In 1973, the squadron was in the process of receiving MiG-21MFs. Midway through the conversion to the newer variant, with the outbreak of the
Yom Kippur War on
6 October, all training stopped and the squadron's older MiG-21s were transferred to
al-Wallid Air Base the next morning. By the afternoon of 7 October, the first 10 aircraft were forward deployed to
Dmeyr and Tsaykal Air Bases, in Syria. Because the aircraft still were in aluminum finish, the Syrians took care to apply their own camouflage colours on them.
Yom Kippur War The pilots quickly started flying
combat air patrols, and had their first contacts with Israeli fighters less than an hour after their arrival. The next day, a pair of MiG-21s intercepted two Israeli
McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, but they were targeted by several air-to-air missiles and had to disengage. On 12 October, MiG-21s from No. 9 Squadron escorted Iraqi
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17F that were attacking Israeli positions in the
Quneitra area; while an Israeli Mirage was claimed shot down by No. 9 Squadron's commander, Major Namiq Sa'adallah, a MiG-17 was downed by the Mirages. On 13 October, a pair of MiG-21PFMs intercepted a formation of
Douglas A-4 Skyhawks, and one was claimed shot down by two R-3S missiles. Later that day, a pair of MiG-21s acted as baits for a group of Israeli Mirages, one of which was shot down by
surface-to-air missiles. On 23 October, Major Sa'adallah claimed a second Mirage shot down. Following the end of the war, all Iraqi units were withdrawn from Syria, including No. 9 Squadron. In 1974, the squadron finally converted to MiG-21MFs. As of 1980, it was based at Firnas Air Base, near
Mosul, with a detachment at Abu Ubayda Air Base. Reportedly, in 2002, the 9th Squadron, and the 79th and
89th Squadrons, were respectively flying MiG-21s and
Mirage F1EQs from
Qayyarah Airfield West. == Republic of Iraq ==