Israel successfully launched on Monday a new spy satellite, improving the country's surveillance ability in the region, the Israeli Defense Ministry said.
The satellite, named "Ofek-16," was launched at 4:00 a.m. (0100 GMT) from a launch site in central Israel, using an Israeli "Shavit" launcher.
"The satellite began to orbit around the earth and to transmit data in accordance with original launch plans," the Defense Ministry said in a statement.■
