Kuwait's air defenses mistakenly shot down three US F-15 fighter jets during active combat on Monday, US Central Command said on Monday, describing it as an apparent friendly‐fire incident during the conflict with Iran.
All six crew members ejected from the aircraft safely, were recovered and are in stable condition, CENTCOM said.
"During active combat - that included attacks from Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles, and drones - the US Air Force fighter jets were mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses," CENTCOM said.
It said that Kuwait had acknowledged the incident and that an investigation was underway.
Video images showed a US warplane falling out of the sky over Kuwait early on Monday, while a person could be seen parachuting. The location was verified by Reuters as filmed in the Al Jahra area of Kuwait.
In a separate incident smoke was seen rising near the US embassy in Kuwait, and firefighters and ambulances were in the area, a witness told Reuters on Monday. This was later confirmed by Kuwait's Defense Ministry, which clarified that a number of planes had crashed, but all crewmembers had survived.
The embassy issued a security alert on Monday, saying that there is a continuing threat of missile and UAV attacks over Kuwait. People were urged to avoid approaching the embassy and to take cover in their residences.
Kuwait intercepted hostile drones on Monday, the third consecutive day of Iranian retaliatory strikes on neighboring Gulf states in response to US and Israeli attacks on the Islamic Republic.
Blasts heard in Dubai, sirens in Kuwait
A series of loud blasts was heard on Monday morning in Dubai and the Qatari capital of Doha, according to Reuters witnesses. Loud bangs and sirens were heard earlier in Kuwait, according to Reuters witnesses.
No injuries were reported after Kuwait air defenses intercepted most of the drones near the Rumaithiya and Salwa neighborhoods, the state news agency cited the director-general of the civil defense as saying.
Tehran said it would target US bases in the region after the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Saturday.
It has also hit a range of civilian and commercial areas across Gulf cities, widening the conflict's impact on key regional aviation and trade hubs.