F-15 Crashes In Kuwait, Pilot Said To Have Ejected; Watch Viral Video
New York : An American F-15 fighter jet reportedly crashed over Kuwaiti airspace on Monday morning as the US–Iran war entered Day 3, with attacks reported across the Middle East. The cause of the crash, which was captured on video, remains unclear, though initial reports suggested the jet may have been a victim of friendly fire after being engaged by a Patriot air defence battery.
The Patriot system is a US-made air defence platform designed to intercept incoming threats such as ballistic missiles and hostile aircraft. In rare cases, misidentification, radar confusion, Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) malfunction, or communication breakdowns can result in a friendly aircraft being wrongly classified as hostile. The Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Company (KIPIC) said debris from the aircraft fell inside the Mina Al Ahmadi refinery on Monday, injuring two workers.
WATCH: Fighter jet crashes in Kuwait pic.twitter.com/Uhe6qTAdkd
— BNO News Live (@BNODesk) March 2, 2026
Videos circulating on social media purportedly show the fighter jet descending rapidly before crashing, with separate footage also appearing to show the pilot after ejecting. The reported crash came as Israel launched fresh air strikes targeting Tehran on Monday while expanding military operations against Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. Israeli strikes hit Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut, with multiple explosions reported across the Lebanese capital.
Israel said it targeted sites linked to Hezbollah after the group acknowledged launching missiles and drones toward Israel following the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Air raid sirens were triggered across Israel, including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, after Iran’s state media reported a new wave of missiles launched from central Iran toward what it described as “enemy locations”.
Kuwait said its air defences intercepted hostile drones amid continued retaliatory attacks targeting Gulf states. A senior White House official said the ongoing US–Israeli military campaign against Iranian targets could continue for weeks, adding that “Operation Epic Fury continues unabated. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said a temporary leadership council had assumed the duties of Supreme Leader following Khamenei’s death, while senior Iranian figures signalled that negotiations with Washington were unlikely.
The United States confirmed its first casualties of the campaign, with three American service personnel killed at a military base in Kuwait. The escalating conflict has also severely disrupted global aviation, with major Middle Eastern airports remaining shut and international air travel facing one of its largest interruptions in recent years, while oil prices surged amid fears of prolonged instability.