A Kuwaiti jet fighter was the cause of the accidental shootdown of three American F-15s on Monday, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.At least one Kuwaiti F/A-18 is believed to be responsible, the report said.According to a US official, the pilot of the F/A-18 Hornet mistakenly launched three missiles towards the three US jets, which went down over Kuwait.
The incident was the first loss of an American aircraft since Operation Epic Fury began February 28 with a massive wave of American and Israeli airstrikes on Iran, which has retaliated with missiles and drones against Kuwait and countries across the Gulf after its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was assassinated in a joint US-Israeli airstrikes on Saturday.
Three US fighter jets, all of them F-15E Strike Eagles, were mistakenly downed in Kuwait – not Iran – by friendly Kuwaiti fire on Monday, according to the US military. The crews parachuted to safety.The F-15E downing is the second known incident of US fighters being taken out by friendly fire in the Middle East in the past 15 months.
Meanwhile, Iran took the claim for shooting down the jets, as the war with the United States-backed Israel rapidly escalated.The Wall Street Report says that the ‘blue-on-blue’ incident occurred as multiple Iranian drones were penetrating Kuwaiti airspace. One of these impacted a base that resulted in the death of six Americans
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the incident occurred during “active combat,” which included “attacks from Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles, and drones”.The exact circumstances of the downing of the American warplanes are not yet clear.The scale and intensity of each side’s attacks have escalated over the last four days, with regional, non-state actors like Iran-backed Hezbollah also joining the conflict.
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