By April 23, 2008 Read More →

Trans-Jordan Capital Raided by Israeli Bombing Planes, Associated Press, NY Times, June 2, 1948.

Israel Air ForceBy The Associated Press.

AMMAN, Trans-Jordan, June 1-Israeli airmen blasted Amman with high explosive and incendiary bombs today in the first attack on an Arab capital. Arab officials said six Arab civilians were killed in the surprise assault.

Tonight the Syrians announced that their air force had struck back in an attack on the port of Naharia, setting big fires and sinking two boats in the harbor north of Acre, The Syrians said they also raided the settlements of Dan and Kfar Geladi in the north.

[Further reprisals were indicated in reports that Egyptian planes had bombed the center of Tel Aviv and two Jewish settlements twenty miles south of Tel Aviv. Meanwhile the battle continued for control of the road from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.]

The Israeli raid on Amman consisted of a series of about four flights over the city. Only one plane was seen each time. Officials said the only building struck was the home of a worker’s family near the ancient Roman amphitheater.

At the Philadelphia Hotel, chief residence of the foreign correspondents, guests watched the air activity from the windows and doorways. Most of them took cover when a bomb exploded 300 yards away.

The cries of civilian wounded mingled with the sound of gunfire. One plane flew over the city with its running lights on.

About ten explosive and incendiary bombs in all were dropped.The explosive bombs were estimated at fifty pounds each. The incendiaries failed to start any fires.

[A pooled dispatch from the Israeli side of the lines in Jerusalem quoted an official source as saying the raid was made with a small number of bombers operating with fighter escort. This was the most active day of the war for Israel’s air force. Israeli planes bombed Arab troop concentrations in Lydda, Tulkarm and Jenin.]

[The British Army said in Haifa that the Israeli planes also bombed an RAF airfield near Amman, damaging a number of grounded aircraft. The British announcement listed the casualties as twelve Arabs killed and thirty wounded.]

Bitterness over the raid was at a high pitch when the Arab League’s Political Committee met to discuss the United Nations cease-fire proposal. Some Arab quarters said the raid was a deliberate attempt to frighten the committee.

Great indignation was expressed at the Royal Palace, where the raid was described as an indiscriminate attack against the civilian population.

Amman is the second capital to undergo air attack in the Palestine war. Tel Aviv, main city of Israel, has been bombed by Egyptian planes almost daily since May 15. Arabs say these attacks up to now have been against outlying military targets. [However, the Jews have listed a bus station in the heart of Tel Aviv as one of the buildings wrecked with a heavy toll of civilian life.]

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