News Brief14:34 PM

(IsraelNN.com) Fearing a large missile barrage at all of Israel in the next war, the IDF is increasing deployment of its Arrow anti-missile missile to counter the threat, say senior defense officials.

Since the Arrow became fully operational in 2000 it has been deployed in an admittedly "thin deployment," mostly in the North. This past summer's war, however, led to the recognition that the next war will involve Syrian and Iranian missile barrages. The Air Defense Force has therefore decided to modify its missile defense doctrine and adopt a "wide deployment" for its Arrow missile batteries. Defense officials claim that the Arrow missile is capable of intercepting all operational ballistic missiles from Iran and Syria. Israel is also preparing for the possibility that Washington will send US missile defense systems to Israel if and when they are needed.

During the last war, Hizbullah terrorists pounded northern Israeli communities with some 4,000 missiles. The Arrow can only counter long range missiles and not the shorter range Katyshas used by the Hizbullah in the last war. Israel says it is still two years away from deploying a system which can counter these shorter range missiles.