Here’s the story as told by the BBC:
Jordan rockets miss US Navy ship
Three missiles have been fired from the Jordanian port of Aqaba, missing a US Navy ship but hitting Israel. Two rockets missed the USS Ashland, an American naval ship docked in the port. A Jordanian soldier died when one of the two missiles hit the dockside. The third missile landed near Eilat airport in neighbouring Israel, causing no injuries.
An internet statement, purportedly from a group which says it has links to al-Qaeda, said it was to blame. The statement, allegedly from the Abdullah al-Azzam Brigades, said the attacks were the group’s first attack in Jordan and were aimed at both the US and Israel. “The Zionists are a legitimate target and we warn the Americans, who are spreading their corruption throughout the world and who have stolen the wealth of the Muslim nation, to expect even more attacks,” it said. The group is one of several to have said it carried out the bombings on a market and hotels in the Egyptian resort of Sharm al-Sheikh on 23 July.
Police hunt
Jordanian police are searching for two Iraqis and a Syrian thought to have rented an industrial warehouse from which the rockets were fired. “I can confirm that a rocket flew over the bow of USS Ashland and the rocket impacted in the roof of a warehouse. No sailors or marines were injured,” said Commander Jeff Breslau, of the US Fifth Fleet. The Jordanian soldier who died was on the dockside when he was hit. He was taken to hospital where he died of his wounds, a security source said. Another Jordanian was injured in the attack. Katyusha rockets were used in all three attacks, officials say. The USS Ashland and its sister amphibious ship, the USS Kearsarge, have been docked in Aqaba, Jordan’s only sea port, for the past 10 days, witnesses said. Both ships are reported to have left the port in response to the attack. Correspondents say the attack is the most serious on a US navy ship since the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000 that killed 17 sailors. The third rocket hit a taxi on the outskirts of Eilat airport, but did not explode, Israeli police reported.
Close co-operation
The missile created a small crater in the road, about 15m from the airport fence, local police commander, Avi Azulin told the Associated Press. The commander said the rocket was fired from nearby Jordan. Aqaba and Eilat are about 15km (9 miles) apart, located at the northern end of the Red Sea. Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said the attacks were “intended to hit the Israeli side and the Jordanian side as well”. “We still don’t know who is behind this act,” he said.
How it really happened…
EXT DAY, A VIEW OF THE EARTH, GENERALLY OVER THE MIDDLE EAST,
SHOT ZOOMS/PANS DOWN ACROSS THE ARABIAN PENINSULA, AT LOW ALTITUDE, LIKE A FIGHTER JET, SLOWING AS IT REACHES THE RED SEA.
SHOT CROSSES THE RED SEA, SKIMMING THE WAVES, CROSSING LOW OVER A COMMERCIAL SHIP, OMINOUSLY PASSING BY 2 US NAVY SHIPS AT DOCK, TO FINALLY ZOOM IN ON THREE MEN.
Three brothers, MOHAMMED, his BROTHER ACHMED, and his OTHER BROTHER ACHMED stand in the large open doorway of a dockside warehouse.
They are fiddling with the controls of a rocket launcher, and arguing in Arabic. OTHER BROTHER ACHMED does not speak, but only gestures his meanings, which makes it clear to the viewer that he is the only one who knows how to properly use the rocket launcher, but is being overruled by the other two brothers. Two more rockets stand on their end nearby.
MOHAMMED snatches the rocket launcher forcefully from BROTHER ACHMED, flips up the sight, and takes aim at the USS ASHLAND, docked in the distance. MOHAMMED pulls the trigger, and the rocket zooms away on it’s way to the target.
EXT DAY, ON THE FLIGHT DECK OF THE USS ASHLAND.
Several Sailors are performing routine maintenance work, there is a group of Marines doing Jumping Jacks, and a Jordanian Soldier with a slung rifle stands watch on the roof of a Warehouse. All stop their activities when they hear the rocket, see it coming toward the ship, and (rather than panic) watch calmly, and somewhat amusedly, as the rocket streaks across the deck, about 4′ up, leaving a thick smoke trail behind it.
The Jordanian Soldier sees the rocket coming right for him, and runs several steps, and leaps off the building just as the rocket explodes into the top of the Warehouse he was standing on moments earlier.
EXT DAY, THE WAREHOUSE. THE AIR IS FILLED WITH SMOKE FROM THE FIRST LAUNCH.
As the smoke clears, BROTHER ACHMED slaps MOHAMMED and takes the rocket launcher away from him, and loads one of the remaining rounds into the launcher.
OTHER BROTHER ACHMED stands back and shrugs.
BROTHER ACHMED takes aim at the USS ASHLAND, and pulls the rocket launcher’s trigger.
EXT DAY, ROCKET #2.
The Rocket streaks away from the Warehouse, swooping low over the water toward the USS ASHLAND, impacting the dock where the USS ASHLAND is berthed, but not hitting the ship.
EXT DAY, THE WAREHOUSE.
OTHER BROTHER ACHMED holds his hand out in a ‘gimme’ motion. BROTHER ACHMED reluctantly hands the launcher over to OTHER BROTHER ACHMED, who looks smug while loading the last remaining round into the launcher.
OTHER BROTHER ACHMED takes aim at the USS ASHLAND, and pulls the rocket launcher’s trigger.
Nothing happens.
OTHER BROTHER ACHMED pulls the rocket launcher’s trigger again. Nothing happens.
*click* *click* *click*, Still nothing.
OTHER BROTHER ACHMED lowers the rocket launcher from his shoulder, tipping it to inspect the launcher by looking down the barrel, and the Rocket zooms away, not toward the USS ASHLAND, but rather, toward EILAT, ISRAEL in the distance across the Red Sea.
EXT DAY, THE ROCKET ARCS HIGH.
We follow the ROCKET this time, as it arcs sky-high. The rocket’s propellant is used up, and the rocket gains altitude, and loses speed, until gravity takes over again, and the missle heads earthward once again.
EXT DAY, THE WAREHOUSE.
MOHAMMED, BROTHER ACHMED and OTHER BROTHER ACHMED all watch the ROCKET arcing into the sky with google eyes and open mouths. OTHER BROTHER ACHMED’s face is sooty, hair is blackened and disheveled, and is missing his eyebrows.
MOHAMMED, BROTHER ACHMED and OTHER BROTHER ACHMED all tip their heads down as they watch the ROCKET come down in the far off distance.
INT DAY, THE INSIDE OF A TAXI APPROACHING THE EILAT AIRPORT.
TAXI DRIVER is on his cellphone, arguing vehemently with his wife about the dog.
We hear the howling noise of the incoming ROCKET.
TAXI DRIVER pauses in his conversation, and strains to hear the noise over the engine, his wife yammering at him over the cellphone, and the staticky crackle of the dispatch radio. The ROCKET is silent for this moment.
ROCKET suddenly bursts through the roof of the cab, the front passenger seat, and the floor of the cab, leaving only the smoking tail end of the rocket, and fins, sticking up through the passenger seat. There is no explosion. The TAXI DRIVER swerves to the side of the road and stops the car. We can hear TAXI DRIVER’S WIFE still yammering at him on the cellphone, as TAXI DRIVER looks at the tailfins of the rocket sticking up through the seat…
EXT DAY, THE OUTSIDE OF THE TAXI.
TAXI DRIVER opens the door, cellphone still in hand. He looks rather shell shocked as he walks to the back of the cab, and sees a CRATER in the road where the ROCKET struck his car.
TAXI DRIVER puts his cellphone to his ear. We still hear his wife yammering at him.
He speaks Hebrew, Subtitles appear and tell us what he says.
TAXI DRIVER Honey? I love you. I'm sorry. You can keep the dog. I promise I will never say a word about it in the future. I might be a little early coming home today. OK? FIN