ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Mohammed bin Salman / AFP PHOTO / FAYEZ NURELDINE Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud said during an interview with the Time magazine, which was released on April 5, that Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad will stay in his position and added that a strong Iranian influence in Syria is not within the interest of the Assad. “I believe Bashar is staying for now. And Syria has been part of the Russian influence in the Middle East for a very long time. But I believe Syria’s interest is not to let the Iranians do whatever they want in Syria for the mid-term and long-term because if Syria changes ideologically, then Bashar, will be a puppet for Iran,” Bin Salman told the Times. Bin Salman said that he hopes that the Syrian president and the growing influence of Russia will play a key role in countering the Iranian influence in the war-torn country. However, the Saudi Crown Prince didn’t specify to what level Saudi Arabia is actually counting on this. “So better for hi...

On April 6, the US Army Africa Command (AFRICOM) announced in an official statement that it had destroyed a vehicle armed with a heavy machine gun and had killed three fighters of the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab group in an airstrike on the town of Jilib in the Middle Juba region, 240km south of the city of Mogadishu. Click to see the full size-image AFRICO claimed that no civilians had been hurt in the airstrike and confirmed that it had been conducted in coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia. “US forces will continue to use all authorized and appropriate measures to protect US citizens and to disable terrorist threats,” AFRICOM added in its official statement. The US had conducted seven airstrikes against al-Shabaab in Somalia since the beginning of 2018, according to AFRICOM. These airstrikes are usually conducted by unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs). Despite of the increased number of the US airstrikes, al-Shabaab is still capable of carrying...

Pantsir-S air defense system. FILE IMAGE: Sputnik. Evgeny Biyatov The Russian military has modernized its Pantsir-S1 short to medium range air defense systems using experience gained in Syria, Commander of Russia’s Air-Defence and Missile Defense Troops Lieutenant General Viktor Gumenniy said in an interview with the Russian Defense Ministry’s newspaper Red Star. Lieutenant General Gumenniy noted that the Pantsir-S1 is capable of shooting down not only aircraft and missiles, but also projectiles. Thus, the systems have been able to repel repeated militant shelling attacks on the Khmeimim airbase. The general also revealed that over 4,000 servicemembers of the Air-Defence and Missile Defense Troops have gained expirience in Syria since the start of the Russian antii-terrorist campaign in the country.

FILE IMAGE: 9news . com .au On April 5, China launched an unprecedented in its dimension naval military drills in the South China Sea. The exercises involved the Liaoning aircraft carrier and more than 40 vessels from the North, East and South Sea fleets, which China’s military muscle. “China wants to show the outside world its determination to defend the fruits of its economic reforms over the past 40 years,” Chinese military analyst Zhou Chenming commented on the situation, according to “South China Morning Post”. Chinese military spokesman Ren Guoqiang confirmed that the aircraft carrier would lead large-scale naval drills, but that was “routine” exercises of China’s “defensive” military policy and those activities posed no threat to other countries. “Like the US, China’s military might is one of the government’s political tools to protect the country’s national interests”, Zhou Chenming emphasized. Beijing deployed naval forces in response to the US increasing ...

Airport security in most countries is already tight enough as it is, with multiple points of inspection often present beginning from the arrival area going inward. But there are some who think that security efforts can be increased even further. In Dubai, a new experimental robot is being tested , and its sole purpose is to find and catch suspicious or wanted individuals. Indeed, a robot that is said to have the ability to detect and also report any and all suspicious people will be deployed at Dubai airports very soon. While unprecedented, this initiative is already in its initial stages, with the implementation of the new robot currently undergoing a pilot phase. It is said that the robot will be placed mainly at the arrival section of the airport, and when you think about it, that’s about the best place that it could be positioned in. According to Khalid Al Zarooni, an innovation specialist at the Dubai Custom’s Innovation Center , this suspicious-people-targeting robot c...

On April 4, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and the National Defense Forces (NDF) secured several areas between the towns of Sabikhan and al-Salihiyah in the southern Deir Ezzor countryside from ISIS cells, according to the pro-government blog al-Masdar News. The media department of the SAA said that loads of weapons and ammunition including ATGMs, air-to-air missiles and IEDs were found by the SAA during a search and demining operation around the town of Sabikhan. On April 3, the SAA and the NDF launched a security operation  to eliminate the remaining ISIS cells in the southern Deir Ezzor countryside. So far, the SAA has secured more than 600 square kilometers, according to Syrian pro-government sources. From its side, the ISIS-linked news agency Amaq reported that ISIS fighters had targeted five positions of the SAA around al-Ghbrah in the southeastern Deir Ezzor countryside with SPG-9 recoilless rifles . Click to see the full-size image Click to see the full-size ima...

A screenshot from the video Following a series of reports on alleged fresh US casualties in Syria on April 2 and April 3 , rumors and speculations over the situation in the US-occupied part of Syria have developed further. On April 4, Telegram channel WarGonzo (one of the key sources of the rumors) claimed that 6 more US service members had been killed and 2 others injured in an IED blast on the road between Al-Shaddadah and Hasakah. The blast allegedly destroyed one armoured vehicle belonging to the US-led coalition. The IED had been allegedly planted by mysterious “local partisans” allegedly belonging to the group named “Popular Resistance In Eastern Region” [or “National Resistance Forces”]. Once again, no photos or videos confirming these claims were provided. The US-led coalition has not revealed any casualties. Meanwhile, videos showing alleged members of “Popular Resistance In Eastern Region” have appeared online. In the first video, Popular Resistance In Eastern R...

The US has deployed 300 additional soldiers in the Syrian city of Manbij, the Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu Agency reported on April 1. “The U.S. is taking measures against a possible counter-terror operation led by Turkey in Syria’s northern Manbij district,”  the state-run news agency wrote. According to the report, the reinforcements were deployed near the Sajur River, located near a contact line between Turkey-led forces and the area controlled by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), described by Ankara as a terrorist group, is the core of the SDF. On January 20, the Turkish military and its proxies started a large-scale military operation against the YPG in the Afrin area in northwestern Syria. On March 18, Turkish forces captured Afrin from the YPG. Over the past month, Turkish leadership have repeatedly threatened to launch a military operation in Manbij if the YPG remains deployed in the area. This...