Jordan gives royal chopper, Israel escorts

On a day when missiles and rockets were flying in the airspace amidst escalation of tensions between Israel, Syria and Iran, PM Modi braved threats by boarding the Jordanian helicopter to reach the Palestinian capital of Ramallah.

Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) had positioned its assets to sanitise the airspace with its heavily armed choppers, also escorting Modi's air carriage as it crossed river Jordan and Dead Sea and back to the Jordanian capital of Amman.

Modi's visit coincided with Israel carrying out a major air operation in Syrian territory. Modi's helicopter, while flying over Jordanian and Israeli territories, was just miles away from the battlefield. On Saturday morning, Israel's F-16 had crashed in north Israel during a mission to strike an Iranian drone installation that had launched a drone into Israeli-held territory. In retaliation, IDF bombed the Syrian installations. Israel halted landings and departures from its main Ben-Gurion International Airport.