Approximately 100 American troops will deploy to Israel along with a THAAD missile interceptor battery, the Pentagon announced on Sunday.
The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense or THAAD battery, designed to intercept ballistic missiles from the ground, has six launches, and can carry a complement of 48 munitions. The batteries are generally crewed by 95 people. The announcement marks the first deployment of American troops to Israel since the start of the war in Gaza last October. The decision comes in the wake of the Oct. 1 Iranian attack on Israel, which resulted in just one death, a Palestinian man in the West Bank. The Department of Defense did not elaborate on when the unit will arrive or where it is deploying from.
“The THAAD Battery will augment Israel’s integrated air defense system. This action underscores the United States’ ironclad commitment to the defense of Israel, and to defend Americans in Israel, from any further ballistic missile attacks by Iran,” Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement announcing the deployment. ”It is part of the broader adjustments the U.S. military has made in recent months, to support the defense of Israel and protect Americans from attacks by Iran and Iranian-aligned militias.”
The United States previously deployed a THAAD to the Middle East — but not to Israel — last October, in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas into Israel, the event that led to the ongoing war in Gaza. That war has expanded as forces including the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon have traded attacks with Israel. In the case of Yemen, American and partner forces have spent close to a year intercepting Houthi-fired munitions aimed at commercial vessels passing through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, and bombing sites inside Yemen. The wider conflict in the region has also led to attacks on American troops and bases in the region, including the attack in Jordan that killed three American servicemembers.
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The tensions in the Middle East have been high since the start of the month. Israel’s expanding incursion into Lebanon, including the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and ongoing bombings of the capital city of Beirut. Iran launched its attack in response to Nasrallah’s killing. Israel in turn has promised a response, but so far has not launched any retaliation.
The Pentagon has deployed several different military assets around the Middle East in the last year since the Israel-Gaza war started. Over the summer the U.S. military deployed F-22 fighter jets to bolster already present aircraft units, as well as a Marine Expeditionary Unit.
During Iran’s previous attack on Israel in April, American carrier strike groups and fighter planes, as well as a Patriot anti-air interceptor battery, helped destroy hundreds of missiles and drones fired towards the nation.