Jordanians testify to ‘a terrifying night’

Iran fired more than 300 drones and missiles towards Israel overnight from Saturday to Sunday, some of which crashed in Jordan after being intercepted by the army.

In the skies of Jordan, the night of Saturday April 13 to Sunday April 14 was marked by the noise of Iranian drones and missiles launched against its neighbor, the Hebrew state. During the night, the kingdom’s authorities intercepted “flying machines” during the Iranian attack on Israel. Debris fell “in several places” without causing any injuries, the government said.

A piece of missile crashed in the Marj Al-Hamam neighborhood, south of the capital Amman, triggering scenes of panic. “It was a terrifying night for usdescribes Ismail, a resident of the neighborhood. This is the first time something like this has happened in Jordan. The children were scared and hid inside the houses. After a long time, the police and authorities arrived to remove the remains of the missile from the ground.”

Jordanian armed forces “will face any threat or violation endangering the security and safety of the country, its citizens, its airspace and its territory, wherever it comes from and with all available means”warned the government, which did not declare a state of emergency.

A risk of regional escalation

What Jordan has experienced is a military escalation that could drag the entire region into a dangerous regional war, says military expert Omar al-Raed: “This Iranian attack has placed the region and Iran in direct confrontation with the United States and Israel, and has now made any dialogue for a resolution of the crisis without military escalation very difficult.”

Jordan itself intervened to defend Israel during Iran’s strikes. “We are in a paradigm shift.”, for her part analyzed Sarah Fainberg, researcher specializing in the Middle East on franceinfo on Sunday. This is’“a historic event”, since Jordan is a Sunni Arab country, which therefore protected an Israeli civilian population by intercepting Iranian missiles and drones, develops the specialist. For her, this intervention translates “the implementation of defense cooperation, developed secretly for 20 to 30 years”. This defensive alliance will allow Israel “to study all options for responses to Iran”observes Sarah Fainberg.