ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

On December 2, US Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo revealed that he has sent a letter to General Qassem Soleimani, a commander of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s Quds Force to warn him that the US will hold Iran responsible for any attacks on its troops in Iraq, according to Reuters. “What we were communicating to him in that letter was that we will hold he and Iran accountable for any attacks on American interests in Iraq by forces that are under their control… We wanted to make sure he and the leadership in Iran understood that in a way that was crystal clear,” Pompeo said during a Reagan National Defense Forum in Southern California. However, according to Pompeo, Gen. Soleimani refused to receive or open his letter, in a move that shows high tensions between the US and Iran in Iraq and Syria. On November 30, Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, head of the Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced that Soleimani refus

Illustrative image Members of ISIS have downed a Syrian warplane (apparently L-39)  in the outskirts of al-Bukamal , the ISIS-linked news agency Amaq reported. Furthermore, ISIS have allegedly captured two pilots of the downed warplane near the village of Al-Buq’an. No photos or videos have been released by Amaq to confirm its claims. The situation remains unclear. Recently, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and its allies have  intensified their operations  against ISIS northwest of al-Bukamal in order to drive ISIS terrorists out from the remaining ISIS-held area of the Euphrates’s eastern bank.

On Monday, the Yemeni Interior Ministry released an official statement confirming  the death of the country’s former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.  Earlier, photos and videos were released online showing what appear to be the corpse of the former president. The ministry accused Saleh of creating “chaos” in the country, cooperating with “militias of aggression” and providing help to “extremist militias.” According to the statement, the Houthis  are now in control over the entire Yemeni capital, Sana’a. “The Interior Ministry announces the end of the crisis of the treason militia and the killing of its leader and a number on his criminal partisans,” the statement reads adding that the tensions in Sana’a are over with the death of Saleh. According to the Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television, Saleh was killed by sniper bullets. Another version suggests that he was killed in a RPG and gun attack. The previous version said that he died as a result of explosion of his house.

On December 2, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) announced that it has formed a Sharia committee from six Sheikhs that will work to solve the problems between HTS and  al-Qaeda members arrested by the HTS leadership on November 27 . According to the official HTS statement, the committee will release all Al-Qaeda leaders after guarantying that the both sides will not work against each other anymore. Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri had accused HTS and its leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani of betraying their oath of allegiance (bayat) to al-Qaeda in an official 35-minute audio message on November 28. Al-Zawahiri also revealed that al-Qaeda didn’t release HTS from its allegiance to it yet. When HTS arrested al-Qaeda members, many Syrian activists warned that HTS’s only goal is to distance from al-Qaeda. This may help the terrorist group to get the support from the Western block as the main “opposition” power. Experts also doubted that the HTS leadership could dare to take serious measures a

The Yemeni capital, Sana’a, witnessed heavy clashes between the Houthis and the supporters of their ally – former Yemen President Ali Abdallah Saleh – during the last three days, according to Yemeni sources. Several fighters from the both sides were killed or injured as a result of the clashes. On December 2, Yemeni sources reported that the clashes between Abdallah Saleh supporters and the Houthis spreaded into Hajjah province and several other areas. The clashes between the two allies first broke out on November 29 when the Houthis attacked and captured the Saleh mosque in Sana’a. The  site was used by Abdallah Saleh supporters as a HQ, according to local sources. The main motive of the Houthis is still unknown, and many experts claimed that it is nothing more than a “show of power”, especially that the Houthis withdraw from the mosque hours later. Abdallah Saleh criticize the Houthis, and said that he is ready to talk with the Saudi-led coalition on December 2. Many Yemeni

North Korea launched its Hwasong-15 ICBM into the waters west of Japan at 3:17 am local time on Wednesday.  Barely six minutes later, South Korean artillery, air force, and Navy sprang into action and began firing missiles into the waters off eastern Korea – yet another military show of force meant to intimidate the North into ceasing its missile strikes. The retaliatory display was calibrated to target a spot in the waters off the Korean peninsula that was exactly as far away as Pyongsong, a town about 20 miles north of Pyongyang where the Hwasong 15 was reportedly launched. The distance was meant to signify that the South Korean military could destroy the North’s missile launchers if it chose to do so, the  Wall Street Journal. But while the precision strike probably impressed any bystanders who were watching, in reality, the South’s technology for detecting and responding to North Korean missile launches is still unreliable. But detecting missile tests is an imperfect scie

Click to see the full-size image Chairman of Committee on Defense and Security of the Russian Federation Council and former Commander of the Russian Aerospace Forces Viktor Bondarev  evaluated  the upgrades of the Mi-28 helicopters. “Mi-28s were improved thanks to Syria. Well, [the pilots] say that some things became better, but not all things — the electronics are severely lacking: pilots can’t see, pilots can’t hear a thing. The pilots call the goggles they wear “pilot’s death”. If the sky is clear, then it’s fine. If there’s some smoke, then you get red eyes for three days,” the senator said. Bondarev voiced these criticisms at a hearing regarding the military-industrial complex and military trade laws as a reaction to the industry’s complaints of insufficient support to experimental developments. The Mi-28 is an all-weather, day-night, military tandem, two-seat anti-armor attack helicopter. It carries a single gun, plus external loads carried on pylons beneath stub win

Click to see the ful-size map On December 1, the Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu revealed the location of 13 ammo depots in the provinces of al-Hasakah, Raqqa and Aleppo where the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are storing the weapons and ammunition received from the US-led coalition. The 13 large ammo depots of the SDF are located in Afrin, Ain al-Arab, Sirrin, Harab Isk, Chalabiya, Tal Abyad, Soluk, Dirbasiya, Gibse, Tal Baidar, Zone 47, al-Hul and Maliqiyya, according to the report. Syrian pro-government sources confirmed the information provided by the Turkish meida. According to them, Maliqiyya and Tal Baidar are the biggest ammo depots of the SDF. The Anadolu agency also revealed that the SDF is mainly receiving weapons and ammunition form the US-led coalition through the Semalka border crossing on the Syrian-Iraqi border. The Iraqi side of Semalka is currently under the control of Kurdish Peshmerga forces. However, the Iraqi federal government is plan