Israel’s Defense Ministry confirmed this morning that Jerusalem had carried out a successful anti-missile exercise over the Mediterranean. The test – which came amid renewed, destabilizing threats of attack from the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria – was reportedly conducted as a joint exercise with the United States. The missiles were detected by Russian early warning radars.

The Associated Press described the launch as being done with an eye on Syria, though U.S. officials emphasized that it had been a long time in the making.

The missile interception came after new declarations issued by Assad to the effect that Western military action against the regime would escalate into a regional conflict:

“The Middle East is a powder keg, and today the flame is coming very near. We cannot talk merely about the Syrian response, but about what might take place after the first strike. But nobody knows what will happen. Everyone will lose control of the situation when the powder keg explodes. Chaos and extremism will spread. There is a risk of regional war,” Assad said in an interview published Monday by French newspaper Le Figaro.

Reports were also aired on Syrian television threatening to attack Israel and the United States with chemical weapons. A video is embedded below.

Meanwhile throughout the day rumors swirled that Dr. Abdel Tawwab Shahrour, the defecting chief of the Syrian regime’s Chemical Warfare Medical Committee in the Aleppo district, would soon present classified documents demonstrating the use of chemical weapons by Syria.

[Photo: DVIDSHUB / Flickr]