ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

FILE IMAGE The Russian Defense Ministry has accused the United States and its “coalition against ISIS” in “sumulating” the war against ISIS in Iraq. The ministry noted a low number of the US-led coalition’s airstrikes on ISIS in September when the terrorist group’s members were crossing into Syria. According to the ministry, the US-led coalitino reduced a number of airstrikes on ISIS in Iraq while terrorists were redeplyoing for a battle against Syrian government forces in the province of Deir Ezzor. “ In the western part of Iraq, from where the terrorist forces are arriving to the eastern bank of the Euphrates River (where the Russian Aerospace Forces are not operating), the [ISIS]IS-controlled territory continues growing, and it is manifold larger than in Syria ,” Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Tuesday. He added that the analysis of the statistics provided by the Pentagon on the sorties as part of the campaign to fight ISIS allows “to see so

Helmet and flack jackets of the members of the 1 parachute battalion of the South African contingent of the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC), in a photo dated 14 February 2008. (UN Photo/Marie Frechon) The United Nations  said  on October 9 that it has pulled staff out of two districts in southern Malawi where a vampire scare has triggered mob violence in which at least five people have been killed. The United States embassy in Malawi has temporarily  withdrawn  its team of Peace Corps volunteers from the four districts in southern Malawi and advised its citizens not to visit the area. As reported by local police, vigilantes killed six people suspected of drinking blood for ritualistic purposes since mid-September in Malawi.  The police have deployed more than 100 riot officers to the region in response to the killings. According  to police spokesperson James Kadadzera, the most recent attack came on October 8 when an angry

Ankara  continues  to support Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the press-conference with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kiev on October 9. According to Erdogan, Ankara won’t recognize Crimea’s annexation. He said that Turkey supported the Crimean Tatars loyal to Ukraine, and declared that they intended to cooperate with Ukraine regarding the matter, despite him  dozing  off during the talks. Poroshenko said that Turkey and Ukraine were focused on bilateral relations and economic cooperation. The same day Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu  said  that Ankara could back out of the deal with Russia to purchase S-400 air defense systems, unless Moscow shares the production technology. According to him Russian President Vladimir Putin said that joint production is a possibility. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov  said  in response “I can say that the contacts and negotiations are continuing at the

USS Michigan (SSGN-727) in Guam in 2012. The boat will be the first US submarine with female enlisted sailors by 2016. US Navy Photo The USS Michigan nuclear-powered submarine is dispatched to port at Busan, South Korea to stand ready in case of escalation on the Korean Peninsula. The USS Michigan Ohio-class nuclear-powered submarine is one of the 18 subs active with the US Navy that can be armed with 24 Trident I and Trident II ballistic missiles. Each Trident I can carry up to eight 100 kiloton warheads, while the Trident II carries 14, or eight warheads with a payload of a frightening 475 kilotons. The USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier will be also dispatched to South Korea next week,  Sputnik  reported. South Korea is ready to deploy graphite “blackout” bombs that will paralyze North Korea’s electrical power plants in the event of war breaking out on the peninsula, according to the  Telegraph . South Korea has been actively looking to increase its defensive capabilit

In the coming days, president Trump is expected to announce that he will decertify the Iran Nuclear Deal, a step that potentially could cause the historic Obama-era accord to unravel. Under the 2015 deal, Iran agreed to limit its disputed nuclear program in return for the easing of economic sanctions. Realizing the dire threat that such a move presents for its economy – not to mention Iranian oil exports –  Iran has escalated the rhetoric,  and overnight it warned the United States that U.S. regional military bases “would be at risk” if further sanctions were passed or if the US designated its Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) as a terrorist group. On Friday the  Financial Times reported  that Donald Trump is expected to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist group,  as part of a new hardline strategy against the Islamic republic. Mr Trump is expected to announce new measures against Iran, including the prospect of additional targeted sanctions, the desig

On October 7, the Syrian pro-government radio station Sham FM claimed that 8 US soldiers were killed after two US-led coalition helicopters crashed near the western dam of al-Hasakah governorate. According to Sham FM, the two US-led coalition helicopter took off from the SDF military base in Tell Beydar village in the northern al-Hasakah countryside. Sham FM. Click to see the full-size image However, US Army Colonel Ryan Dillon Spokesman for the US-led coalition denied that any US helicopter crashed in Syria. Colonel Dillion confirmed that all the helicopters of the US-led coalition in Syria are operational.  Moreover, local sources also confirmed to South Front that no US helicopter crashed in Syria on October 6.  Follow OIR Spokesman   ✔ @OIRSpox Reports of Coalition/US aircraft crash/collision in Syria is FALSE. All Coalition/US aircraft accounted for. 20:51 - 7 Oct 2017   20 20 Replies     152 152 Retweets     193 193 likes Twitter Ads info

FILE IMAGE: Jaish al-Izza member The US has resumed its support to few Free Syrian Army (FSA) groups in Idlib governorate after 2 months of pausing it, the Syrian opposition news website Enab Baladi reported on October 8. According to the report, the US Military Operation Center in Turkey, named by Turks “MOM”, resumed its support for Jaish al-Nasser in Idlib. Jaish al-Nasser is considered one of the main allies of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda). However, the US didn’t resume its support for Jaysh al-Izza, another ally of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Idlib governorate. The report claimed that the US paused its support to the FSA groups that refused to take part in the Astana talks and to the FSA groups that supported the HTS attack in the northern Hama countryside. However, these claims are untrue as Jaish al-Nasser was the key HTS ally in its attack on the northern Hama countryside back in March not only Jaysh al-Izza.

The United States spends billions of dollars every year on military aid to foreign governments around the world to increase American influence. The US Army is creating permanent units dedicated to  advising foreign forces . The Army personnel are more often engaged in training and building local security forces rather than doing the fighting for them. The service needs a dedicated element to focus on advisory role without interfering with the combat capability of fighting units. It is implementing the plans to create six new, permanent, fully-trained brigades that can be deployed around the world as professional advisers. Instead of having to other militaries, such as the Iraqi ground forces, the US Army can now turn to specialized advisory units, manned by experienced soldiers with special training. The objective is to avoid problems created by the current training programs when chunks of combat brigades have been deployed to serve as trainers and advisers to local forces degradi