A mysterious flying object was observed in countries in the Middle East such as Israel, Syria and Iran late Thursday night, prompting a flurry of social media activity and videos uploaded to YouTube.
The strange light, which some observers said swirled around and looked like smoke, was also reportedly seen in Jordan, according to a journalist there who shared a picture on Twitter.
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The story is reminiscent of a swirling light seen in Norway in December 2009, which ended up being a Russian missile test. At the time, The Sun quoted Russian defense analyst Pavel Felgenhauer as saying, “Such lights and clouds appear when a missile fails.”
That also may have been the case here, as Ynet reported Russia's Defense Ministry confirmed an intercontinental ballistic missile test tonight.
The Jerusalem Post's Yaakov Lappin had a similar report, tweeting, "Mysterious light explained. Russia announces it carried out successful inter-continental ballistic missile test."
Watch video of the object below, which led to the Twitter hashtag #MideastUFO.
WATCH (from Daraa, Syria):
WATCH (different perspective in Syria):
WATCH (reportedly footage from Iran):
Click through the slideshow below for tweets about the mysterious light in the sky over the Middle East: