ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

ISIS fighters have carried out 13 ambushes against the Iraqi Army and the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) in the provinces of al-Anbar, Kirkuk, Diyala and around the Iraqi capital, Baghdad over the last two weeks, according to an infographic released by the ISIS-linked newspaper al-Nab’a on March 29. Al-Nab’a claimed that 97 Iraqi fighters, including 7 commanders and officers, were killed and 13 others were captured by ISIS. ISIS fighters also destroyed 9 vehicles of the Iraqi Army and PMU and captured 7 others, according to al-Nab’a. Click to see the full-size image ISIS cells implement a variety of tactics to ambush the Iraqi Army and the PMU, including targeting their vehicles with IEDs or even setting fake checkpoints on key roads to kidnap or assassinate army soldiers and officers. Facing such a serious threat, the Iraqi Army, the PMU and security forces have launched a series of security operations against ISIS cells in northern and western Iraq since the beginning of

REUTERS/ Peter Nicholls Written by  J.Hawk   Introduction Given the international furor sparked by the poisoning, in an apparent attempt to murder, former GRU Colonel Skripal and his daughter, very public information has been released that would help ordinary citizens make up their minds on what happened. Scotland Yard has no suspects. In a country full of CCTV cameras, no images have been made public and no composite sketches, let alone photos, of persons of interest have been released. No images of Skripals have been released, and no Russian consular officials have been allowed to see them, in violation of international norms. Porton Down press release issued after preliminary investigation of samples only stated that the agent was a “Novichok class or a related agent”, which appears to narrow it down to the entire category of nerve agents. The British government refused Russia’s offer to assist in the investigation, and refused to share any evidence it claims to have gathe

A Turkish military column is en route to Al-Eis On March 28, the Turkish National Security Council warned during a meeting, which was headed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that Turkey will “take action” if Iraq failes to halt activities of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in its territory, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. This threat came only two days after  the withdrawal of the PKK from the area of Sinjar in northern Iraq . This allow some experts to suggest that fighting the PKK is not the only goal of Turkey in northern Iraq. In response, Abbas al-Bayati, a member of Iraq’s State of Law political coalition, warned Turkey from violating Iraq’s sovereignty under any pretext. “Turkey cannot cross into Iraqi territories as our country enjoys sovereignty and independence,” al-Bayati said during an interview with the Iraqi news agency Baghdad Today. Turkey appears to be more than willing to intervene in northern Iraq, even if the PKK fully withdrawa from all o

On March 27, Iraqi security forces (ISF) killed six ISIS militants in the Hawija area in the province of Kirkuk, Alghad Press reported. “A joint force from Iraqi Police and the Tribal Mobilization Forces stormed a secret tunnel used by ISIS militants between al-Fara and Hosayneya villages in al-Zab area in Hawija,” the media outlet quoted a local security sources. The reported opeartion took place in the framework of the wider effort to crack down the remaining ISIS cells in central and northern part of the country. Since the liberation of the city of Mosul from ISIS in 2017, ISF has been working to establish security in the areas liberated from the terrorist group. However, the security situation remains complicated and ISIS cells are still active across the country. On the same time, Iraq is currently under a direct threat of a possible Turkish military intervention in the area of Sinjar.  Ankara is almost openly preparing for it justifying the possible move with combating

Signs prohibiting access near to the Porton Down Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, near Salisbury, Britain, March 19, 2018. © Peter Nicholls / Reuters Dilyana Gaytandzhieva is a Bulgarian investigative journalist and Middle East Correspondent. Over the last two years she has published a series of  revealing reports on weapons smuggling . Two months ago South Front published her  investigation into the Pentagon bio laboratories in 25 countries  across the world. Her current report provides an overview of the Pentagon-funded experiments at the secretive UK military laboratory Porton Down near Salisbury, where an ex-Russian spy and his daughter were allegedly poisoned with a nerve agent. By Dilyana Gaytandzhieva exclusively for SouthFront Twitter/@dgaytandzhieva The Pentagon has spent at least $70 million on military experiments involving tests with deadly viruses and chemical agents at Porton Down – the UK military laboratory near the city of Salisbury. The secretive