A report says at least 16 US military aircraft have been lost since the start of the American-Israeli aggression against Iran, including 10 Reaper strike drones destroyed and a half-dozen other planes badly damaged.
Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the issue, reported that Iranian defenses have so far brought down the uncrewed Reapers, with at least nine being destroyed in the air, and one was hit at an airfield in Jordan by a ballistic missile.
The other two Reapers were reportedly lost to accidents.
The report claimed that the most serious losses were due accidents, including three US F-15s purportedly downed by “friendly fire” in Kuwait, and a KC-135 tanker destroyed during a refueling operation.
That’s while the Islamic Resistance in Iraq last week said that its fighters managed to intercept a strategic KC-135 aircraft belonging to the US military in the skies over Western Iraq, adding that they downed the aircraft using an "appropriate weapon."
All six crew members on the tanker were killed.
According to Bloomberg, an Iranian missile attack has damaged five other KC-135s while parked at an airfield in Saudi Arabia.
Bloomberg referred to the emergency landing of a US F-35 stealth jet was forced to make at an airbase in West Asia on Thursday, without citing the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) as saying that it has successfully hit the aircraft in Iran’s airspace.
This is the first time the jets have been struck since their introduction about 10 years ago......more below
Volker Turk has warned that efforts to advance reparatory justice are facing resistance in “certain quarters,” and urged countries to back Africa’s push.
Reparatory justice for historical crimes, including colonialism, enslavement, and the trade in enslaved Africans, is crucial to dismantling systemic racism, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has said.
Speaking at the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent on Tuesday, Turk linked present-day discrimination against people from the continent to the enduring legacy of colonialism and enslavement.
”Racism and dehumanizing rhetoric continue to permeate public institutions, communities, and online platforms,” he said, according to the UN Press Service. Turk noted that “digital technologies, including AI, are reproducing and amplifying existing biases against people of African descent.”
The remarks come weeks after the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring the transatlantic slave trade “the gravest...
The US VP had to defend President Trump’s Gaza policy at a rally on a Georgia college campus.
US Vice President J.D. Vance was forced to defend Washington’s policy in Gaza after he was booed and heckled at a key MAGA event on Wednesday.
Co-founded by the late Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA (TPUSA) is a conservative student group that has long been seen as a strong support base of President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement but is now showing apparent cracks.
Less than 15 minutes into a TPUSA event at the University of Georgia on Wednesday, Vance was interrupted by hecklers over US policy in Gaza, with one audience member shouting, “Jesus Christ does not support genocide!” As he attempted to respond, others shouted, “You’re killing children!” and “You’re bombing children!”
Vance replied by referring to Trump’s achievements as president, including securing a fragile ceasefire in Gaza, something he said the previous administration of Joe Biden failed to do.
“I ...
Sergey Shoigu has cautioned Finland and the Baltic states against allowing Kiev to use their airspace for attacks on Russia.
Russia would have the right to retaliate if Finland and the Baltic states are deliberately allowing Ukrainian drones to pass through their airspace, Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu said on Thursday.
“Recently, there has been an increase in Ukrainian drone strikes against Russia via Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia,” Shoigu told journalists. “As a result, civilians are suffering and significant damage is being caused to civilian infrastructure.”
Either Western air defenses are proving ineffective, or these four countries “deliberately provide their airspace, thereby becoming open accomplices in aggression against Russia,” he added. In the latter case, Moscow has the right to self-defense in response to an “armed attack” under Article 51 of the UN Charter, the security chief stressed.
In recent weeks, Kiev has intensified drone strikes on ...
