Air raid sirens continued to blare in Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities as Iran launched a new wave of missile attacks against Israeli civilian targets. The American Consulate in Tel Aviv suffered minor damage from the concussion of an Iranian missile landing nearby.
Fortunately, Israel's aerial defense system, the Barak Magen, meaning “lightning shield,” has intercepted many of the incoming projectiles with the help of the U.S. Navy.
Retired Navy Commander Kirk Lippold commanded the USS Cole when it was attacked by terrorists in 2000.
"The Navy is doing a superb job in helping to defend Israel. Clearly, what the United States is providing to Israel is not offensive capability as in troops, nor we are shooting anything into Iran itself. What we are doing is backstopping Israel and allowing them to try and keep the country as safe as possible," Lippold says.
As of Friday, the USS Thomas Hudner was ordered to sail to the eastern Mediterranean Sea, and a second destroyer was sent to be there if needed.
Lippold says that destroyers operating off the west coast of Israel are providing ballistic missile defense capability.
"We now have a third destroyer headed to the Eastern Mediterranean to backstop two destroyers that are already there, including Arleigh Burke, an Aegis guided missile destroyer, part of the Arleigh Burke class. So, I think what you're seeing is that the United States is defending one of our most stalwart allies in the Middle East, and we should continue to do so," Lippold says.
