A Jordanian military spokesman said Sunday that the Kingdom, a strong US ally, has asked Washington to deploy the Patriot air defense system to strengthen the defense of its borders at a time of growing tension and conflict in the region.
Military information director Brigadier General Mustafa Al-Hayari added on Jordanian TV: “Drones have become a threat… and we have asked the United States to provide us with a system to resist them.”
The American Patriot system was adopted in the Kingdom in 2013, following an uprising in Syria, as the Kingdom feared that the scope of the civil war would widen and trigger a regional conflict.
Officials said Jordan was increasingly concerned that Israel’s ongoing bombardment of Gaza following Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel from the Strip could escalate into a broader conflict.
The Patriot system, considered one of America’s most advanced air defense systems, is usually in short supply as allies around the world compete to obtain it.
Al-Hayari denied reports on social media that the Pentagon was using Jordanian bases to transfer some equipment and weapons from its warehouses to Israel to strengthen its defenses in the war on Gaza.
Western diplomats said the US Department of Defense had been using Jordanian military facilities in recent months as Washington strengthened its military position in the region.
In recent weeks, the United States has sent a large amount of naval forces, including two aircraft carriers and support ships, to the Middle East, adding thousands of forces to the number of forces in the region.
Senior Biden administration officials, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, have warned of the risk of a serious escalation in attacks against U.S. forces in the Middle East and that Iran may seek to expand the scope of the war between Israel and Hamas .
The Kingdom has hundreds of American instructors in the country and is one of the few regional allies that conducts intensive training with American forces throughout the year.
The Jordanian military is one of the largest beneficiaries of Washington’s foreign military funding, which amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars.
The Kingdom has called for more aid to counter drones used in the raging multibillion-dollar drug war along the border with Syria, which Oman blames on pro-Iranian militias that control southern Syria.
Al-Hayari said: “Drones have become a threat on all our fronts.”
Since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011, Washington has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to help Oman set up a sophisticated surveillance system known as the Border Security Program to stop the infiltration of militants from Syria and Iraq .
In a joint statement a few days ago, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi warned of a regional “disaster” if the scale of the war in Gaza expands.
Jordan insists on rejecting any “Israeli move” to seek Palestinian asylum within its borders, considering it a “red line” that would “liquidate” the Palestinian issue once and for all.
In recent days, the Jordanian king and Jordanian officials have underlined, on more than one occasion, their rejection of any steps that would lead to the displacement of Palestinians, and that the escalation and expansion of the conflict would lead to the influx of refugees from the West Bank to the Jordanian borders.
According to the United Nations, the number of Palestinian refugees in Jordan is around 2.2 million.
According to Agence France-Presse, Jordanians of Palestinian origin make up about half the population of the kingdom, which before the June 1967 war was administered from the West Bank.
Israel launched raids on the Gaza Strip and announced the imposition of a siege following the bloodiest attack against civilians in the country’s history, carried out by Hamas on October 7.
The attack launched by Hamas, which targeted civilians as well as military headquarters, resulted in the killing of hundreds of people and the abduction of dozens, most of them civilians, including children and women.
The number of Israeli victims following the Hamas attack has exceeded 1,400 people. According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, Israeli bombing, which hit large areas of Gaza, has left more than 8,000 people dead.