MIDDLE EAST MONITORING DESK ISLAMABAD
When the Mighty President of the Super Power US was proudly sharing details of the damages his country and ally Israel caused to Iran, 3 fighter jets of US Military were brought down by no other but a friend Kuwait giving a clear lesson that the blind use of power sometimes strikes back to break your own bones.
Three US F-15s involved in the attack on Iran were shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses in a case of friendly fire, the American military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement early Monday.
All six crew members on board the F-15E Strike Eagles were able to eject safely and are in stable condition.
The jet crashes, captured in dramatic video footage, were reported shortly after an apparent Iranian missile and drone barrage struck the US Embassy compound in Kuwait City — which had earlier issued a blunt warning to Americans, telling them to remain indoors, take cover, and “Do not come to the Embassy.”
Fire and smoke were seen rising from inside the compound, though there were no immediate reports of any casualties.
Explosions could be heard as one of the planes fell from the sky in flames, said witness Ahmed al-Asar, who rushed to the scene with about a dozen others as an airman parachuted to the ground.
Al-Asar initially thought the pilot was Iranian, but recognized he was American before rescuers whisked him away.
Iranian state television claimed that Iran had targeted one of the US planes, without elaborating.
The US Air Force had 219 F-15E Strike Eagles in operation as of spring 2019. The jets are renowned for their unblemished record in air-to-air combat.
Kuwait, like many of Iran’s neighbors in the Persian Gulf, has been targeted by Tehran with missiles and drones in an apparent attempt to get the US and Israel to back off the campaign that has killed four dozen top Iranian officials — including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Over the weekend, three American soldiers deployed to Kuwait as part of a unit that oversees supplies and logistics were killed in an Iranian attack, the first casualties of what the Pentagon has dubbed Operation Epic Fury.
CENTCOM said it would withhold the identities of service members who were killed until 24 hours after their families were notified.
Other retaliatory attacks by Iran have hit US bases in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain — the last of which is home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet.
Tehran has also targeted the oil infrastructure of other nations.
Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura oil refinery came under a drone attack on Monday, with defenses downing the incoming aircraft, a military spokesman told the state-run Saudi Press Agency.
Online videos from the site appeared to show thick, black smoke rising after the attack. Even successfully intercepted drones cause debris that can spark fires and injure those on the ground.
Ras Tanura, near the city of Dammam in eastern Saudi Arabia, is one of the world’s largest with a capacity of over half a million barrels of crude oil a day. It was temporarily shut down as a precaution after the attack, Saudi state television reported.
Earlier in the day, debris fell on Kuwait’s Ahmadi oil refinery, injuring two workers, after drones were shot down, the state-run KUNA news agency reported.
Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters of the Iranian Armed Forces has announced that they succeeded in shooting down a US F-15 fighter jet after it allegedly attempted to intrude into the Islamic Republic’s airspace.
