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Israel is preparing to defend itself against an attack from Iran - but its Iron Dome may have difficulty destroying hypersonic missiles designed to evade detection.
By Alex Shipman
The Fattah-2 hypersonic rocket has a range of between 1,500 and 1,800 kilometers (Image: X)
Iran claims to be in possession of a hypersonic missile capable of reaching Israel within 400 seconds while evading its Iron Dome defence system.
The Fattah II rocket can fly 15 times faster than the speed of sound, Tehran says, and has a range of up to 1,118 miles (1,800 kilometers).
If accurate, this makes it a formidable threat to Israel as US intelligence predicts an imminent attack.
Iran has vowed retaliation after an Israeli airstrike on its Syrian embassy earlier this month left 12 dead, including Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior Quds Force commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and seven other IRGC officers.
Early signs of the violent response emerged on Friday night when Tehran-backed Hezbollah militants began testing the Iron Dome with rocket attacks.
READ MORE: Joe Biden issues one-word warning to Iran as Hezbollah strikes Israel
The Fattah II - named after the Persian word for 'conqueror' - is perhaps the most deadly and destructive in its arsenal.
Alongside its significant range, it is designed tomanoeuvreand strike targets without being detected.
The device is made up of two parts: a solid fuel booster which propels the missile to space altitude and a warhead which separates from the booster equipped with a liquid rocket fuel engine.
Fattah II is capable of causing mass casualties and is notable for its precision.
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Video circulating on social media this evening shows multiple rockets from Hezbollah soaring across northern Israel and hitting the Iron Dome as sirens blare in the background.
Since the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza began six months ago, there have been near-daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah along the Israel-Lebanon border.
Gaza’s Hamas rulers, who triggered the war by attacking southern Israel on October 7, are also backed by Iran.
Tehran also supports an umbrella group of Iraqi militias targeting U.S. military bases and positions in Syria and Iraq, known as The Islamic Resistance of Iraq.
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