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Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Rockets strike Beersheba near strategic targets
in the Negev desert

WASHINGTON — A U.S. military team deployed to establish an early-warning radar in Israel has been concerned over Hamas missile strikes.

Officials said U.S. European Command has been receiving daily briefings on the war between Israel and the Hamas regime. They said the briefings were meant to determine whether a Eucom team should remain in Israel's Negev desert.

"Some of the Hamas rockets are hitting towns not too far from where the team is located," an official said.

About 100 Eucom staffers have been operating in Israel since November 2008 to assemble an early-warning radar system. The system has been deployed outside the Negev city of Dimona, which also contains Israel's nuclear reactor.

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Eucom spokesman Lt. Col. John Dorrian said none of the Hamas missiles or rockets have landed near the U.S. military team. But Dorrian said about 20 of the original 120-member team have left Israel over the past few weeks. He did not elaborate.

So far, Hamas rockets have slammed into Beersheba, about 20 kilometers from the U.S. team. But officials did not discount the possibility that Hamas could fire missiles and rockets that could reach Dimona.

Dorrian said the U.S. team has been stationed in an Israel Air Force base. He said the air base, believed to be southeast of Beersheba, was nowhere near Hamas rocket strikes.

Eucom has been assembling the Transportable Radar Surveillance system, meant to defend against a missile attack from Iran. In September 2008, the United States approved the radar transfer to Israel.



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