Aqaba Fortress is a stone fortified caravanserai in Aqaba, Jordan, beside the Aqaba Flagpole and about 0.6 miles (1 km) south of the early Muslim city of Ayla. It began as a khan, or inn, for Egyptian Hajj pilgrims bound for Mecca and Medina. A later khan with roughly the present footprint dates to the 14th or 15th century.
Its gatehouse has a vaulted passage with carved Arabic inscriptions, one honoring the Mamluk sultan Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghuri, who ruled from 1501 to 1516. The Ottoman sultan Murad III carried out substantial work in 1587, and in 1841 the fort came under Egyptian control and was strengthened as a military position.
In July 1917 the fort fell to an Arab camel charge in the Battle of Aqaba. A panel with the Hashemite coat of arms over the entrance commemorates that victory. World War I shelling brought down the west wall and northwest tower.
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