US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Sunday the two latest unidentified objects shot down by US fighter jets over Canada and Alaska were high-altitude balloons, although smaller than the China balloon downed over the Atlantic Ocean last weekend.
Mr Schumer, who was speaking on This Week on ABC, said he was briefed on Saturday night by White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
One of the objects was downed over Alaska on Friday and the other was brought down over Canada on Saturday, following the highly publicised shooting down of an alleged Chinese spy balloon off the South Carolina coast on February 4.
Asked whether the two latest objects were balloons, Mr Schumer said: “They believe they were, yes. But much smaller than the first one.”
“Both of those — one over Canada, one over Alaska — were at 40,000 feet” and were determined to pose a risk to civil aviation, Mr Schumer said.
Mr Schumer said teams were recovering debris from the objects and would work to determine where they came from.
“The bottom line is until a few months ago we didn’t know about these balloons,” Mr Schumer said.
“It is wild that we didn’t know. … Now they are learning a lot more. And the military and the intelligence are focused like a laser on first gathering and accumulating the information, then coming up with a comprehensive analysis."
In response to Mr Schumer’s comments that US officials believed the unmanned objects were balloons, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council told Reuters the objects downed over Alaska and Canada in recent days did not resemble the Chinese surveillance balloon shot down off the coast of South Carolina and were much smaller.
“These objects did not closely resemble and were much smaller than the PRC balloon and we will not definitively characterise them until we can recover the debris, which we are working on,” the spokesperson told Reuters.
There has been no Chinese reaction to the latest two drownings.
All members of Congress were briefed on Thursday on the suspected Chinese spy craft that was shot down off the South Carolina coast on February 4.
Some Republicans criticised President Biden for waiting too long to down the first balloon.
But Mr Schumer defended Mr Biden's handling, telling ABC News an analysis of the recovered balloon debris would represent “a huge coup for the United States”.
Reuters and AP contributed to this report
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
UAE%20ILT20
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2019 ASIA CUP POTS
Pot 1
UAE, Iran, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia
Pot 2
China, Syria, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Qatar, Thailand
Pot 3
Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Palestine, Oman, India, Vietnam
Pot 4
North Korea, Philippines, Bahrain, Jordan, Yemen, Turkmenistan
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
The bio
Studied up to grade 12 in Vatanappally, a village in India’s southern Thrissur district
Was a middle distance state athletics champion in school
Enjoys driving to Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah with family
His dream is to continue working as a social worker and help people
Has seven diaries in which he has jotted down notes about his work and money he earned
Keeps the diaries in his car to remember his journey in the Emirates
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Who has been sanctioned?
Daniella Weiss and Nachala
Described as 'the grandmother of the settler movement', she has encouraged the expansion of settlements for decades. The 79 year old leads radical settler movement Nachala, whose aim is for Israel to annex Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where it helps settlers built outposts.
Harel Libi & Libi Construction and Infrastructure
Libi has been involved in threatening and perpetuating acts of aggression and violence against Palestinians. His firm has provided logistical and financial support for the establishment of illegal outposts.
Zohar Sabah
Runs a settler outpost named Zohar’s Farm and has previously faced charges of violence against Palestinians. He was indicted by Israel’s State Attorney’s Office in September for allegedly participating in a violent attack against Palestinians and activists in the West Bank village of Muarrajat.
Coco’s Farm and Neria’s Farm
These are illegal outposts in the West Bank, which are at the vanguard of the settler movement. According to the UK, they are associated with people who have been involved in enabling, inciting, promoting or providing support for activities that amount to “serious abuse”.
