Israel deploys Iron Dome missile defense system at Syrian border

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Iron Dome anti-missile defense system has been installed in northern Israel, according to the IDF, due to the escalating war in Syria.

The move comes in response to increasing concerns that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may lose control over the chemical weapons arsenal in the country, Israel National News reported.

Should that occur, the lethal arsenal held by Israel’s northern neighbor could be handed over, or become vulnerable to theft by a number of Islamic terrorist organizations, among them Hizbullah or Al Qaeda.

Turkey has already requested - and received - Patriot anti-missile batteries from NATO for the essentially same reasons.

Iron Dome anti-missile batteries have been deployed in multiple locations, including in the Haifa area, military officials said.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak told reporters at a Pentagon news conference last November that due to the Iron Dome system, "only 55 rockets out of the 1,500 ended up falling in urban areas." He added that about 85 percent of the interceptions succeeded.