ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Fighters of Jaysh al-Islam around the Duma district, Illustrative image On April 17, unknown gunmen attacked a group of UN experts who were in the Duma district to monitor the situation there, according to Major General Yuri Yevtushenko, the chief of the Russian center for reconciliation of conflicting sides in Syria. Maj. Gen. Yevtushenko added that one Syrian security officer had been injured in the incident and denied all the reports that talked about Russian causalities. “A gunfight broke out between Syrian security agencies and unidentified persons at the outer perimeter safeguarding the motor convoy … In the exchange of fire, a Syrian security officer sustained a light wound. Russian servicemen were not present at the site of the incident,”  Maj. Gen. Yevtushenko told reporters on April 18, according to the Russian news agency TASS. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) confirmed in an official statement, released on April 18, that experts

General Abdul Razek Nadori On April 18, the media center of the Libyan National Army (LNA) announced that General Abdul Razek Nadori, Chief of Staff of the LNA, had survived an assassination attempt. According to the announcement, a booby-trapped car exploded near the convoy of Gen. Nadori while it was passing through the Sidi Khalifah district in the eastern part of the city of Benghazi. Officials of al-Jalaa Hospital in Benghazi said that a civilian had been killed and one other had  been severally injured in the explosion. Few days ago, Gen. Nadori vowed to liberate the city of Derna, 240km east of Benghazi, from militants of the Shura Council of Mujahedeen. Due to this, Libyan activists believe that the Shura Council of Mujahedeen in Dernat may be behind the failed assassination attempt. Gen. Nadori is currently the highest commander of the LNA, as the General Commander of the LNA General Khalifa Haftar is receiving medical care in France. According to Libyan source

Hassan Diab shown in Al-Jazeera’s coverage of the alleged chemical attack. Click to see the full-size image A group of Russian correspondents led by Evgeny Poddubny has found a boy filmed by the White Helmets in their video showing people “affected” by the alleged chemical attack in Douma on April 7. According to Poddubny: 11-year-old Hassan Diab is fine; He suffered no injures from the “chemical attack” because there was no attack (at least then and there); The boy participated in the video for food (rice, dates and cookies). Poddubny also contacted Hassan’s father – he also said that there was no chemical attack in the town. Hassan Diab during the “chemical attack” and after. Click to see the full-size image A full video by Poddubny: Syricide @Syricide Replying to @Syricide BOMBSHELL 11 year old # Douma "victim" blows "chemical attack" narrative wide open. Full video from @ epoddubny here: https:// yadi.sk/d/c

As tensions over  the April 14 US-led strike on Syria  are developing, it would be interesting to compare results of the 2017 and 2018 US military actions against Syria: The 2017 US missile strikes on Shayrat military airfield operated by the Syrian Arab Air Force; The 2018 US-led missile strikes on various targets belonging to the Syrian government. So, what results has the world’s superpower achieved with its military actions? 2017 Strikes On April 7, 2017 the US Navy carried out a missile strike on Shayrat military airfield of the Syrian Arab Air Force. The move was publicly justified by accusations that the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had been behind the alleged chemical attack in the town of Khan Shaykhun, Idlib province, on April 4, 2017. Washington alleged that Shayrat military airfield had been the base for the aircraft that allegedly carried out a chemical weapons attack on Khan Shaykhun. The USS Porter guided missile destroyer launched