord between Arabian monarchies. Some try to influence it; others try to bring down its economy or the ruling regime. In addition to Egypt, they fight each other over influence in Syria, Libya and Yemen. For the past ten years, Egypt is the key country in the Arab world. The Egyptian Armed Forces are the largest and most powerful among Arab states. The population of Egypt is several times larger than any of them. Its geopolitical position at a junction of Africa and Asia is the most important one in the region, even if we forget about the Suez Canal. Egypt has complicated relations with near and far neighbours – the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, Libya, Sudan and South Sudan, Eretria and Ethiopia. We will look into a few of these topics, basing on materials from experts of the Middle East Institute A.A. Bystrov, P.P. Rybov and V. Chernin

According to the Turkish Interior Minister, Ankara could send 15,000 refugees a month to Europe and “blow its mind.” Photo: EPA / Yannis Kolesidis Turkey has threatened to open the way for 15,000 refugees to the EU monthly, if the block continues its unfriendly policy towards Ankara, the Hurriyet newspaper reported on Thursday, citing Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu. “I’m telling you, Europe, do you have that courage? If you want, we could open the way for 15,000 refugees that we don’t send each month and blow your mind,” the newspaper quoted his words. The minister noted that Europe cannot ‘play its games’ in the region, ignoring Turkey. Soylu also accused Europe of failing to help Turkey to join the EU and not providing support in the Ankara’s fight against terrorism. The Minister also said that Germany and the Netherlands were involved in anti-government protests in Turkey in 2013, Kurdish demonstrations in October 2014 and the failed coup attempt on the night of July 16 i

At least 24 soldiers of the Ukrainian Army lost their lives, while 79 others were wounded in the Donbass in the past week. Photo: Flickr / Ministryofdefenceua Over the past week, 24 soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were killed in the Donbass, while 79 others were wounded, Deputy Commander of the Operational Command of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Eduard Basurin, said. According to Basurin, these losses became the results both of non-battle circumstances and attacks on DPR positions. “According to our data, the total loss figure is 24 killed servicemen and 79 wounded,” the Deputy Commander noted. He also added that the Ukrainian military leadership hides all these cases and losses from the public as before. At the same time, according to Basurin, four DPR fighters were killed, and two others were wounded in shelling, conducted by the Ukrainian Army in the past week. “For the week, the losses among DPR military personnel during the defense of the republic were four dead an

© Christian Hartmann / Reuters The French authorities will be expected to see if any sort of warning signs had been missed before this act of violence occurred, Security analyst and former Counter Terrorism Intelligence officer, Charles Shoebridge, told RT. The French government issued an attack alert after a shooting occurred at a college in the southern town of Grasse. The alert was issued over the government's mobile app. Three people, a high school principle among them, were injured. Five more people were said to be suffering shock. The attack shocked France, which has some of the toughest gun laws in the world. Citizens are banned from owning automatic weapons, while other guns require authorization, together with a permit from a hunting or sporting organization. View image on Twitter Follow Nice-Matin ✔@Nice_Matin Le périmètre de sécurité à #Grasse http://nicematin.com/a/122006 2:02 PM - 16 Mar 2017 3939 Retweets 1111 likes On the same day, in Paris, a letter-bomb explod

A battle with the militants in Mosul, Iraq, March 11, 2017 © Thaier Al-Sudani / Reuters 312 The Mosul siege, supposed to liberate people from ISIS, poses a grave threat to civilians, while those who manage to flee the indiscriminate shelling are forced through a poorly organized jihadist filtering process, a senior HRW official told RT. Trends #MosulSOS , Iraq carnage , Islamic State Iraqi troops have been systematically using heavy artillery and crude improvised rocket-assisted munitions (IRAM) in the battle against IS terrorists in Mosul, despite the government’s promises not to use the highly inaccurate weapons in densely populated areas, a new report Human Rights Watch (HRW) revealed earlier this week. This can potentially be classified as a “war crime” and should be stopped immediately, Ahmed Benchemsi, MENA communications director of HRW told RT. “The laws of war are very clear, they said whenever there’s a gathering of civilians all necessary measures must be taken to avoid t

By Peter Symonds  A dangerous confrontation is rapidly emerging on the Korean Peninsula between the United States and North Korea, with the potential to plunge North East Asia and the rest of the world into a catastrophic conflict between nuclear-armed powers. Amid a barrage of commentary in the American and international media inflating the threat posed by the Pyongyang regime, the Trump administration is actively considering “all options” to disarm and subordinate North Korea. The immediate pretext is North Korea’s test-firing of four medium-range ballistic missiles last week, following the launch in February of a new intermediate-range missile. However, the drumbeat of US military threats has been preceded by months of high-level discussions in American foreign policy and military circles over action to prevent North Korea building an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of hitting the continental United States. President Barack Obama, who, according to the New York Tim

A Yazidi woman was killed and 12 othe people were injured when Rojava Peshmerga units loyal to Iraqi Kurdistan President Masoud Barzani opened fire on protersters in the region of Shingal near the Iraqi-Syrian border. The incident took place near the town of Khanasur, controlled by predominantly Shingal Protection Units (YBS) a Yazidi militia affiled with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). YBS supporters marched towards positions occupied by pro-Barzani forces. Clashes between YBS and Rojava Peshmerga already took place earlier this month due to tensions between the Barzani clan and the local populations which support the PKK. More info about the tensions can be found in this article. Photos from the site:

The Iranian authorities have promised to grant Iran’s citizenship to Afghan fighters, who are members of the IRGC Fatimiyyoun Brigade, fighting in Syria. Afghan fighters, fighting as part of the Fatimiyyoun Brigade of the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic, will get Iranian citizenship on the orders of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the Anadolu news agency reported, citing an official of the Iranian Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs, Mohammad Ali Shahidi Mahallati. According to the news agency, the announcement was made on the Iranian Javanonline information website on Sunday. “According to Khamenei’s instructions, Iran will grant citizenship to Afghans fighting in Syria [as part of the Fatimiyyoun Brigade],” Anadolu quoted Mahallati’s words. Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war, a number of Shia militias, overseen by IRGC commanders, have been sent by Iran to the country to fight alongside the Syrian gove