Thursday, March 31, 2011

Israel deploys anti-missile system near Gaza

Israel deployed outside the Gaza Strip announced shield to shoot down a rocket, but warned the Israelis in the firing line of the Palestinian enclave is not protected at all. The positioning of the "Iron Dome" just north of Beersheba, a city in South rocket struck twice in a month of escalating violence in the border area, was described by the Army as an "acceleration" of assessments field under the system.

The short-range Israeli project passed final testing and will be deployed near the borders of the country in November, according to the Israeli Ministry of Defense. But some experts have criticized what they see as unnecessary delays and protectionism the government to choose "Iron Dome", produced by a state arms factory and partly funded by grants from the U.S.

defense-lists available on alternatives abroad. "I do not want to create the illusion that the system we are deploying for the first time, provide a complete or comprehensive response," he told his cabinet in Jerusalem Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "The real answer to the threat of missiles is the combination of offensive and defensive deterrent measures, and with a stand of the Government and the public.

" Netanyahu spoke shortly after, in an air strike on Gaza, Israel killed two members of Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian guerrilla group that is behind much of the militant rocket attacks into Israel. Hamas, the Islamic movement that controls Gaza and whose forces are also part of the fight, said the fire from the coastal enclave would cease if Israel stops attacking too.

"We welcome the agreement by Palestinian factions agree to stay calm and call on all combatants on the ground to execute this agreement," he said in a statement the Islamist movement that rules Gaza with an iron fist since 2007. On May 14, 2010, the U.S. president, Barack Obama, asked Congress for 205 million U.S.

dollars to support the development of the "Iron Dome", a system to intercept rockets like those used by Palestinian militants in Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon. At that time the White House said in a statement that Obama recognized the threat posed to Israeli missiles or rockets fired by Hezbollah or Hamas, and, therefore, decided to seek funding from Congress to support the production of the system.

In tests this week, the system broke down for the first time successfully several rockets simultaneously, the Ministry of Defence. Defense Minister Ehud Barak, said the project could be a necessary protection to provide security for the Israelis to the possibility of a withdrawal from the occupied West Bank.

The "Iron Dome" was produced by state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. Uses small radar-guided missiles to blow up in the air Katyusha-style rockets, with ranges of between five and 70 kilometers and mortar bombs. The project was initiated following the 2006 conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon and the war against Hamas Gaza Strip 18 months ago.

No comments:

Post a Comment