From Reuters:  A short-range ballistic missile was fired inside Syria on Wednesday, following similar launches last week, a NATO official said on Thursday.

The official condemned as "reckless" the missile launches, which U.S. officials called an escalation of the 21-month-old Syrian civil war when their use was first spotted last month. . . .

The official said NATO had detected the launch of an unguided, short-range ballistic missile inside Syria on Wednesday, following similar launches on Jan. 2 and 3. All the missiles were fired from inside Syria and landed in northern Syria, he said.

From Sky News:  "We detected the launch of an unguided, short-range ballistic missile inside Syria yesterday (Wednesday). This follows similar launches on January 2 and 3," the official said, adding: "All missiles were fired from inside Syria and they landed in northern Syria. None hit Turkish territory."

From BBC:  The BBC understands that the missiles were unguided and were fired in the direction of Aleppo and Idlib.

Last month, Nato approved the deployment of Patriot anti-missile batteries along Turkey’s border with Syria.

The Syrian government has previously denied using ballistic missiles.

A Nato spokeswoman said they had detected the launch of a ballistic missile inside Syria on Wednesday, following similar launches last week.

The BBC understands that the targets appeared to be key road junctions and former government bases overrun by rebels.

Scuds are in the Syrian military’s armoury, but Nato could not confirm the type of missile used.  (photo: Reuters)