Days after rocket attack, army deploys Iron Dome to Eilat

The southern resort town of Eilat got a new visitor Sunday afternoon, though this new arrival will hardly be taking it easy.

Four days after two Grad rockets were fired at the Red Sea town, the army deployed an Iron Dome anti-missile battery to the area.

The battery is stationed near the city’s northern residential area, not far from where a Grad rocket, which authorities believe was fired from Sinai, was found by a hiker Sunday.

The army said the situating of Iron Dome near Eilat was part of a program to place the system near every major city to test its deployment. An Iron Dome battery was recently also placed in the northern city of Safed.

The system was previously placed in Eilat in July.

The batteries are normally stationed around communities near the Gaza Strip, which come under volleys of rocket fire every time tensions between Israel and its neighbors heat up. They have so far managed to shoot down over 100 rockets since entering active service over a year ago.

Eilat has been the target of rocket attacks from Sinai in the past, though the missiles have yet to cause any large-scale damage in the city.

In 2010, a taxi driver in the Jordanian town of Aqaba was killed when his car was hit by a missile. Authorities believed the intended target was Eilat.