Israel shows air defense weapons to ward off Palestinian rockets
Washington, May 13 ANI: Israel has for the first time shown the Iron Dome system, which in its first operational deployment last month, successfully intercepted rockets fired at southern Israeli cities by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. The missile attacks on Israeli population has been a major headache for Israeli armed forces. In a 2006 campaign against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon and again during an offensive in late 2008 and early 2009 against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, Israeli cities within range were pounded by rockets, testing the resilience of Israelis and their support for the war efforts. To demonstrate Israel's capabilities, the military took foreign journalists Thursday to the Palmachim air force base, south of Tel Aviv, for a rare look at its latest air defense weapons. Designed to defend against short-range rockets that can travel up to 45 miles, Iron Dome is the bottom tier of Israel's multi-layered missile defense system, which also includes the Arrow for long-range ballistic threats and a system under development known as David's Sling, designed to intercept medium-range rockets and missiles. During a flare-up of violence across the Gaza border in April, two newly deployed Iron Dome batteries downed eight of nine rockets fired at the southern cities of Ashkelon and Beersheba, the Washington Post quoted Israeli army, as saying. The system, developed rapidly in four years, had a 100 percent interception rate when it was test-fired, according to a Defense Ministry spokesman. ANI
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