(Amman) By participating in the interception of projectiles launched by Iran towards Israel, Jordan wants to avoid being affected by a possible conflict or becoming a “playing field” for Tehran, according to officials and analysts.
Jordan, a neighboring country of Israel with which it has been linked by a peace treaty since 1994, announced that it had intercepted “flying machines” that had entered its airspace during the drone and missile attack launched by the Iran against Israel on the night of Saturday to Sunday.
The Jordanian armed forces “will face (…) any threat or violation endangering the security and safety of the country,” the government warned at the time.
Israel announced that it had intercepted, with the help of the United States and other allied countries including France and the United Kingdom, but also Jordan and Saudi Arabia, almost all of the 350 drones and missiles launched this weekend by Iran.
Jordan, where around half the population is of Palestinian origin, is regularly the scene of numerous demonstrations in support of the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, where a war has pitted Israel against Palestinian Hamas supported by Tehran since October 7.
“Great concern”
If Jordan displays unwavering support for the Palestinian cause, its authorities want to protect themselves from the conflict spilling over, especially since the country neighbors Iraq and Syria, where Iran enjoys great influence. influence.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II said in a phone call with US President Joe Biden on Sunday that his country “will not be the scene of a regional war.”
“Jordan has nothing to do with the struggle for influence between the Persian project and the Zionist project (in the region), and it does not want to get involved in a regional conflict,” he told AFP. Former Jordanian Minister of Information, Samih Al-Maaytah.
The kingdom, he added, “does not accept that its territory or airspace is used for military action against any country in the region.”
According to Mr. Maaytah, several countries in the region: Iraq, Syria and Lebanon have already become, according to him, “playing grounds” for the Iranians.
For Nimrod Goren, a specialist in Israeli affairs at the Middle East Institute, Iran “could seek to intervene in Jordan and change the situation there to its advantage, as it has done in other countries.”
“This in itself is a source of great concern for Jordan,” he told AFP.
Jordan’s participation in the interception of Iranian drones and missiles has earned it Iranian criticism.
A military source cited by the Iranian Fars news agency warned Jordan against “potential actions” in favor of Israel, otherwise it would be “the next target”.
Following these statements, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador to Amman to ask Tehran to stop “questioning” the kingdom’s positions.
The head of Jordanian diplomacy Ayman Safadi stressed to this effect that if “the danger came from Israel, Jordan would have taken the same measures”.
“Sovereignty”
On Tuesday, the Jordanian army indicated in a press release that it had “increased its air sorties in order (…) to defend the kingdom’s skies”, in anticipation, according to it, of a potential Israeli response.
For Mr. Maaytah, “Jordan did not defend Israel, but rather defended its sovereignty and the security of its territory.”
Retired general of the Jordanian army, Suleiman Mneezel also considers “the arrival of Iranian drones and missiles in the skies of the kingdom as a flagrant violation of Jordanian sovereignty”.
For Mr. Goren, Jordan played a “more important role than many expected”, illustrating a “positioning (…) in the camp linked to the United States in the region”.
While Jordanian public opinion remains largely hostile to Israel, 30 years after the peace agreement with the neighboring country, King Abdullah II has repeatedly described relations with Israel as a “cold peace.”
reference: www.lapresse.ca