First off, we are fine. We are safe, and life here in Amman is quiet and a bit tense, but mostly normal.
Saturday morning I woke up to an email from our school superintendent telling us that the attacks on Iran had begun overnight. Our school is associated with the US embassy, and 20% of our students are the children of embassy employees. We are the first phone call that the embassy makes after they get new information.
David and I went to a birthday brunch for a colleague on Saturday. We heard the first warning sirens while we were there. They signal that people should go indoors. We could hear some booms in the sky. That was all that we experienced. I learned on Sunday that Jordan intercepted and shot down 13 ballistic missiles, in addition to drones since the attack began. Some shrapnel and pieces of those missiles landed in Jordan, but no one has been hurt or killed.
The sirens are not a nice experience. They sound like an American ambulance, a rising and falling pitch. The all clear siren is a long single note blast. The first time the kids heard the sirens, they all emerged into the living room, looking spooked. The sirens are happening about once every 1-3 hours. All they signal is that we should go indoors if we aren’t already. There have been booms in the sky, but I read in one place that those are the booms of jets from the Jordanian Air Force patrolling the air space.
Saturday night around 8:30 pm, I got word that the school had cancelled our school day today. (Reminder: our school week is Sunday-Thursday.) The first cancelled day is a freebie (think: snow day) but any subsequent consecutive day becomes a virtual learning day. The embassy and other security services told their employees to shelter in place in an abundance of caution, so the school canceled the day since that is 20% of our school population.
On Sunday, midday, we heard that the next three days would be virtual learning, so Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Our whole family all came to school today to do our virtual stuff. It’s hard in a house with 5 people all trying to be online. Also, Covid flashbacks. [Shivers.]
Personally, I am not scared for my safety here in Jordan. All evidence points to our safety. There have been ballistic missiles sent by Iran to Jordan, but all of them have been shot down. The most that has happened is shrapnel and debris, but no one has been killed, and I haven’t heard of specific injuries, as of now. We have a US military base, and we are a bit farther from Iran than other countries.
I am so saddened and dismayed at the increased violence in the region. The destruction of lives and property are always a tragedy. I am also very shocked by the retaliatory attacks from Iran on UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Iraq. In June, Iran attacked a military base in Qatar and it triggered an Arab Summit. There was a lot of shock and anger in the region. The attacks of the past two days have been much more widespread. As The Guardian put it, “Elsewhere in the Gulf, previously considered oases of stability in the Middle East, similar scenes unfolded.”
Where is the end? Everyone who is attacked retaliates. Then the country that received that retaliation attacks back. And again and again and again.
