Missile test in Mediterranean not linked to Syria: US

Agence France-Presse

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

US says the joint military exercise had been previously scheduled and was designed to assess Israel's missile defenses

A missile is positioned in the Mediterranean coastal city of Haifa, north of Israel. Photo from AFP

WASHINGTON, USA – A missile test in the Mediterranean carried out by Israel and the United States on Tuesday, September 3, had no connection to possible US military action against Syria, the Pentagon said.

The joint military exercise, which came as Washington weighed punitive strikes against the Syrian regime, had been previously scheduled and was designed to assess Israel’s missile defenses, Pentagon spokesman George Little said in a statement.

“This test had nothing to do with United States consideration of military action to respond to Syria’s chemical weapons attack,” Little said.

“The test was long planned to help evaluate the Arrow Ballistic Missile Defense system’s ability to detect, track, and communicate information about a simulated threat to Israel.”

He added that the United States and Israel cooperate on various ballistic missile defense development programs “to address common challenges in the region.”

Israel earlier had said the test involved launching an Ankor-type radar missile at 0615 GMT in the Mediterranean.

Russian news agencies quoted Moscow’s defense ministry saying an early warning system had detected the launch of two ballistic missiles fired towards the Mediterranean Sea’s eastern coastline.

On Saturday, President Barack Obama put off an expected strike on Syria over its alleged use of chemical weapons, asking the US Congress to first approve the intervention. – Rappler.com

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!