The Jordanian military announced on Monday that its air defence radar system had detected suspicious aerial movements along the border with Syria, originating from an unidentified source.
Witnesses reported hearing jets, believed to be Jordanian, hovering over the city of Irbid and areas near the Syrian border crossing.
In response, an Air Force squadron was dispatched to ensure the airspace’s security. However, the army did not specify the origin of the detected movements.
“The air force responded to an alert from radar systems that detected aerial movements of unknown origin,” stated the army.
This incident comes after a drone attack last January resulted in the deaths of three US service members and the injury of up to 34 others at a US outpost in Jordan, which Washington attributed to Iranian-backed militants.
Concerned about potential spillover effects from the conflict in Gaza involving Iran and its well-equipped regional militias, Jordan has requested Patriot air defence systems from the United States.
Following the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza since October, there have been retaliatory attacks between hard-line Iran-backed armed groups and US forces stationed in Iraq and Syria.
Jordan, which signed a defence deal with the United States in January 2021, aims to strengthen its defences against the increasing presence of Iranian-backed militias along its borders with Iraq and Syria.
Additionally, there have been incidents of missiles fired by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi group toward Israel, intercepted in the vicinity of the Red Sea city of Eilat, adjacent to Jordan’s border and its city of Aqaba.
