Iran war: Tehran downs 2 US warplanes; Israel bombs Lebanon bridges

By Zsombor Peter

Published On 4 Apr 20264 Apr 2026

• Iran says it has downed two US warplanes, with the first shot down in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, and the other crashing in the Gulf.
• Two of US crew members have been rescued and at least one is believed to be missing.
• Celebrations break out in Tehran as Iran’s military says the downing of the planes show its forces still have fighting capability against the US and Israel.
• Iranian counterattacks on Israel cause a fire at an industrial site in southern Negev and damage buildings in central Rosh Haayin and Petah Tikvah.
• Israel follows through on threats and blows up two key bridges over the Litani River in Lebanon as Israeli forces expand their occupation in the south of the country.

18m ago

 (04:30 GMT)

Downing of US planes come as opposition to war on Iran grows

By Rosiland Jordan

Reporting from Washington, DC, United States

When President Trump addressed the nation on Wednesday night, he basically argued that the war would end in the next two to three weeks unless Iran refused to agree to the US’s plan for ending the war.

Otherwise, the US would launch a new wave of highly destructive air strikes, including on civilian energy infrastructure.

Well, two days later, all of the talk here in Washington and across the US is about the fact that the US military has now lost two aircraft, an Air Force F-15E fighter jet and an A-10 Warthog support gunning aircraft, in Iranian territory. And, more important, one of the crew members of the F-15E is missing, and according to the Telegraph newspaper, US special forces have now gone into Iran to try to find that missing crewperson.

This brings home to the US public the fact that this is not just a faraway conflict that doesn’t really affect the US military, even though more than 50,000 soldiers have been deployed to the Middle East. There are now images of the destroyed F-15 fighter jet in southwestern Iran, with locals looking around trying to see what equipment they can recover, as well as discussing this missing crewperson.

The Trump administration is already dealing with the fact that the Iran war is highly unpopular with Americans, with two out of three telling numerous polls that they think the war should be ending very quickly. But now, the administration has to justify putting US forces in harm’s way for a war that essentially started 36 days ago without much public debate.

38m ago

 (04:10 GMT)

Rescue operation for downed US pilot will be ‘highly dangerous’

More from Harlan Ullman, a former senior US naval officer and a senior adviser at the Atlantic Council.

He told Al Jazeera any US operation to rescue the pilot from the downed F-15E fighter jet would be “highly dangerous”.

The US military will likely launch “infantry operations, which are using helicopters, AC-130 gunships, who are gonna be pulling at low altitude, and they are very vulnerable”, he said.

“Our teams are the best in the business, and they will do their utmost to retrieve the second crewmember. The question is, what condition is that member in? Has he been hurt by parachute drop? Does he have enough stuff to sustain himself? And are we gonna be able to get in there quickly enough to retrieve them?” he asked.

The operation was not likely to involve troops on the ground, he said.

“It will be in and out as quickly as possible. What needs to be done is to locate the position of the downed airman, and then be able to isolate the terrain, so that we keep off any enemy soldiers from nearby, and then to get in quickly, scooping them up probably by helicopter,” he said.

The operation will need to be carried out as soon as possible, as the Iranians have launched an extensive manhunt and “it is in their interest to capture an American alive”, Ullman added.