JERUSALEM: Israel's defence ministry on Tuesday, in response to an alarm raised by Russia, said that it had launched a missile earlier in the day as part of a joint Israel-American military exercise.

“The Israeli defence ministry and the American MDA (Missile Defence Agency) Tuesday morning at 9:15am successfully launched an Ankor-type radar missile,” it said in a statement.

The Russian defence ministry in a statement on the same day had announced that its early warning system in Aramvir had detected the launch of two ballistic missiles from the central part of the Mediterranean Sea, fired towards the Sea's eastern coastline.

The launches took place at 10:16 am, Moscow time.

According to reports, the trajectory of the targets was from the central part of the Mediterranean Sea towards the eastern part of the Mediterranean coastline.

The Israeli defence ministry in its statement also said that “the test was launched from the Mediterranean and directed from an army base in the centre of Israel.”

Israel’s statement, however, mentioned only one missile.

Syrian state sources said that no missiles had hit Damascus, and that they landed harmlessly into the sea.

Russia has been increasingly vocal about its stance against proposed "limited" strikes on Syria by the US, an event which is being debated in the US Congress. Russian foreign ministry spokesman had earlier warned of grave consequences resulting from any military intervention in Syria.