Israel's Iron Dome intercepted rockets launched from Lebanon on Monday evening (September 23), near Tefen. On the same day, Israel launched airstrikes targeting hundreds of Hezbollah sites, which Lebanese authorities said left at least 274 people dead—marking Lebanon's deadliest day in decades and escalating a nearly year-long conflict with the Iran-backed group.
Following some of the most intense cross-border fire since the conflict reignited, Israel urged civilians in Lebanon to evacuate areas where Hezbollah was allegedly storing weapons. As Israel approaches a year of war against Hamas in Gaza to the south, it is now shifting its military focus to the northern front, where Hezbollah has been launching rockets in support of its ally, Hamas.
WATCH: Israel intercepts rockets launched from Lebanon
What is Iron Dome?
Iron Dome was built to intercept the kind of low-tech rockets fired by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza. Developed by state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems with U.S. backing, it became operational in 2011. Each truck-towed unit can direct radar-guided missiles against short-range threats such as rockets, mortars and drones.
A key part of Iron Dome is its control system’s ability to discern what incoming targets pose a threat. If an adversary’s rocket will land harmlessly - in an unpopulated area or in the sea, for instance - it will not be intercepted. That makes it ideal for “saturation” scenarios in which an enemy tries to fire so many missiles that not all of them will be shot down, said Uzi Rubin, a senior researcher at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security.
“Its radar and battle management systems are designed to handle a huge number of targets simultaneously,” Rubin said. “Each launcher can fire its full load of 20 interceptors within 10 seconds or so.”
When Hamas began its attack on Israel in October 2023, it fired several thousand rockets into Israel, with a reported interception rate of about 90%.
Rafael says that over the course of its service, Iron Dome has intercepted thousands of targets.
The company says it delivered two Iron Dome batteries to the U.S. Army in 2020. Ukraine is seeking the system to protect cities in its war with Russia, but Israel has so far only provided Kyiv with humanitarian support and civil defence supplies.
(With inputs from agency)
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