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Qatar announced on March 2 that its air force had “successfully shot down” two Iranian warplanes, as the fallout from the United American-Israeli attack on the Islamic Republic continues across the wider Middle East.
In a statement, the Qatari Ministry of Defense said that it downed two Soviet-made SU-24 fighter bombers of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF). It added that seven ballistic missiles and five drones launched by Iran were also intercepted.
“The threat was addressed immediately upon detection, in accordance with the operational plan, as all missiles were shot down before reaching their targets,” the ministry said.
Iran began launching drone and missile attacks against Qatar shortly after the outbreak of the war two days ago, mainly targeting military facilities hosting or supporting U.S. forces like Al Udeid Air Base. Nevertheless, earlier in the day, the country said that two Iranian missiles struck energy-related sites affiliated with QatarEnergy in the industrial city of Ras Laffan, without causing injuries or fatalities.
Later, the Qatari state-run energy firm announced it had halted liquefied natural gas production as a result of the Iranian attacks.
“Due to military attacks on QatarEnergy’s operating facilities in Ras Laffan Industrial City and Mesaieed Industrial City in the State of Qatar, QatarEnergy has ceased production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and associated products,” the world’s largest LNG producer said in a statement.
The Gulf country had condemned Iran for its “reckless and irresponsible” targeting of Qatari territory in response to the American-Israeli attack.
In addition, Majid al-Ansari, a spokesman for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, told CNN that the country “reserves the right to retaliate” against Iran after its “blatant attack” on its people. He added that Qatar has faced “more than 100 missiles and scores of drones,” and said the strikes were “targeting also civilian and commercial infrastructure.”
It is unclear yet if Qatar downed the Iranian Su-24s in retaliation to recent attacks, or if the fighter bombers were on their way to attack the country.
The IRIAF has not yet commented on the claims made by Qatar. The air force operates some 21 Su-24s, all thought to be upgraded to the MK standard. Some of the fighter jets are known to be deployed at the Oghab 44 underground air base in southern Iran, which explains why they have so far survived American and Israeli strikes.
The fighter bomber is capable of delivering precision-guided munitions, including land-attack and anti-ship cruise missiles. Three years ago, the IRIAF revealed that it had armed its Su-24s with a locally-made land-attack cruise missile dubbed “Asef”. The range of the missile is reported to be anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 kilometers.
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Qatar seems frustrated with the ongoing war. A recent report by Bloomberg said that the country is working with the United Arab Emirates to privately lobby allies to persuade the U.S. President Donald Trump to shorten the ongoing attack on Iran and offer the Islamic Republic an off-ramp.
The report also revealed that Qatar’s stocks of interceptor missiles will last for just four more days at the current rate of use.
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they are f*cked, they are dictatorships and they asked for this by s*cking american and israeli c*cks even after they were bombed by the same. let them enjoy the fruits of their labor.
they actually thought they won’t be attacked, after begging the usa/israel to attack iran on their behalf.
qatar is just a us / nato military base. it guards the south pars natural gas field that it shares with iran. the production shutdown results in europe losing more energy supplies. the mafia does not offer stability to anyone, but demands submission
maybe quatar are a pretend country, installed by the british feudalism. we have those kind of pigs in sweden also, which have einschluss the population to genocide of the jews, or so they think. “the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide per capita.” “stoning is a legal punishment in qatar” sounds like a perfect partner for “us” and “eu”. democracy uber alles.
drumpf and the zionazi regime of israel thought it was a good idea to bomb nuclear facilities in iran and soon will cry when the tables are reversed. the american people fell right into a trap set for them by israel. the israeli media responded to the downing of these two us jets by saying “don’t worry no israelis were harmed. only americans.” so there you have it. you made your bed now sleep in it.
the allies are running a train on iran…heheheheh
did you even read the article or watch the news media report? this is about 2 us jets and one of the pilots is dead. so when you laugh remember what you laugh at. i guess this means you won’t get paid for this post.
i heard there are two major missile-drone strike packages coming tonight, one in the iranian front and another one in the ukrainian front.
what about the one that is going towards dimona?