{"id":1496068,"date":"2024-10-14T17:15:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-14T21:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1496068"},"modified":"2024-10-14T17:15:00","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T21:15:00","slug":"how-significant-is-washingtons-thaad-deployment-to-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/how-significant-is-washingtons-thaad-deployment-to-israel\/1496068\/","title":{"rendered":"How Significant Is Washington’s THAAD Deployment To Israel?"},"content":{"rendered":"

How Significant Is Washington’s THAAD Deployment To Israel?<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Andrew Korybko via substack,<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Something big is coming, and whatever it is, there\u2019s now a heightened chance that the US will become directly involved.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Pentagon\u00a0confirmed<\/a>\u00a0that it\u2019ll dispatch nearly 100 troops to Israel to operate one of its premier air defense systems, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), of which it only has\u00a0seven in total<\/a>. This comes ahead of Israel\u2019s expected retaliation to Iran\u2019s latest missile strike on the first of the month that it\u00a0carried out to restore deterrence<\/a>\u00a0after the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut. Here\u2019s what this latest US move signifies:<\/p>\n

1. Israel Is Probably Planning Something Big<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Rumors have abounded about what exactly Israel is planning, but it\u2019s probably something big and will provoke at least proportional retaliation from Iran, hence why the self-professed Jewish State requested that the US deploy one of its few THAADs to help defend it afterwards. THAAD specializes in intercepting ballistic missiles so it can be intuited that Israel and the US expect Iran to respond through these means. THAAD only carries\u00a048 interceptors<\/a>, however, so it could be overwhelmed if there\u2019s a saturation strike. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

2. The Iron Dome Needs All The Help It Can Get<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Many observers assessed that Iran\u2019s latest missile strike exposed the limits of Israel\u2019s famous Iron Dome. The footage that they saw and Israel\u2019s panicked reaction afterwards in trying to cover up the damage, including by\u00a0detaining Grayzone journalist Jeremy Loffredo<\/a>\u00a0and then investigating him for \u201caiding the enemy in a time of war\u201d by reporting on it, leave little doubt that this is the case. Accordingly, the Iron Dome needs all the help it can get, hence why Israel requested that the US deploy THAAD to assist.<\/em><\/p>\n

3. The US Risks Getting Caught In Mission Creep<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Biden previously promised that \u201cNo US boots will be on the ground<\/a>\u201d in the West Asian conflict zone, yet he just went back on his word after his administration approved this latest deployment. The US thus risks getting caught in mission creep since hawkish policymakers might now argue that it\u2019s worth scaling this deployment in pursuit of perceived national interests after this psychological line was just crossed. They might not succeed, and this could be all that\u2019s sent, but more deployments also can\u2019t be ruled out either.<\/em><\/p>\n

4. The THAAD Team Is An Escalation Tripwire<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Building upon the above, the THAAD team is an escalation tripwire since any harm that might befall them while attempting to intercept Iran\u2019s expected retaliation to Israel\u2019s presumably forthcoming attack could serve as the pretext for the US to strike Iran and\/or deploy more troops to the conflict zone. While this move is being sold to the public as \u201cdefending Israel\u201d and \u201cdeterring Iran\u201d, policymakers nonetheless keenly understand what\u2019s really at stake, yet they\u2019re downplaying the dangers to avoid public outcry.<\/em><\/p>\n

5. Israel-US Ties Remain Strong Despite Problems<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

And finally, the US\u2019 THAAD deployment shows that inter-state ties remain strong despite the well-known Bibi-Biden rivalry, which saw Biden\u00a0endorse<\/a>\u00a0Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer\u2019s call for regime change against Bibi last spring. Whether one attributes this to the US\u2019 permanent military, intelligence, and diplomatic bureaucracies (\u201cdeep state\u201d) still appreciating their perceived mutual geostrategic interests or to the power of the Israel lobby, the point is that it testifies to the resilience of their ties.<\/em><\/p>\n

The US\u2019 THAAD deployment to Israel is a worrying step because it suggests that that something big is coming, and whatever it is, there\u2019s now a heightened chance that the US will become directly involved. Whether its role remains defensive or evolves into an offensive one remains to be seen, but this team of nearly 100 operators essentially serves as an escalation tripwire. Hawkish policymakers want a larger war, and it\u2019ll take self-restraint on Iran\u2019s side and a little bit of luck to avoid that worst-case scenario.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nMon, 10\/14\/2024 – 13:15<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/geopolitical\/how-significant-washingtons-thaad-deployment-israel<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How Significant Is Washington’s THAAD Deployment To Israel? Authored by Andrew Korybko via substack, Something big is coming, and whatever it is, there\u2019s now a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1496069,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1496068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1496068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1496068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1496068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1496069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1496068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1496068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1496068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}