Thirteen Iranian ballistic missiles entered Jordanian airspace. Ten of them were intercepted and destroyed by Jordanian air defences, and three fell in remote, uninhabited areas. There were no deaths or injuries, the Jordanian armed forces announced through the state agency Petra.

Specialist teams were immediately sent to the sites where the missile debris fell to secure the areas. The army warned citizens not to approach unknown objects or missile fragments.

What is confirmed and what is not

Iran's Revolutionary Guard claims the missile and drone attacks were aimed at American military positions in several countries in the region, Jordan included. Some Iranian sources named specific American facilities in Jordan as targets.

Except - a senior American official said Washington has no information "at this stage" that missiles were launched at American bases in Jordan at all. The statement was carried by Israel's Channel 12.

So we have three versions of the same night. Jordan says: thirteen missiles came in, we shot down ten. Tehran says: we struck American bases. Washington says: we do not see that anything was aimed at us. All three can be true at once - a missile passing through somebody else's airspace need not have a target in that country, and a claim that something was targeted does not mean it was hit.

The country with no choice

Jordan is a key American partner in the Middle East and hosts several US military facilities on its territory. That is exactly why the kingdom has repeatedly risked being dragged into the confrontation between Washington and Tehran - the American military presence is the reason Iran views the country as part of American regional infrastructure.

That is a position anyone living in the Balkans recognises without translation. Being geography in somebody else's reckoning. It is not your war, not your decision, but the sky above you is the route, and the debris falls on your land. That night Jordan was shooting down missiles intended - perhaps - for somebody else.

The difference between a verified fact and a military claim has rarely been as clear as here. Confirmed: thirteen missiles entered Jordanian skies, ten were intercepted. Unconfirmed: whether any American base in Jordan was hit at all, or even targeted.

Next time you read that somebody "struck" someone's bases - ask who said it, and whether the one supposedly struck even agrees.