By Ahmed Hagagy, Jana Choukeir and Phil Stewart
KUWAIT CITY, March 2 (Reuters) - Kuwait's air defences mistakenly shot down three U.S. F-15 fighter jets during active combat on Monday, U.S. 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.
The incident is the first downing of U.S. aircraft since the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran began on Saturday and underscores how rapidly the conflict is widening across the Gulf.
"During active combat - that included attacks from Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles, and drones - the U.S. 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 into the cause was underway.
Video images showed a U.S. 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.
Reuters/Ipsos polling over the weekend showed just one-in-four Americans support U.S. strikes on Iran, with respondents concerned in part about harm to U.S. troops. Trump on Sunday warned of more U.S. casualties as strikes continue, which analysts say could further erode American support for the war.
SMOKE AT US EMBASSY
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.
Iran's state media earlier cited the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as saying Iranian armed forces hit a U.S. plane that crashed in Kuwait.
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.
Loud bangs and sirens were heard throughout the morning in Kuwait, according to Reuters witnesses. A series of loud blasts was heard on Monday morning in Dubai and the Qatari capital of Doha, 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.
(Writing by Andrew Mills, Nayera Abdallah, Editing by Himani Sarkar, Stephen Coates, Thomas Derpinghaus and Sharon Singleton)
