Iran and Israel continued exchanging missiles as the conflict between the two Middle Eastern countries entered the fourth day on Monday, raising the risk of escalation in the region.
The clashes between the two regional foes show no signs of slowing as Iran launched fresh attacks on Israel early Monday, in what it said was retaliation for an Israeli attack on its military and nuclear infrastructure.
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As Iran launched armed drones against Tel Aviv, the Israeli military said that the UAVs were intercepted using the ‘Barak Magen’ air defence system.
The military said that the ‘Barak Magen’ air defence system, deployed for the first time in the conflict, was installed on the Sa’ar 6 missile ships.
Here is all you need to know about the Israeli air defence system:
- The ‘Barak Magen’ system is an advanced aerial defence system developed by the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), which is capable of detecting and taking down a range of airborne threats.
- The weapon system with multi-mission radar includes an advanced radar for detecting threats, a weapons system, and a long-range interceptor, according to the country’s defence ministry.
- The Israel’s Ministry of Defence conducted the first live-fire trial of the Barak surface-to-air missile from one of its warships, INS Magen, in November 2022, military intelligence portal Janes reported.
- After developing the missile in 2022, Israel released a video showing the missile launch from Sa’ar 6-class corvette and destroying the target close to the sea-level.
- Israel has also jointly developed, Barak 8, a surface-to-air missile version of the Barak defence system with India’s Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) to defend against aerial threats, including aircraft, drones, anti-ship missiles and ballistic missiles, an Indian government statement said.
- However, Barak-8, with a maximum range of 100 km and 20 km altitude, can be used both from land and sea.
On Monday, Israeli emergency services said that four people were pronounced dead in strikes at four locations in central Israel. The Iranian missiles have targeted residential buildings and damaged several residential apartments.
So far, 224 people have been killed in Iran since the launch of athettack last Friday, while Israel has reported 24 fatalities and more than 500 injuries.