A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system in Guam on Feb. 19, 2023. The United States is sending the advanced missile defense system to Israel, and will deploy about 100 American troops to operate it, the Pentagon announced on Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (Chang W. Lee/The New York Times)
- The U.S. is deploying a THAAD missile defense system and 100 troops to Israel to bolster its defense against Iranian missiles.
- The deployment marks the first U.S. troop presence in Israel since Hamas-led attacks in October 2023, signaling increased U.S. involvement in the conflict.
- Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin emphasized the move's goal of protecting Israel and Americans from potential ballistic missile attacks by Iran.
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WASHINGTON — The United States is sending an advanced missile defense system to Israel, along with about 100 U.S. troops to operate it, the Pentagon announced Sunday. It is the first deployment of U.S. forces to Israel since the Hamas-led attacks there on Oct. 7, 2023.
President Joe Biden directed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, and its crew, Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement Sunday.
The move will put U.S. troops operating the ground-based interceptor, which is designed to defend against ballistic missiles, closer to the widening war in the Middle East. It comes after Iran launched about 200 missiles, including ballistic missiles, at Israel on Oct. 1 and as Israel plans its retaliatory attack.
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When asked about it on Sunday, Biden said only that he had ordered the Pentagon to deploy the system “to defend Israel.” Ryder said in his statement that the battery would “augment Israel’s integrated air defense system.”
It was not immediately clear when the missile defense system and troops announced Sunday would arrive in Israel.
“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,” the statement said. “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.”
While the THAAD system represents the first U.S. troop deployment to Israel since the war in the Gaza Strip began, the U.S. military did build a temporary pier off the coast of Gaza in May meant to rush humanitarian aid to the enclave. The pier was dismantled in July after weeks of damage from rough seas.
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And late last month, the Pentagon said that it would send a “few thousand” U.S. troops to the Middle East as Israel intensified its attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon, with one official putting the figure between 2,000 and 3,000. The United States also sent a THAAD battery along with other air defense systems to the region weeks after the attacks on Oct. 7, 2023.
On Saturday Austin spoke with Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defense minister, and “expressed his deep concern about reports that Israeli forces fired on U.N. peacekeeping positions in Lebanon as well as by the reported death of two Lebanese soldiers,” the Pentagon said in a statement about the call.
On Sunday morning, the Israeli military said that its jets had hit around 200 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon over the past day.
Related Story: Israeli Strikes in Beirut Leave 22 Dead, Targeted Hezbollah Official Escapes
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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
By Helene Cooper/Chang W. Lee
c. 2024 The New York Times Company
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