Share Story
AMMAN – Security and military experts on Friday said the Jordanian air force will remain on high alert, upon speculations that the security situation in the region will remain tense for the coming days.
Early Friday morning, Israel launched a series of attacks against targets inside Iran as well as assassinations that targeted top Iranian military leaders and nuclear scientists.
Iran responded by launching dozens of missiles and drones at Israel.
On Friday morning, the army announced that the Royal Jordanian Air Force carried out patrol and reconnaissance flights over the skies to safeguard the Kingdom’s airspace.
The Public Security Directorate (PSD) also issued an alert across the Kingdom, urging citizens to comply with the guidelines issued by the relevant authorities in light of the ongoing military escalation in the region.
The Jordan Armed Forces (JAF) - Arab Army retired Maj. Gen. Hilal Khawaldeh said Jordan had to intervene to protect its soil and people.
“Some of the Iranian missiles and drones are still manufactured with old technology and are considered extremely dangerous,” Khawaldeh explained.
He told The Jordan Times that some of the missiles fly at very low altitudes and could fall on populated areas.
“It takes around 30 minutes of flying inside Jordan before an Iranian missile could reach its target and this is very dangerous because they could fall any place before reaching the required destination,” Khawaldeh added.
The military expert predicted that Iran will “increase its missile and drone strikes in a bid to add constraints to the Israeli defence system”.
However, Khawaldeh added that the Iranian attacks will consist of “missile and drone attacks destined to Israel”.
Meanwhile, retired General Intelligence Department (GID) Brig. Gen. Saud Sharafat predicted that the situation will remain tense for at least the next 48 hours.
“The Israeli forces are still attacking Iran and the Iranian side will surely retaliate,” Sharafat told The Jordan Times.
Both military experts pointed out that the Iranian regime is infiltrated because of the specificity of the attacks.
“Clearly, there are spies inside Iran who provided a lot of information related to sensitive targets in Iran,” Sharafat explained.
Khawaldeh added that the spies and Israeli intelligence have deeply infiltrated the Iranian sensitive posts and this is “causing the Iranian regime to become weaker by the day”.
In addition, Khawaldeh said there is a “big question mark about the Israeli attack that was done easily without any Iranian resistance”.
“The attack exposed Iran’s weakness and that it is not as strong as it seems, which means that the regime and its security arms are not as strong as they were showing,” Khawaldeh added.
Both Sharafat and Khawaldeh believe that the Israeli strike on Iran will bring Iran to the nuclear talks with the US on Sunday in Oman.
“I predict that they will reach an agreement and that Europeans and Americans will reach an agreement on Sunday when they meet in Oman,” Sharafat said.
It is becoming closer to reaching an agreement than ever before, Khawaldeh added.