ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Blackwater founder Erik Prince. Photograph by Adam Ferguson Qatar’s former deputy prime minister, Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, has accused the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of preparing to invade Qatar with own army of mercenaries, according to Spanish daily ABC. Attiyah said that the UAE hired a “Blackwater-linked” security company to train thousands of mercenaries to overthrow the Qatari emir. The alleged goal of the move was to put in power a ruler subservient to the Saudi-led bloc. The UAE allegedly started preparing this operation even before Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt started their diplomatic campaign against Qatar and imposed sanctions on the country accusing it of supportint “extremism”. The UAE reportedly failed to implement its plan because US President Donald Trump rejected it when it was submited for consideration to him. The New Arab website provided more details on the issue ( source ): An unnamed official source told the daily that the soldi

Terrorists have already proved their interest in using the British rail and underground system to create havoc.  A blast on a packed commuter train on September 15, 2017 , caused panic and left several people injured. Commissioner Neil Basu, the senior national coordinator for counter-terrorism policing, called the blast a terrorist incident and this was confirmed by the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. In spite of this increasing threat, the British government is making an already vulnerable system even less secure by  installing digital signaling on the line between Manchester and York  – a type of system that is vulnerable to cyber-attack. In November 2016, during the government’s Autumn Statement, a $607 million fund was announced for the development of digital railway systems. $6.75 million of this has been allocated to Network Rail for the planning and development of the Manchester–York digital signaling line. The government believes that going digital in this way will increase

The video provides a look at the devastated Syrian city of Raqqa after  US-backed forces drove ISIS members out of it and established its control in the area.

MORE ON  SOMALIA Why is Mogadishu still a frequent target for attacks? today Bombings in Mogadishu - a 2017 timeline today Mogadishu bombing death toll rises to 358 yesterday Somalis angry over government's failure to prevent deadly blast 3 days ago The number of people killed in last week's devastating bombing in the Somali capital Mogadishu has risen to 358, according to the government. As well as the confirmed death toll, 228 people were injured in what was the  deadliest attack  in the country's history,  Somalia 's news agency quoted the information and internal security ministers as saying late on Friday. The announcement came as a car bomb exploded outside Mogadishu, killing the driver, police said, with a witness saying there were at least two bodies. The explosion happened around noon in the village of Markaz, about 20km northwest of Mogadishu, Police Major Nur Ali told Reuters news agency. He said police had not reached the s

In a move that surprised many observers of the ongoing war for Deir Ezzor province,  the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) handed over one of Syria's largest gas fields to Russian forces on Thursday , possibly as the result of unprecedented  direct talks between high ranking Russian officials and Kurdish leaders  in Qamishli in northeastern Syria. Conoco gas plant (also locally called Al-Tabiya, which is the plant's main feeder field) lies on the eastern side of the Euphrates outside of Deir Ezzor city - which was recently liberated from ISIS as the Syrian Army and Russian forces approached from the west of the Euphrates. The Conoco field had been held by ISIS since 2014,  and was taken by the SDF on September 23rd as the mainly Kurdish force advanced from the east.  The now fast crumbling Islamic State relied on much of its financing through its prior consolidation over many oil and gas sites in the resource rich Deir Ezzor province. Above: overhead view Co