Touring Arrow 3 air defense system, Gallant says Israel has opportunity to form international alliance against Iran
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
Touring one of the Arrow 3 air defense system batteries that participated in last night’s interception of Iranian ballistic missiles, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says Israel experienced “one of the most dramatic nights,” and that the attack is an opportunity to establish an alliance against Iran.
“Last night Israel experienced one of the most dramatic nights we have ever experienced, hundreds of missiles of various types were fired at the State of Israel including over 100 ballistic missiles fired from Iran, each with hundreds of kilograms of explosives,” Gallant says at the Arrow 3 site, joined by US ambassador to Israel, Jack Lew.
“The continuous preparation we did together with our American partners brought the most impressive results,” he says.
“Together with the US and other countries, we have established a strong and powerful alliance, with coordination and synchronization between the defense establishments of the State of Israel, the US and our partners. The result is a complete containment of the threats except for a very, very small margin, and I want to say in this regard, kudos to the defense establishment, kudos to the IDF, and kudos to our partners,” Gallant continues.
“We have an opportunity here to establish a strategic alliance against this serious threat from Iran, which threatens to put nuclear explosives on the heads of these missiles. This thing could be a very serious threat. The US, Israel and its allies stand shoulder to shoulder to defend against this threat,” he adds.