In a major escalation of the nearly five-week conflict, Iran shot down two US military aircraft in separate attacks on Friday. Two US military personnel have been rescued, while at least one more is still missing.
These incidents mark the first confirmed losses of American aircraft shot down since the fighting began. The development comes just two days after President Donald Trump said in a national address that the US has “defeated and utterly decimated Iran” and “is going to finish the job and we’re going to finish it very quickly.”
More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran by US and Israeli strikes since the war began on February 28. In a review released Friday, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Group, a US group, said it found that civilian casualties were clustered around attacks on security and state-linked sites “rather than indiscriminate bombing” of urban areas.
More than two dozen people died in the Gulf states and the occupied West Bank, 19 deaths were reported in Israel and 13 US service members were killed.
(With input from agencies)
