ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Click to see the full-size image The Iranian authorities placed former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad under house arrest after he had publicly criticized the current Iranian government, according to a report of the UK-based al-Quds al-Arabi on January 6. According to al-Quds al-Arabi, Ahmadinejad accused the government of Iran President Hassan Rouhani of mismanagement and criticized it during a public speech in the southern city of Bushehr on December 28. “Some of the current leaders live detached from the problems and concerns of the people and do not know anything about the reality of society … What it suffers Iran today is mismanagement and not lack of economic resources,” Ahmadinejad said in his public speech, according to al-Quds al-Arabi. The al-Quds al-Arabi report suggested that Ahmadinejad’s statement was likely a response to President Rouhani, who accused him earlier of planning to confront the Iranian government. Western and Arab media linked the suppo

Click to see the full-size image On January 7, a heavy VBIED exploded in al-Thalathin street in the western part of Idlib city. The Lebanese al-Mayadeen TV said that the VBIED targeted the headquarters of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Ajnad Caucasus group. 25 civilians and fighters of Ajnad Caucasus were killed and many others were injured in the VBIED attack, according to local sources. Al-Mayadeen said that opposition activists accused Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham of carrying out the VBIED attack as a punishment against Ajnah Caucasus because they fled the battlefield in the southeastern Idlib countryside. During the last few days, several prominent figures of the Syrian opposition and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) accused HTS of handing over its positions in southeastern Idlib to the Syrian Arab Army (SAA). On the other side, pro-HTS activists accused FSA groups and even the locals of supporting the SAA, especially after the Syrian Arab Air Force Intelligence (SyAAFI)  leaked photos f

Illustrative image On January 7, ISIS fighters attacked several checkpoints and positions of the Afghan Police in Dewa Gul area of the eastern Kunar province, according to the ISIS-linked news agency Amaq. The media outlet claimed that ISIS fighters killed 15 Afghan policemen and injured 27 others. Five Humvee vehicles of the Afghan Police were reportedly destroyed by ISIS. Abdul Ghani Musamim spokesman for Kunar province governor told Pajhwok Afghan News that only three Afghan policemen were killed in the ISIS attack. Musamim also claimed that the Afghan Police killed 15 fighters of ISIS and injured 22 other while repelling the attack on their positions in Dewa Gul area. The ISIS attack in Kunar province shows how the terrorist group is trying to expand out of its main stronghold in Afghanistan, Nangarhar province south of Kunar. On the same day, the Afghan Army announced that 20 members of ISIS, including two key leaders of the terrorist group, identified as “Mawlavi Tur

On January 5, thousands of civilians including women and children protested in the towns of Babbila and Beit Sahem south of Damascus city against the al-Qaeda-affiliated militant group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the Hamas-affiliated militant group Jaysh al-Ababil, according to Syrian pro-government sources. The Lebanese al-Mayadeen TV said that the protestors condemned the terrorists acts of HTS and Jaysh al-Ababil during the protests and called on the two Islamist groups to leave the area. Local sources reported the Jaysh al-Ababil fighters injured several protestors with machine guns. Last week, dozens of children protested in the towns of Babbila and Beit Sahem against Jaysh al-Ababil, after it had arrested their relatives because they were planning to join the Syrian Arab Army (SAA). Click to see the full-size image The Syrian government has been negotiating with HTS and Jaysh al-Ababil to expel them from the towns of Aqraba, Beit Sahm, Yalda and Babila  since Dec

Illustrative image Written by  Prof Michel Chossudovsky ; Originally appeared at  Global Research In 2003, the war on Iran project was already Déjà Vu.  It had been on the drawing board of the Pentagon since the mid-nineties.  Since the launching of the  Theater Iran Near Term (TIRANNT)   war games scenario in May 2003 (leaked classified document), an escalation scenario involving military action directed against Iran and Syria had been envisaged, of which Syria was the first stage in 2011.   The initial invasion of Iraq under “Operation Iraqi Freedom” was launched on March 20, 2003, April 9 marks the Fall of Baghdad;  officially the invasion was completed on May 1st, 2003. In May 2003,  immediately  following the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the TIRANNT (Theater Iran Near Term) war games scenario were carried out as revealed by William Arkin, a former US intelligence analyst: “In early 2003, even as U.S. forces were on the brink of war with Iraq,  the Army had alre

Click to see the full-size image Houthi fighters killed 399 Saudi soldiers and 1,894 fighters loyal to Saudi-backed President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi in 2017, according to a report released by the Houthis media wing on January 3. In the report, the Houthis also claimed that their fighters destroyed 8 M1a2 Abrams battle tanks, 31 battle tanks of other types, 196 infantry fighting vehicles and 1,337 other vehicles of the Saudi-led coalition and pro-Hadi forces. Furthermore, the Houthis announced that they were able to shoot down 19 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and to hit eight naval vessels of the Saudi-led coalition. The Houthis media wing report also claimed that in 2017, the Houthis launched 45 ballistic missiles at targets in Saudi Arabia. The numbers in the Houthis’ report were not verified by any neutral source. However, some figures, like the number of the launched ballistic missiles, were confirmed in previous reports of the Saudi-led coalition itself. On January 4,

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 Chinese desig