Jan 24, 2021. Greece.
The US is to deploy the Israeli-made Iron Dome rocket interceptor defence system to its bases in the Gulf states, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Sunday.
The Iron Dome defence system was first put into operation by
Israel in 2011, to intercept rockets
fired by Palestinian factions. Israel has fought three wars against
Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip since 2008.
Haaretz said that Israel had approved the US transfer of
the system to the Gulf following its normalisation of relations with two Gulf
states, the UAE and Bahrain in September last year
The Israeli newspaper described the Iron Dome system as “one
of the jewels of Israel's arms manufacturing industry”.
In August 2019, the US and Israel signed an agreement under
which Israel
would provide two Iron Dome systems to the US. The second of these systems
was handed over to the US three weeks ago, according to Haaretz.
The US had previously announced that it would buy a small
number of Iron Dome systems to “be assessed and experimented as a system that is
currently available to protect deployed US military service against a wide
variety of indirect fire threats and aerial threats.”
Israeli officials had agreed to allow the system to be
deployed at US bases in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
While the US has refused to reveal where exactly the Iron Dome
system will be deployed, Haaretz said that Israel had given tacit
approval to the US to defend its forces from Iran-backed militias.
The Iran-backed Yemeni Houthi movement has previously claimed
dozens of rocket attacks on Saudi Arabia, as well as attack. On Saturday,
Saudi air defences intercepted a rocket attack on Riyadh but the Houthis
denied responsibility.
Iranian-backed militias have also launched rocket attacks at
bases where US troops were present in Iraq.
The Iron Dome system’s ability to defend against rocket
attacks is questionable, with Hamas’s
military wing saying in 2019 that it had "overcome the so-called
Iron Dome by adopting the tactic of firing dozens of rockets in a single
burst," during an outbreak of fighting with Israel.
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