ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

The US has tried to bolster the Afghan government in Helmand Province with air support in their fighting against the Taliban, but the support appears to have gone horribly wrong today, as a  US drone attacked and killed  at least  15 Afghan police . A US MQ-9 Reaper drone (file photo) The airstrike was targeting what the US thought was a Taliban compound in Helmand’s Gereshk District, but was actually a site used by Afghan security forces to meet and plan operations against the Taliban. A number were inside when the US attacked. Death tolls still aren’t totally finalized, but Helmand Governor Hayatullah Hayat  confirmed that two top police commanders were among the slain . The Afghan government suggested no soldiers were among the slain, and that it was only the local and provincially-provided police forces that sustained casualties. The Pentagon expressed condolences for “the unfortunate incident,” but provided no indication as to why they attacked the compound, simply term

LAHORE, Pakistan: A suicide bomber killed at least 25 people, many of them police, in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore on Monday, officials said, an attack which shattered a period of relative calm in Pakistan's second-largest city. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack which wrought carnage near the Lahore Technology Park in the centre of the city. Police deployed to clear street vendors from the area had been targeted, a police official said. "We suspect that he (the suicide bomber) came on a motorcycle and he rammed it into a police checkpoint," Lahore police operations chief Haider Ashraf told Reuters. Rescue workers shifted the wounded to hospital and police officers cordoned off the bomb site as army troops also arrived at the scene. "The death toll we have now is 25 dead and 52 are wounded," said Jam Sajjad Hussain, a spokesman for the Rescue 1122 service. A wounded man sitting on the roadside was shown crying in pai

What the demise of the CIA’s anti-Assad program means By David Ignatius What did the CIA’s covert assistance program for Syrian rebels accomplish? Bizarrely, the biggest consequence may be that it helped trigger the Russian military intervention in 2015 that rescued President Bashar al-Assad — achieving the opposite of what the program intended. Syria adds another chapter to the star-crossed history of CIA paramilitary action. These efforts begin with the worthy objective of giving presidents policy options short of all-out war. But they often end with an untidy mess, in which rebels feel they have been “seduced and abandoned” by the promise of U.S. support that disappears when the political winds change. One Syrian opposition leader highlighted for me the danger for his rebel comrades now: “The groups that decided to work with the U.S. already have a target on their back from the extremists, but now will not be able to defend themselves.” The  demise of the Syria program 

By Chris Menahan   Wikileaks' Julian Assange is continuing his attempt to " take down America any way he can " by accurately reporting the truth. Saturday on Twitter, Assange highlighted  an article from Thursday  where the Financial Times noted how many Syrian rebels are getting salaries from the CIA. Assange said they "buried the lede": View image on Twitter  Follow Julian Assange   @JulianAssange Financial Times buries the lede. CIA not only armed Syria's insurgents--it paid their salaries. 6:40 PM - 22 Jul 2017     6,578 6,578 Retweets     6,424 6,424 likes Twitter Ads info and privacy 23 Jul Julian Assange   @JulianAssange Financial Times: CIA not only armed Syrian "rebels" it is paying their monthly salaries  pic.twitter.com/HX8ncle0mU  Follow Julian Assange   @JulianAssange URL for the above:  https://www. ft.com/content/a35244 e6-6d2e-11e7-bfeb-33fe0c5b

The Egyptian Arrmy has continued its large anti-terror campaign in northern Sinai crushing ISIS terrorists. According to the government, 30 ISIS terroists were killed, 5 were captured and 12 technicals and 4 VIEBDs were destroyed. 30 IEDs planted alongside roads were also discovered and defused. In central Egypt, 2 terrorists were killed in a police special operation in Fayoum city. In the same city a terrorist attacked police patrol killing 1 solider and wounding three others. On Saturday, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi attended opening the Mohamed Naguib Military Base, located in the coastal Al Hamam area of Marsa Matruh Governorate. The site is one of the largest military bases in the Middle East located. The base is set up to protect and monitor the 1000km  long borders with Libya that terrorists use to conduct raids attacks against the army and to smuggle weapons.

FILE IMAGE On Saturday, both Russia and Syria reached a de-escalation agreement with groups of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in the Eastern Ghouta region near Damascus. According to opposition sources, the agreement was reached with the help of the Egyptian mediation. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the first humanitarian aid convoy was set to Eastern Ghouta along with the evacuation of the wounded persons as part of the agreement. The Russian Defense Ministry said: “Today’s agreement delineates the borders of the de-escalation zone in the eastern Ghouta, and identified the deployment of separation and observation forces in Ghouta and the authorities, as well as, identified the lines of humanitarian aid and civilian crossings.” The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that the agreement was the result of negotiations in the Egyptian capital of Cairo between the Syrian government and the moderate Syrian opposition. From his side, spokesman for Faylaq al-Rahman fac

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 positions in the southwestern part of Raq