ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

The Russian Aerospace Forces have destroyed 26 more pieces of the ISIS military equipment and 2 fortified strong points belonging to the terrorist group, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on Monday. “Russia’s aerospace force during last night and the day of Monday went ahead with successful attacks against facilities of the Islamic State [ISIS] to destroy  four tanks, 16 cross-country vehicles armed with heavy machineguns, six trucks carrying ammunition and two fortified points, including artillery positions ,” the ministry said. The announcement came amid  the continued clashes between the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and ISIS in the Ghanem Ali area in southern Raqqah . According to the defense ministry, following the failure in southern Raqqah ISIS is now trying to re-group its forces in the province of Deir Ezzor. On Sunday, the Russian military announced that its warplanes have destroyed  the most battle-tested and well-armed unit of ISIS in the Euphrates River valley . Ov

By  Mikaprok  While some people are fighting for their own freedom on the surface of the Earth, some others are going to hide under its surface. The situation in the world today doesn’t seem calm, so we all have to come up with am option in case of global catastrophe. Thousands of top American residents for the past 2 years have received exotic citizenship of New Zealand, Fiji and the Caribbean islands. In November 2016,  only New Zealand got 13401 requests from the freest people in the world . 17 times more than for the period 2013-2015. Who are they? Here we go: Peter Thiel, two VPs from the board of PayPal, the major shareholders of WellsFargo, several VPs of the smaller Silicon Valley funds, Oracle executive management level and so on. There are no business needs to travel individually towards the beautiful sunsets, but there is a need for retreat in the unforeseen circumstances. The simpler and more brutal businessmen, like Andy Garcia (Facebook) or Steven Ho

FILE IMAGE On August 27, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) claimed that the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) launched a new attack in the center of Raqqa city. According to SOHR, the aim of the SDF operation is to capture the remaining ISIS positions in the Old Raqqa area. The SDF captured the southern part of al-Murur – also known as al-Haramiah – district in the center of Raqqa city. Furthermore, SDF fighters captured during their advance a VBIED and explosives workshop of ISIS. The ISIS-linked news agency, Amaq claimed on August 26 that 5 SDF fighters were killed in clashes with ISIS fighters in al-Murur district. Amaq also claimed that ISIS snipers killed 6 other SDF fighters near the al-Saa’a roundabout and the al-Salam hospital. Meanwhile, local sources claimed that the US-led collation carried out another air-drop operation near al-Tibni village in the northwestern Deir Ezzor countryside. The source added that the goal of the operation was to eva

“I provide my input through the chain of command,” Gen. John Nicholson said during a news conference in Kabul on Thursday. Credit Rahmat Gul/Associated Press On August 27, Commander for US Forces and NATO in Afghanistan General John W Nicholson claimed in an interview on the Afghanistan Tolo news TV channel that Taliban leadership are hiding inside Pakistan. “The Quetta Shura, Peshawar Shura, these shuras are identified by cities inside Pakistan, we know Afghan Taliban leaders are in these areas,” Gen. Nicholson said. Gen. Nicholson stressed that there will be no diplomatic solution in Afghanistan without cutting off the support for terrorists. “Support for terrorists and insurgents has to be reduced, has to be stopped,” he added. Separately, a report of the UK-based Sunday Express newspaper said that the UK is considering redeploying the Special Air Service (SAS), special forces, to Afghanistan to aid US President Trump’s plan there. “The special forces are clearl

Click to see the full-size map On Sunday, the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) captured the last positions of ISIS in al-Askari and al-Sna’a al-Shamliah districts in the northern part of Tal Afar and  established a full control over the town . Then, Iraqi forces continued its advance and captured the following areas around Tal Afar town: Al-Alwliah, Kuitlah, Kaser, al-Haruniah, al-Fough, Qabaq and Alwa’ailiah villages; Al-Dawajin, al-Saja’a and al-Tamarat farms; the Al-Kisk camp, the Mohman hill and the Tal Afar gas factory. Government forces also re-opened the al-Kisk-Tal Afar road and captured the “Border Citadel”. Iraqi warplanes destroyed 60 vehicles of ISIS and killed more than 180 ISIS fighters while they were withdrawing from Tal Afar town to al-Ayadiah town north of it. The remaining ISIS fighters are now regrouping in al-Ayaqiah town and rebuilding their defenses there, according to Iraqi sources. Al-Ayadiah is considered the second

On Sunday, the Hezbollah media wing announced that  ISIS fighters and their families will leave the Western Qalamoun region  to Al Bukamal city in the southeastern Deir Ezzor countryside. The Lebanese-based Al-Mayadeen news TV channel reported that 17 buses and 10 vehicles of the Syrian Red Crescent arrived to Jorud Qarah area inside Syria. The buses will evacuate 350 ISIS fighters and their families according to Al-Mayadeen. Al-Mayadeen also revealed that ISIS fighters will leave in the early morning tomorrow as both sides are in rush to end the deal. Meanwhile, Major General Abbas Ibrahim the General director of the Lebanese General Security Directorate announced that the Lebanese Intelligence recovered what could be the bodies of the 8 Lebanese soldiers who were captured by ISIS in Arsal in 2014. The Lebanese Red Cross is now conducting DNA tests on the bodies to identify it. Gen. Ibrahim said that one of ISIS fighters who surrender themselves earlier guided the Lebanese

by   MATTHEW HOH Photo by DVIDSHUB |  CC BY 2.0 There has never been progress by the U.S. military in Afghanistan, unless you are asking the U.S. military contractors or the Afghan drug barons, of whom an extremely large share are our allies in the Afghan government, militias and security forces, there has only been suffering and destruction. American politicians, pundits and generals will speak about “progress” made by the 70,000 American troops put into Afghanistan by President Obama beginning in 2009, along with an additional 30,000 European troops and 100,000 private contractors, however the hard and awful true reality is that the war in Afghanistan has only escalated since 2009, never stabilizing or deescalating; the Taliban has increased in strength by tens of thousands, despite tens of thousands of casualties and prisoners; and American and Afghan casualties have continued to grow every year of the conflict, with U.S. casualties declining only when U.S. force

Jim Hollander / Reuters On August 25, Taliban militants entered Khas Uruzgan district in central Afghanistan after they had overrun all the Afghani Army positions around it, according to Afghani sources. However, until now Taliban fighters didn’t impose their full control over the district. According to the Taliban media wing, Voice of Jihad, the Khas Uruzgan district administration center and police headquarter are now sieged by Taliban fighters. Taliban fighters killed 4 Afghani policemen and captured two Humvee vehicles and several pickup trucks during the attack, according to Afghani sources. During the last month Talibn captured 11 district centers in Afghanistan. The Afghani Army even with the US-led coalition support was only able to recapture 2 district centers. Moreover, Voice of Jihad announced that Taliban fighters attacked several checkpoints of the Afghani Army in Tagab Shan, Gawki and Jar Kala areas of Guriwan district. Taliban fighters captured the checkpoin