Months after Qatar shot down two Iranian Sukhoi Su-24 tactical bombers that were en route to strike Emirate’s Al Udeid Air Base, the fate of four pilots remains uncertain. Chief of Staff and Deputy Coordinator of the Iranian Army, Habibollah Sayyari, finally acknowledged to the country that the aircraft had been downed and there was no information about the pilots.
Sayyari told a television programme on Iranian state television on Thursday that the aircraft “took off from Erbil and struck Qatar” in March. “Four heroic pilots were on the mission, and so far we know nothing about their fate," he said, adding that Iran had also carried out other airstrikes using F-5 and F-4 aircraft in countries in the region, but declined to provide details about the targets of these operations.
He indicated that these operations inflicted losses on the opposing side and that the aircraft returned to Iran after completing their missions. These statements come at a time when the Qatari Ministry of Defence announced on March 2 that the Qatari armed forces had shot down two Iranian Sukhoi-24 aircraft.
According to reports, the Su-24s approached their targets at an altitude of roughly 80 feet when they were hit. The aircraft were skimming the surface in a tactic designed to evade radar detection when Qatari fighters intercepted them. However, Qatari fighters intercepted the bombers before they could reach their objectives, marking what appears to be Qatar’s first air-to-air combat engagement against Iranian aircraft.
Though Qatar acknowledged the downing of the aircraft, there was no word about what happened to the pilots. Whether they were ejected, captured, or killed has not been confirmed by either side.
While Iran never acknowledged that the aircraft were downed before they carried out their mission, reports hint that Iran managed to hit US targets across seven countries, including Camp Buehring in Kuwait, which was allegedly struck by an F-5.
Though many attacks were publicly acknowledged by the Gulf countries, the Iranian F-5 fighter hitting Camp Buehring was never publicised by Kuwait.
