Why are Iranian missiles hitting Israel? What to know about Iron Dome and other defence systems
It's not just the so-called Iron Dome that's protecting Israel from hundreds of Iranian missiles.
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The term Iron Dome has become 'a stand-in for Israeli missile defence more broadly; so, it's kind of like how we use Kleenex to describe every type of facial tissue,' said Wes Rumbaugh, a fellow in the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.
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Defence systems known as David's Sling and The Arrow are also both helping Israel to intercept and destroy long-range missiles fired from Iran. But even Israel's vaunted missile defence system can't stop everything.
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The Iranian missile attacks began June 13 after Israel launched what it called a pre-emptive strike to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Operation Rising Lion targeted Iranian nuclear sites and military installations, killing hundreds, including several of the country's top military leaders.
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'Iran retaliated by firing waves of ballistic missiles at Israel, where explosions flared in the skies over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and shook the buildings below,' the Associated Press reported Saturday.
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The Jerusalem Post reported Monday that the Israeli Defence Force 'provided its first statistics of the war on its shoot down success against Iran's ballistic missiles, setting it at 80-90 per cent, with only about 5-10 per cent of ballistic missiles hitting actual residential areas.'
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Per the Post, 'eight more Israeli civilians were killed in Iran's Sunday-Monday middle-of-the-night attacks, bringing the total number of deaths to 24, with one more missing person expected to be declared dead in the coming hours.'
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Here's what we know about Israel's missile defence systems, including how they work and why some missiles are still getting through.
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Israel fields three tiers of missile defence systems, Rumbaugh said. 'At the lowest tier is Iron Dome, which has gotten more popularity just because it gets used a lot more often against rocket and maybe lower-tier cruise missile attacks. Every time that Hamas shoots rockets at Israel, that's where Iron Dome comes in.'
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