The United States and Israel have agreed to work together on developing a new missile defense system that would counter both long-range ballistic missiles as well as short-range rockets.
U.S Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his Israeli counterpart, Ehud Barak, agreed during talks Tuesday at the Pentagon to form a committee to work on the proposed system.
A Pentagon spokesman, Geoff Morrell, said Israel wants to be able to counter missile attacks possibly from Iran as well as rockets fired from Palestinian territories.
Israel has been facing regular rocket fire from Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip since withdrawing from the territory in 2005.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
