Why Jordan, and maybe even Saudi Arabia, helped defend Israel

When Iran launched its barrage of drones and missiles against Israel over the weekend, they ran into interference from one or two unlikely sources. 

The reasons why Jordan and, reportedly, Saudi Arabia helped thwart the attack are varied, complex and perhaps self-serving, observers say.

But they may also reveal the Arab nations' greater concern about the threat posed by Iran and in preventing a widespread regional conflict.

Iran launched its missiles and drones at Israel in response to an apparent Israeli strike on an Iranian consulate in Syria on April 1 that killed 12 people, including two Iranian generals. Almost all of them were intercepted by Israeli defence forces, along with the U.S., Britain, France and Jordan.

According to reports Saudi Arabia provided intelligence reports about Iran's plans to the U.S.

But Jordan played a more active role, helping to shoot down drones as they flew over its airspace. Meanwhile, NBC News reports that Jordan also allowed Israeli jets into its airspace, and may have, in what some believe is a first, fought side by side.

Jordan's participation was "especially remarkable," according to Mairav Zonszein, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, for those Israelis who remember sheltering from their eastern neighbour's attacks. Israel and Jordan ended decades of hostilities and established diplomatic relations with a peace treaty in 1994. 

"The takeaway: diplomatic deals are vital for stability," Zonszein wrote on X. 

Jordan has been very critical of Israel's actions in Gaza. Still, Ghaith al-Omari, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, says its help against the Iranian attack proved the strength of Jordan's shared security interest with Israel. 

Despite their political tensions, "the military and intelligence relationship never stopped," he told The Times of Israel.

"As a matter of fact, the worse the politics gets, the closer the militaries get, because they both understand the need to maintain this relationship. This is part of both Jordan's military doctrine and Israeli military doctrine."

Jordanian officials have said very little, seeming to downplay their involvement in last weekend's attack, instead insisting they were protecting their own security as Iranian projectiles passed through their airspace.

Brian Katulis, a senior fellow of U.S. foreign policy at the Middle East Institute, agrees that, first and foremost, Jordan's response was self-defence.

But, he said, it also sent the message: "Even though we have differences and strong differences with Israel ... on the Gaza war and other things, we do have this shared interest in making sure that the airspace in our territory is defended."