Patrick Tucker – Defense One Oct 2, 2024
Two U.S. destroyers fired a dozen interceptors to help Israel ward off a barrage of some 180 Iranian ballistic missiles, about twice as many as Tehran launched in its previously unprecedented April 14 strike, Pentagon officials said Tuesday evening.
Unlike April’s strike, Tuesday evening’s included no drones, and the damage on the ground was minimal, spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters.
“You don’t launch that many missiles at a target without the intent of hitting something. So absolutely, just like the last time, their intent is to cause destruction,” Ryder said. “Fortunately, you know, Israel has very significant air defense capabilities, and the U.S., of course, played a role in helping on that front as well.”
Working with Israeli air defenses, the U.S. Navy guided missile destroyers Bulkeley and Cole fired a dozen interceptor missiles during the strike, he said.
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters that the U.S. and Israel will work to impose “severe consequences for the attack.”
“This is a significant escalation by Iran, a significant event, and it is equally significant that we were able to step up with Israel and create a situation in which no one was killed in this attack in Israel,” Sullivan told reporters during the press conference.
The strike happened as Israel launched a ground offensive against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, following Israel’s killing of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah last week. Ryder said Israel told the United States the offensive will be “limited,” and “focused on dismantling facilities that Hezbollah has built along the border to stage attacks into Israel.”
Israel says 63,000 of its citizens have been displaced by Hezbollah rocket fire. At the same time, nearly one million Lebanese people have fled their homes to avoid Israeli attacks, the United Nations said yesterday.
In discussions between United States and Israeli officials about the ground offensive, the U.S. wants to ensure “there’s an understanding as far as potential mission creep … as it relates to the broader tensions in the region,” Ryder said.
Israel media reported Tuesday that the Israeli military plans to conduct “powerful strikes” on targets across the Middle East in response to the Iranian attack.
The U.S. is also sending more military assets to the Middle East. On Tuesday, U.S. CENTCOM announced that three additional squadrons of F-15Es, F-16s, and A-10s have already arrived in the region.
“Fighter aircraft can can perform a variety of missions, to include taking down drones, taking down missiles, particular kinds of missiles, as well as, you know, providing ISR electronic warfare and types of capabilities,” Ryder said about the additional aircraft squadrons. “So all of this comes together to provide us with options on how best to respond to any type of attack and to protect our forces.”
Ryder did not confirm Iranian reports that a Fattah-2 hypersonic missile was used and destroyed an Israeli Arrow battery, saying that the Pentagon is still assessing the strike.
“Ryder said. “Fortunately, you know, Israel has very significant air defense capabilities, and the U.S., of course, played a role in helping on that front as well.””
Yea, the kike tail wagged the yankee dog.
From what I’ve seen, and I’ve not seen such an intense missile attack before, at night, that I believe what I saw, and appeared to me that 90% got to the ground/targets.
I was pleased to hear Ritter repeat what I had said, about S400 systems in Iran, operated by Russians, and Russian fighter jets also flown by Russians, and this means all most certainly there’s Russian electronic warfare capabilities in Iran. Ritter also makes the point that Israeli planes attacking Iran won’t have any airfields to return to. lol
This latest wave of missiles from Iran will have begun to deplete those missiles on US naval vessels. The US navy has decommissioned seventeen support vessels because of a lack of crew members so they have far fewer means of rearmament. Israel will see the US navy sent to the bottom of the sea before this ends, because apart from a few members in DC there are no serious politicians with the spine to tell them no.
Well, it’s not easy to intercept a hypersonic rocket in the first place. But this isn’t the point. Of course Iran is chiken of the NATO countries, which is no wonder with such backers as Russians, notorious traitors and liers…However intercepting missiles IS an act of war, and Iran should be clear about it. It should say plainly to the yankees, brits, frogs and their Gulf lap dogs: next time you participate in warfare between us and the jews – too bad for you.
US destroyers interPERcept Iranian missiles as Midlands crisis intensifies
the lebanese hospital bombed yesterday
killed two UK medical volunteers and a female child physiotherapist
several israeli hostages were also killed
we have not seen so many schools and hospitals bombed across the whole area
since churchill was in office