US surveillance aircraft downed in Iraq’s Saladin

2026-03-04 - 23:24

Shafaq News- Saladin The Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI) reported on Thursday that it had shot down a US MQ-9 drone over Saladin province. In a statement, the group described the operation as “in defense of our country’s sovereignty and its airspace, violated by occupation forces,” adding that fighters targeted the drone with appropriate weapons. The escalation comes as aerial exchanges intensify between Iran on one side and Israel and the United States on the other. Several Iran-aligned Iraqi armed factions informed Iraq’s government and political leaders within the ruling Shiite Coordination Framework (CF) that they will continue operations targeting US and Israeli interests inside and outside Iraq. Earlier this week, IRI claimed executing 67 operations over the past 48 hours in two Iraqi provinces and four other countries, targeting the US “occupation bases” and interests in the region.