ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Iraqi army forces. Salahuddin (IraqiNews.com) Two-hundred Islamic State militants were killed as officials in Salahuddin province said Friday they launched a “preemptive” offensive against the group. The province’s statement said the offensive was codenamed “Revenge for the Martyrs of Iraq and Salahuddin”. Samarra, Salahuddin, Iraq (Google Maps) Salahuddin province, Iraq (google maps) Salahuddin has witnessed an escalation in IS attacks on deployments by Iraqi government forces and allied paramilitary troops al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units). PMUs said Thursday they killed 14 IS members after an attempted attack on the city of Baiji, north of the province. The news came hours after six suicide bombers from the group were reportedly killed before carrying out an attack at the city. On Wednesday, a violent attack by the Islamic State on Salahuddin’s city of Tikrit left 31 dead, including 14 policemen. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq says 1115 people, excluding

According to a former marine, he voted for Trump “to make America great again, not make the Middle East great again.” Photo: Twitter / AngeloJohnGage Marine veteran Angelo John Gage, who served two tours in Iraq, has warned US President Donald Trump that he is being “duped” about Syria, as well as that the most part of Trump’s supporters will not endorse change of the regime in the Arab country. Gage posted a video message, addressed to the US President, on his Twitter. The veteran claimed that the US President was cozying up to the same media and the deep state that has tried to destroy him at every turn, as well as noted that he voted for Trump “to make America great again, not make the Middle East great again.” “We have no interest in Syria….we have to focus on our own country and you’re being distracted and duped – it’s so obvious – it’s blatantly obvious how ridiculous this narrative is and how fake it is,” Gage said. “They lied about your taxes, they lied about Russian collusion

Kim Jong-un (L), Donald Trump (R) Written by Brian Kalman exclusively for SouthFront; Brian Kalman is a management professional in the marine transportation industry. He was an officer in the US Navy for eleven years. He currently resides and works in the Caribbean. There are a number of possible explanations for the U.S. cruise missile strike on the Syrian Base of Ash Sha’irat in Homs province. The neo-con establishment may have already convinced President Trump that it is in his best interest to play ball and carry on their agenda, just like Presidents Obama, Bush and Clinton before him. Trump may already be proving that being a successful businessman does not equate to being a good political and military strategist, and that this is an early sign of his incompetence; however, there is another explanation. What if the cruise missile attack on the airfield, which appears to have been light and did not result in major damage to the facility or the assets of the Syrian Air Force, was a

The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) is currently deploying additional forces to the Deir Ezzor Airport besieged by ISIS terrorists. Loyalist sources published pictures showing the relocation of dozens of soldiers to the airbase. Several sources talked about a noticeable increase in Russian and Syrian supply drops across the city of Deir Ezzor and its airport. The efforts aimed at increasing a manpower of government forces involved in the battle of Deir Ezzor indicate that the Syrian military could seek to launch an offensive in order to re-establish control over the Deir Ezzor areas lost to ISIS last year. Meanwhile, ISIS mobilized many fighters in western Deir Ezzor following the US Special Forces operation in the Hummat al-Tabny area . ISIS fighters set up several checkpoints and deployed armored vehicles armed with anti-aircraft guns. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced the formation of a new faction named “Fursan al-Jazira” meaning “The Knights of the Island” in the village of A

Trump is expanding the flawed policy of Obama. By Michael Horton The Trump administration has indicated that it will increase its support for Saudi Arabia’s war against Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The Saudi-led war, which began two years ago, has achieved little beyond killing thousands, destroying much of Yemen’s infrastructure, empowering al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and pushing millions to the brink of famine. The war is being waged with few ethical constraints: Saudi Arabia has targeted funerals , schools , factories, and farms . Most recently, a boat full of refugees fleeing Yemen was attacked by an Apache helicopter. That attack killed 42 people. The war has shown Saudi Arabia’s lavishly funded armed forces to be a paper tiger that is incapable of even defending the country’s southern border with Yemen. Now that the Saudis and their chief ally, the United Arab Emirates, have failed to defeat the Houthis, who are allied with much of the Yemeni Army, they want more suppor

Russia just called out the West for using the UN to promote regime change — but no one reported it By Richard Brandt Twitter was flooded with commentary about Nikki Haley's call to arms against Russia during the Security Council meeting on Wednesday afternoon. But no one bothered to report what Russia had to say. Russia's deputy United Nations ambassador Vladimir Safronkov said that the West's "obsession with regime change is what hinders this Security Council." He noted that for Washington and its partners, "everything is guided by regime change" and allegations that Assad used chemical weapons in an attack in Idlib province on Tuesday are based on "falsified reports from the White Helmets", an organization that has been "discredited long ago".  Follow Fares Shehabi   @ShehabiFares Can someone tell us what were these kids doing inside a secret Qaeda hideout dug deep inside a mountain?! Another cheap WH act! 1:1

President Donald Trump's envoy threatened unilateral U.S. action if the world body failed to act. "There are times in the life of states that we are compelled to take our own action," Haley declared "Terrorists sought to create a pretext for the use of military force against a sovereign State" -#Russia Ambassador to the #UNSC Russia's Foreign Ministry has rejected a draft UN Security Council resolution condemning an apparent chemical-weapons attack in Syria’s Idlib Province that left dozens killed and injured. Moscow said that the poison gas belonged to rebels and had leaked from an insurgent weapons depot hit by Syrian bombs. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on April 5 that the resolution -- drafted by the United States, Britain, and France -- was "categorically unacceptable" and obviously was drawn up in haste. Leaders and officials in other countries, including Britain and Israel, joined the U.S. in saying Assad

US Defense Secretary James Mattis is going to brief US President Donald Trump on military options against Syria in connection with an alleged chemical attack in the Syrian town of Khan-Shaykhun. US Defense Secretary James Mattis (Photo: AP) US President Donald Trump will be briefed by US Defense Secretary James Mattis on military options against Syria, the CBS News TV-channel reported. According to the TV-channel, one of these military options is cruise missile strikes from US Navy ships. Reportedly, the meeting of the US President and the country’s Defense Secretary will take place in Florida. Earlier, the CNN TV-channel reported citing its own unnamed sources that Trump told some members of the US Congress that he was considering a possibility of a military response to a chemical attack in the Syrian province Idlib . However, CNN ctressed that the US President still has not taken a decision. At a news conference on Wednesday, Trump said that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and