Levant News – Israel and the US are launching a joint military drill aimed at discovering the effectiveness of the Israeli missile defence shield. Whilst Israel insists that the drill is unrelated to any incidents in the region, the drill will test whether Israel can defend itself against a concerted attack from Iran, Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. In reality the simulated scenario could only be that of a response to an Israel attack on Iran’s nuclear programme.
3,500 US troops and 1,000 Israeli soldiers along with missile destroyer USS Forrest Sherman are involved in the drill which will test Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system, the latest version of the US Patriot and the Arrow anti-ballistic missile system, jointly developed by the two countries. The drill is expected to last about three weeks.
The trouble with drills such as these is that they will raised Iranian expectations that an attack is immanent, in an area already at boiling point. It is understandable that Israel should want to test the system developed by the two countries but with little chance of either Israel or Iran backing down from their current stances, this drill has a high likelihood of being a rehearsal of a near future reality.
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