Pentagon confirms joint missile tests with Israel in Mediterranean

The Pentagon has confirmed joint missile tests with Israel in the Mediterranean Sea. Pentagon press secretary George Little called the test "long-planned" and played down rolf of the U.S., which he said was limited to "technical assistance and support." "This test had nothing to do with United States consideration of military action to respond to Syria's chemical weapons attack," he said. Meanwhile, a Russian military expert, editor-in-chief of "National Defense" magazine Igor Korotchenko, suggested that the missiles were weather probes: "These missiles monitor atmospheric conditions on various altitudes. Generally they're used ahead of planned strikes of precision weapons," he added. Earlier, detection devices of the Russian missile attack warning system fixed the launch of two ballistic missiles in the Mediterranean Sea. “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.