VIDEO: IDF 'Successfully' Tests Advanced Anti-Ship Missile

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Wednesday a successful test of an advanced anti-ship missile amid ongoing tensions between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement due to a maritime borders dispute.

"Throughout the month of August, the Israeli Navy, together with the Directorate of Defense Research and Development (DDR&D) and the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), completed a complex test of a 'Gabriel V' anti-ship missile. This test is an additional milestone in the ongoing effort to operationally develop the Israeli Navy’s Sa’ar 6-class corvettes," the IDF said in a statement.

IDF says it recently successfully completed a test of the Gabriel V anti-ship missile, which will be installed on the Navy's Sa'ar 6-class corvettes pic.twitter.com/zxazxR1oFI

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) September 21, 2022

The statement describes Gabriel V as a cutting-edge, long-range anti-ship missile system that is capable of flying for "hundreds of kilometers" under different naval and aerial conditions. The missile is said to be capable of destroying a wide range of targets and will serve, among other things, to defend Israel's strategic assets.

Israel and Lebanon have attempted since 1996 to resolve an overlap between the two nations' territorial waters situated over large fossil fuel deposits. The US-mediated negotiations began in 2020. Lebanon initially laid claims to 860 square kilometers (332 square miles) of waters but then modified the bid to include an extra 1,430 square kilometers encompassing part of the Karish gas field, claimed in its entirety by Israel. Israel refused to discuss those new terms.