Five US refueling planes damaged in Iranian missile strike at Saudi base

Five US Air Force refueling planes were reportedly damaged in a missile strike at Prince Sultan Air Base, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.

The report said the planes were hit while parked on the ground at the base in recent days. Two US officials told the newspaper that the aircraft were damaged during the attack. However, no one was killed in the strike.

The new information suggests that at least seven US Air Force refueling aircraft have been damaged or destroyed since the start of the conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran on February 28.

In another incident on Thursday, six American troops were killed after a US aircraft crashed near Turaibil, close to the Iraqi-Jordanian border. The report was shared by CBS News, citing an Iraqi intelligence source.

The deaths were later confirmed by United States Central Command in a post on the social media platform X. Earlier, the command had reported that a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker had gone down in western Iraq.

CENTCOM said the loss of the aircraft was not caused by hostile fire or friendly fire.

However, Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said the aircraft was hit by a missile fired by resistance forces in western Iraq. In another statement, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the aircraft was destroyed while carrying out a refueling mission for what it described as an “aggressor fighter jet.”

According to Pentagon data, the latest incident has raised the number of US troops killed in the conflict to at least 13 since the start of the war.

Since then, resistance groups in Iraq have reportedly been carrying out frequent attacks on US military assets in Iraq and other parts of the region.

The KC-135 is believed to be the fourth US military aircraft lost during the conflict. Reports also say that at least three McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle jets were shot down over Kuwait.