US deploy missile defence system and about 100 troops to Israel
By Helene Cooper
WASHINGTON — The United States is sending an advanced missile defence system to Israel, and will deploy about 100 US troops to operate it, the Pentagon announced Sunday (13).
President Joe Biden directed Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence System, or THAAD, and its crew, Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement Sunday.
The move will put US troops closer to the widening war in the Middle East and comes after Iran launched about 200 missiles, including ballistic missiles, at Israel on Oct. 1 and as Israel plans its retaliatory attack.
When asked Sunday, Biden said only that he had ordered the Pentagon to deploy the system “to defend Israel”. Ryder said in his statement that the battery would “augment Israel’s integrated air defence system”.
“This action underscores the United States’ ironclad commitment to the defence of Israel, and to defend Americans in Israel, from any further ballistic missile attacks by Iran,” the statement said. “It is part of the broader adjustments the US military has made in recent months to support the defence of Israel and protect Americans from attacks by Iran and Iranian-aligned militias”.
The United States sent a THAAD battery along with other air defence systems to the region weeks after the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, 2023. It was not immediately clear how quickly the missile defence system and troops would arrive in Israel.
On Saturday (12) Austin spoke with Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defence minister, and “expressed his deep concern about reports that Israeli forces fired on UN peacekeeping positions in Lebanon as well as by the reported death of two Lebanese soldiers,” the Pentagon said in a statement about the call.
On Sunday morning, the Israeli military said that its jets had hit around 200 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon over the past day.
-New York Times
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