ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Illustrative image: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication 3rd Class J. M. Tolbert/ Released The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group (CSG) has entered the Mediterranean Sea,  the US Naval Institute (USNI) news reported  on April 19. On April 11, the Truman CSG left Norfolk for a scheduled deployment to the 6th Fleet and 7th Fleet areas of operation. On April 14, the USA, UK and France launched 105 missiles from both ships and aircraft against supposed chemical attack in Douma. On April 18, the Truman CSG entered the region to support NATO allies as well as European and African partner nations, according to  a press release by the US 6th Fleet : “We are thrilled to have the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group here in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations and look forward to having them on our team as we conduct the full spectrum of maritime operations to include working alongside our NATO allies and regional partners. Our U.S. 6th fleet motto is ‘Power for Peace,’ and the

The Air Force is working with Lockheed Martin to design a new hypersonic prototype. The service previously explored the technology with tests of the X-51A Waverider, shown here under the wing of a B-52 bomber. (U.S. Air Force graphic) On April 18, the Pentagon said in a statement that Lockheed Martin had secured a $928 million contract to build an undefined number of hypersonic conventional strike weapons for the US military. The Pentagon stated that the company would createthe “hypersonic conventional strike weapon”. According to the contract Lockheed Martin will be responsible for “design, development, engineering, systems integration, test, logistics planning, and aircraft integration support of all the elements of a hypersonic, conventional, air-launched, stand-off weapon”. The non-nuclear missile will be fired from warplanes and will be difficult to track due to its ability to switch direction mid-flight to avoid predictable arcs. The development will take place in the n

The mainstream media’s version of the April 7 “chemical attack” in Syria’s Douma is rapidly crumbling as journalists have got the access to the area. It appears that it’s almost impossible to find some witnesses or victims of the alleged chemical attack if you search on the ground. Earlier:

FILE IMAGE: AP Photo/Hussein Malla “Many people” have been killed in the recent clash between Russian and US troops in Syria,  US President Donald Trump said during a joint news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on April 18. “We had a very, very severe… fight in Syria recently, a month ago, with our troops and Russian troops. It is very sad but many people died in that fight,” Trump said providing no further details. There have been no official reports or even “rumors” on clashes between US and Russian troops in Syria. However, in February, rumors appeared that the US-led strikes against Syrian government forces allegedly led to  some casualties among the Russian private military contractors deployed in Syria. Most likeley, Trump refered to these rumors. On April 12, Mike Pompeo, CIA director nominated to be US State Secretary, already used this rumor to get an approval of the Congress. During the April 18 press conference, the US President added th

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