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On January 18, an MQ-9 Reaper combat drone of the United States military crashed in the northeastern Iraqi province of Diyala.
Video footage posted to social networks showed the MQ-9 on fire midair just a few seconds before the crash. Two other videos that surfaced online later showed the burned down wreckage of the drone in the district of Miqdadiyah.
Sabreen News, a Telegram channel affiliated with Iran-backed armed factions in Iraq, claimed that the drone took off from Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait and was shot down after reaching Diyala.
Later, a Pentagon official confirmed to Kurdistan24 that a U.S. drone crashed in Diyala. The unnamed official noted that the drone was “recovered by and is now in the possession of our Iraqi partners.”
“The Coalition will coordinate with the Iraqis to regain possession of the drone,” the official said, adding that the “reason for the crash is still under investigation.”
MQ-9 drones, which cost upwards of $30 million per a unit, are primarily used to collect intelligence, but also have the ability to conduct pinpoint strikes. The advanced drones can operate for more than 27 hours and reach altitudes of over 25,000 feet.
The incident came amid high tensions between U.S. forces and Iran’s allies in Iraq over the ongoing Israeli war on the Palestinian Gaza Strip.
More than a hundred attacks have targeted bases hosting U.S. forces in northern and western Iraq as well as in the northern and eastern regions of neighboring Syria since the war broke out, with the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI), an umbrella group of Iranian-backed armed factions, claiming responsibility for most of the attacks.
Taking into account the video showing the MQ-9 on fire midair and the claims made by Sabreen News, it is very possible that the drone was shot down by the IRI. If confirmed, this will lead to a serious escalation in Iraq.
ussa is going down in flames and the world celebrates the end of the anglozionazi abomination. ain’t karma something wonderful when destiny comes to collect and avenge the crimes of the most evil abomination ever to crawl on this planet. rump ukrapland is burning, the zionazi beast in palestine is in terror and the pentacon golem can do nothing but froth at the snout and lash out in the dark. z on all fronts at once as the serpent eats itself.
“the advanced drones”
……one day, they may no longer be shot down or landed by iran unscathed.
but until then, there is still a long way to go for the ” advanced drones” 🤡 😆😆😆
the mq-9 reaper has serious problems with gravity. general atomics corp. likes to sell them but they only add to greenhouse gasses and cause fires.
“…likely the drone was shot down by the iri….” – i wonder how it was shot down? both china and russia have manpad surface to air missiles. or maybe sams from iran? yanquis will not be happy if these are getting through to iraq resistance.
this is not an ‘escalation’, as murika is the people of irq’s enemy, rather by shooting the soab out of the skies irq is now safer – ergo it is a ‘de-escalation’.
meanwhile rus should ask the iri for some shooting lessons, as these mq-9s are also criss crossing the black sea unchallenged every day, setting up nzi strikes on belgorod, donetsk etc..
“if confirmed, this will lead to a serious escalation in iraq.” how is this an escalation (let a lone a “serious” one) when we now have regular attacks on us bases in iraq? :d keep on shooting down this trash iraqis, also bomb us bases and kill some amer invader humanoid pigs!
it will not stop until the american rats flee
konečne niečo poriadne. takto sa to má robiť. okupantov treba zničiť alebo aspoň vyhnať. svetu mier!!!