On Tuesday morning, Israel conducted a United States-backed missile test over the Mediterranean Sea, firing off a medium-range Sparrow missile just after 9 a.m. local time.
But here's the thing-the test went unannounced beforehand.
According to a U.S. official in Washington who spoke to Reuters, a missile or drone test such as this one is par for the course in Israel.
"Israel routinely fires missiles or drones off its shores to test its own ballistic defense capabilities," the official said.
But some say the firing was executed in an untimely manner, given the situation in Syria.
The U.S. sent another warship-the SS Nimitz-to wait in the Red Sea over the weekend, where it could potentially move to the Mediterranean and join the five other destroyer vessels stationed there.
Despite the issues at hand, the Russian media first reported seeing two "ballistic objects" fired from the center of the sea, bound for the east-the general direction of Syria, Reuters reported.
The Israeli financial market was temporarily upset by the unmentioned firing, until the Israeli Defense Ministry confirmed that it'd worked with a U.S. Pentagon team to test-launch a Sparrow missile.
According to the announcement, the Israeli Defense Forces used this exercise for target practice.
Both the United States and Israeli government officials shrugged off media questions over whether this hushed missile-firing was not suited for the current political climate.
Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said that his country must constantly keep its military upper hand, and "this necessitates field trials and, accordingly, a successful trial was conducted to test our systems.
"These things give us the power to protect ourselves, and anyone who considers harming us would do best not to," he said during a speech.
Meanwhile, the New York Times reported that Pentagon press secretary George Little said plans for the missile-test had been in the works for a while. He also stated that U.S. involvement in the exercise was minimal-just some "technical assistance and support."
National Defense journal editor and Russian defense analyst Tigor Korotchenko disagreed with the governmental bodies that executed the missile firing, saying that the untimely tests were "totally irresponsible."
Russian journalists at RIA said the "objects" that were fired off landed in the sea. No harm was done to buildings or civilians.
