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US warships on their way to the Mediterranean Sea
The US denies reports that it has carried out a joint missile test with Israel in the Mediterranean Sea. The US Navy announced that it did not fire any missiles from ships in the region.

"No missiles were fired from US ships in the Mediterranean," a spokesman for the US Navy's European headquarters was quoted as saying by Reuters on Tuesday.

The spokesman did not give further details about the incident.

The rejection comes although Israel said on Tuesday that it carried out a joint missile test with the United States in the Mediterranean.
"The Israeli defense ministry and the American MDA (Missile Defense Agency) Tuesday morning at 9:15 (0615 GMT) successfully launched an Ankor-type radar missile," Israel's defense ministry said in a statement.
Pentagon spokesman Navy Commander William Speaks also said, "I have nothing to confirm those reports whatsoever."

Earlier on Tuesday, a Russian defense ministry spokesman said Moscow detected the launch of two ballistic missiles in the Mediterranean.

The missile test has increased tensions in the region as the United States is planning to attack Syria over the allegations that the Syrian government used chemical weapons in an attack last month. Damascus, however, denied the accusations.

Washington has deployed several warships with cruise missiles in the Mediterranean, waiting for US President Barack Obama's order to launch airstrikes against Syria.

President Obama has been trying to rally support among US congressmen and senators in order to get congressional authorization for war on Syria.

However, a senior State Department official said the US president will attack Syria even without congressional approval.

"That's going to happen, anyway," the unnamed official said in an interview with Fox News.

Meanwhile, Russia has sent a missile cruiser from the Black Sea Fleet and a large anti-submarine ship from the Northern Fleet to the east Mediterranean.

In an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro on Monday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that military action against his country would ignite a regional war.

"We cannot only talk about a Syrian response, but what could happen after the first strike," Assad said. "Everyone will lose control of the situation once the powder keg explodes. Chaos and extremism will spread. There is a risk of regional war."