Kyiv: The US military has shipped its advanced anti-missile system to Israel and it is now “installed”, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.
THAAD, or Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, is a key part of the US military’s layered air defense systems and further strengthens Israel’s already strong anti-missile defenses.
“The THAAD system has been installed,” Austin said, speaking to reporters before arriving in Ukraine on Monday.
He declined to say whether it was operational or not, but added: “We have the capability to make it operational very quickly and we are moving at a pace consistent with our expectations.”
President Joe Biden said the THAAD deployment, along with about 100 U.S. troops, was to help defend Israel, which is considering expected retaliation against Iran after Tehran fired more than 180 missiles at Israel on Oct. 1.
While officials say the United States is urging Israel to measure its response to avoid sparking a wider war in the Middle East, Biden has publicly opposed an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear sites and expressed his concerns about an assault on its energy infrastructure.
Responding to questions from reporters, Biden said last week that he had a good sense of when and how Israel would strike Iran. But he also said he saw an opportunity to end the two foes’ back-and-forth attacks.
Austin was cautious.
“It’s hard to say what (an Israeli) attack would look like,” Austin told reporters. “Ultimately, it’s Israel’s decision, and whether or not the Israelis feel it’s proportionate and how the Iranians feel it is, I mean those can be two different things.”
“We will do everything we can to de-escalate tensions – and hopefully both sides will start to de-escalate tensions. So, we’ll see what happens,” he said.
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