ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

A screenshot from the video On December 17, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and the Special Mission Forces (SMF) discovered and destroyed a tunnel under the jail in Adra district northeast of the Western Ghouta region, according to the SAA media department. The SAA said that the tunnel was dug by “terrorist groups” that planned to use it to attack positions of the SAA around the Adra jail from the back. The tunnel was 300-meter long and it was discovered 8-meter under the ground, according to the SAA. After discovering the tunnel, the SAA killed several militants who were inside it and removed several IEDs and mines planted by the militants inside the tunnel before blowing it up. Since 2012, the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and other militant groups have started digging tunnels all over Eastern Ghouta to use it in defensive and offensive operations against the SAA. Since then, hundreds of tunnels have been discovered and destroyed by the SAA. However, the FSA and other Islamist mi

Illustrative image On December 17, forces loyal to Saudi-backed Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi claimed that over 1,175 fighters of the Houthis were killed by the Saudi-led coalition last week. Most of the Houthi fighters were killed during the clashes in the northern province of Saada, the western al-Hudaydah province and in the Yemeni capital Sana’a according to pro-Hadi forces. Moreover, pro-Hadi forces claimed that it has captured over 80 Houthi fighters during the ongoing clashes in the districts of Usaylan and Beihan in the province of Shabwah. From its sides, the Houthis announced that they killed 79 fighters of pro-Hadi forces, including an officer Colonel Fayzal Ali Al-Harty in the district of Beihan. Meanwhile in western Yemen, the Houthis continued holding their positions on the Red Sea coast successfully. The Houthis announced that their fighters destroyed two armored vehicles of the Saudi-led coalition in the coastal district of Yakhtul of Taiz province

RT reports: The Russian President Vladimir Putin has thanked his US counterpart Donald Trump for help in preventing a terrorist attack in St. Petersburg. Data provided by the CIA enabled Russian security services to find and detain terrorists The Russian leader expressed his gratitude in a telephone call, adding that the Russian security services would also always share information with their US colleagues, were they to obtain data on any planned attacks on US soil. Putin also asked Trump to convey his compliments to the CIA director, Mike Pompeo, as well as to the operatives that gathered the information about the terrorists. He said that the data provided by the US was enough to track down and detain the members of the extremist cell. The White House later said in a statement: “President Trump appreciated the call and told President Putin that he and the entire United States intelligence community were pleased to have helped save so many lives.” The White House also confirme

A new report issued by Santa Monica, California-based nonprofit global policy think tank RAND Corp. suggested that despite their differences, Russia, China, and the United States should band together to get rid of an impending security threat – the  emergence of hypersonic missiles  across the three powerful nations. Hypersonic missiles, which include both hypersonic cruise missiles and hypersonic glide vehicles, are a new breed of danger, for they both have the ability to fly at speeds faster than 5,000 kilometers per hour, which is more than five times faster than traditional cruise missiles. The diffusion of hypersonic technology is getting a head start in Europe, Australia, India, and Japan, with many countries starting to take interest in such technology. Proliferation could traverse multiple borders if hypersonic technology is made available on world markets, marking less than enough time to prevent proliferation. “Hypersonic missile proliferation would increase the chan

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have received four AeroVolga LA-8 8-seat amphibious aircraft,  according to the Irainan news agency FARS . The IRGC will use the received LA-8 aircraft for patrol, reconnaissance and rescue operations.

The Saudi-led coalition announced on December 16, that its warplanes have destroyed several missile workshops of the Houthis in the  Saada province in northern Yemen over the last few days. According to the Saudi-led coalition, the workshops were run by “foreign” experts who worked there on making and modifying ballistic missiles for the Houthis. The Saudi-led coalition claimed that several Houthi fighters and “foreign” experts were killed in the airstrikes. In a related development, Brigadier General Abdo Majali spokesman for pro-Hadi forces claimed on December 15, that the Saudi-led coalition has identified over 250 Iranian experts, and military advisors in the provinces of Saada and al-Hudaydah. Pro-Hadi forces spokesman added that the supposed experts are developing missiles for the Houthis and providing them with military training. Brig. Gen. Majali stressed that pro-Hadi forces and the Saudi-led coalition are working on a plan to eliminate these supposed experts after be

China is going to launch 10 satellites into space over the next three years to maintain non-stop surveillance over the disputed South China Sea, according to the Hainan Daily, citing Li Xiaoming of the Sanya Institute of Remote Sensing. The first three optical satellites are set to go into space in 2019. Three more optical satellites, two hyperspectral satellites and three synthetic aperture radar will follow them later. Yang Tianliang, director of the Sanyan Institute of Remote Sensing, says that the satellite network will play a vital role in the Maritime Silk Road project. China is consistently increasing its military capabilities in the South China Siea aiming to turn it into its own foothold for further expansion in Asia Pacific.

Written by  Tom Luongo ; Originally appeared at  tomluongo.me Iran is joining the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). By early next year, February by  this account , Iran will join the five founding members of the Union and open the door for Turkey to do so later in 2018. Between this and the end of the war in Syria, it’s not hard to declare the Brzezinski Doctrine of U.S.-led Central Asian chaos as gasping its last breaths. Iran finally joining the EAEU is a response to a number of factors, the most important of which is the continued belligerence by the U.S. Expanded economic sanctions on Iran and the EAEU’s leader Russia has created the need for greater coordination of economic and foreign policy objectives between them. And it is creating the new realities in the region that will reshape the word for the next hundred years. The Nuclear Gambit In the dying days of the Obama administration it looked like the goal was to placate Iran to stop its pivot towards Russia and China