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New video footage has emerged showing two Iranian missiles tearing through the night sky and hitting a Ukrainian passenger plane, sending the aircraft down in flames and killing all 176 passengers and crew on board.

US air base Al Asad in Iraq was targeted by Iran in response to the death of Qasem Soleimani, the top Iranian military commander, who was killed in a US air strike. BBC Persian correspondent Nafiseh Kohnavard was allowed inside the high security base to see the damage and speak to soldiers who survived the attack.

We're less than two weeks into 2020, but we already have a statement that definitively sums up the current state of the Democratic Party.There is now evidence that the Ukrainian airliner that crashed in Tehran on Tuesday was shot down by a Russian-built surface-to-air missile, such as those used by Iran's anti-aircraft system. And guess whose fault that is, according to Mayor Pete? A candidate for president of the United States just blamed the United States for Iran shooting down a commercial airliner and killing dozens of civilians. Buttigieg could've just expressed his condolences. He could've said nothing at...

Missiles? What missiles? The head of Iran’s civil aviation bureau claimed today that the cause of the explosion of a Ukrainian passenger jet and the deaths of 176 people on board is still not known. However, Ali Abedzadeh insisted that they definitely knew no missile hit the plane. “This claim,” Abedzadeh said, “was made by American politicians,” and challenged them to report their findings in public: Iran has strongly denied that a Ukraine International Airlines jetliner that crashed in Iran shortly after takeoff earlier this week, killing 176 people, was downed by an Iranian missile by mistake.“What is obvious...

Pentagon officials believe that the more than a dozen missiles launched at two bases in Iraq housing U.S. forces Tuesday night were designed to kill Americans, but the Iranian efforts were thwarted by the military's Early Warning Systems, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Gen. Mark Milley told reporters on Wednesday. “I believe based on what I saw and what I know is that they were intended to cause structural damage, destroy vehicles and equipment and aircraft and to kill personnel," Milley said. U.S. military officials were warned about Iran's pending ballistic missile strike "when the air defense systems went active,"...

Susan Rice, who served as national security adviser during the Obama administration, fired back Wednesday at President Trump for accusing President Obama of providing Iran with funds that were ultimately used to launch missiles at U.S. personnel in Iraq. Rice dismissed Trump’s claims that the U.S. gave Iran $150 billion in the landmark 2015 nuclear deal, noting that the funds were in fact Iranian money that was frozen as a result of the deal. “This is another series of despicable lies by President Trump,” Rice said on MSNBC. “The fact that … three years after taking office he remains obsessed...

Last night was full of drama. Iran let off contemptible and laughable Potemkin attacks on two facilities that housed a small number of US personnel (the installation with the most US personnel, Balad airbase, was not hit) #BREAKING: Operation #Soleimani = Propaganda!#IRGC just wanted to raise morale of its personnel tonight! According to spokesman of #CENTCOM, #IRGC|ASF launched 10 (Fateh-313) missiles at Ain al-Asad without causing any harm to anyone & 5 (Qiam-1) at #Erbil among them 4 are lost! pic.twitter.com/MybSWsEPJm— Babak Taghvaee (@BabakTaghvaee) January 8, 2020 Then, victory celebrations, led by regime thugs, spontaneously broke out #BREAKING: While #IRGC...

There was a plane crash last night in Iran which killed 176 people. The crash happened just a couple hours after the Iranian attack on Iraqi bases where Americans are stationed. Iranian state TV attributed the crash of the Ukrainian airliner to mechanical problems, however, the NY Times is now reporting that aviation experts arenÂ’t so sure. The alleged sequence of events, and a video of the crash raise questions about whether this might have been an attack of some kind: Though the evidence remained sketchy, aviation experts said that what was known indicated that the plane could have been...

That's an excellent question, one that many people may be asking right about now.Word on the tweet is that the Ayatollah Khameini is going all LBJ and picking targets at U.S. positions in Iraq in 2020 with his missiles. We're told the Supreme Leader is commanding the targeting of the missiles. This photo allegedly shows Iran Leader personally overseeing IRGC missile launch against US bases in Iraq pic.twitter.com/kmcSo7gASo— Reza Khaasteh (@Khaaasteh) January 8, 2020 But it turns out that photo is from 2014. This photo was taken during 2014 IRGC Aerospace Force exhibition not today.— MxPerception (@mxperception) January 8,...

We’re going to be digging through the details of last night’s Iranian missile strike against US installations in Iraq for a while. (More on that in a moment.) But at nearly the same time that all of the shelling and yelling was going down, so was… a plane. A Ukranian owned Boeing 737 was taking off from the airport in Tehran, but it almost immediately crashed, killing all 176 people on board. (NBC News) A Ukrainian airplane carrying 176 people on board crashed after takeoff in the Iranian capital, Tehran, on Wednesday, killing all on board, according to Iranian...

While the funeral for General Soleimani proceeds in Kerman, Iran, the military, with the blessing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, fired 15 ballistic missiles at two bases in Iraq. The bases in Erbil in the north and Al-Assad in the west were targeted, while other bases with greater numbers of American soldiers and far closer to the Iranian border were avoided. To some, this might appear curious since as of this writing there are no American casualties. This would appear to be a significantly minimal attack, possibly a face-saving threat necessary in the belligerent Middle East. Possibly, four missiles...

Russia's first regiment of Avangard hypersonic missiles has been put into service, the defence ministry says. The location was not given, although officials had earlier indicated they would be deployed in the Urals. President Vladimir Putin has said the nuclear-capable missiles can travel more than 20 times the speed of sound and put Russia ahead of other nations. They have a "glide system" that affords great manoeuvrability and could make them impossible to defend against. Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu confirmed the "Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle entered service at 10:00 Moscow time on 27 December", calling it a "landmark event".

On December 7, North Korea claimed to have conducted a “very important test” at its Sohae Satellite Launching Station that “will have an important impact on changing the strategic position of the DPRK.”[1] The North Koreans did not describe what was tested, but prior open-source imagery suggests it was a static (ground) test of a large liquid-propellant rocket engine.[2] It remains to be seen what rocket system the engine was associated with: a previously launched intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), intermediate-range ballistic missile, space launch vehicle, or a new system. In any case, the static test could be the precursor to...

Iran is stockpiling short-range ballistic missiles in Iraq that can reach Israel, according to a New York Times report that cited American intelligence and military officials. The hidden rockets are part of a larger effort by Iran to intimidate countries in the region and assert its power, the Times reported. Short-range missiles generally have a range of just over 600 miles, so one fired from just outside of Baghdad could reach Jerusalem. Iran’s effort to build up its arsenal comes as the United States has sent thousands of troops to the region with plans to send more. The arms in...

US forces reportedly conducted an airstrike on a minivan in a north-western Syrian city on Tuesday, killing two targets just 10 miles away from where former ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a raid in October. The targeted strike was said to have involved the use of a secret ‘Ninja’ missile, known as the AGM-114R9X, which substitutes the explosive warhead found on standard missiles for a set of six folding sword-like blades, designed to smash through buildings and vehicles with minimal civilian casualties. According to The Warzone, the hit was carried out in Atmeh, located in Syria’s Idlib...

North Korea's recent test of its super-large multiple rocket launcher has not only proved the weapon system's improved "volley-firing" capabilities but also showed that North Korea's weapons development programs have proceeded steadily for the past two years, experts said Monday. On Nov. 28, North Korea conducted the test-firing of the super-large multiple launch rocket system for the fourth time this year following Aug. 24, Sept. 10 and Oct. 31 launches. All four tests involved two rockets fired from the weapon system, with the North succeeding to narrow down the firing interval from 17 minutes on Aug. 24 and 3 minutes...

Israeli tanks attacked three Islamic Jihad military posts in the Gaza Strip Tuesday afternoon. An IDF spokesperson stated: "A short while ago, IDF tanks targeted three PIJ military posts in the Gaza Strip." The Israeli Air Force has also bombed numerous Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza in response to the firing of dozens of rockets by the terrorist organization. "IDF fighter jets and aircraft recently struck a number of PIJ terror targets in the Gaza Strip. Among the sites struck were a training compound and underground weapons manufacturing and storage sites," the IDF announced Tuesday in a statement. "The IDF...

"Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors." These are the offenses designated in the Constitution for which presidents may be impeached and removed from office. Which of these did Trump commit? According to his accusers in this city, his crime is as follows: The president imperiled our "national security" by delaying, for his own reasons, a transfer of lethal aid and Javelin missiles to Ukraine -- the very weapons President Barack Obama refused to send to Ukraine, lest they widen and lengthen the war in the Donbass. Now, if Trump imperiled national security by delaying the transfer of...

“North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in April said he would give the U.S. until the end of the year to become more flexible on nuclear talks. Since then, he's launched 12 missiles to back up that warning, including a launch on Thursday. So far, though, there is no evidence the U.S. is changing its stance, meaning the situation could soon get much more volatile, as VOA’s Bill Gallo reports from Seoul”...(sound file at link)

CONCLUSION: "Based on North Korea’s experience developing the KN-02 missile, which underwent at least 20 flight tests, it seems likely that each new missile system currently being developed will require a similar number of test launches. However, one cannot dismiss the possibility that leaders in Pyongyang are already satisfied with the test results achieved to date, as it is highly probable that the current KN-23, -24, and -25 missiles are more accurate that their Scud-based counterparts. In this case, the last remaining hurdle would be missile reliability and the proven knowledge that they perform as designed under a variety of...