The Israel-Iran conflict entered its sixth day today, as both countries traded heavy air strikes. The conflict began after Israel's targeted attack on nuclear sites in Iran. On Friday, Israel said Iran is secretly developing a nuclear weapon, a claim denied by Iran.
According to a report by The Independent, Iran has breached Israel's Iron Dome air defence system. The Iron Dome is a surface-to-air missile system that tracks and intercepts aerial threats headed towards populated areas in Israel. The Iron Dome has been proven successful at neutralising attacks in the recent past from Hamas and Hezbollah.
Dr Marion Messmer, a senior research fellow of security studies at Chatham House, speaking to The Independent said, “A lot of the time, the Iron Dome has better PR than is actually warranted,” she told The Independent. “At the end of the day, it's an air defence system. It's a very effective air defence system. But no air defence is completely unbreachable,” she added.
She further said, “Part of the Iranian strategy is essentially to fire a lot, and therefore to hope that the interceptors won't be able to shoot everything down, which is one of the things that we've seen.”
According to experts, Iran may have also used hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs), which can manoeuvre and glide at hypersonic speed, making them a lot harder to intercept.
Revealing the main cause of the most significant breach to the Iron Dome in years, she said, is the sheer “overload” of Iranian missiles which left the Iron Dome system “overwhelmed”.
"The rare aspect of the last five days is the sheer number of missiles sent by Iran", she added.
At least 224 civilians have been killed in Iran and 24 people killed in Israel since the conflict erupted last week, according to authorities in both countries. Washington-based group Human Rights group claim at least 585 people have been killed as of Wednesday.
