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US soldiers arrive in Israel to help thwart Iran missile attacks

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US soldiers arrive in Israel to help thwart Iran missile attacks

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A team of U.S. soldiers has arrived in Israel to help operate the advanced anti-missile battery provided by President Joe Biden to help Israel fend off missile attacks from Iran amid increasing concerns surrounding the expanding Middle East conflict.

The Pentagon said Tuesday that the first of what will ultimately be about 100 U.S. troops have arrived along with some components of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system − THAAD. It marks the first U.S. deployment of troops in Israel since the Hamas-led attacks a year ago that ignited the war in Gaza and reflects a possible expansion of the conflict.

Major Gen. Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesperson, said in a statement that some components of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery system arrived Sunday and that more were on the way. “Over the coming days, additional U.S. military personnel and THAAD battery components will continue to arrive in Israel,” Ryder said.

The system will be fully operational “in the near future,” but Ryder declined to be more specific citing operational security. He said the deployment and the THAAD battery underscore the U.S. commitment to defending Israel and Americans in Israel from ballistic missile attacks by Iran. Tehran barraged Israel with hundreds of missiles Oct. 1, although the attacks were mostly thwarted.

Israel has pledged a “lethal, precise and above all, surprising” retaliation for the Oct. 1 attack, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said. Tehran said the attack was in response to the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Biden administration imposes sanctions: Target Iran over missile attack on Israel

Developments:

∎ Israel’s Defense Ministry on Tuesday launched a competition among eight companies aimed at bolstering the military’s ability to intercept aerial drones launched by Iran and Hezbollah. Technologies will enter an “accelerated development and production process,” the ministry said.

∎ A police officer was killed and four people were wounded Tuesday when a militant opened fire along a highway north of the Israeli coastal city of Ashdod, local police said.

∎ Israeli fighter jets attacked and “eliminated” a Hezbollah commander responsible for sending drones into Israel, the Israeli military said. It was not clear whether Khader Al-Abed Bahja’s unit was responsible for a recent drone attack that killed four Israeli soldiers wounded dozens more.

Hezbollah kills 4 Israeli soldiers: ‘Swarm of drones’ used

Avi Melamed, a regional analyst and former Israeli intelligence official, says the THAAD depolyment is intended to signal that the U.S. and Israel are operating in coordination to respond to Iran’s missile launches while also mitigating the threat the clashes evolving into a major, direct regional conflict.

Melamed, in an email to USA TODAY, said the deployment projects the U.S. message to Iran that this Israeli strike is likely to be “significant yet restrained.” A harsh response from Iran would be counterproductive, he said.

“It is likely that the continued tit-for-tat will only be further devastating to Iran, the regime’s control and its image of deterrence throughout the region,” Melamed said. The deployment “also sends a strong message throughout the region that the U.S. will back its allies with boots-on-the-ground deployment.”

Mehran Kamrava, professor of Government at Georgetown University in Qatar, says that as the Gaza war rolls into its second year and expands into Lebanon and possibly Iran, there is little chance of a quick resolution. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political career could depend on prolonging the war, Kamrava told USA TODAY.

Netanyahu’s popularity plummeted after the Hamas-led attack a year ago, and critics blame him for the security breach. But more recently, amid intensifying clashes with Lebanon-based Hezbollah, a recent poll gave him a 11-point lead over centrist opposition leader Yair Lapid.

“Ideally, perhaps in order to also enhance Donald Trump’s chances in November, he would also like to expand the scope of the war to both Lebanon and Iran,” Kamrava said. “With a marked unwillingness to bring the carnage to an end, the only power capable of stopping Netanyahu is the United States.

“Unfortunately, Washington has shown a striking incapacity to do so.”

The Israeli military says its troops operating in the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza have raided an United Nations Relief and Works Agency clinic that was being used by militants to store weapons. The army says it carried out an airstrike that eliminated a squad of militants who fired on troops from the clinic. Secondary explosions after the strike indicate that it was being used as a weapons warehouse, the military said.

The Israeli government has been critical of the UNRWA, saying some staffers participated in the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel and that hundreds remain members of militant groups.

The Biden administration on Tuesday condemned Israeli airstrikes on a hospital compound in central Gaza that ignited a nearby tent encampment where displaced Palestinians had sought refuge. At least four Palestinians were killed and dozens of others, including children, were injured in the Monday night attack, which set tents ablaze and reportedly sent survivors fleeing from one tent to another. Videos appeared to show one man being burned alive.

“The images and video of what appear to be displaced civilians burning alive following an Israeli airstrike are deeply disturbing and we have made our concerns clear to the Israeli government,” said Sean Savett, a spokesman for the National Security Council.

The Israeli military said the fire erupted shortly after strikes that targeted militants near the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah. The “incident is under review,” the military said.

− Michael Collins

U.S. condemns ‘horrifying’ attack: Palestinian tent encampment set ablaze

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin have reportedly warned their Israeli counterparts to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza or face possible legal action involving U.S. military aid. The Cabinet members, in a letter posted on social media by an Axios reporter, expressed deep concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza and warned the Israeli government to “reverse this trajectory.”

The letter listed a series of demands, including thepermanent transfer of hundreds of aid trucks daily to Gaza nd opening a fifth border crossing. Israel’s Channel 12 also has reported on the letter, and Reuters said it had confirmed the reports. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation from USA TODAY.

Israeli military strikes killed scores of Palestinians across Gaza amid fierce battles with Hamas-led fighters, Palestinian health officials said. The largest strikes included 17 deaths near Al-Falouja in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight refugee camps, and 10 in Bani Suhaila in eastern Khan Younis in the south when an Israeli missile struck a house. Eight others were killed when a house was struck in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.

Jabalia has been the focus of an Israeli offensive for more than 10 days, and troops are returning to areas of the north that came under heavy bombardment in the early months of the year-long war. The United Nations human rights office said Tuesday that the Israeli military appeared to be “cutting off North Gaza completely from the rest of the Gaza Strip.”

The second round of vaccinations for children in Gaza began Monday with 92,821 children receiving the vaccine and 76,394 receiving vitamin A supplements, the World Health Organization announced Tuesday. The campaign in central Gaza will continue through Thursday. Health officials hope to vaccinate 179,000 kids in central Gaza and almost 600,000 throughout the war-battered enclave.

“We appeal for the continued respect of humanitarian pauses,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, said in a social media post. “We repeat: the children of Gaza need vaccines and aid, but above all, they need peace.”

Contributing: Reuters

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