Brigadier General Yair Dori, who heads the Israeli army's anti-aircraft division 11 years after the Gulf War, said Israel's Arrow mechanism equipped with advanced technology could defend against Iraq's missile attacks, according to the report.

"I feel sure that we have a response to Iraqi surface-to-surfacemissiles," Dori was quoted as telling a press conference at the Palmahim Air Force base.

He was hosting reporters at an Arrow missile battery following adrill to improve Israeli response to surface-to-surface missile attacks.

Aside from the Arrow battery, Israel has Patriot missile batteries, which can respond to surface-to-surface missiles at a lower trajectory should the Arrow missiles be unable to intercept the missiles at higher altitudes, he added.

The American-made Patriot missile system has reportedly been upgraded since the Gulf War, when the missiles did not prove themselves to be effective enough in counteracting the Iraqi Scuds.

An anti-aircraft system has been set up across the Jewish state in light of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, the general said.

Despite Israel's state of readiness for all threats and its advanced weaponry, there is no system capable of providing the state with comprehensive protection, Dori admitted.

(Xinhua News Agency November 8, 2002)