United States Air Force MQ-9 Reaper Shot down

An MQ-9 Reaper was shot down over Basra in southern Iraq on 9 March 2026 by Iranian-aligned Iraqi militias. The loss showed the campaign spilling beyond Iranian airspace into Iraq, where groups under the Islamic Resistance in Iraq umbrella attacked US aircraft and installations in parallel with Tehran's own operations. Basra sits close to the Iranian border and astride the supply routes linking US positions in Iraq and Kuwait.