ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Illustrative image At the late Hours of October 25, ISIS cells in the area of al-Safa, north of the governorate of al-Suwayda, handed over the bodies of 50 Syrian soldiers, who were killed during clashes there, to the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), according to the Syrian news outlet Enab Baladi. From its side, the Damascus government returned the bodies of 15 ISIS fighters and allowed 4 trucks carrying food and other supplies to enter al-Safa. These steps are a part of the wider agreement to end the presence of the terrorist group in al-Safa and release more than 20 hostages, who were abducted by ISIS elements during  a brutal attack  in late July. Under the agreement,  the first 6 hostages were released last week  in exchange for 25 people affiliated with ISIS. A source familiar with the situation told the al-Suwayda 24 blog that the U.S. is a part of the agreement with ISIS. According to the source, the US-led coalition released several ISIS members from its prisons in eastern S

Illustrative image This analysis is made by  Pentapostagma Enimerosis  and translated exclusively for  SouthFront As Turkey escalates in the Eastern Mediterranean the real question is how determined Greece is to respond. Greece is confronting a huge diplomatic and military dilemma after Turkey sent a seismic vessel to the eastern Mediterranean to allegedly explore the existence of natural gas deposits. The vessel began investigating on Tuesday night (16.10.2018) before withdrawing temporarily after the Greek Navy sent a strict radio alert. After the incident, Turkey sent three frigates and two patrol ships there to protect the movements of their own seismographic ship. Turkey, however, seems to be pushing tension by sending Barbaros Hayreddin Pasa vessel to explore in an area that includes part of the continental shelf of Greece. If Barbaros returns to Greek waters, however,  Athens will face a dilemma : either issue another radio alert or increase its naval presence

Illustrative image US National Security Advisor John Bolton visited Moscow on October 22 nd . The visit and discussions that followed happened 48 hours after US President Donald Trump announced that the US would withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Defense News cited experts who are concerned that the US could possibly also withdraw from the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which was signed in 2010 between the US and Russia. It limits the deployed forces of both nations to 1,550 nuclear warheads over 700 delivery systems, including intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and bombers. National Public Radio’s David Welna also was skeptical about the future of the new START treaty, following the INF withdrawal. When he was asked about the treaty, while in Moscow, Bolton said that the US government is “currently considering” its position on the agreement. He, however, said that the Trump administration “

FILE IMAGE: Reuters / Amir Cohen The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and the country’s leadership are openly preparing for a military operation against the Palestinain movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip. During the past week,  the IDF deployed over 60 battle tanks and armoured vehicles as well as additional troops in the area near a security fence at the contact-line between the Israeli-controlled area and the Gaza Strip.  Earlier, Israel also declared a new policy towards Gaza officially allowing stronger military actions against any “hostile” actions by the protestors or Hamas. Meanwhile, the Israeli top leadership is openly calling for an invasion in Gaza. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman is among the key supporters of the operation. “ Wars are only conducted when there is no choice, and now there is no choice ,” Lieberman told the parliament on October 22. He repeatedly claimed that Tel Aviv had exhausted the “other options” to stabilize the sitaution. So now, it’s tim

A screenshot from the video RT released a translation of the documentary on Russia’s state-of-the-art Mi-28UB combat training helicopter produced by the Russian Defense Ministry’s TV network “Zvezda”. The Mi-28UB  is designed by the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant. It is based on the Mi-28NE Night Hunter combat helicopter and is often used to train military pilots that require flight practice on Mi-28NE Night Hunter helicopters. The Mi-28UB was officially revealed to the public at the International Aviation and Space Salon in 2013. The Russian military is going to acquire up to 60 helicopter of this type.

Written by  Andrei Akulov ; Originally appeared on  strategic-culture.org With the announcement of President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the INF Treaty, the issue of Russia’s response comes to the fore. First, the US decision is still to be made official. It can be reconsidered. After the formal notification there’ll be six months before the treaty is dead. Moscow is ready for talks at any level any time. The US administration is in for hard times. The opposition to the decision is strong in the Congress, with many American pundits and NATO allies expressing disagreement. Germany has already criticized the move. It’s not over yet. There is still a chance to save the landmark agreement. But if the worst happens and the INF Treaty becomes history, Russia will hardly surrender and kneel. It will respond. It has options. With the US ground-based intermediate range missile non–existent, Russia can easily extend the range of its Iskander missile systems to cover all Europe with

While the mainstream media and the Western diplomacy continue blaming and shaming China and Russia for their alleged “militarism” and “hostile” actions, members of the US-led bloc continue their push for an escalation of the international situation. At the Euronaval 2018 naval defense exhibition which started on October 22 in Paris, Steve Allen, assistant chief of staff, carrier strike and aviation with the British Navy, openly refered to the British sole aircaft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth as “65,000 tonnes of diplomacy”. View image on Twitter Beth Maundrill @GunshipGirl Commodore Steve Allen on Carrier Strike. Back to the resurgence of the big deck.. Size matters. # Euronaval2018 # HMSQueenElizabeth # RoyalNavy 09:56 - 22 Oct 2018  ·  Paris, France 8 See Beth Maundrill's other Tweets Twitter Ads information and privacy However, during the speech,  the British military official complained  that the carrier strike group

On October 20 th , Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Russian Aerospace Defense Forces have carried out more than 40,000 flights, including 21,000 nighttime ones over the course of the operation in Syria. These have resulted in approximately 122,000 strikes on terrorist facilities. Furthermore, about 87,500 terrorists were eliminated and over 1,411 settlements were liberated as a result of the operations. More than 2,500 settlements have joined the reconciliation process as a result of the Russian reconciliation center’s efforts. According to Shoigu special attention is being paid to resolving humanitarian issues. On the same day, after long negotiations and as a result of the siege on al-Safa, Syrian authorities freed six hostages, all of whom were abducted by ISIS during an attack in July. The governor the Sweida region Amer al-Ashi said that numerous terrorists were killed in the operation that lasted more than 83 days, following the ISIS attack. Syrian state n