Experts have sounded the alarm over Israel's dwindling supply of interceptor missiles that constitute the backbone of the Jewish state's defence against aerial threats from regional foes Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas.
Israel enjoys the protection of a world-class air defence system that sees no less than four different kinds of ground-to-air missile platforms combine to intercept threats at short, medium and long-range threats. 
The network is designed to down everything from intercontinental ballistic missiles launched thousands of miles away to unguided rockets fired from just across the border.
In the past year, the systems have fended off two major aerial assaults by Iran and near-daily rocket attacks at the northern and southern borders with Lebanon and Gaza.
The US has steadily worked to replenish its stockpiles but is also committed to supplying Ukraine's Armed Forces with anti-air projectiles amid the ongoing war with Russia.
Now, defence officials, analysts and Israeli missile manufacturers have warned that the supply of vital projectiles is running low.
It comes as the White House declared the US military had dispatched a state-of-the-art Terminal High-Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) anti-missile system to Israel along with some 100 troops.
Former Israeli intelligence official and regional analyst Avi Melamed told MailOnline the move shows Washington is committed to strengthening Israel's defences while signalling to Iran that further attacks on the Jewish state would risk inciting the wrath of the US military.
'The deployment of the THAAD system is intended to signal that the US and Israel are operating in coordination to respond to Iran's attacks while also mitigating the threat of the slippery slope of evolution to a major direct regional conflict.
'It projects the message to Iran that (Israel's expected retaliation for a recent missile strike) is likely to be significant yet restrained... it also suggests that a continued tit-for-tat will only be further devastating to Iran, with the US willing to back its allies with boots-on-the-ground deployment.'
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