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Middle East and North Africa

Russian attack warning system fixes launch of two ballistic missiles in Mediterranean Sea, targeting coastline

US issues statement, claiming no launches made by American armed forces

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, September 3 (Itar-Tass) - The detection devices of the Russian missile attack warning system fixed the launch of two ballistic missiles in the Mediterranean Sea, Russian Defense Ministry reported on Tuesday.

“The launch of two ballistic missiles was fixed at 10:16am Moscow time on Tuesday by a combat unit of the missile attack warning system in Armavir,” the Defense Ministry noted.

"The flight trajectory of these bodies went through the central part of the Mediterranean towards Eatern part of the Mediterranean coastline," the source said, adding that Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported this incident to Presiden Vladimir Putin.

International reaction:

NATO is already checking the information on ballistic missiles launch, according to NATO headquarters' spokesperson in Brussels. NATO is "currently looking into this," the spokesperson added.
Syrian embassy in Moscow, however, reported that there were neither air alerts nor explosions in Damascus. Syrian radars detected no missiles landing on the country's territory, reported Lebanese Al Manar TV Channel, citing a source from Syria's Defense Ministry.
Israeli military reported that they have no information on the launch. Italy's and French Defense Ministers issued similar statements.
United Kingdom's Defense Ministry stated that they "were aware of the fact ballistic missiles were launched, but they have nothing to do with it."
The European Union's press service told Itar-Tass EU officials have no information on the launch: "The European Union does not deal with security issues, we have no military capabilities. Military information is handled by member states which, if the need arises, may give it to foreign policy service in order to make collaborative political decisions."
An official representative of the United States told CBS that no American ships or planes launched missiles.
A Pentagon representative, Bill Speaks, told Itar-Tass that the agency had no information on missile launches in the Mediterranean. "I no nothing about these launches, I can neither confirm nor deny these reports. The only source of information I have on this subject is calls from correspondents of news agencies," he added.

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