Turkey claims to have shot down a ballistic missile launched from Iran

The Turkish Ministry of Defense reported on March 4 that it had shot down a ballistic missile that had been launched from Iranian territory and was heading towards the countryʼs airspace.

This is stated in the statement of the department.

They say that the missile flew over Iraq and Syria on its way to Turkey. It was shot down by NATO air defenses deployed in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Fragments of an air defense missile fell in the Gyortyol district of the Turkish province of Hatay. There were no injuries.

The Turkish Ministry of Defense stressed that they reserve the right to respond to "any hostile actions against the country" and called on other states to avoid actions that could lead to "further spread of conflicts in the region".

"While Turkey stands on the side of regional stability and peace, it is capable of guaranteeing the security of its territory and citizens, regardless of where the threat comes from," the department added.

NATO has already condemned the incident, and the US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said it was unlikely to trigger Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty.

War in the Middle East

On the morning of February 28, the United States and Israel began attacking Iran. The Israelis called the operation “Lion’s Roar”, the United States called it “Epic Fury”. In the evening, it became known about the death of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and almost 40 other senior Iranian officials. They died in Khamenei’s residence in the first minutes of the war.

Iran responded by attacking American bases in the Persian Gulf countries: Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and the UAE. Iran also attacked Israel with ballistic missiles. Some Iranian drones and missiles targeted infrastructure and residential areas in Arab countries. For example, an Iranian drone struck the largest oil refinery in Saudi Arabia. A fire broke out there, and the plant suspended operations.

Israel also attacked the Lebanese pro-Iranian Hezbollah, which retaliated and launched a ground operation.

As of the morning of March 4, 870 people were known to have died, 787 of them in Iran. The US says it attacked 2 000 sites, using 5 000 troops and B-2 stealth bombers. In response, Iran launched 500 ballistic missiles and 2 000 drones.

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