Israel deploys Iron Dome near Egypt

JERUSALEM - Agence France-Presse

Israeli soldiers walk next to the Iron Dome, near Beersheba city. AP photo

The Israeli army has deployed an Iron Dome air defense system, designed to intercept and destroy rockets, days after two rockets were fired at the town of Eilat near the border with Egypt, a military spokeswoman said yesterday.

“An Iron Dome battery has been deployed in the town of Eilat as part of tests, momentarily modifying the sites where these systems are deployed,” she said but did not give further details. An Islamist militant group claimed responsibility for the two rocket attacks aimed at Eilat, Israel’s Red Sea resort town, SITE Intelligence Group reported on Aug. 16.

A group calling itself Ansar Jerusalem claimed to be responsible for firing “two Grad rockets into the city” which it said hit “inhabited targets,” in a statement posted on online jihadist forums, the U.S.-based monitoring agency said.

On Aug. 15, evening, Israeli police said two blasts rocked the city.Debris of the rockets which were apparently fired from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula was later found.