Posted on 02/18/2008 8:32:42 AM PST by waimea.man
Israel has deployed a battery of U.S.-made Patriot air defense missiles near the northern port city of Haifa as part of precautions against a possible attack by Lebanon's Hezbollah in response to the assassination last week of the group's top commander Imad Mughniyah, Israeli security officials said Monday.
The officials said the battery was put on standby Sunday for the first time since Israel's month-long war with Hezbollah in the summer of 2006, when the Lebanese guerrillas fired nearly 4,000 rockets into northern Israel.
Patriot batteries were first deployed in Israel during the 1991 Gulf War, but they failed to stop most of the 39 Scud missiles launched by Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
They were originally designed to intercept aircraft, and Israeli media reported their role in the current situation would be to shoot down bomb-laden pilotless planes as well as rockets.
(Excerpt) Read more at haaretz.com ...
2 posts below and in Breaking News :)
Sorry, I was putting this one up as you posted yours. Please remove this.
this is a great time for our surveillance capabilities to be limited now thxs to Ms Pelosi. sad that we aren’t able to back up our ally like we should. enjoy your recess, Madame Speaker.
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]
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I hope these are not the same Patriot missiles that failed in '91, and that the technology has been significantly upgraded since then.
I was also under the impression that Israel was active in developing a new anti-missile system of its own. Can anyone please comment on this?
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