The Aqaba Flagpole, immediately next to the castle, rises 132 metres above the harbour, with a flag measuring 60 by 30 metres at its top. The flag is a deliberate recreation of the banner carried by the Arab Revolt forces that captured Aqaba from the Ottomans in 1917 — green, white, black, and red, the same colour scheme that became the basis for the modern Jordanian flag.
The structure is a single white-painted steel pole, visible from anywhere in the city and from a long way out to sea. It sits in a small plaza on the corniche, with views over the harbour and across the gulf to Eilat and the mountains of Sinai. A useful landmark; an unexpectedly poignant view at sunset when the flag fills the sky above the gulf.