ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Donald J. Trump was the first presidential candidate in a generation from either party to campaign on a promise to fully enforce all immigration laws and to dramatically improve border security for all Americans. As a candidate, Trump also touted one of his most popular border security measures: A border wall that extends the length of the U.S.-Mexico border, virtually uninterrupted (and for good measure the candidate said  Mexico  would pay for it). Both pledges resonated with voters in a majority of states who were sick and tired of Obama’s and Democrats’ open-border policies that allowed anyone who could walk, run, or be dragged across the border stay in the United States. The wall was especially popular — which is why Left-wing unlimited immigration groups went to court to stop the president from making good on his pledge. Now, however, a federal court has cleared the way for  the border wall to proceed  after ruling the administration has the authority to waive several en

Click to see the full-size image On February 27, Egyptian Army spokesman Colonel Tamer Rifai announced in an official statement that warplanes of the Egyptian Air Force (EAF) had destroyed 20 positions and 2 vehicles belonging to ISIS in the Sinai Peninsula. 185 ISIS positions were destroyed by the Egyptian Army’s artillery. Army troops discovered and destroyed 375 ISIS hideouts in Sinai according to Col. Rifai. Moreover, the army has arrested 641 suspects, killed 11 ISIS fighters and destroyed 89 ISIS vehicles and motorcycles during its military operations in the Sinai Peninsula. From its side, the ISIS-linked news agency Amaq reported that ISIS had ambushed an army unit in the Sheikh Zuweid area in the eastern part of Sinai on February 27. ISIS fighters destroyed a M60 battle tank and an engineering vehicle with IEDs and killed several soldiers, according to the source. Amaq also claimed that ISIS fighters had been able to destroy 2 M60 tanks, 4 bulldozers and 7 armored v

Salih Muslim during an interview on the Egyptian Extra News TV, right after his release. On February 27, a Czech court released of Salih Muslim, a former leader of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), according to Reuters. The Czech Authorities  arrested Muslim on February 25 upon an official request from Turkey , which had accused him of “disrupting the unity and territorial integrity of the Turkish state”. Reuters reported that Salih Muslim had rejected all the Turkish accusations and had promised the Czech court that he will remain in the European Union (EU) territory, likely in EU member, Finland. “Nobody was taking it (charges by Turkey) seriously, I didn’t know they would take it seriously here… First of all, I am a citizen of Syria, I am not a citizen of Turkey, second thing, I am a politician,” Muslim said, according to Reuters. The Turkish Foreign Ministry released an official statement, in which it slammed the Czech authorities for releasing Salih Mus

Militant groups operating in Eastern Ghouta have disrupted the first five-hour ceasefire pause in the region and have used it to launch an offensive against governmetn forces, the Russian Center for Reconciliation (RCR) said on February 27. “During the humanitarian pause, militants of the armed groups continued to attack the positions of government forces in the vicinity of the settlements of Khazram and Nawabiya, and after 13.00 they started an offensive and on other destinations. These actions were accompanied by intense artillery fire and fire from small arms, ” the RCR’s head, Maj. Gen. Yuri Yevtushenko told media. “The militants do not let anyone out,” he said emphasizing that the military situation on the ground is “compliacted”. According to Maj. Gen. Yevtushenko, militants had been conducting shelling about every 30 minutes during the humanitarian pause. He called on militant groups to observe the ceasefire and do not prevent people from leaving to safe areas. Daily

Click to see the full-size image The US is accusing Russia of spreading instability in the Middle East and violating the UN-backed ceasefire regime in Syria. “Diplomatically and militarily, Moscow plays both arsonist and firefighter, fueling tensions among all parties in Syria,” the commander of US Central Command, Gen. Joseph Votel, said on Feburary 27. “It is clear that Russia’s interests in Syria are Russia’s interests and not those of the wider international community,” he said. “Their role is incredibly destabilizing at this point.” Gen. Votel continued saying that Russia offers to serve as a mediator in an effort to “undermine and weaken each party’s bargaining position.” “An increase in Russian surface-to-air missile systems in the region threatens our access and ability to dominate the airspace,” the general complained. On the same day, the US State Department accused Russia of “not supporting” the UN-backed ceasefire in Syria and reavealed a disastrous fact

FILE IMAGE Over 60,000 soldiers, 3,000 differnt types of military equipment and 355 aircraft are involved in the ongoing military operation against militants in Egypt’s North Sinai. The country’s military has also deployed 15 air-defense battlaions including 259 units of various military equipment and 3,100 servicemembers. According to Chief of staff of Egypt’s Armed Forces Mohamed Farid, since the start of operation “Sinai 2018”, the country’s air force has destroyed 158 terrorist targets and army artillery units have destroyed 413 terrorist targets. Farid added that security forces had killed 71 militants and had detained 1,852 people suspected or wanted over criminal charges or for supporting ISIS. 1,282 hideouts used to hide and store administrative and medical needs, weapons and ammunition have been also destroyed, according to the cheif of staff.

Salih Muslim (ESMA CAKIR – ROMA / DHA) On February 25, the Czech authorities arrested Salih Muslim, a leader of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), in the Czech capital Prague upon an official request from Turkey, according to the Turkish Anadolu Agency. In late 2016, the Turkish Interior Ministry issued an arrest warrant for Salih Muslim. On February 14 2018 the ministry placed Muslim on its “most wanted terrorists” list and offered a bounty of nearly $1 million. According to Anadolu Agency, Czech officials said that Salih Muslim will be produced before a court which will decide whether or not he would be remanded in custody. The sources added that the Czech authorities had asked Turkey to submit the necessary documents for Muslim’s extradition. Meanwhile, Turkish security officials confirmed that Turkish Ministry of Justice had begun an administrative process to extradite Salih Muslim, according to Anadolu Agency. Salih Muslim occupied the position of the P

Illustrative image On February 24, a booby-trapped car targeted a camp of the Afghan Army in the Matki area of the Nad Ali district in the southern province of Helmand, according to the Afghan Tolo TV. Omar Zowak, a spokesman for Helmand governor, told Tolo that three Afghan soldiers had been killed and two others had been injured in the explosion. Three hours later, a second booby-trapped car exploded near an office of the Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS) in the capital of Helmand province, Lashkargah. According to Tolo, ten people including women and children were injured and an Afghan soldier was killed. A third attack, this time conducted with a booby-trapped motorcycle, hit a market in the Yahya Khil district in the eastern province of Paktika on February 25, according to the Chines Xinhua news agency. Shah Mohammad Aryan, a spokesman for the Afghan Police in Paktika, told Xinhua that four people, including an Afghan policeman, had been killed and thirteen