ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Israeli soldiers are seen next to the border fence on the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border, as Palestinians protest on the Gaza side of the border, Israel April 5, 2018.. (photo credit: AMIR COHEN/REUTERS) On May 18, thousands of Palestinians protested near the separation fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip in what was called “the Friday of loyalty to the martyrs and the wounded,” according to the Lebanese al-Mayadeen TV. Palestinian sources said that smaller protests against the Israeli authorities were held in the city of Jerusalem, the Western Bank and even in the northern city of Haifa. As usual, the Israeli Army responded to protestors along the separation fence by targeting them with tear gas and rubber bullets. Israeli army snipers also fired at several Palestinian protestors, according to Palestinian activists. Ashraf al-Qudra, spokesman for the Palestinian Health Ministry, announced that 56 protestors had been injured by sniper fire or tear gas during the

Taliban fighters during “Operation al-Khandagh” On May 18, Taliban fighters attacked and captured a key base of the Afghan Army in the Gograk area of the Tarinkot district, the capital of the central province of Urozgan, according to the Taliban news agency Voice of Jihad. The source claimed that Taliban fighters had killed eleven Afghan soldiers and had destroyed an armored vehicle of the Afghan Army during their attack on the base. The Voice of Jihad also reported that the Taliban had captured an Afghan Police station and two centers of the Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS) after a limited attack in the district of Khas Urozgan in Urozgan province. An Afghan official told KPVI News TV that only two Afghan policemen had been killed during the clashes in Urozgan province. The source didn’t provide any details about the Taliban loses. The Taliban said that the two attacks in the districts of Tarinkot and Khas Urozgan had been a part of its spring offensive, coden

Written by   Evgeniy Satanovskiy ; Originally appeared at  VPK , translated by  J.Hawk  exclusively for  SouthFront Washington’s declaration of withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, which is something that President Trump threatened to do for a fairly long time, and the exchange of strikes between Iran and Israel, have become the focus of attention of the international media. Incidentally, what’s typical is that in spite of the possibility of escalation, a big Iran-Israel war, and especially a direct clash in Syria between the US and Russia and even US and Iran, are far from inevitable. An analysis of events suggests restraint on part of all concerned. It’s no accident Iran fired not on the internationally recognized territory of Israel but the Golan Heights which nobody in the world officially considers part of Israel. And even then only military facilities were struck. At the same time, the Tehran-Jerusalem conflict is far from exhausted, and it may evolve in several unpre

As global counterterrorism operations show no signs of slowing down, U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) are  receiving thousands of light, gliding missiles that are smaller and more powerful than an AGM-114 Hellfire and fired from a Lockheed C-130 Hercules above the modern battlefield. Dynetics Small Glide Munition. (Source: Defense News) In recent years, insurgent groups have outsmarted American precision-guided weapons launched from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with fast traveling vehicles. However, a new powerful gliding munition can chase down and destroy these fast-moving targets. Dynetics Small Glide Munition. (Source: Aviation Week) According to the United State Special Operations Command (SOCOM) report about an upcoming contract award, it signed a deal with Alabama-based defense contractor Dynetics for the supply of about 4,000 more of the 59-lb. GBU-69B Small Glide Munitions (SGM) over the next four years. The GBU-69B Small Glide Munitions (SGM) can glide

Speaking to the US TV channel CNBC , anonymous sources acknowledged of US intelligence reports, said that new Russian “invincible” hypersonic glide vehicle Avangard would be ready by 2020. According to CNBC sources, Russia tested the Avangard twice in 2016. In October 2017, the third test was allegedly accomplished and supposedly failed as the device crashed down. On March 1, Russian President Vladimir Putin presented newest military developments of Russia. One was a high-precision hypersonic aero-ballistic missile Kinzhal. Second was a hypersonic glide vehicle Avangard. It can accomplish sharp high-speed maneuvers in flight making it “absolutely invulnerable for any missile defense system.” The CNBC sources believe that Avangard can defeat even the most advanced US missile-defense systems. Thomas Karako, the director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told CNBC that “these kinds of boost glide vehicles attack the gaps in o

North Korea would reconsider its participation in the historical Pyongyang-Washington summit in Singapore planned for June 12,  the country’s state-run news agency KCNA reported on May 16. According to a press statement of North Korean First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Kim Kye-gwan, North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un stated that its country isn’t interested in any negotiations that envisage only unilateral denuclearization without guarantees. Kim Jong Un criticized the “so-called Libya mode of nuclear abandonment” as this move hadn’t been an “expression of intention to address the issue through dialogue.” “It is essentially a manifestation of awfully sinister move to impose on our dignified state the destiny of Libya or Iraq which had been collapsed due to yielding the whole of their countries to big powers,” the statement reads. “It is absolutely absurd to dare compare the DPRK, a nuclear weapon state, to Libya which had been at the initial stage of nuclear deve

ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGEL EPA/ROMAN PILIPEY On May 15, a spokeswoman for the US Department of State Heather Nauert  described Kiev’s raids  on offices of Russian news agencies as a legitimate fight against “Russian propaganda.” “We understand that Ukraine, like a lot of other countries, has been concerned about intense propaganda,” Nauert told journalists during the press briefing. “Goodness, when we talk with a lot of our allies and partners overseas, they certainly have fallen victim and understand the influence and the reach of Russian propaganda. So we do understand Ukraine’s concerns about that.” On May 15, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) raided the offices of Russia’s state-run news agency RIA Novosti and TV channel RT and detained Kirill Vyshynsky, who heads the Ukrainian bureau of RIA Novosti, and some other journalists, whom are now being questioned by security forces. General Prosecutor of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko justified the raids calling the editorial policy of