Source: The Drive
By Tyler Rogoway
In one of its largest aerial operations over Syria in months, Israel launched strikes on a number of targets in that country. As usual, Syrian air defenses attempted to target the Israeli aircraft and standoff weapons without success.
One of the surface-to-air missiles fired, which was most likely a Cold War-era S-200 (SA-5 Gammon), appears to have careened over Lebanon and across the stretch of the Mediterranean Sea that separates the partitioned island of Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean coast. It then slammed into a mountainside near a small village in the Turkish controlled portion of the island.
The missile crashed roughly a dozen miles northeast of the Cypriot capital of Nicosia. According to reports, it exploded just before striking the ground, setting off a brush fire. Photos from the scene appear to show the burnt-out rear section of the large missile. Turkish Cypriot Foreign Minister Kudret Ozersay said the following in a statement on social media:
“The first assessment is that a Russian-made missile, which was part of the air defense system that took place last night in the face of an air strike against Syria, completed its range and fell into our country after it missed… The pieces that fell to several different points prove that the missile exploded in the air before it crashed.”
Read more at; https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/28783/errant-syrian-missile-flies-over-mediterranean-and-crashes-onto-island-of-cyrpus
Image source; BBC