Ten French fighter jets took part in the country's biggest air raid in Syria, the statement from the defense ministry read.
Puppet Masters
Ten French fighter jets took part in the country's biggest air raid in Syria, the statement from the defense ministry read.
Officials at the Chantilly, Va.-based National Reconnaissance Office had scheduled an exercise that morning in which a small corporate jet would crash into one of the four towers at the agency's headquarters building after experiencing a mechanical failure.
The agency is about four miles from the runways of Washington Dulles International Airport.
Comment: There have been a lot of these "coincidences" over the years:
- Coincidence? FEMA conducting pandemic drills during Ebola crisis
- Coincidence? Israeli-run Blue Flag military drill took place at the same time as the Russian plane crash
- False flag sign? Charleston shooting happened during federal active shooter drill ...in Charleston
- London Bombings - The Facts Speak For Themselves
- Coincidence? 'Bomb-sniffing dogs and spotters on the roofs' were at start, finish lines for 'drill' at Boston Marathon bombing
- Police anti-terror drills in Oslo 48 hours before bombing: tragic irony or Standard Operating Procedure for State Terrorism?
Coincidence theorists: UK ran nearly identical 'crisis exercise' of London tube bombings on same day
© Unknown
In interviews on Radio 5 Live and ITV News, Power appeared to claim the exercises involved 'a thousand people' as well as a dedicated crisis team whose number was not specified. The consultant described the simulation of 'simultaneous attacks on a underground and mainline station' and 'bombs going off precisely at the railway stations' at which the actual bombings occurred.
Visor's crisis team, Power explained, were planning to practice the switch from what he called 'slow time' thinking to the 'quick time' thinking required by a crisis situation. In the event, they were forced to do so for real. 'Unusual though it may be to stop an exercise and go into real time,' he comments, 'it worked very well - although there were a few seconds when the audience didn't realise whether it was real or not.'
Comment: There have been a lot of these "coincidences" over the years:
- Coincidence? FEMA conducting pandemic drills during Ebola crisis
- Coincidence? Israeli-run Blue Flag military drill took place at the same time as the Russian plane crash
- False flag sign? Charleston shooting happened during federal active shooter drill ...in Charleston
- Coincidence? 'Bomb-sniffing dogs and spotters on the roofs' were at start, finish lines for 'drill' at Boston Marathon bombing
- Police anti-terror drills in Oslo 48 hours before bombing: tragic irony or Standard Operating Procedure for State Terrorism?
In response to the attacks, the French government has activated emergency powers instituted tighter border controls, and begun making arrests of suspected accomplices. It remains very unclear what happened where, how many terrorists were involved, and whether any of them survived.
This week on Behind the Headlines, we'll be putting the attacks in Paris in context: why they happened now, who or what stands to gain, and what agenda the resulting mass confusion serves. Join us from 2-4pm EST / 8-10pm CET for some clarity on the madness.
Running Time: 01:44:00
Download: MP3
© Mikhail Voskresensky / RIA Novosti
Tombs of Syrian soldiers at Kuweiris airbase
Tombs of Syrian soldiers at Kuweiris airbase
RT's Lizzie Phelan managed to gain access to the airbase, just days after it was liberated.
Kuweires Airbase was besieged in 2013 and nobody believed the army would be able to defend the installation, given its conditions of poor munitions and provisions' supply. Yet more than two years later the beleaguered unit met its liberators unconquered and with unbroken spirit.
The way to Aleppo resembles a movie in a post-apocalyptic world: many buildings along the highway are in tatters and still smoking, and burnt out military hardware is scattered along the roadsides. The Syrian Army's operable armored vehicles that guard the crucial highway are several decades old and rusty.
© AFP Photo/Alain Jocard
Police officers stand guard near the Eiffel Tower which has its lights turned off on November 14, 2015 following the deadly attacks in Paris
Police officers stand guard near the Eiffel Tower which has its lights turned off on November 14, 2015 following the deadly attacks in Paris
The body of the 29-year-old French national was found and identified at the Bataclan music hall where 89 people were shot dead Friday when three gunmen wearing suicide vests opened fire on spectators in the bloodiest of a string of attacks in Paris blamed on Islamists.
France's worst ever attacks killed at least 129 people and left 352 injured, many in critical condition.
© AFP 2015/ GENYA SAVILOV
Earlier in the day, Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said the country's security forces had received reports about the preparation of terrorist attacks in several major cities across Ukraine, including Kiev, Dnipropetrovsk, Lviv and Kharkiv.
"The new threats have just appeared. Following the devastating attacks in Paris, we have received information about possible links of Islamic terrorists with those who are now in Ukraine, and yesterday I gave absolutely clear orders to review risks and threats in cooperation with our international partners to protect peace and security in Ukraine," Poroshenko told a press briefing.
© Gonazlo Fuentes / Reuters
Police control crowds leaving the Stade de France where explosions were reported to have detonated outside the stadium during the France vs German friendly match near Paris, November 13, 2015.
Police control crowds leaving the Stade de France where explosions were reported to have detonated outside the stadium during the France vs German friendly match near Paris, November 13, 2015.
"Information has been obtained from Iraqi intelligence sources that the countries to be targeted soon are Europe in general, specifically France, as well as America and Iran," Ibrahim al-Jaafari said on Saturday on the sidelines of Vienna negotiations searching to put an end to the war in Syria.
Al-Jaafari did not go into detail which terrorist organization is posing the threat, but he urged a global response to Islamic State (IS, former ISIL/ISIS), which is currently controlling large areas of Iraq and Syria.
© Eduardo Munoz / Reuters
Iraq Minister of Foreign Affairs Ibrahim Al-Jaafari
Iraq Minister of Foreign Affairs Ibrahim Al-Jaafari
France joined the US-led anti-IS coalition in 2014. Paris launched its airstrikes in Syria in September, a year after a similar operation in Iraq. It used six Rafale jets deployed in the United Arab Emirates and six Mirages stationed in Jordan, according to AFP.
France conducted almost 1,300 aerial missions in Iraq and carried out 271 airstrikes destroying 459 targets. France has only carried out two airstrikes in Syria.
On Friday, just hours before the terror attack in Paris, the French government confirmed the only aircraft carrier in the French Navy's fleet, the Charles de Gaulle, will leave for the Persian Gulf on November 18, to join the fight against Islamic State in the region.
Comment: Is France taking a page from its Washington masters?
- New Government Documents Show Bush Ignored Numerous Warnings Prior to 9/11 Attack
- ISIS and the Secret Team: France is in while Germany not so willing
"The Iraqi popular forces will not abandon their cause and liberation operations that are aimed at freeing ISIL-occupied regions," Riyan al-Kaldani told FNA on Sunday.
The Iraqi popular forces have vowed to complete freedom of Salahuddin province and then start liberation of Nineveh, Mosul and other regions, he added.
"The popular forces don't take permission neither from the US nor from any other countries for participating in the operations to free Mosul, and all these regions and Iraqi cities will be liberated by the Iraqi forces," Kaldani stressed.
Comment: With US helping to keep Iraq divided, Iraq has a long way to go at becoming a whole country again. There are many factions fighting ISIL. Many US led coalition members are backing away from continued support in Iraq. We will see what happens after the G20 meetings in Turkey.
Comment: And more from CNN: Question: does the French government have a mandate to do this, from either the UN or the host country?