Russia is in possession of an advanced Israeli interceptor missile that was launched last year in response to Syrian rocket fire, according to a Chinese news site.
In its first known operational use, two interceptors from the David Sling’s anti-missile system were fired in July 2018 at rockets launched from Syria that appeared to be heading toward Israel but ultimately landed inside Syrian territory.
The Israeli interceptors did not strike the Syrian missiles: one was self-detonated by the Israeli Air Force; the second reportedly fell inside Syria.
According to a report by the Chinese news site SINA Saturday, the interceptor landed intact in Syria and was swiftly recovered by Syrian military forces.
The news site said the David’s Sling missile was handed over to Russia, which is fighting on behalf of President Bashar Assad’s regime in the Syrian civil war, and brought to Moscow for examination.
According to SINA, Israel and the United States asked Russia to return the missile.
Details of the report were not confirmed by Russia. The Israel Defense Forces said it does not comment on foreign reports.
The IDF defended the deployment of the interceptor missiles at the time, saying its forces had acted correctly given the short amount of time there was to act. READ MORE
