Israel is under attack by incoming Iranian drones and ballistic missiles. The Jordanian skies lit up with passing missiles and drones as they made their way to Israel.
They were heard over the Jordanian skies at around 2 am local time, Sunday, 14 April, 2024. A series of booming noise was heard as the trajectory objects made their way over the Jordanian capital, Amman.
The number of those fired from Iran varied from 50, 100, 150 and 200 missiles. The social media blustered over the figures.
Later on, news sources suggested 400 and 500 missiles were expected to reach Israelâs strategic depth. And later another figure was branded about of 1500 missiles that targeted Israel.
But there was immediate speculation about the origins of these missiles with observers suggesting they may have come from Shiite groups in Iraq, Hezbollah in Lebanon and/or from the Houthis from Yemen.
Social media pundits were quick to videoclip the missiles over the skies of Amman which very quickly dominated the social media.
The United States on hearing about the launch of the drones and missiles from Iranâs western part, Saturday evening â around 1700 kilometers away from Israel -quickly promised it would seek to intercept these trajectories.
Very quickly also Jordan quickly closed its airspace to any incoming and outgoing flights with Iraq also closing to airspace. Jordanâs Civil Aviation Regulatory Authority (CARC) announced the extension of the closure of the Kingdomâs airspace until 11 a.m. local time (8 a.m. UTC). This came in a statement following an earlier announcement statement issued the previous evening.
Dr Asmar is an Amman-based writer covering Middle East Affairs
