Iranian missiles might be testing Nato air defences in Turkey to target crucial radar base

(Ragip Soylu – Middle East Eye) Iranian missiles may have been testing Turkish airspace over the past week to target a crucial Nato radar base in Malatya, Middle East Eye understands. An Iranian ballistic missile that was heading toward Turkish airspace last week was intercepted by Nato air defence systems near the southern city of Hatay, flying nearly 100 km east of Turkey’s Incirlik air base, which previously hosted US military troops. A second Iranian missile heading toward Turkey on Tuesday was also shot down by Nato systems via US destroyers, which used the RIM-161 Standard Missile-3 (SM-3). The missile was reportedly determined to be targeting Incirlik, according to open-source reports. Nato analysis suggests the Iranian missiles were fired from east of Tehran toward Turkey. Hursit Dingil, a Turkish expert on Iran’s military capabilities at the Ankara-based Centre for Area Studies, told MEE that open-source, data-based military scenarios suggest the missiles might have been launched from the Revolutionary Guard’s Damghan missile base, which has underground facilities in Semnan province. MEE could not independently verify those details. – Iranian missiles might be testing Nato air defences in Turkey to target crucial radar base | Middle East Eye