Commentary A Syrian SA-5 (S-200) air defense missile with a large 500 lb warhead blew up over the Israeli Negev, about 19 miles from Israel’s Dimona nuclear reactor site.  The Negev is in the very south of Israel, about 115 miles from the Syrian Golan area where it was fired. The press in Israel and elsewhere are characterizing this as an Israel defense failure.  But the facts do not support that conclusion.  In fact, it appears the SA-5 missile was shot down, perhaps not as elegantly as some would like, but nonetheless it was destroyed.  The clamoring in the press is misplaced. The SA-5 was initially developed in the late 1960’s and subsequently enhanced and improved over the years. Its missiles are ground to air types and are not designed to hit ground targets. In fact these missiles cannot be aimed at ground targets. According to news reports, the errant missile …