ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Jaysh Assoud al-Sharkia announced on July 19 that unknown militants assassinated one of its commanders in eastern Qalamoun. According to opposition sources, militants on a motorcycle shot Shibli Khalifa in Dumair City. Jaysh Assoud al-Sharkia is considered one of the largest groups backed by the US-led coalition, and there are fighters from it in the US base of Al Tanf on the Syrian-Iraqi border. Opposition activist Karam Saad al-Haj said that the assassination took place near the local clinic and the al-Qal’a Roundabout. He also said that Khalifa was transferred to a medical point immediately, but he died there, adding that the perpetrators of the assassination hadn’t yet been identified. Opposition sources accused Syrian Intelligence or ISIS of being behind the operation. Earlier this month a unidentified militant had assassinated a commander of Assoud al-Sharkia in Dumeir town. Assoud al-Sharkia accused the Syrian Intelligence of being behind the assassination. However, pro...

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) published a video that shows the targeting of ISIS fighters inside Raqqa city with armed drones. It’s believed that the SDF managed to obtain drones equipped with thermal cameras and modified them for combat against ISIS. The SDF continued its advance in Nazlat Shehadeh district in the western part of the city. The SDF is trying to evacuate hundreds of civilians who can no longer flee easily after ISIS closed all streets in Raqqa City.  Follow قوات سوريا من الجبهة   @QSD_Jabha قوات سوريا الديمقراطية  # قسد  تخوض اشتباكات عنيفة ضد داعش منذ ليلة الامس في حي نزلة شحادة لتحرير مدنيين عالقين في المعارك # الرقة # الخلافه 4:28 PM - 21 Jul 2017     3 3 Retweets     11 11 likes Twitter Ads information and privacy According to Kurdish sources, 8 ISIS fighters were killed during the clashes on Friday. On the other side, ISIS fighters targeted SDF po...

This handout photo taken on July 20, 2017, and released by the Presidential Photo Division (PPD) shows Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte following his arrival at Cagayan de Oro airport on the southern island of Mindanao. (Photo by AFP) On July 20 , Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte visited Marawi City where fierce clashes were taking place between the Philippine Army and ISIS fighters. Duterte announced that Marawi crisis is coming to an end soon: “The fight in Marawi would soon be over. [The] one thing that’s stopping us now is ‘yung sa mosque, it’s a big one, it has underground tunnels but not so much about that.” The president expressed his concern over more than 300 people still being held hostage by ISIS fighters in Marawi city and said he needed a martial law to secure the city during this crisis. However Duterte assured that he could work without military law. “If I have to arrest you without a warrant, I will arrest you without a warrant — with or w...

In June 2014, the so-called Islamic State (IS) occupied about one-third of Iraq’s territory, including Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul. It meant the radical islamists were close to capturing Baghdad and imposing its authority over all of Iraq. At that point the Iraqi government recognized the real danger of the situation and started forming militia units to liberate the country from IS. The Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) played a decisive role in that process. The PMU (Al-HashdAl-Sha’abi) are pro-government forces operating under the formal leadership of the Iraqi military and consisting of about 70 factions. They were formed at the directive of Iraqi religious authorities after IS seized large swaths of territory in several provinces north of Baghdad in 2014. Establishment history One of the internal political factors which led to the PMU’s appearance in Iraq was the failure of state capacity in the realm of national security, against the backdrop of the rise of IS influ...

Major General Issam Zahreddine (R) The European Union (EU) has imposed new sanctions on 16 Syrian officers and scientists, blaiming them for the alleged chemical attack that took place in Khan Shaykhun in the Syrian province of Idlib on April 4, 2017. The sanctions include banning the subjects from entering the EU countries and freezing their bank accounts in European banks. The sanctions included 8 Syrian scientists and engineers allegedly working in the Syrian Scientific Research Center: Hamad Safwan Qattan, Mohammad Ziad Gharywati, Mohammad Dirar Khaloudi, Dr. Khaled Sawan, Rimon Rizk, Fawaz Al-Ato, Fayez Al-Assi and Dr. Hala Sarhan. The EU didn’t provide any evidence confirmming their links to the alleged production of chemical weapons in Syria, which stopped in 2013 according to the United States. The sanctions also included eight high-ranking officers of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA): Brigadier-General Mohammad Yousef Hassouri, Major General Malik Hasan, Major...

Haider Al Abadi, Iraq’s prime minister, attends an event to announce victory over ISIL in Mosul. Reuters Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said that he had rejected agreements suggested by some parties that could allow ISIS fighters to withdraw from Mosul before its liberation. Al-Abadi didn’t reveal the sides that asked him to approve ISIS’s withdrawal but stressed that he rejected all pressures from all sides during the Mosul battle. “The advocates of sedition revealed their intentions,” Al-Abadi said in a speech during his visit to the Martyrs Foundation. “We liberated Mosul and defeated ISIS and refused to barter as some called.” “We were able to liberate Mosul from ISIS terrorist organization despite the opposition of some and the suspicion of others,” Al-Abadi added. The prime minister stressed that the number of casualties during the Mosul battle is exaggerated. “Figures on Iraqi casualties are false and some try to exaggerate them,” he said. La...