A fifth Iron Dome air defence system Israeli Army ready to be used after last rockets fire 0404134

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Defence & Security News - Israel
 
 
Thursday, April 4, 2013, 01:49 PM
 
A fifth Iron Dome air defence system of Israeli Army ready to be used after the last rockets fire.
A fifth battery of Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system became operational on Wednesday amid the flare-up of hostilities on the border with the Gaza Strip. Israeli Army Radio reported that the battery and its crew were "fully ready" for interception missions.
     
A fifth battery of Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system became operational on Wednesday amid the flare-up of hostilities on the border with the Gaza Strip. Israeli Army Radio reported that the battery and its crew were "fully ready" for interception missions.
The Iron Dome is an effective and innovative mobile defense solution for countering short range rockets and 155 mm artillery shell threats with ranges of up to 70 km in all weather conditions, including low clouds, rain, dust storms or fog.
     

The news came hours after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants exploded in southern Israeli town of Sderot on Wednesday morning, followed by another three projectiles that fell in open areas in the vicinity, causing no injuries or damage.

On Tuesday night, Israeli aircraft struck targets in northern Gaza Strip in retaliation for mortar shells fired at western Negev earlier in the day.

In a first official response to the latest violence, Israeli military chief Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz vowed late Wednesday that Israel will not allow the renewal of incessant rocket fire from the coastal territory.

"We will not return to the reality that existed five months ago, prior to the cease-fire," Army Radio quoted Gantz as saying.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, in remarks published earlier in the day, said Israel holds Islamist group Hamas accountable for all attacks emanating from Gaza, though Magles Shoura al- Mujahadeen, a group reportedly linked to al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for Tuesday's rocket attack.

"We won't allow firing of any sort on our citizens and forces," Ya'alon said.