Israel is facing a “serious” shortage of interceptor missiles needed to fend off strikes from Hamas and Hezbollah — all while preparing for future battles with Iran, according to a new report.
After more than a year of deflecting attacks from the south and north, Israel’s munitions are shrinking, which could spell disaster for the Jewish state if Iran and its terror proxies were to coordinate a united barrage, The Financial Times reported.
“Israel’s munitions issue is serious,” Dana Stroul, an former-US defense official, told the British outlet. “If Iran responds to an Israel attack, and Hezbollah joins in too, Israel’s air defenses will be stretched.”
An interceptor missile is a defensive weapon used to destroy incoming ballistic missiles.
Stroul also warned that America cannot supply enough rockets to Israel at the pace they’re being used up against Hezbollah’s regular attacks, which have seen up to 100 rockets fired every day.
The IDF estimates that Hezbollah and Hamas have fired more than 26,000 rockets and drones over the border since Oct. 7, the vast majority of which have been intercepted by Israel’s defense systems.
Assaf Orion, a former IDF general, said that while the Israeli military has been mostly successful in deflecting attacks from Lebanon, Hezbollah has yet to show off its full capabilities.
“It has only been firing at around a tenth of its estimated prewar launching capacity, a few hundred rockets a day instead of as many as 2,000,” Orion told the FT.
Israel has already seen holes in its defenses, with about 200 of Hezbollah’s drones managing to sneak through the border since Oct. 7 — the latest of which killed four young IDF troops at a Golani training base on Sunday.
Israel’s Arrow and David’s Sling anti-missile systems are also not designed to intercept such a volume of ballistic missiles like the ones Iran fired earlier this month.
The more famous Iron Dome system is primarily designed to guard against shorter-range rockets fired from Gaza or Lebanon.
The report comes as the US announced that it would be sending an advanced Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) rocket system to Israel.
The system — which is designed to shoot down ballistic missiles like the ones Iran fired into Israel on Oct. 1 — consists of six, truck-mounted launchers, 49 interceptors and radio and radar equipment, with 95 soldiers needed to operate.
The THAAD system would bolster Israel’s defense, with several US destroyers and battleships already in the Middle East to help deflect any more barrages from Iran. The ships had previously assisted in intercepting Iranian fire in April and October.
Iran had warned the US to keep the THAAD and American troops out of Israel, with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi saying that Iran will do whatever is necessary to defend its citizens ahead of the Jewish state’s looming counterattack.
