Amid pre-emptive strike speculation, Israel To Launch Rocket Interceptors

In the midst of heightened speculation about Israel’s intent to launch a pre-emptive strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, the Israeli military has decided to launch a host of rocket interceptors from its “Iron Dome” defense system in the Tel Aviv region. "Iron Dome is being incorporated into the heart of the Israeli military. As part of this process, the system is deployed in different sites and will be in the Gush Dan region (of Tel Aviv) in the coming days,” an Israeli military spokesperson said in a statement on Feb 20. The Iron Dome is still at the experimental stage and had brought down several rockets fired from hostile forces in Gaza. However, it has yet been unable to provide complete protection. Part of a multi-layered program to Israeli towns and cities, it was designed to intercept rockets and artillery shells fired from a range of between 4 kilometers and 70 kilometers (3 miles and 45 miles).