Nato deploying Patriot missiles to Turkey-Syria border

[shahadat hussain]

Nato has begun to deploy Patriot missiles to Turkey to help Turkish troops repel attacks by missiles or aircraft from neighbouring Syria.

The US European Command said its troops and equipment had started arriving in southern Turkey, and more would arrive in the coming days.

Germany and the Netherlands are preparing to ship their Patriot batteries early next week.

The six battery units are scheduled to be operational by the end of January.

Nato approved the deployment of the surface-to-air missiles early last month, after a request from Turkey, amid "grave concerns" that Syria could use chemical weapons.

Syria has said it would never use such weapons against its own people.

But new launches of "Scud-type missiles" against rebel fighters were being detected in Syria, Nato said in mid-December.

Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen described it as "an act of a desperate regime approaching collapse" and said it emphasised "the need for effective defence and protection of our ally Turkey".
'Defensive-only'

The US, Germany and the Netherlands have agreed to deploy two batteries of Patriot missiles each to be placed under the command of Nato along the Turkish-Syria border.

US personnel and equipment had begun arriving at Turkey's southern Incirlik Air Base and a further 400 personnel and equipment would be airlifted there in the coming days, the US command in Europe, Eucom, said. More equipment would reach Turkey by sea later in January, Eucom was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.

The Dutch Patriot batteries will depart for Turkey on Monday and are expected to arrive by 22 January along with nearly 300 troops, the country's daily De Telegraaf newspaper reports. Germany is expected to follow a similar schedule.

"The forces will augment Turkey's air defence capabilities and contribute to the de-escalation of the crisis along the Alliance's border," Eucom said in a statement.

"The deployment will be defensive only and will not support a no-fly zone or any offensive operation," it added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says more than 44,000 people have been killed since the uprising began nearly two years ago, including nearly 31,000 civilians

The UN believes up to four million people inside Syria are soon going to need humanitarian aid, up from 2.5 million. Another 500,000 Syrians have also fled to neighbouring countries.

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/65084000/jpg/_65084378_65084373.jpg

BBC News - Nato deploying Patriot missiles to Turkey-Syria border

 

[selvan33]

waiting to see the reactions from kremlin.

 

[DevilDog]

Good for turkey, but i'll have to pay more taxes for that. Btw Moscow can not even talk about this, it's none of their business. Just as EUCOM said "Standing Together"

 

[UmarJustice]

Patriot missiles, troops in Turkey


DAMASCUS - US troops began arriving in Turkey on Friday to man Patriot missile batteries against threats from neighbouring Syria, where the 21-month conflict between the regime and rebels has escalated.

Syrian air and ground forces were pounding insurgents dug in outside Damascus in a ferocious offensive being waged a day after a car bomb in the north of the capital killed at least 11 people, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The arrival of the US personnel specialised in the six Patriot systems to be deployed on the Turkey-Syria border in the coming weeks under a Nato agreement highlighted fears that Syria’s civil war could suck in other nations in the region.

Cross-border fire has already erupted on several occasions in recent months from combatants in Syria into Turkey, Lebanon and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The United States last month also expressed concerns that there were signs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could be preparing to use chemical agents in missiles or aerial bombs as a last-ditch measure against the insurgents.

The US military’s European Command (EUCOM) said on Friday that the troops being sent to Turkey’s Incirlik air base would swell to 400 within days to support the two US Patriot batteries being supplied by America.

Germany and the Netherlands will supply the four other Patriot batteries under the Nato agreement struck at Turkey’s request and described as a purely defensive deployment.

“The forces will augment Turkey’s air defence capabilities and contribute to the de-escalation of the crisis along the Alliance’s border,” the EUCOM said.

Syria’s chief ally Iran, however, has called the Patriot deployment “provocative,” seeing it as a blunting of its own offensive capabilities.

Ankara has responded by telling Tehran to use its clout with Assad to resolve the civil war in his country. That conflict has worsened in the past six months as Assad has ordered warplanes and heavy artillery to blast the rebels, who hold great swathes of Syria’s countryside, especially in the north.

The United Nations this week said 60,000 people have died since the rebellion began in March 2011. Its figures showed average daily fatalities have multiplied since mid-2012, correlating with the increased use of regime air power.

On Wednesday this week, at least a dozen people were killed in an air strike on a petrol station in the town of Mleha, just east of Damascus, according to the Observatory.

On Friday, fighter-bombers were hitting Duma, northeast of Damascus, and artillery was shelling the southwestern Daraya neighbourhood which the rebels have held against regime assaults for weeks, it said. Troop reinforcements were being sent to Daraya, the British-based group added.

The offensive was being waged a day after a car bomb in the north Damascus neighbourhood of Massaken Barzeh, mostly inhabited by members of Assad’s Alawite minority, killed at least 11 people, the Observatory said. Two children were among the dead, it said.

They were among at least 191 people who were killed on Thursday, including 99 civilians, the Observatory said, adding that fighting in Damascus and its outskirts accounted for 87 of those deaths.

Nationwide on Friday at least 27 people died - 16 civilians and 11 rebels - according to preliminary Observatory figures.

Meanwhile, Syria has slammed as “biased” a UN report released on December 20 that called the conflict in the country “overtly sectarian in nature.”

The foreign ministry accused the UN of a “lack of professionalism” in producing its report, and said that any sectarian dimensions to the conflict were because of foreign support for “armed groups,” state news agency SANA said.

The UN’s Commission of Inquiry on Syria, established in August 2011, has yet to gain access to the country, despite the foreign ministry stressing a “willingness” to work with the outside investigators.

“Unfortunately, the Commission missed all these opportunities (for mutual cooperation),” the ministry said in a statement.

In response to a UN finding that “entire communities” were at risk from the civil war, the ministry pointed to the historic coexistence of Syria’s various ethnicities and religions, saying the regime was battling “terrorist groups financed from abroad.”

Lebanon meanwhile said it would keep its border open to receive more refugees from Syria.

The country already has 125,000 refugees from its roiled neighbour, according to UN figures, or 200,000 according to government estimates.


Patriot missiles, troops in Turkey | The Nation

 

[Serpentine]

I thinks it the 1000th similar thread.

 

[AKINCI]

 

[madmusti]

SON RESME KADAR EKSi VERMEYi PLANLIYORDUM KAP ŞUKUNU!

 

[airomerix]

Does Turkey has its own Patriots? If yes then why is it calling NATO for help? :/

 

[LegionnairE]

Does Turkey has its own Patriots? If yes then why is it calling NATO for help? :/

Turkey doesn't have any model of high altitude air defence systems since the Nike-Hercules missiles have been deactivated.

 

[DevilDog]

Do you guys have any visual on incoming batteries or personnel?

 

[TuAFFalcon]

Does anyone know which type?
I did a quick search but all I got was that it was 'advanced'.

I'm assuming it's the Patriot PAC3.

 

[Surenas]

^

That is correct. Only Germany and the Netherlands operate PAC3 in Europe.

Dutch send Patriots to guard Turkey from Syria missile threat | Reuters

 

[TuAFFalcon]

Does Turkey has its own Patriots? If yes then why is it calling NATO for help? :/

Currently we lack long range capabilities since the deactivation of the Nike Hercules missiles.
We have the Rapier FBS and Stinger missiles for short range both produced in Turkey under licience and the Hawks for medium range.

Turkey is currently looking to purchase the MIM-104F Patriot PAC3 or the S-400.

 

[revojam]

The Ro-Ro ship named "Lovise Russ" carrying Netherlands' patriot batteries arrived to Iskenderun port today , unloading process will start to tomorrow.

 

[JanjaWeed]

NATO Patriot missiles arrive in Turkey to counter Syria risks

(Reuters) - The first of six NATO Patriot missile batteries intended to protect Turkey from a potential Syrian attack arrived by ship from Germany on Monday, drawing a small but noisy protest from nationalist and leftist demonstrators.

Dozens of camouflaged German military vehicles carrying the batteries disembarked at the Mediterranean port of Iskenderun. About 150 Turkish Communist Party supporters fired pink smoke grenades and burned an American flag at a port entrance.

Germany, the Netherlands and the United States are each sending two Patriot missile batteries and up to 400 troops to Turkey after Ankara asked for NATO's help to bolster security along its 900-km (560-mile) border with Syria.

Damascus has called the move "provocative", in part because Turkey's missile request could be seen as a first step toward implementing a no-fly zone over Syrian airspace.

The frontier has become a flashpoint in the 22-month insurgency against President Bashar al-Assad, with Syrian government shells frequently landing inside Turkish territory, drawing a response in kind from Ankara's military.

"This mission is purely defensive," said Polish Army Lieutenant Colonel Dariusz Kacperczyk, NATO spokesman for the Patriot deployment. "It is to deter any possible threat coming from missiles to the Turkish population and territory."

The batteries will be fully operational by the beginning of February and will protect more than 3.5 million people living in the region, he said.

Turkey has been one of Assad's fiercest critics, leading calls for international intervention and providing shelter for more than 150,000 Syrian refugees. Despite wariness over a possibly more complex Turkish involvement in the conflict, there has only been small-scale opposition to the NATO deployment.

"Yankee go home!", "Murderer America, get out of the Middle East!", chanted a crowd of nationalists, some waving Turkish flags, at a later protest in the centre of Iskenderun.

"Iskenderun port will become NATO's grave", said a placard held by one in the hundreds-strong crowd. Riot police, backed by armored water cannon vehicles, looked on from a distance.

GROWING TENSIONS

Iran and Russia, which have supported Syria throughout the uprising, have criticized NATO's decision, saying the Patriot deployment would intensify a conflict that most foreign governments have been reluctant to get sucked into.

Turkey and NATO have strongly denied the Patriot missiles are a precursor to a no-fly zone that Syrian rebels have been requesting to help them hold territory against a government with overwhelming firepower from the air.

Tensions have increased in recent weeks after NATO said it had detected launches of short-range ballistic missiles inside Syria, several of which have landed close to the Turkish border. Turkey has scrambled war planes along the frontier, fanning fears the war could spread and further destabilize the region.

The German Patriot batteries, whose deployment was approved by NATO in early December at Turkey's request, will travel by road convoy from Iskenderun to be deployed around the city of Kahramanmaras, some 100 km (62 miles) from the Syrian border.

The Dutch missiles, which are expected to arrive by ship in Iskenderun on Tuesday, will be stationed further to the west outside the city of Adana, about 120 km from Syria.

The U.S. missile batteries are expected to arrive later this month and will be deployed further to the east in Gaziantep, which is about 60 km from the frontier.

Advance troops as well as equipment from all three NATO countries had already begun arriving by air in preparation but Monday's delivery marks the first of the actual missile batteries to arrive on Turkish soil.

NATO Patriot missiles arrive in Turkey to counter Syria risks | Reuters