JORDAN AIRFORCE SHOOTS DOWN IRANIAN DRONES HEADED TOWARDS ISRAEL

The long awaited direct Iranian "retaliation" against Israel has begun. Yesterday (Saturday) Iran fired over 200 projectiles (drones, ballistic missile and cruise missiles) directly from Iran to Israel. 

The Israelis say air defenses shot down 99% of all the ballistic missiles and 100% of the cruise missiles and slow moving drones.

The flight distance from Tehran to Tel Aviv is 1,200 km. The flight distance of the missiles would be about the same, give or take.

Iran has a variety of supersonic and hypersonic ballistic missiles that can easily reach Israel within minutes. It is believed that FOUR of these ballistic missiles landed inside the Nevatim Airbase in Israel but caused minimal damage. A seven year old Arab Bedouin girl was seriously injured. There was no other loss of life or injury from this massive Iranian attack.

This is the same airbase from which Israel is believed to have carried out that strike against Damascus which sparked off this tit for tat.

The Iranian cruise missiles have a slower speed of below Mach 1 but can also easily reach Israel.

 

Iran fired about 100 drones including the Shahed 136 drone which has a flying speed of about 180 km/hr and an endurance of 11.5 hours.  The drone would have taken almost seven hours to reach Israel from Iran. American intelligence picked up the departures of all the drones from Iran and were able to give Israel and all their Arab allies at least SIX HOURS advance warning. So everyone was ready and waiting. ALL the Iranian drones were shot down by multiple interceptors including airforce jets from Israel, US, UK and Jordan.

 

AMMAN, April 13 (Reuters) - Jordan's air force intercepted and shot down dozens of Iranian drones that violated its airspace and were heading to Israel, two regional security sources said.   They said the army was also in a state of high alert and radar systems were monitoring any drone activity coming from the direction of Iraq and Syria.  Residents in several cities in the northern part of the country near Syria and central and southern areas heard heavy aerial activity.

 

 

This is the first time ever in history that Iran has attacked Israel directly from Iranian soil. The Israelis have promised retaliation but it remains to be seen how and when that retaliation will take place.

This is also the first time ever in history that Jordan, an Arab country and a former enemy of Israel, sent up waves of its own airforce jets to shoot down the Iranian missiles and drones flying over its territory. 

Despite being outside the area of hostilities Egypt also placed its armed forces on alert ready to assist Israel.   Although it has not been reported Saudi Arabia would also most certainly have placed its airforce on alert duty.

Although Iran has launched an attack against Israel there are almost no celebrations in the Sunni Muslim countries. Certainly there will be no pro-Iran rally after Friday prayers at the Masjid Kampong Baru. This is because the Iranians are Shias. Sunnis do not like Shias. Just like the Shia Houthis in Yemen have received ZERO support from the Sunni countries despite the Houthis seizing Israeli and British ships and shooting missiles at Israel.

And now Jordan has sent jet fighters to intercept Iranian drones and missiles fired at Israel. As the world turns and as the stomach churns.

There will be an Israeli retaliation. The Americans are weak and fear escalation of hostilities in the Middle East just SIX MONTHS before the next presidential elections. Six months is a very long time.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.