US was sending THAAD anti-missile system to Israel to boost defence amid attacks

As Israel ramps up its military operation against Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and likely prepares for an invasion against Iran, the United States announced the deployment of a missile defense system, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) battery, to Israel. The Pentagon, the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, claimed that the THAAD system will be deployed alongside US personnel to operate it. This announcement came shortly after Tehran warned the US to keep its troops out of Israel.

In a brief encounter with reporters on Sunday, US President Joe Biden stated that he agreed to deploy the THAAD battery “to defend Israel,” without going into further detail. This fresh deployment, the latest in the US’s sequence of supplies to Israel, comes amid tensions that risk escalating the Middle East crisis, despite massive diplomatic attempts to prevent an all-out war.

Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesperson, contended that the THAAD battery will supplement Israel’s integrated air defense system, which already includes an all-weather air defense system known as Iron Dome. “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” , Ryder tweeted.

In response to the event, Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araqchi, said that the US was putting its troops’ lives “at risk by deploying them to operate US missile systems in Israel”. He tweeted, “While we have made tremendous efforts in recent days to contain an all-out war in our region, I say it clearly that we have no red lines in defending our people and interests”.

The recent wave of conflict between Israeli forces and Hezbollah has been ongoing since October 8, 2023, when the Lebanese militant group began firing rockets across the border in support of its ally Hamas in Gaza. This escalation intensified last month after Hezbollah launched several rockets following widespread explosions, allegedly orchestrated by Tel Aviv. Israel also initiated a ground invasion into Lebanon. It is widely believed that Israel is preparing a military response to Iran’s October 1 attack, when it fired roughly 180 missiles into Israeli territory.