Washington (AFP) – US troops have arrived in Israel as part of the deployment of a THAAD missile defense battery, the Pentagon said Tuesday. This move will help protect Washington’s ally but deepens the United States’ involvement in the conflict. The deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system comes as Israel prepares to retaliate against Iran for a significant ballistic missile attack earlier this month. The battery will bolster Israeli defenses in case Tehran strikes back again.
Israel has targeted leaders of groups backed by Iran, including Hezbollah and Hamas, during the Gaza war. The country has been accused of killing Hamas’s political chief on Iranian soil, which Tehran cited as part of its justification for its attacks in October. While US ships and warplanes have helped defend Israel from Iranian attacks, the deployment of the THAAD battery will place the roughly 100 US troops who will operate it — as well as the system itself — on the ground in Israel and more directly in harm’s way.
“Putting US servicemembers in Israel proper shows that Washington is very visibly and tangibly committed to Israel’s security and will fight if necessary,” said Raphael Cohen, a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation. He added that US President Joe Biden’s administration likely hopes this move will increase deterrence against Iran and reassure the Israelis. Cohen noted that the deployment may give the Biden administration greater leverage to shape Israel’s response to the Iranian strikes that occurred on October 1.
Israel already has an advanced, multi-layered network of air defenses; however, Cohen mentioned that it has been stretched by a year of combat with various Iran-backed groups in the region. “Particularly if Iran increases its volume of fire and Hezbollah continues to attack, more missiles will get through and hit their targets,” he said, referring to the Lebanon-based group that Israel has launched a renewed military offensive against since last month.
Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder announced Tuesday that an advance team of US personnel and initial components for the battery had arrived in Israel the day before, with more to follow soon. “The battery will be fully operational capable in the near future,” he stated, adding that the deployment “underscores the United States’ commitment to the defense of Israel and to defend Americans in Israel from any ballistic missile attacks by Iran.”
The THAAD system, developed in the 1990s with the first battery activated in 2008, is operated by 95 soldiers and consists of six truck-mounted launchers with eight interceptors each, a radar, and a fire control component, according to the US Congressional Research Service. Tom Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, commented that the battery, which includes a billion-dollar radar, is “potentially a very expensive target” that needs to be well protected.
He also highlighted that the United States has a limited number of THAAD batteries and is “not producing very many THAAD rounds at the moment,” emphasizing the need to be deliberate with their inventory. “The THAAD deployment to Israel obviously adds a lot of capability and capacity, but it comes with some strategic risk, and it comes with some operational and opportunity costs,” Karako said.
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