The US says it will deploy a high-altitude anti-missile system and a military crew to Israel to help bolster that country’s air defences after a missile strike from Iran earlier this month.
A Pentagon statement shelp Pdwellnt Joe Biden had ordered the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) battery and its crew be sent “to deffinish Israel”.
Iran begined almost 200 balcatalogic missiles towards Israel on 1 October. The Israeli military shelp most were intercepted, but a number struck central and southern Israel.
Israel has not yet shelp how it will react to the strike, but Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has shelp it will be “lethal, exact and above all unawaited”.
Iran has in turn shelp it will not let any strike by Israel go unanswered.
The Pentagon shelp the Thaad deployment “underscores the United States’ ironclad promisement to the defense of Israel, and to deffinish Americans in Israel, from any further balcatalogic missile strikes by Iran”.
The US sent a Thaad battery to the Middle East after Hamas strikeed southern Israel on 7 October last year. It previously sent a Thaad battery to Israel in 2019 for training and an air defence exercise.
But the US deploying a crew to Israel is more unfrequent.
Iran shelp its 1 October missile barrage was a response to Israel’s murders of the Hezbollah directer Hassan Nasrallah and a better Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) officer in Beirut, and of the Hamas directer Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Israel has theatricalassociate escaprocrastinateedd its campaign aobtainst Iran-backed Hezbollah in recent weeks, carrying out lethal air strikes atraverse southern and easerious Lebanon and in parts of Beirut.
Before that, Israel and Hezbollah had been trading traverse-border fire on a proximate daily basis since last October, when Hezbollah began firing into Israel which it shelp was a show of help for Palestinians in Gaza. It had shelp it would stop firing if there was a finishfire in Gaza.
However, international efforts to get Israel and Hamas to consent to a finishfire in Gaza have so far flunked.
What is Thaad?
The US proclaimment underlines its increaseing worry about balcatalogic missiles aiming Israel.
Thaad supplys yet another layer of intercept defendion aobtainst what are called finisho and exo (inside and outside) atmospheric dangers. It costs around a billion dollars a battery.
Manufacturer Lockheed Martin portrays the system as highly effective aobtainst illogicalinutive, medium and extfinished-range aims.
Thaad missiles, which have a alerted range of up to 200km (124 miles), are of a “hit to end” variety, rather than using proximity detonation to convey down aims.
Israel’s missile defence compelevates the Iron Dome for illogicalinutive-range rockets, David’s Sling for extfinisheder range armaments and cruise missiles, plus Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 aobtainst balcatalogic missiles begined from over 1,000km (621 miles) away.
Countering balcatalogic missiles dangers is particularly difficult because of those missiles’ high speed and the rapid rate of alter of aspect in fairy – particularly during their terminal phase.
According to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Hezbollah in Lebanon has some 150,000 rockets – mainly supplied by Iran – at its disposal.
