US to deploy anti-missile defence system and troops to Israel

The Pentagon has said it will send a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery and troops to Israel, even as Iran warned Washington on Sunday to keep American military forces out of Israel.

Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin authorised the deployment of the THAAD battery at the direction of President Joe Biden.

The system will help bolster Israel’s air defences following Iran’s missile attacks on Israel in April and October, according to the statement.

“This action underscores the United States’ ironclad commitment to the defence of Israel and to defend Americans in Israel from any further ballistic missile attacks by Iran,” Ryder said.

The Iranian government noted the development with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, warning in a post on X that Tehran has no red lines in defending its people and interests.

Israel is widely believed to be preparing a military response to Iran’s 1 October attack, when it fired roughly 180 missiles into Israel.

It was not immediately clear where the THAAD battery was coming from. The US deployed one of the batteries to the Middle East along with additional Patriot battalions to bolster protections for US forces in the region late last year after the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas militants.

According to the Pentagon, the US sent a THAAD battery to Israel in 2019 for training, but an April report by the Congressional Research Service showed that the Army has seven THAAD batteries.

Generally, each consists of six truck-mounted launchers, 48 interceptors, and radio and radar equipment and requires 95 soldiers to operate.

The THAAD is considered a complementary system to the Patriot, but it can defend a wider area. It can hit targets at ranges of 150 to 200 kilometres (93 to 124 miles).