Israel gets help from unexpected sources, foils Iranian missile attack

as Israel foils Iranian missile and drone attacks Last week, it received help from unlikely sources: Saudi Arabia and Jordan. A source close to the Saudi royal family said the kingdom has a system in place to automatically intercept suspicious entities in its airspace, as Israel claims more than “99 percent” of Iranian weapons have been shot down, The Jerusalem Post reports.

The development comes nearly a year after Saudi Arabia and Iran restored diplomatic ties and reopened their embassies in their respective capitals with help from China.

The Arab country has criticized Israel’s actions in Gaza, warning in February that attacks and targeting the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip would have “very serious consequences”.

The shortest distance from Iran to Israel is about 1,000 kilometers, and drones and missiles must fly over Saudi Arabia and Jordan to reach Israel.

According to “Business Insider”, another Arab country, Jordan, has repeatedly criticized Israel’s offensive in Gaza, claiming to have shot down missiles launched by Iran that entered its airspace. Additionally, Jordan reportedly opened its airspace to Israeli and U.S. fighter jets.

A former Jordanian minister defended the move, saying the country’s first duty was to protect its land and citizens. “What Jordan did yesterday was simply to protect its airspace,” the minister said.

The Wall Street Journal quoted U.S. officials as saying that Iran notified several Gulf countries of the timing and nature of the attack.

“Arab states have quietly passed on intelligence about Tehran’s attack plans, opened their airspace to warplanes, shared radar tracking information or, in some cases, provided their own troops to assist,” U.S. officials said.

In addition to Saudi Arabia and Jordan, Iran’s unprecedented air strikes were also thwarted by the United States, Britain and France.In fact, a report in The Intercept quoted U.S. military officials as saying that most Missiles and drones launched by Iran were shot down by the United States.

Iran launched more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel in retaliation for an airstrike on Tehran’s consulate building in Damascus, Syria. The attack killed 13 people, including two Iranian generals.