A missile fired from Syria into southern Israel early Thursday set off rocket alarms in the northern Negev, near Israel’s nuclear reactor, followed by a huge explosion that could be heard over much of the country, The Times of Israel reported. The IDF said it was not a targeted attack on targets in Israel.
Photo: An explosion caused by an Iron Dome air defense system missile intercepting a rocket fired from Gaza on Feb. 23, 2020.
The Times of Israel reported that a rocket alert was triggered in the northern Negev, near Israel’s nuclear reactor, early Thursday morning, followed by a huge explosion that could be heard over much of the country.
Photo: Israeli nuclear facility in the Negev desert
The IDF said the alert was triggered in the northern Negev, not far from Israel’s nuclear reactor, not by a targeted attack on a target in Israel, but by a Syrian air defense missile that missed an Israeli aircraft during an airstrike on a target in the Syrian Golan Heights.
In a message to residents, local authorities said debris from the Syrian surface-to-air missile landed in the open area of Ramat Negev in southern Israel, and some debris reportedly struck the Dimona nuclear reactor about 30 kilometers away.
There were no reports of injuries or damage.
The IDF said Israeli warplanes conducted a second round of airstrikes against Syria in response to the surface-to-air missiles.
Syria’s official SANA news agency said four soldiers were wounded in the Israeli strike, which also caused some damage.
IDF spokesman Hiday Zilberman stressed that the military did not believe it was a deliberate attack on the country or its nuclear facilities.
“There was no intention to strike the Dimona nuclear reactor,” Zilberman told reporters.
According to Zilberman, the missile appears to be a Russian-made SA-5 surface-to-air missile, a particularly large missile weighing thousands of kilograms with a 200-kilogram warhead.
In 2019, an SA-5 missile fired at Israeli aircraft landed in northern Cyprus, causing an explosion and fire in a village there.
In 2017, two SA-5 missiles fired at Israeli warplanes landed in eastern Israel, while a third landed in Jordan, but caused no injuries or damage.
In this incident, the IDF fired an Arrow 2 interceptor at the incoming missile, the first actual use of the system.
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