Scale of Iran blitz revealed
THE scale of destruction wrought by an Iranian missile strike on an air base that houses US troops was laid bare yesterday.
Shocking images showed the bent, shattered skeletons of buildings standing starkly over mangled sheets of metal and piles of rubble.
Huge craters, chunks of concrete and twisted pipes marked the spots where at least 10 missiles rained down on the Ain al-Asad base in Anbar, western Iraq.
The base was targeted last week in retaliation for the killing of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in a US drone strike.
Troops had advance warning of the incoming missiles and no one was killed, though several soldiers were treated for concussion. Now media has been allowed by the US-led coalition fighting the remnants of Islamic State to tour the site and witness the scale of the damage.
Bulldozers and trucks have begun clearing away large pieces of debris while troops restore order. The base, 110 miles west of capital Baghdad, is home to about 1,500 members of the US military and other forces.
The tour by media representatives came as Iranian prosecutors said they have arrested a number of suspects over the shooting down of a Ukrainian airliner near
Tehran. Officials announced the result of “extensive investigations” into the crash, in which all 176 aboard the Boeing 737-800 – including 82 Iranians – were killed.
They refused to go into detail on the number or identity of those held but had said previously that the missile was fired accidentally by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
President Hassan Rouhani also promised to set up a special court to investigate the “painful and unforgivable” error which downed the jet.
Four British citizens were among the dead.
The president said: “It’s not only the person who pulled the trigger but also others who are responsible.
“This is not an ordinary case. The entire world will be watching this court.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was glad Iran had admitted the “terrible mistake” and called on it to repatriate the British bodies.
He also urged American President Donald Trump to come up with a new nuclear deal with Iran after pulling out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
WOMEN with healthy sex lives may be less likely to go through an early menopause, research suggests.
Those who make love at least once a week are 28 per cent less likely to have experienced the change at any given age than those who do so less than once a month, a study found.
Scientists believe a lack of sexual activity signals the body to invest resources elsewhere as ovulation is a costly process.
Megan Arnot led the research at University College London.
Fertility
She said: “The findings of our study suggest that if a woman is not having sex, and there is no chance of pregnancy, then the body ‘chooses’ not to invest in ovulation, as it would be pointless.”
She added the idea women cease fertility to put more time into future generations of their families is known as “the grandmother hypothesis”.
Women who were sexually active on a monthly basis were also 19 per cent less likely to experience menopause, compared with those who had sex less than monthly.
The research, published in Royal Society Open Science, was based on data from almost 3,000 women in the United State’s Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation.