KUWAIT CITY, March 2 (Reuters) – Several U.S. military aircraft crashed in Kuwait early on Monday, but all crew members survived and were in stable condition, Kuwait’s Ministry of Defence said, as conflict widened across the Middle East.
In a separate incident, smoke was seen rising from the vicinity of the U.S. Embassy compound in Kuwait City, and fire trucks and ambulances were in the area, a witness told Reuters.
There were no responses to requests for comment on the embassy incident from the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait, or from the U.S. State Department.
Kuwait intercepted hostile drones earlier on Monday, the third consecutive day of Iranian retaliatory strikes on neighbouring Gulf states in response to U.S. and Israeli attacks on the Islamic Republic.
The Kuwait Defence Ministry statement, which was carried by the state news agency, said the crews from the crashed aircraft were evacuated and transferred to hospital and were in stable condition. It added that the response was carried out in coordination with U.S. forces.
Iran’s state media cited the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as saying Iranian armed forces hit a U.S. plane that crashed in Kuwait.
Online video verified by Reuters as being taken in the Al Jahra area of Kuwait showed a military aircraft falling from the sky and a person parachuting in the same shot.
The Kuwaiti statement did not specify how many aircraft were involved.
FALLING DEBRIS INJURES WORKERS
Two workers were slightly injured by falling debris at Kuwait’s Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery, Kuwait’s National Petroleum Company said on X.
The U.S. Embassy in Kuwait warned U.S. citizens that there was a continuing threat of missile and drone attacks over the country and urged citizens not to come to the embassy. It advised people to shelter in place, remain on the lowest floor of their residence away from windows and not go outside.
No injuries were reported after Kuwait air defences intercepted the majority of the drones near Rumaithiya and Salwa neighbourhoods, the state news agency cited the director-general of the civil defence as saying.
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.
Tehran said it would target U.S. bases in the region after the U.S. 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.
(Reporting by Gulf Team; Writing by Andrew Mills, Nayera Abdallah, Editing by Himani Sarkar, Stephen Coates, Thomas Derpinghaus and Sharon Singleton)
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