ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

At least 79 people, including 16 children and nine women, were killed in the first five days of an offensive against the Islamic State terror group in the Syrian city of al-Raqqa, a UK-based war monitor reported on Sunday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) warned that the number of victims was increasing due to bombardments by the US-led international coalition, which killed 24 people, including five minors and three women, reports Efe news. The SOHR said those who died on Saturday included 15 people who were inside an internet cafe, and among them was an NGO activist. The ground offensive against al-Raqqa, the main IS stronghold in Syria, began last week, under the command of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. The number of civilians remaining inside al-Raqqa, which before the beginning of the conflict in Syria had more than 200,000 inhabitants, is not known for certai

Only Shakespeare’s plays could come close to describing such treachery – the comedies, that is By Robert Fisk The Qatar crisis proves two things: the continued infantilisation of the Arab states, and the total collapse of the Sunni Muslim unity supposedly created by Donald Trump’s preposterous attendance at the Saudi summit two weeks ago. After promising to fight to the death against  Shia  Iranian “terror,”  Saudi Arabia  and its closest chums have now ganged up on one of the wealthiest of their neighbours,  Qatar , for being a fountainhead of “terror”. Only Shakespeare’s plays could come close to describing such treachery. Shakespeare’s comedies, of course. For, truly, there is something vastly fantastical about this charade. Qatar’s citizens have certainly contributed to Isis. But so have Saudi Arabia’s citizens. No Qataris flew the 9/11 planes into New York and Washington. All but four of the 19 killers were Saudi. Bin Laden was not a Qatari. He was a Saudi. But Bin Laden fa

FILE IMAGE: US-led forces at the border with Syria The Jordanian military announced on Sunday that its servicemen killed five people and wounded 2 others attempting to infiltrate the Jordanian territory from the town of At Tanf at the Syrian-Iraqi border. According to the official statement, Jordanian border guards clashed during 72 hours with a convoy consisting 9 cars and 2 motorcycles trying to enter Jordanian territory from Syria. During the clashes, Jordanian border guards destroyed 2 cars and 2 motorcycles. The rest of the vehicles withdrew towards Al Tanf town in the Syrian territory. The Jordanian border guards also arrested two people who tried to cross the border. At Tanf town is under a full control of the US-led Coalition and militant groups affilated with the US-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) and there are Jordanian special forces in the town. The people who attempted to infiltrate into Jordanian territory may be a group of FSA who decided to withdraw to Jorda

FILE IMAGE Clashes broke out between the Hamzah Division and the so-called First Regiment in the outskirts of Al-Bab city in the northern Aleppo countryside on Sunday. According to opposition sources, the clashes resulted in the killing and wounding of a number of fighters from Turkey-led Euphrates Shield forces and civilians in the Al-Bab city. On the road of Hazrwan, east of Al-Bab city, clashes started between the military council of Al-Bab city of the Hamzah Division and fighters from Fhe First regiment, 9 fighters from the Hamzah Division and 7 from the First Regiment have been killed so far. According to opposition sources, the cause of the fighting is personal tensions among the fighters.  However, other sources indicated that the reason is the influence of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in the Turkish-occupied areas of nirthern Aleppo and the loyalty of some members of pro-Turkish militant groups to HTS. Al-Bab city witnesses clashes between factions of the Turkish-bac

Imitation devices made from plastic water bottles covered in silver and black duct tape Fake explosive belt used in the London Bridge attack  Metropolitan Police Pictures of the home-made fake explosive belts worn by the  London Bridge terrorists  have been released by police. The imitation suicide devices were each made from three plastic water bottles covered in silver and black duct tape, attached to a leather belt. They were worn by killers Khuram Butt, Rachid Redouane and Youssef Zaghba on their deadly rampage last Saturday night which left eight dead and injured dozens more. READ MORE Police reveal the knives used in London Bridge attack The belts were still attached to all three suspects when they were shot dead by armed officers, said the Metropolitan Police in a statement. “I have not seen this tactic in the UK before where terrorists create maximum fear by strapping fake explosives to themselves,” said Commander Dean Haydon, who is leadin

Elham Ahmad Saudi Arabia’s Al-Riyadh newspaper made an interview with Co-Chairman of the Syrian Democratic Council (a political wing of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces), Ilham Ehmed. This could be considered the first interview of SDF officials to the Saudi media. Ilham Ehmed praised the role of Saudi Arabia in promoting stability in Syria: “ Saudi Arabia is a brother country of Syria and important to Muslims. The SDF is ready to cooperate with countries seeking to end the conflict in Syria and to impose stability by building a democratic Syria away from all sectarian and national projects. “ When asked about the role played by Qatar in the Syrian warfare, she said: “Many regional countries involved in the Syrian issue could have played a positive role in resolving the crisis, including Qatar, but their support for groups at the expense of other groups led to the division of the opposition, and this opened the door to the spread of extremism and terrorism throug

Using their V-300 Commando Fire Support Vehicle, the Philippine Marines patrol Barangay Saduc in Marawi City on June 6, 2017. Photo by Bbobby Lagsa/Rappler The Philippine Army announced that the US Special Operations Forces have begun providing technical support to help end the siege imposed on Marawi city by ISIS fighters. At a press conference, Lieutenant Colonel Jo-Ar Herrera of the Philippine Army said that “US forces are not fighting but only providing technical support.” A spokesman for the US Embassy in the Philippines said the Philippine Army asked for American help in the Battle of Marawi, which entered its third week. OV-10 Bronco is carrying out airstrikes on ISIS targets in Marawi From its side, ISIS claimed that 19 Philippine soldiers were killed during clashes in Dagodban district of Marawi city. ISIS also claimed that its fighters managed to damage an armored vehicle of the Philippine army with a rocket-propelled grenade in Marawi yesterday. According t

Saudi Arabia denies any involvement as Iran's Revolutionary Guard accuses the kingdom of being behind ISIL attacks. Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps has accused  Saudi Arabia  of being behind Wednesday's double attack in the capital Tehran that  left  at least 13 people dead. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ( ISIL , also known as ISIS) group claimed responsibility and released a video purporting to show gunmen inside the parliament building. The Iranian elite force vowed in a statement on Wednesday to seek revenge. "The fact that Islamic State has claimed responsibility proves that they were involved in the brutal attack," referring to Saudi Arabia. The statement also said that the "spilled blood of the innocent will not remain unavenged". Saudi Minister of  Foreign Affairs  Adel al-Jubeir, speaking in the German capital of Berlin, said he did not know who was responsible and there was no evidence Saudi nation