The IDF stationed a third Iron Dome air defense battery in northern Israel on
Tuesday, amid escalated tensions following last week’s reported air strikes in
Syria.
An army spokeswoman said that the anti-rocket systems were
“continuously in the process of being moved,” and did not draw a link to the
deployment with any current events.
Army Radio said the movement of the
third battery means that the largest number of Iron Dome systems have been
deployed in northern Israel to date.
The Army Radio report said that the
deployment “does not signal pinpoint information on an expected missile attack
on Israel, but in light of the reports of an Israeli attack in Syria [last
week], and the threats being heard in Lebanon and Iran, the IDF is not taking
any chances.”
Days before the air strike, the IDF deployed two Iron Dome
batteries to the North, including one moved to the greater Haifa area, amid
reports that the army was allowing the possibility of the transfer of chemical
weapons from Syria to radical sides.
After Wednesday’s reported air
strike, Western intelligence sources said a convoy of advanced anti-aircraft
weapons was hit on the outskirts of Damascus.
Syrian state television
said a “scientific research center” had been hit.
While Syria and
Hezbollah have not made any threats to respond to the air strike, senior Iranian
officials have released a series of threats.
Saeed Jalili, head of Iran’s
National Security Council, visited Syria in recent days and said that Israel
“will regret” the air strike.
On Saturday, the deputy chairman of the
Iranian Armed Forces, Brig.-Gen. Masoud Jazayeri, said, “Syria’s
response... will send this regime into a coma,” said according to Press TV, an
official Iranian regime media outlet.