Syrian Missile Explodes in Mediterranean Near Tel Aviv

A Russian-built SA-5 surface-to-air missile on its launcher. Photo by George Chernilevsky/Wikipedia

(JNS) A Syrian surface-to-air missile exploded over the Mediterranean Sea early on Friday with pieces of it reaching Tel Aviv.

“In the morning hours, residents in central Israel located several fragments of the missile on the ground, which will be collected by the Israeli police. We thank the residents for their awareness and ask to avoid touching these parts,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.

The missile apparently posed no danger to Israeli citizens, and no warning siren was sounded, said Israel’s Army Radio. Officials did not think it was intentionally fired at Israeli territory.

The Syrian army said it stopped an air attack from the direction of the southeastern side of Beirut targeting points around Damascus, reported SANA, the country’s official Syrian Arab News Agency. It put the time of the attack at 1:26 a.m. on Sept. 3.

Syrian army air defenses said they shot down most of the missiles and that Syrian losses were restricted to materials only.

The Syrian army uses the SA-5 interceptor missile supplied by Russia.

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Preceding provided by JNS.org