The US is sending an advanced anti-missile system to Israel and 100 troops to operate it in a rare move that will boost its ally’s defences as Benjamin Netanyahu’s government plans retaliatory strikes against Iran.
President Joe Biden authorised the Pentagon to send a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery to “bolster Israel’s air defences” following two missile barrages from Iran earlier this year, the US defence department said on Sunday.
Washington will also send approximately 100 soldiers to operate the missile system within Israel, according to a US defence official. The THAAD, a ground-based system designed to shoot down ballistic missiles, can defend a larger area than the more common Patriot system.