Four days prior to the Israeli flap, on Thursday, September 12, 1996, multiple UFOs were seen over Amman, the capital city of Jordan, the Arab kingdom on Israel's eastern border. The sightings were reported in the Arabic newspaper Al Dustour on September 18 and reprinted in the English-language daily, the Jordan Times, on September 19.

According to Al Dustour, "Strange but seemingly real objects with glowing lights of different colors moved in the skies of Amman Thursday and were seen by a number of citizens."

One of them was Marwan Muasher, Jordan's Minister of Information, who was quoted as saying, "On my way home from dinner, I saw such strange objects Thursday night I could not believe what I had seen or find any explanation for the phenomenon."

UFOs, Muasher added, "were reported at various places in the city at various times, but our (Royal Jordanian Air Force) equipment cannot monitor such a phenomenon."

The UFOs were last seen at Abu Alanda, a desert outpost north of Amman just before midnight.

From: UFO ROUNDUP 9-22-96.

Islamic UFO files, by Alfredo Lissoni, Italy's National UFO Center.