NATO foreign ministers on Tuesday endorsed a decision to send Patriot missile batteries to Turkey, and expressed “grave” concerns about reports of heightened activity at Syria’s chemical weapons sites.
Turkey, which has supported the Syrian opposition to President Bashar al-AssadÂ’s government, requested the batteries last month, fearing that it might be vulnerable to a Syrian missile attack, possibly with chemical weapons.
“Turkey asked for NATO’s support, and we stand with Turkey in a spirit of strong solidarity,” Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the secretary general of the alliance, said in Brussels. “To anyone who would want to attack Turkey, we say, ‘Don’t even think about it.’ ”
In approving the decision, NATO said it would “augment” Turkey’s air defenses even as it sought to underscore the defensive nature of the mission, which it said was not intended to establish a buffer zone in northern Syria or a no-fly zone over the country.
The missile batteries, drawn from American, German and Dutch forces, will not be operational in Turkey for several weeks, diplomats said. NATOÂ’s military arm will work with the nations as they decide how many batteries to deploy in Turkey and for how long.
NATO couched the decision as a statement of its resolve, but Mr. Rasmussen expressed a cautious, even minimalist, vision of the alliance’s role in dealing with humanitarian crises beyond its members’ borders. Mr. Rasmussen described the fighting in Syria, which has killed more than 40,000 people, as “absolutely outrageous” and said nations had a responsibility to find a political solution. But in contrast, he said, “NATO’s responsibility is to protect populations and territories of NATO allied nations,” and he emphasized that the alliance would not intervene in Syria to stop the violence.
“We have no intention to intervene militarily,” he said.
NATO Backs Defense Plan for Turkey – World Latest News
