Italian fighter jet damaged in missile strike on Saudi Taif air base

ROMA, Sept. 18 (YPA) – The first European country announced on Friday that its fighter aircraft stationed at the Saudi air base in Taif had been damaged in missile strikes targeting the base in recent hours.

In a statement, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said in a post on X that “one of the Italian aircraft stationed in Saudi Arabia was damaged in an attack on Taif Air Base.”

Crosetto added that the damaged aircraft was a Eurofighter Typhoon, F-2000 variant, and was at the base where Italian troops and officers are stationed as part of the so-called Operation Inherent Resolve, the US-led coalition in the region.

The Italian defense minister said that “no other Italian equipment or infrastructure was damaged,” according to his account, without specifying the source of the attack.