Tel Aviv (dpa) – The Israeli military plans to deploy an Iron Dome missile interception battery in central Israel this week, a spokeswoman said Monday. The deployment was part of an “annual training plan,” the spokeswoman added, in which the battery is to be deployed at various locations throughout Israel. But it comes amid speculation that Israel may attack Iran, if economic sanctions do not convince Tehran to abandon its nuclear program. In such a case, Iran and its allies – Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon – could retaliate by launching thousands of rockets at Israel. The military spokeswoman told dpa the battery would be stationed in the Tel Aviv area “for the next few days.” The Israeli-developed Iron Dome is designed to intercept rockets or artillery shells with a range of up to 70 kilometers. Tel Aviv's southern outskirts are about 50 kilometers from Gaza's northern border. The border with Lebanon is further away – about 115 kilometers from northern Tel Aviv. Two Iron Dome batteries have already been used to shoot down rockets fired from Gaza at southern Israel. The Israeli military also announced earlier this month that the latest edition of the Arrow missile defense system was to become operational this year. In contrast to Iron Dome, the Arrow 3 is designed to shoot down long-range ground-to-ground missiles at a much greater height, above the atmosphere. Earlier this month, Military Intelligence Chief Aviv Kochavi told a security conference north of Tel Aviv that about 200,000 missiles were pointed at Israel – from Iran, Syria, militants in Gaza and the radical Shiite Hezbollah movement in Lebanon. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/m1DxN Tags: Interceptor, Israel, Missiles Section: Latest News, Palestine
