A missile test in the Mediterranean carried out by the Zionist entity and the United States on Tuesday had no connection to possible US military action against Syria, the Pentagon said.

A missile test in the Mediterranean carried out by the Zionist entity and the United States on Tuesday had no connection to possible US military action against Syria, the Pentagon said.

The joint military exercise, which came as Washington weighed strikes against Syria, had been previously scheduled and was designed to assess the Zionist missile defenses, Pentagon spokesman George Little said in a statement.

"This test had nothing to do with United States consideration of military action to respond to Syria's chemical weapons attack," Little said.

"The test was long planned to help evaluate the Arrow Ballistic Missile Defense system's ability to detect, track, and communicate information about a simulated threat to the Zionist entity."

He added that the United States and Israel cooperate on various ballistic missile defense development programs "to address common challenges in the region."

The Israeli defense ministry earlier had said the test involved launching an Ankor-type radar missile at 0615 GMT in the Mediterranean.

Russian news agencies quoted Moscow's defense ministry saying an early warning system had detected the launch of two ballistic missiles fired towards the Mediterranean Sea's eastern coastline.