Middle East

Liz Wolfe | 10.14.2024 9:30 AM

Assisting Israel: The United States is becoming further entangled in Israel's fights. News broke over the weekend that our military is sending Israel an advanced missile system called the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD—along with 100 American troops to help operate it.

Israel is still weighing possible responses to Iran's barrage of ballistic missiles two weeks ago, which Iran says was retribution for Israel's killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah (in September) and Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh (in July). Iran also attacked Israel in April; both then and in the more recent attacks, the Iron Dome and U.S. naval destroyers were able to shoot down the vast majority of the missiles. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly been mulling retaliatory strikes on Iranian nuclear and oil sites.

The THAAD system is "a ground-based interceptor designed to shoot down ballistic missiles," per The Wall Street Journal. The U.S. supplied it to Saudi Arabia back in 2019 to help it fend off attacks from the Houthis, "marking the system's first known use in a military operation," according to Defense........

© Reason.com