Janjivan Bureau / DUBAI: The U.S.-Israeli air war against Iran expanded on Monday with no end in sight, engulfing Lebanon with Israel responding to strikes by Hezbollah, while Tehran fired missiles and drones at Israel, Gulf states and a British air base in far-away Cyprus.
The U.S. military said Kuwait’s air defences had mistakenly shot down three American F-15E fighters during an Iranian attack. All six crew members were safely recovered. Video, the location of which was verified by Reuters, showed one of the planes spiralling out of the sky, an engine lit up in flames, until it hit the ground and exploded in a fireball.
After a weekend of bombing that killed Iran’s supreme leader, dragged its neighbours into war and shut shipping traffic in the Gulf, markets opened on Monday with energy prices rising sharply, putting the global economic recovery at risk.
In the biggest U.S. foreign policy gamble in decades, President Donald Trump launched the campaign alongside Israel against a foe that had tormented the United States and its allies for generations.
Trump repeated his calls on Iranians to rise up and overthrow their leaders, and said the air campaign could last weeks. Within Iran, where residents have jammed highways to flee cities as bombs fell, there was uncertainty about the future and emotion ranging from apprehension to euphoria.
Many Iranians openly celebrated the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who ruled the country for 37 years and directed security forces that killed thousands of anti-government protesters at the start of this year.
But the conservative clerical leaders have shown no sign of yielding power. Military experts say U.S. and Israeli air power, with no armed force on the ground, may not be enough to drive them out. And meanwhile scores of Iranians have been reported killed in strikes, including several that hit apparent civilian targets.
“They are killing children, they are attacking hospitals. Is this the kind of democracy Trump wants to bring us? Innocent people were first killed by the regime and now by Israel and the United States,” Morteza Sedighi, a 52-year-old teacher, said by phone from Tabriz.
