richard quest is in london, and arwa damon in egypt, and so we don't know for sure it is terror, and so walk us through it, richard in bay jieijing. >> well, your beginning description said it all. the greeks describe the pilot as cheerful, and then you have a 30-minute gap and a transfer of from one aircraft or from one air traffic controller to another, and that does not happen because the plane does not respond, and then the plane seems to have fallen out of the sky. if you are looking at the radar data, it little rally just comes to a stop. also though, the greeks say that there is a weird radar track are where the plane appears to swer tov the left and then go 360 degrees around. and now putting it all together, d don, and we have talked about the plane incidents on many occasion, and you have heard me say before, the planes don't fall out of the sky at 37,000 feet for no obvious or apparent reas reason. and there are really only two things here, that you are talking about bomb and terrorist nefarious activity or mechanical failure which may be compounded by pilot error. at the

let's get the latest from cnn international correspondent arwa damon live at cairo's international airport. arwa, what more are you hearing about this investigation at this point? >> reporter: well, george, the details that are coming to lighting are really serving mostly to add to the mystery surrounding what the cause of this possible crash may be. you do have these various different smoke alarms that were set off, that aren't even necessarily definitively indicative of any sort of fire breaking out. but could also have been set out by the plane come ago part. basically, all of all of its warning systems would have possibly gone on the fritz as it was colliding towards the mediterranean sea. all this is really proving agent this point is that there was some sort of crash. this is basically what we have known all along but we don't really know at this stage any sort of new information agency to whether or not this was some sort of catastrophic technical malfunction. or an act of terrorism. all that's happening is a severe amount of speculation around the various different causes that coul

. >> every since he was burned in a attack outside his baghdad home, arwa damon followed his amazing ussif is about to start high school and arwa met up with him in california where he now lives to find out how his story is still inspiring the masses. >> hey, look at you! you got so big! >> reporter: youssif has grown in numerous ways. he has has been a hero for many over the years. superman is his. >> so i had a project in my english class. so each person got to choose one superhero. >> reporter: do you identify with him? >> yeah. >> reporter: in what sense? >> i try to fit in with everyone. >> reporter: is that still hard for you? >> not really. because now i make friends easily. >> reporter: youssif was just 4 years old when masked men attacked him outside his baghdad home. >> [ speaking in foreign language ]. >> reporter: we reported his story. the outpouring of support came from across the globe, and youssif and his family ended up in los angeles. his parents her their son laugh and shriek for the first time since the months of the attack where strangers gathered and parade on th

let's bring in arwa damon. she's looking into many of the aspects that are going on there in terms of the search and rescue and the investigation. hi there, arwa. >> reporter: hi, natalie. all of these new details that are emerging about these various smoke alerts that went off are really to a certain degree just adding to the mystery and speculation surrounding the circumstances that may have brought this plane down. they really don't offer a lot of clarity as to whether or not it was terrorism or some sort of technical malfunction because as a plane is coming apart, according to some analysts, it can end up sending off all of these various different types of alerts. the plane's systems go into haywire to give that kind of an example as it does fall apart, which does seem to be the case as this particular aircraft went tumbling into the sea. they have managed to sadly recover some more body parts as well as some more luggage and other portions of the plane. but the actual body, the bulk of the plane itself, tha

arwa damon is live from cairo international airport where flight 804 was scheduled to land. cials believe it was likely an act of terrorism? >> well, it's based on the information that they have at hand and that is that there was no distress call from the pilot or co-pilot, that they were both very seasoned. they had clocked thousands of flight hours between the two of them and they have no cause to suspect that the aircraft itself may have had some sort of technical or mechanical malfunction that would cause it to so suddenly plummet so quickly without giving the pilot the chance to make any sort of distressed call. that being said, it's not entirely unprecedented that a plane would completely disappear from the sky. it's a phenomenally rare occurrence and the altitude that the aircraft was at, 37,000 feet, that's according to aviation experts one of the safest points in any flight. >> we're losing arwa damon's transmission. let's bring in breaking news now if we can. we now have new information coming in about the egyptair debris field. let me get right to cnn aviation corr

cnn's senior international correspondent arwa damon is monitoring the latest developments live from istanbul seen the threat of isis, these dramatic attacks continue, even as isis territory has been shrinking. is there a change in strategy here, arwa? >> reporter: well, it could be a change in strategy or rather a revival of an old strategy. remember, isis basically used to be al qaeda in iraq. al qaeda in iraq was notorious for these types of attacks, launching and sending suicide bombers to go after these so-called soft targets. now, you mentioned the female suicide bomber there in one of the attacks. yes, originally iraqi officials thought that it may have been a female suicide bomber. later, though, in the isis claim of responsibility for that attack, they did say it was a man who first threw grenades into the crowds before detonating his explosives. that, yes, just one of three attacks that took place on tuesday. the u.s. military is saying that this uptick in violence we've been seeing over the last few weeks, much of it claimed by isis, much of it targeting the country's shia populati

cnn senior international corresponde correspondent arwa damon. what is contributing to the latest isis surge of attacks inside iraq? >> reporter: wolf, over the last week or so, you had at least a hundred people killed. more, in fact, in a series of attacks that took place in the capital and around but what really focused on baghdad. there could be a couple of reasons for this. now the u.s. military will say that it is a by-product of isis coming under pressure in other parts of the country but could be because, remember, isis is an entity that can morph and adapt quickly. it could be isis trying to perhaps change its tactics. by focusing more on the capital and focusing on vulnerable areas and key installations like that natural gas station. isis could be attempting to draw the iraqi security forces away from the various different front lines because at the end of the day, the iraqi government does have to ensure that while it is trying to drive isis out of key territory in the rest of the country, it cannot lose its grip. the security forces ca

cnn's nic robertson joining me now from the greek island of crete and arwa damon in cairo. updating us to the search, the greek ships have been able to bring back or at least find and get close to some of these pieces, the debris and they've also beefed up what they have on the water there. >> reporter: they have. more sources of water, the british contributed and the greek air force here providing two c 130s. that's getting ready to go out on a mission. and another one of their c 130 military cargo aircraft is flying above that search and recovery area. at the moment, there's also a greek surveillance aircraft in the air. the united states providing preryan aircraft. and what has been recovered? seats have been recovered. luggage of passengers have been recovered along with human body parts also being recovered. so what this means is these several different groupings, if you will, amounts of material that have been seen and that have been recovered, what is emerging here is that the focus is now tightening on the area where the plane disappeared from the radar just southea

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let's go to cnn's senior international correspondent arwa damon at the cairo international airport where flight 804 was supposed to land several hours ago. arwa, nowhere on earth do i think they want more answers than that airport where so many people were there to meet loved ones who were due to land and that's why the egyptian officials are very much engaged in this investigation. >> reporter: they really are, and what you heard evan reporting there from the u.s. side is something that was previously stated to a certain degree by egypt's own civil aviation minister where he had said that it was most likely terrorism as opposed to a technical failure that had brought this plane down. there are a few key points that investigators are most certainly going to be looking at, and that is exactly what happened in the plane's final moments. greek authorities say that they tried to contact the aircraft as it was moving from greek into egyptian air space. they were going to be handing over control from greece over to egypt. at that point they struggled to make contact, and it was shortly afterwa

arwa damon caught up with youssif in this cnn exclusive. >> look at you.sif has grown in numerous ways. he has been a hero for many over the years, superman is his. >> so we did a project in my english class and so each person got to choose one super hero. >> reporter: do you identify with him? >> yeah. >> reporter: in what sense? >> i try to fit in with everyone. >> reporter: and is that still hard for you? >> not really because now i make friends easily. >> reporter: youssif was just 4 years old when masked men attacked him outside his baghdad home. we reported his story. the outpouring of support came from across the globe, and youssif and his family ended up in los angeles. where his parents heard their son laugh and shriek for the first time in the months since the attack. where strangers gathered in prayer on the beach moving his mother to tears. he has since undergone multiple surgeries. the memory of iraq and the evil he experienced all but erased. you were saying you don't remember anything about baghdad. >> yeah, i don't. i don't remember my fami

arwa damon joins us live from istanbul turkey. hi, arwa?er: hi, carol, there has been a wave of attacks over the last few months but concentrated over the last few weeks, especially over the last ten days or so where at least 150 people were killed in a wave of violence. yesterday as you were mentioning there at least three separate attacks all happening in the capital baghdad. over the weekend on sunday, you had isis claiming responsibility for an assault on a gas plant, just to the north of the capital. this according to some perhaps as you were mentioning there, an attempts to try to draw security forces away from the various different front lines and force them to concentrate their efforts on protecting baghdad or it could also be isis sending a clear message to the iraqi population that its security forces still are not cape sabl of protecting them from this kind of violence. plus, one must not forget that isis is an entity that is only too knowledgeable on how to exploit sectarian tensions in iraq and the country is right now in a sta

>> our senior international correspondent arwa damon in cairo international airport. arwa, what more can you tell us about this egyptian investigative committee that's been formed? >> reporter: well, its main focus is going to be trying to find the answers to those questions that everyone has been asking. how and why did this plane come down and what can be done to prevent this in the future? the problem is it's very difficult to begin that process before main parts of the plane have been recovered. now, the man who was heading up the investigative committee is the same person who headed up the metro jet investigation. remember when isis claimed responsibility for bringing down that russian budget airliner over the sinai and in that case, it was and ended up being explosives that caused the detonation that then brought down the aircraft and that led to a series of investigations into security procedures at the airport and then led to the country having a greater height and sense of awareness and beefed up security when it comes to its own measures within egypt but this

let's go to arwa damon who is live in istanbul, turkey. wa, how exactly was this attack carried out? >> reporter: well, it clearly was very well planned and then executed. isis initially launching a suicide car bomber at one of the main entrances of that gas plant and then launching in that wave of suicide bombers. now, the iraqi security forces did manage to repel the attack and maintain control of the gas tank itself but the fighting did cause major damage. we've seen this upped effort on the key infrastructure to go after soft targets, civilian population and mostly shia areas, perhaps someone argued as an attempt to draw the iraqi security forces away from the other front lines where they have been battling isis because they are aware of the fact that it needs to secure the population in baghdad, the capital, and to up its efforts to try to protect these key infrastructures. >> arwa, the iraqi military launched an operation on monday to retake the western town, ann bar province, from isis. how significant would that be if that happened?

straight it our senior international correspondent, arwa damon, following all of this from istanbul. ut isis claiming most of the attacks, how do you interpret this? might it be a sign of desperation? >> i think it's a bit short sighted to try to define the tactics that isis is using, given how well it has proven itself in the past, how its previous incarnations declares defeated and managed to reemerge, even stronger than they were. and i think the iraqis are well aware of this. when i was just in baghdad, a few weeks ago, many of those who we were speaking to were saying that what they're concerned about is the phase after isis, because even if this inkaur nation of terrorism is defeated in iraq, what is the next phase going to bring because iraqis know and have seen the way that isis has morphed and reshaped itself over the years. some analysts disagree, the u.s. military does characterize the violence that is taking place as being a by-product of the pressure that isis is under in other parts of the country where, yes, iraqi security forces are making territorial gains. of course

cnn international correspondent arwa damon is in cairo at the cairo airport.hat are officials saying now about the status of the investigation? >> reporter: well, they also are echoing that notion by the u.s. that this was more likely to be an act of terrorism as opposed to some sort of technical failure. that being said, the vice chairman of egyptair is saying that he stands corrected. he had earlier stated that the wreckage of the plane had been found. that is no longer the case. this is still very much a plane that is missing with a search and recovery mission -- >> we just lost our audio from arwa damon live there in the cairo airport. i want to bring back our aviation expert peter goelz. we had this back and forth of whether they found debris and now they said they didn't. when they do find this debris, what signatures, what evidence are they going to be looking for on the wreckage they find to give an indication as to what brought the plane down? >> well, they are going to look at how the wreckage came apart and for the telltale signatures of explosions.

and our special live coverage this hour begins with arwa damon live in cairo and. why are the americans at this early stage suggesting that their theories are pointing towards terror? >> as you said officials are saying there is no smoking gun, really just conjecture but the circumstantial evidence is leading them to point to the fact that this was likely a bomb, the fact that the plane just fell out of the sky, no bad weather, no gaping hole. secretary of state john kerry in brussels just moments ago offering his condolences. listen to what he said. >> the united states is providing assistance in the search effort and relevant authorities are doing everything they can to try to find out what the facts are of what happened today. i have no more knowledge than others at this point with respect to those facts. >> but the u.s. is working. u.s. intelligence officials working with the egyptians and the french. that flight did leave paris for cairo sharing manifests, talking about possible avenues of investigation. they will be narrowing down officials tell us on the gro

let me first go to the senior international correspondent arwa damon there in egypt. estion twofold. one, what is the latest that egypt is saying as far as where the investigation stands and, two, the families, are they notified right now? >> reporter: well, we really hope that they are being notified. now they were in the building behind where we are standing right now for most of the day. and they've since been moved on to hotels where the immediate why's not being facilitated access to them. you know, throughout the day, when our other teams were here, they were telling us about how the families were coming through. initially in shock. but holding on to some sort of hope that maybe this worst-case scenario was not what was going to end up materializing, maybe there was a slight chance that perhaps their loved ones could still be alive. that does not seem to be the case at this stage. and we do believe that, yes, the families are being updated on a fairly regular basis and as they were leaving, some of them wanting to speak to the media, many of them breaking down tr

arwa damon is there.families who are gathered there, we know from past experiences, families just want answers. that does not mean that when the answers come as they are now beginning to, that they're easy to hear. >> reporter: they're not easy to hear, and this is such an unspeakably difficult time for all those who have lost loved ones. ian at that mosque also spoke to a number of the colleagues of the crew members who perished in this plane going missing and now having crashed into the mediterranean, and a lot of them were very angry and irritated at this notion that perhaps somehow the crew was responsible, whether it's technical failure or terrorism, that somehow the crew could have been involved. all of them were describing the crew members as being very loving, very professional individuals, and there is this sense that perhaps egypt and egyptair are being wrongfully blamed. there have also been a number of prayers being held throughout the entire country, but also here in cairo for those who have

correspondent arwa damon is joining us right now from istanbul.sibility for the first attack and a frightening trend. last week, suicide bombings claimed the lives of at least 100 people in baghdad. injuring hundreds more. why the increase, these terror attacks on these so-called soft targets? >> reporter: well, there could be a number of factors involved here, wolf. now, the u.s. military will tend to say that this is because isis is coming under pressure in other parts of the country and, yes, isis has lost chunks of territory that it used to control in iraq but maintains control over key strategic areas like the border crossing, fallujah and iraq's second largest city mosul. what isis could be attempting to do is try to draw iraqi security forces away from the various different front lines going after the soft targets. it also could be trying to ignite iraq sectarian tensions. the vast majority if not all of the targets within the predominantly shia parts of the capital, baghdad. also going after infrastructure, the attack on sunday was against

arwa damon, thank you so much. thanks for being with me. jake tapper starts now. >>> clinton forces attack trump in two ads featuring his own words about women. trump firing back on twitter, calling former president bill clinton, quote, worst of uabuse of women in american political history as a war is breaking out within the democratic party. special election day of "the lead" starts right now. >>> good afternoon. welcome to a special edition of "the lead." i'm jake tapper. donald trump and hillary clinton are locked in an ugly war of words. clinton now fighting the battle on two fronts, as she is also trying to stop bernie sanders' recent election day dominance, voters at polls right now in two states, kentucky and oregon. that's a clinton super pac releases new attack ads today against donald trump using his own words. and frequently vulgar language in describing women. trump, firing back, releasing a firestorm of tweets calling clinton a liar, charging she cannot close the deal against bernie sanders, attacking her over the e-mail contr

cnn's senior international correspondent arwa damon is monitoring the latest developments live from istanbul morning to you. in the past week, more than 200 people have died in baghdad. officials say this is a sign that isis is getting weaker, but is that really the case? >> reporter: well, that's what u.s. officials are saying, boris. that is what the u.s. military is saying at this stage, that this uptick in attacks is a by-product of isis being put under pressure in other parts of the country and this is them being on the back foot and lashing out, going after the soft targets. now, this type of attack is not necessarily something new when it comes to an entity like isis. its previous incarnation, back in the days when it was al qaeda in iraq, they constantly were going after soft targets. they constantly were trying to go after the shia community to try to sew even more tensions between the country's sue nnis d shias. this is perhaps something they're trying to exploit once again. the other issue here is when one looks at an entity like isis, an entity that has historically proven time a

we begin with arwa damon "outfront" tonight in cairo. what are sources telling you? >> reporter: well, they're still trying to piece together exactly what took place. there was a little bit of hope earlier in the day, erin, that perhaps the plane had been found. but then the vice president of egyptair said that he was mistaken and a lot of questions are still being asked. u.s. officials tell cnn, they believe a bomb brought down egyptair flight 804. killing all 66 on board. officials basing their early theory on circumstantial evidence. a routine flight manned by an experienced crew, suddenly falling from the sky. egyptian authorities aren't ruling out anything. >> we do not deny there is a possibility of terrorism. >> reporter: 11:09 wednesday night. egyptair, 804, lifts off from charles de gaulle airport for the four-hour flight to cairo. on board, 66 passengers from a dozen countries. a crew of seven. three security personnel. and among the passengers, a child. and two infants. 1:24 a.m., the airbus enters greek air space. athens air traffic control makes routine