Saraya Awliya al-Dam released video recorded from inside the US Embassy Baghdad compound using an FPV drone on 16 March, apparently exploiting the radar gap created by the Giraffe 1X kill earlier the same day. C-RAM also reportedly failed on a follow-on strike 17 March. The group's 48-hour operational record includes SRBM strikes, counter-radar precision drones, FPV compound penetration, and Baghdad airport logistics facility attack.

A U.S. KC-135 Stratotanker has been confirmed lost in western Iraq with 6 crew members aboard, rescue ongoing. A second KC-135 was damaged but recovered to Israel. Iraqi resistance factions claim a P-358 SAM was used. The incident is the most significant confirmed U.S. aircraft loss of the Iran conflict and requires immediate reassessment of tanker routing over Iraqi airspace. Coalition forces at Erbil face elevated threat from coordinated drone and missile attack.