From the Liveblog of
Sunday, April 14, 2024
US military official says Israel shot down most of Iran’s ballistic missiles, praises ‘phenomenal’ defense capabilities
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
The vast majority of the 100-plus ballistic missiles Iran fired at Israel during last night’s attack were shot down by Israel, though the US shot down four to six ballistic missiles with a pair of aircraft carriers it had moved into the eastern Mediterranean ahead of the strike, a senior US military official says.
Another ballistic missile was shot down by a US Army Patriot missile battery over Erbil, Iraq, the senior defense official says in a briefing with reporters.
Most of the intercepts were carried out by the Arrow Two and Arrow Three Israeli systems, taking place not only over Israeli airspace, but over neighboring countries as well, the official adds.
US alert aircrafts in the region also shot down more than 70 Iranian UAV drones headed toward Israel, the military official says.
A senior administration official also on the briefing details what he described as “tense moments” when the US learned that Iran had simultaneously fired over 100 ballistic missiles at Israel that were slated to land within minutes. “This was on the high end of what we were anticipating,” and there was a degree of uncertainty as to whether regional air defenses would succeed in thwarting the threat, the official says.
US President Joe Biden was in the Situation Room with his top aides, receiving updates in real-time, and “there was a bit of relief” once the US confirmed that the defenses had succeeded.
“It was an extremely phenomenal display of the defensive capability of Israel… They were of course supported by US forces, in particular, our two (carriers) in the eastern Mediterranean,” the senior administration official says.
