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TIMELINE OF EVENTS TODAY…

10.20AM BST

21st Century Wire says…

Fears are that the United States, or another party, could have already launched missiles towards Syria early this morning, following reports out of Moscow that two possible ballistic or cruise missiles were launched from positions said to be that of US naval military assets currently placed the west of the island of Cyprus.

As yet, there is no comment from Syrian government about possible nature, or impact of these launches…

This just breaking of the wire this morning from RT:

Russia’s early warning radars have detected the launch of two ballistic rockets in the eastern Mediterranean, Russia’s Defense Ministry stated. The launch reportedly took place at 06:16 GMT Tuesday.

The trajectory of the missiles is reported to have been from the central part of the Mediterranean Sea towards the eastern landmass.

The Syrian embassy in Moscow currently has no information on the incident.

Armavir, an early warning system against missile attack, is situated in southern Russia. It is run by the Russian Aerospace Defense Forces. They provide radar coverage of the Middle East. There are two radars there, with one of them facing southwest and the other southeast.

Update 10:50AM BST

Both rockets have allegedly fallen into the sea, RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Russia’s President Putin has already been informed about the incident by Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu…

There were no rocket attack signals or blasts in Damascus, the Russian embassy in Syria noted.

The Israeli military apparently have no data on the launch either.

No American ships or planes stationed in the Mediterranean have launched any missiles, US officials told CBS News.

A NATO spokesman said the alliance was trying to verify the reports. Until then, the bloc will not comment on the incident. Armavir, an early warning system against missile attack, is situated in southern Russia. It is run by the Russian Aerospace Defense Forces. They provide radar coverage of the Middle East. There are two radars there, with one of them facing southwest and the other southeast.

Update 11:05AM BST

CCB Canada Reports:

A Defence Ministry spokesman told Russian news agencies the launch was detected at 10:16 am Moscow time by an early warning radar station at Armavir, near the Black Sea, which is designed to detect missiles from Europe and Iran.

“The trajectory of these objects goes from the central part of the Mediterranean Sea toward the eastern part of the Mediterranean coast,” Interfax news agency quoted the spokesman as saying.

The spokesman did not say who had carried out the launch and whether any impact had been detected, but RIA later quoted a source in Syria’s “state structures” as saying the objects had fallen harmlessly into the sea.

The Russian Defence Ministry declined comment to Reuters.

Update 11:30AM BST

RT news wire: Israel claims joint US missile launch in Mediterranean for ‘target practice’.

The UK has stressed that they“have nothing to do” with the launch.

Update 1:30PM BST – Missile launch was a joint Israel–US missile “project”



Syria’s missile warning system has not detected any rockets landing on their territory, a Syrian security source told Lebanese channel al-Manar TV.

Initially, the Israeli military apparently had no data on the launch either…

However, later Israel claimed a joint missile launch with the US in the Mediterranean Sea. Israeli authorities pointed out that they tested an “anchor” target missile used to check how well the anti-missile system known as “Arrow-2” functions.

US Navy Forces haven’t fired any missiles from vessels deployed in the Mediterranean, according to a spokesman.

A NATO spokesman said the alliance was trying to verify the reports. Until then, the bloc will not comment on the incident.

The missiles launched from the central part of the Mediterranean Sea fell 300km from the eastern shore, RIA Novosti reported citing a source in the aerospace industry.

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READ MORE SYRIA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Syria Files