Zee Media Bureau
Moscow: In what is bound to add fuel to the fears of an impending attack on Syria, Israeli Defence Ministry on Tuesday said that it has jointly carried out the missile test in Mediterranean Sea along with the United States.
The Defence Ministry stated that the test was conducted with the US Missile Defence Agency. However, the White House is yet to make a comment on the missile strike.
The Israeli Defence Ministry further said that only one Sparrow target missile was launched at 9:15 am. The Sparrow is a medium-range guided missile that can hit mid-air targets from the surface as well as air, according to the manufacturer.
Earlier, the Russian Defence Ministry on Tuesday detected the launch of two ballistic “objects” towards the eastern Mediterranean from the central part of the sea, but there were no signs of any missile strike in Damascus, Russia`s state-run RIA news agency said.
Russia`s state-run RIA news agency also quoted a source in Syria`s "state structures" as saying that the objects had fallen into the sea.
A ministry spokesperson was quoted by Interfax news agency saying the launch was detected at 10:16 am Moscow time (2.16 am ET) by an early warning radar station at Armavir, near the Black Sea.
The Armavir facility is designed to detect missiles from Europe and Iran
Earlier, Russia had slammed the United States for deploying warships near the Syrian coast in the Mediterranean Sea, saying the move will fuel tensions in the region. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu had informed President Vladimir Putin of the launch.
