Biden sends antimissile system and 100 troops to Israel, deepening U.S. role
Photo: A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) launching station is loaded onto an C-17 Globemaster III at Fort Bliss, Tex., in 2019. (Staff Sgt. Cory D. Payne/AP)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The United States is sending one of its most advanced missile defense systems and about 100 U.S. troops to Israel, deepening U.S. involvement in the escalating war in the Middle East amid U.S. expectations of an imminent Israeli assault on Iran.
The mission marks the first significant deployment of U.S. troops to Israel since the war in Gaza began and comes just three weeks before the U.S. presidential election in which U.S. involvement in the conflict has been a polarizing issue on the campaign trail.
U.S. officials have been encouraging Israel to avoid targeting Iran’s nuclear, oil and gas sites out of fear that it could spark an even larger escalation that upends the global economy.
The deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile system, or THAAD, is the latest indication that the United States expects the Israeli assault to be “so comprehensive that the Iranians will have to respond,” said Aaron David Miller, a Middle East expert who has advised multiple Republican and Democratic administrations.
The THAAD deployment adds to the more than 50,000 tons of armaments and military equipment the United States has sent Israel since the start of the war last October, according to Israel’s Defense Ministry.
Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, has promised a devastating attack against Tehran in response to its ballistic missile barrage against Israel on Oct. 1. “Our strike will be powerful, precise, and above all — surprising. They will not understand what happened and how it happened,” Gallant said Wednesday.
The Iranian assault, which followed Israel’s assassination of high-level Iranian, Hamas and Hezbollah officials, failed to inflict significant damage as a result of U.S. and Israeli efforts to shoot down the projectiles. No deaths occurred within Israel’s internationally recognized borders; one Palestinian man was killed in the occupied West Bank.
“The THAAD Battery will augment Israel’s integrated air defense system,” said Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder. “This action underscores the United States’ ironclad commitment to the defense of Israel, and to defend Americans in Israel, from any further ballistic missile attacks by Iran.”
The THAAD system is specifically designed to shoot down ballistic missiles.
The ground-based system doesn’t have any warheads and isn’t used to strike buildings or conduct offensive attacks. Rather, the system only counters incoming short-, medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles.
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The United States is sending one of its most advanced missile defense systems and about 100 U.S. troops to Israel, deepening U.S. involvement in the escalating war in the Middle East amid U.S. expectations of an imminent Israeli assault on Iran.
The THAAD deployment adds to the more than 50,000 tons of armaments and military equipment the United States has sent Israel since the start of the war last October, according to Israel’s Defense Ministry.
Good to see. Is the USA sending only one?
“The THAAD Battery will augment Israel’s integrated air defense system,” said Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder. “This action underscores the United States’ ironclad commitment to the defense of Israel, and to defend Americans in Israel, from any further ballistic missile attacks by Iran.”
The THAAD system is specifically designed to shoot down ballistic missiles.
The ground-based system doesn’t have any warheads and isn’t used to strike buildings or conduct offensive attacks. Rather, the system only counters incoming short-, medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles.
I wonder how many missiles sent simultaneously it would be able to stop, and how long it would take to reload. Iran (and Hezbollah as well) send a lot of missiles simultaneously.
Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, has promised a devastating attack against Tehran in response to its ballistic missile barrage against Israel on Oct. 1. “Our strike will be powerful, precise, and above all — surprising. They will not understand what happened and how it happened,” Gallant said Wednesday.
The Iranian assault, which followed Israel’s assassination of high-level Iranian, Hamas and Hezbollah officials, failed to inflict significant damage as a result of U.S. and Israeli efforts to shoot down the projectiles. No deaths occurred within Israel’s internationally recognized borders; one Palestinian man was killed in the occupied West Bank.
I know Biden has cautioned Israel about taking out Iran's nuclear facilities. Personally, I think that not only Israel but also America would be a lot safer if Israel demolished Iran's uranium enrichment facilities. I know they\re underground, but think about the bomb that took out Hezbollah's leader who was far underground.
MOAB for breakfast anyone?
..which followed... etc, etc for millennia.
They need to go after the clerics, from the highest to the lowest, and the heads of the Revolutionary Guards
That would be known as "a good start".
After that, then go after their accounting and financial systems. Hit them in the pocketbook...
Boots on the ground, a possible prelude to a quagmire.
It usually works out that way. Problem is that there never seems to be a preplanned proper and workable exit strategy. It's all knee jerk and reflex alone.