Ok, now the picture of what actually happened this morning is becoming clear (thanks to the Russian media which is in a coverage frenzy over this and which has plenty of contacts inside the Russian military).
The two missiles fired this morning were not cruise missiles of the Tomahawk type, but Israeli ballistic missiles of the “Anchor” type which are used as targets by the Israeli air defenses and which are supposed to imitate the flight profile of the Iranian Shahab-3 ballistic missiles.
Contrary to the practice of sane and civilized countries, the Israelis did not pick a target area far away from shipping lanes, they did not declare a temporary exclusion zone and they warned nobody. Yet again another proof that the craziest rogue state on the planet is not the DPRK or the KSA, but Israel.
Officially, these target missiles were supposed to be intercepted by Israeli Arrow-3 missiles but the Israelis are not confirming anything.
Normally, such missiles are fired off the wing of an F-15 but it appears that this time the launch was executed from a naval platform, probably with the assistance of the USA.
Russian military analysts agree that the real purpose of this launch was not to test the Israeli air-defense systems, but to test the capabilities and reaction of the Russian and Syrian air defense system.
The Russian military seemed to have detected the flame of the starting missiles through special satellites and through its advanced early missile launch warning radar in southern Russia which tracked the full flight and pass on the data to the Russian naval task force in the Mediterranean and to the Syrians. Sources inside the Russian military confirm that Russia now has complete radar coverage of the entire Middle-East.
On another important development, I have received confirmation that Hezbollah is now at full mobilization.
The Saker
Saker Message:
Israeli missile test in the Mediterranean startles region
The news ruffled financial markets until Israel announced that it, along with a Pentagon team, had carried out a test-launch of a Sparrow missile.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/israeli-missile-test-mediterranean-startles-region
Things are really getting desperate in the senate hearing, krrry just mentioned Hitla, HZB, i-raan ,NK and sadam in the same sentence…and now leading onto iz-real….
@Anonymous2: yes, I watched some of that crap on TV while at the gym, and I could not believe how crazy this all is.
Russia is moving even more naval assets around the chessboard:
From RT.COM live update page:
19:59 GMT: Two Russian amphibious assault ships, “Novocherkassk” and “Minsk,” have headed to the Mediterranean Sea as part of a scheduled mission of monitoring the situation in the region, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman told ITAR-TASS.
The ships were dispatched from Russia’s Black and Baltic Sea Fleets, and will reach the destination area on September 5-6, joining the Russian standing naval force in the region, the ministry said.
The maneuvers are part of the “stage-by-stage rotation of warships and support ships of the standing naval force in the Mediterranean,” the spokesman explained.
One of the key tasks of the Russian standing naval force in the Mediterranean is “comprehensive monitoring over the air, underwater, and surface situation in the zone of its deployment,” he added.
@Anonymous Lurker: wow, this is weird. Amphibious assault ships?! I just took a quick look on the runet (Russian Internet) and yes, your info is correct. The most likely explanation: they are bringing heavy hardware, but protected by Russian Naval Infantry units. Also, that is a possibly a ground force to evacuate Russian citizens. Or both. Very interesting indeed. I will post about that, thanks!
The Saker
So I am reading your blog two years later and vaguely remember this incident in the news, but from what I have read from this blog and the posted comments, I wonder if this particular incident by the Israelis was not a *very stupid* “shot off the bow” (considering the propensity of very arrogant and/or aggressive people to do stupid, reckless things).