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Iranian fighter jets were "two minutes" away from their targets...
Iranian bombers came just minutes after striking the largest military base housing US troops in the Middle East, before Qatari jets shot them down in their first air combat mission, two sources briefed on the operation told CNN.
On Monday morning, Iran's Revolutionary Guards dispatched two Soviet-era Su-24 tactical bombers to al-Udeid Air Base, which usually houses 10,000 American service members, and Ras Laffan, a key natural gas processing facility and a cornerstone of Qatar's economy.
The Iranian fighter jets were "two minutes" away from their targets, one of the sources said. A second source told CNN that the planes were visually identified and photographed carrying bombs and guided munitions.
Qatar issued a radio warning but received no response from the planes, which had switched to a flight altitude of 80 meters to avoid detection by radar, the second source said.
Due to “time constraints” and “based on the available evidence,” the planes were “classified as hostile,” the second source added. Qatar then sent in its own fighter jets, and a Qatari F-15 fighter engaged the Iranian planes in “air combat” before shooting them down, the second source added.
The Iranian planes crashed in Qatari territorial waters. Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said at a press conference on Tuesday that a search is underway for the crew.
Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and unmanned drones at Arab states along the Persian Gulf in retaliation for US and Israeli airstrikes on the country. Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, was killed in the first wave of attacks on Saturday, when the strikes destroyed his compound in Tehran.
But Iran's bold operation over Qatar marked the first time Iran has used manned aircraft to target a neighboring country since Khamenei's death, and the first time Qatar's air force has engaged in air-to-air combat.
US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Army Joint Chiefs of Staff, acknowledged the incident at a press conference on Wednesday without specifying the target of the Iranian bombers.
"Qatari fighters have for the first time shot down two Iranian bombers en route to their location," he said at a press conference at the Pentagon.
In a phone call with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani described the incident as an "escalation" and an indication that shows "no real desire" from Iran to reduce tensions or find a solution.
" On the contrary, it seeks to cause harm to its neighbors and involve them in a war that is not theirs ," Al Thani said, according to a statement of the phone call.
The incident over Qatar was unusual. Typically, Iran's retaliation has taken the form of missiles or drones. The Iranian regime has fired more than 400 ballistic missiles and more than 1,000 drones at Arab states along the Gulf since the US-Israeli attack, according to regional governments.
By targeting urban centers, energy infrastructure, airports, and hotels across the Gulf Arab states, Iran has shocked populations long accustomed to security.
While most of Iran's missiles and drones have been captured, six American service members were killed when an Iranian missile evaded air defenses and struck a makeshift operations center in Kuwait's Shuaiba port on Sunday. / Adapted from "Pamphlet" by "CNN"
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