Some analysts saw the fact that Arab nations helped Israel and the US repel a major Iranian attack as cause for celebration. But countries like Jordan have more complicated motivations for coming to Israel’s aid.

Iran launched more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel on Saturday night in retaliation for a suspected Israeli attack on its embassy in Damascus at the beginning of April. As the missiles and slow-moving drones were heading toward Israel, Israel’s allies stepped in to help.

The US and UK air forces were involved in shooting down the aerial threats. France may also have been involved in patrolling the area, although it was unclear if the French shot down any projectiles.

But what got a lot of attention was the fact that the Jordanian air force also stepped in to help. Jordan opened up its airspace to Israeli and US planes, and also apparently shot down drones that violated its own airspace.

According to the Reuters news agency, residents there heard heavy aerial activity and images of remnants of a downed drone in the south of Amman, Jordan’s capital, circulated on social media.

“Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, might have played an indirect role as well, since they host Western air-defense systems, surveillance and refueling aircraft that would have been vital for the effort,” noted British publication The Economist

.

Online, some commentators, like Haaretz writer Anshel Pfeffer and Mairav Zonszein of the International Crisis Group, were quick to celebrate the Arab involvement. They said it proved Arabs and Israelis could work together and that Israel was not alone in the Middle East.

“Iran’s attacks also rallied new international support behind Israel, including from key Arab states critical of the Gaza offensive that nonetheless supported the Israeli military response to the drone attacks,” Julien Barnes-Dacey, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at the European Council on Foreign Relations, confirmed in a statement on Sunday.

Jordan, for example, has been highly critical of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, which has continued over the weekend. One in five people in Jordan are of Palestinian descent, including the country’s own queen, and over the past few weeks there have been increasingly aggressive protests against Israel.

At the same time, though, Jordan shares a border with Israel, is the guardian of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, a highly significant place for Muslims, Christians and Jews, and regularly works together with Israeli authorities, albeit often behind the scenes.

Jordan, Saudi Arabia face tricky balancing act

Jordanian authorities, which also consider the US an important ally, must balance all of those competing interests, its political stability and its own self-defense. Jordan was quick to say that in helping Israel, it was actually defending itself. 

“Some objects that entered our airspace last night were intercepted because they posed a threat to our people and populated areas,” the Jordanian government said in a statement. “Several fragments [of downed targets] fell on the country’s territory without causing any significant damage.”

Emile Hokayem, of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said Jordan’s involvement was in part “about Jordan proving it is a good partner of the US.”

Read More Here