The Pentagon announced today that the first components and personnel needed to operate the Terminal High Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system arrived in Israel on Monday, adding that more elements and operators will arrive in the coming days.
This anti-missile battery will be fully operational "in the near future", but for security reasons no details on the timeline were provided.
Deputy Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh declared at a press conference that it is a system that will help increase Israel's air defense and highlighted that its delivery is in line with the United States' objective of reducing tensions in the region. of the Middle East.
The US Department of Defense indicated on Sunday that President Joe Biden had ordered Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to hand over the anti-missile system to Israel to help the country counter Iran's ballistic missiles.
According to the Israeli press on Saturday, Israel had already prepared an attack against Iran in retaliation for the bombing of Tehran on October 1, with around 180 ballistic missiles, most of which were intercepted.
Singh stressed that, with this deployment, the United States does not intend to be involved in a more extensive regional conflict: "It is a commitment that the president has made that we will be there to defend Israel."
The Pentagon representative recalled that this is not the first time that the United States has sent an anti-missile system of this type to Israel.
At the beginning of this year, to defend American troops and interests in the region, the United States installed a THAAD battery in the Middle East, following the attack on October 7, 2023 by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas against Israel, and in 2019 it had One of these batteries was sent to Israel for training and an integrated air defense exercise.
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