The Israeli military issued a warning Sunday that Iran had fired ballistic missiles at the southern Jordanian city of Aqaba, cautioning that the assault could send projectiles or debris crossing into Israeli territory.
“There may be spillover into Israeli territory as a result of the fire,” the Israel Defense Forces stated, noting that air raid sirens would be activated if the situation required it. The IDF also confirmed that civilian safety guidelines from the Home Front Command remained unchanged.
Early reports indicated that loud explosions were heard over the Israeli city of Eilat as defense systems moved to intercept the Iranian missiles heading toward neighboring Aqaba. Videos and photos circulating on social media captured thick plumes of smoke rising above the Red Sea resort area.
The IDF later confirmed that interceptions had taken place outside Israeli borders, but that fragments from those intercepts may have drifted into Israeli airspace. Debris was ultimately found in the northern part of Eilat, and officials reported no injuries.
Earlier that same day, Jordan’s government pushed back against a statement released by the US Embassy in Amman, which had claimed that Jordanian authorities evacuated Aqaba’s international airport and Red Sea seaport due to what the embassy called a “specific and credible threat.”
Jordanian government spokesman Mohammad Al-Momani flatly denied that any evacuation orders had been issued for either location. In comments to the state-run Petra news agency, Al-Momani stated that Jordanian authorities had not identified any threats to Aqaba in recent hours. Jordan’s state news agency also cited a government spokesperson confirming that no decision had been made to evacuate the airport or seaport.
The US Embassy had previously urged American citizens to avoid traveling to those facilities, citing the supposed evacuations in response to the described threat.
These developments occurred against the backdrop of the United States conducting its eighth straight night of military strikes against Iran, following attacks on US military bases in Jordan that left two American troops dead and roughly a dozen others wounded.
