US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has signed an order to deploy two Patriot air-defense missile batteries to Turkey, he said in an exclusive interview with CBS News. The missiles are expected to bolster Turkish defenses against Syria.
Up to 400 American servicemen are being sent to Turkey to operate the batteries.
On December 4 NATO foreign ministers approved the deployment of German and Dutch batteries of Patriot missiles on the Turkish-Syrian border.
On December 14 Germany’s lower chamber of Parliament is expected to vote on deploying country’s Patriot complexes to Turkey.
The air defense shield on Turkish-Syrian border will not only protect Turkey. There are fears that Patriot batteries might create practicalno-fly zones inside the Syrian territory, as Patriot has a range of 160 kilometers.
Germany and Netherlands are expected to dispatch Patriot batteries to Turkey in early 2013...........
“It will mean that the heavy weapons will come in. Potentially you could end up with a no-fly zone. Really, it's pretty much an open declaration of war against the Assad regime,”
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