On September 9, Iraq Air Defence downed a single NATO aircraft while it was on its reconnaissance mission over southern part of the country which was announced to be so called "No fly zone" restricting Iraqi planes from entering this air zone of their homeland.
According to Iraqi Military officials, a total of 18 NATO aircraft were spotted and tracked over Meisan, Kadissiya, Mootanna, and Nayaph provinces. It was also mentioned that all of those airplanes took off from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia territory.
No such report appeared in western media sources that day.