Mediterranean 'Ballistic Targets' Were Part of Israeli Test – Defense Ministry

MOSCOW, September 3 (RIA Novosti)

Two “ballistic targets” detected Tuesday in the Mediterranean by the Russian military were launched by the Israeli military as part of a joint US-Israeli test of its missile defense system, an official in Tel Aviv said.

“The launches we’re talking about were a test of the Anchor target missile that is used for testing our missile defense system,” an Israeli Defense Ministry representative told RIA Novosti.

The launch was part of joint tests with the US military and were successfully tracked by radars in Israel, the official added.

The Russian Defense Ministry said earlier Tuesday its ballistic missile early warning system had detected the launch of the two "ballistic targets" in the Mediterranean.

The launch was detected at 10:16 Moscow time (06:16 GMT) by a radar in the southern Russian city of Armavir, a Defense Ministry spokesman said. The targets’ trajectories ran from the central to the eastern Mediterranean, the spokesman said.

A diplomatic source in the Syrian capital, Damascus, told RIA Novosti that the targets fell in the sea.

The Russian Embassy in Damascus said it did not have any information about the launch. The streets and residents of the Syrian capital appeared calm, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported.

Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported the launch to President Vladimir Putin, the spokesman told Russian journalists.