The Jordanian army reported on Monday that its air defence radar system detected suspicious air movements from an unknown source along the border with Syria that could be missiles fired by pro-Iranian militias from Iraq, according to Reuters.
The army stated that an air force squadron flew out to ensure that the airspace was not under any threat.
The airforce responded to an alert of radar systems that monitored aerial movements whose source is not known.
In January, three US service members were killed and 34 wounded in a drone attack on a US outpost in Jordan, which Washington linked to Iranian-backed militants.
Jordan requested Patriot air defence systems from Washington, arguing that the country feared being caught in the crossfire if the war in Gaza dragged Iran and its heavily armed regional militias to the kingdom’s borders.
Another regional security source reported intercepting two missiles fired from the direction of the Iraqi border. Saud Al Sharafat, a former Brigadier General in Jordan’s General Intelligence Directorate, stated:
Regardless whether there were drones or missiles that were intercepted or fired or not, the risk of Jordan being caught in the crossfire can only increase if the war continues and expands. The kingdom is located in an explosive region at the centre of an exchange of drones and missiles fired by Iran’s proxies in the region.
Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza in October, Iraq and Syria have seen attacks between Iranian-backed armed groups and US forces stationed in the region.
Officials claim the Jordanian government, which signed a defence agreement with the United States in January 2021, wants to bolster its defences against Iran-backed militias massing on Jordan’s borders with Iraq and Syria.
The Iranian-backed Yemeni Houthi group fired several missiles at Israel, hitting the Red Sea city of Eilat, which is located near the border of Jordan and its city of Aqaba.
Jordan launched airstrikes against the hideouts of Iran-backed drug traffickers inside Syria, arguing that their border incursions pose a direct threat to its national security. Iran, however, claims the accusations are part of a Western plot against the country.
