ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Click to see the full-size image On January 1, Deputy Director of Public Relations of the Nigerian Army Colonel Timothy Antigha announced that 700 civilians including women and children escaped from the Lake Chad that’s controlled by the ISIS-affiliated group Boko Haram. According to Col. Antigha, the civilians were received by the Nigerian Army’s 242 Battalion in Monguno town in northeastern Nigeria. “Over 700 former Boko Haram abductees, comprising adult males, females and children have been received by troops of 242 Battalion in Monguno. Profiling of the displaced persons is on- going to ensure that no terrorist takes advantage of the situation to sneak into the town,” Col. Antigha said in an official statement. Col Antigha said that farmers and fishermen who were forced to work in Boko Haram farms in several islands in Lake Chad were among the hostages and attributed the escape of the hostages to a military operation conducted by the Nigerian Army few days earlier. Niger...

FILE IMAGE In 2017, China started building its third aircraft carrier, with will including a hi-tech launch system, at a Shanghai shipyard,  the South China Morning Post reported  citing sources close to the People’s Liberation Army. The article says: “One of the sources said Shanghai Jiangnan Shipyard Group was given the go-ahead to begin work on the vessel after military leaders met in Beijing following the annual sessions of China’s legislature and top political advisory body in March. “But the shipyard is still working on the carrier’s hull, which is expected to take about two years,” the source said. “Building the new carrier will be more complicated and challenging than the other two ships.” China has been trying to build up a blue-water navy that can operate globally and support its maritime security, but it so far has only one aircraft carrier, the Liaoning – a repurposed Soviet ship it bought from Ukraine that went into service in 2012. Its first Chin...

Click to see the full-size image On January 4, the Syrian Nation Defense Forces (NDF) shot down two DIY armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) near the Russian Hmeimim airbase in Lattakia governorate. The UAVs were shot down by NDF fighters with a light machine gun, according to the NDF media wing. The NDF said that the wingspan of the two downed UAVs is slightly more than 1 meter and that they are made of wood, styrofoam and plastic. The UAVs were powered by diesel engines feed by a fuel tank mad of light plastic too. Click to see the full-size image Click to see the full-size image Each UAV was armed with at least two local made small projectiles equipped with impact fuses taken from mortar shells. The two UAVs managed to drop some of these projectiles over the town of Qardaha in the eastern Lattakia countryside and the city of Jableh near the Hmeimim airbase before they were shot down. However, the bombardment didn’t result in any casualties. Click to see the ful...

Click to see the full-size image The US-led coalition requested Russia for a help to clear the Homs desert and parts of Euphrates Valley from ISIS, but Russia refused to assist the US-backed force, the Syrian pro-opposition news outlet Hammurabi’s Justice News reported on January 4. According to the report, the US-led coalition shared coordinates of several ISIS positions in the Homs desert and the Euphrates Valley with Russia. ISIS allegedly attacked the US-led coalition base in the al-Tanaf area near the Syrian-Iraqi border from these positions. However, Russia didn’t only refuse to attack ISIS positions, but also refused to allow the US to bomb them because they were besieged by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), according to Hammurabi’s Justice News. The news outlet went on, and criticized Russia for “no being serious about fighting ISIS”. Click to see the full-size image An officer of the US-led coalition told Hammurabi’s Justice News that the Russian response to their re...

Illustrative image On January 4, Major General Wanis Boukhamada, a special forces commander of the Libyan Nation Army (LNA), said in an interview to the Libyan TV that the LNA’s next mission will be the battle for the city of Derna located in northeastern Libya. Maj. Gen. Boukhamada revealed the LNA special forces will take part in the Derna battle aimed at capturing the city from the Shura Council of Mujahedeen in Derna. The general also called on Derna’s civilians to find a peaceful solution to expel the Derna Mujahedeen from the city before the start of the battle. “The Special Forces will deploy all of its personnel and equipment in the Derna area to deal with extremists and terrorists in the city… Our people in Derna, if you have a certain way to negotiate with the terrorist group controlling the city and using civilians as human shields, and to reach an agreement with them… so they will withdraw from the city and leave it in peace… We will welcome that,” Maj. Gen. Boukh...

Since taking office, President Donald J. Trump has said repeatedly that China could be, and should be, doing more to rein in its unruly neighbor North Korea from developing nuclear weapons. Turns out the president was more right than even he could have imagined. Long before Trump took office, the U.S. intelligence community was well aware that China, as North Korea’s sole recognized ally, provided the regime with much of what it needed to sustain itself. There are a number of reasons for Beijing’s assistance, the first and foremost being that it’s in China’s best interests to keep the North Korean regime intact and in control. Besides, a collapse of North Korea would create a flood of refugees into China and set up a U.S. ally on its borders — neither of which is acceptable to the ruling Communist Party. But a newly disclosed document drawn up by the party shows that China, while publicly claiming to support U.N.-imposed, U.S.-backed economic sanctions against Pyongyang, is ...

Click to see the full-size image On January 3, a unit of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Somalian group al-Shabaab crossed the border into Kenya and attacked a vehicle of the Kenyan Police in the northeastern Mandera county on the Kenyan-Somali border, according to Reuters. Daniel Bundotich, the deputy country commissioner for Mandera South, told Reuters that four Kenyan policemen and a civilian were killed in the al-Shabaab cross-border attack. Bundotich added that al-Shabaab fighters destroyed a vehicle of the Kenyan Police during the attack. “The militants also set on fire a police lorry … The police officers were on patrol along Elwak-Kutolo when they were ambushed,” Bundotich told Reuters. Lately, the al-Shabaab group launched dozens of attacks against the Kenyan Police from its positions in the areas of El Adde, Busar and Cows Qurun in southwestern Somalia near the Kenyan-Somali border. Reuters said that dozens of Kenyan policemen were killed in these attacks. Map By: Po...

An Israeli Air Force F-15 fighter jet flies during an aerial demonstration. (photo credit: AMIR COHEN – REUTERS) Last night, the Israeli Air Force conducted airstrikes on what it described as “major terror infrastructure” in the Gaza Strip. “ In response to the 3 rockets fired at southern Israeli communities throughout yesterday from Gaza, IAF fighter jets targeted a significant terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip ,” the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement. “The IDF will continue and will proceed with all the tools at its disposal above and below the ground to thwart attempts to harm Israeli citizens. We are prepared and ready for a range of scenarios and we will act against every attempt to violate Israeli sovereignty.” According to reports, southern Israel was shelled with 3 rockets on January 3. However, mortars and rockets caused no damage or injuries. The shelling hit Eshkol Regional Council located close to the Gaza border fence. Reports also...