ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

A screenshot from www.alwatanonline.com At least five British soldiers were killed in a rocket attack by ISIS in Syria’s eastern province of Deir Ezzor,  according to a January 9 th  report by Syrian Arabic-language newspaper al-Watan. The attack targeted the al-Shaafah village in Abu Kamal district of the province and several more soldiers were injured and airlifted to the coalition hospital in Hasakah, in northeastern Syria, according to the report. As of the morning of January 10 th  there has been no confirmation on the side of the UK, but if true that would make it the second attack on British troops by ISIS within days. On January 6 th ,  two British Special Forces soldiers were injured  in an ISIS attack, also in Deir Ezzor. A member of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) was also reportedly killed in the attack. A Ministry of Defense spokesman said: “We do not comment on special forces.” Thus, if there is an actual remaining British Special Forces operati

ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGE Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, who is a former Boeing employee, has reportedly been extremely critical of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter in private meetings, according to a report by  Politico  citing anonymous witnesses of several exchanges. His alleged constant bashing of Lockheed Martin’s handling of the program and claims that Boeing would do better have raised concerns whether he is showing bias. Shanahan, who spent 31 years at Boeing before joining the Pentagon in mid-2017, has signed an ethics agreement recusing him from weighing in on matters involving Boeing. “But that hasn’t stopped him from praising Boeing and trashing competitors such as Lockheed Martin during internal meetings,” according to two anonymous former government officials cited by Politico. Shanahan reportedly called the $1 trillion F-35 stealth fighter “f—ed up,” saying that Lockheed “doesn’t know how to run a program.” “He is said to

Click to see the full-size image India began paying for Iranian crude oil in rupees,  Charan Singh, executive director at Indian state-owned UCO Bank told Reuters on January 8 th . This is the first such payment since the US reimposed its second batch of sanctions on November 5 th , 2018.  This is in continuation of a previous story , in which India said it had not yet worked out a payment mechanism to circumvent the sanctions. India was one of eight countries that received a six-month waiver from the sanctions, allowing them to import some Iranian oil. Click to see the full-size image “India, the world’s third biggest oil importer, wants to continue buying oil from Iran as it offers free shipping and an extended credit period, while Iran will use the rupee funds to mostly pay for imports from India,” Reuters reported. “Today we received a good amount from some oil companies,” Charan Singh said. He did not disclose the names of the refiners or how much had been depo

Click to see the full-size image On January 8 th ,  Jordan’s Foreign Minister, Ayman Safadi described  the Golan Heights as occupied Syrian territory and demanded that Israel withdraw its forces from the area. Safadi’s comments came during a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who landed in Amman earlier in the day. “The Golan Heights are occupied Syrian territory. International law is clear on that. It has to be treated as such,” Safadi told reporters. “Therefore, our position is that Israel needs to withdraw from that territory in the framework of a peace agreement,” he added. Elijah J. Magnier @ejmalrai # Jordan rejected the # US proposal, endorsing the # Israel /I wil, to consider the occupied Golan Heights as an Israeli territory. Jordan said clearly to @ SecPompeo that the # GolanHeights is a # Syrian territory and that # Israel should pull out immediately. 240 17:14 - 8 Jan 2019 Twitter Ads information