NATO agreed Tuesday to send new American-made air defenses to Turkey’s volatile border with Syria, a boost to an alliance member on the front lines of the civil war and a potential backstop for wider U.S. or NATO air operations if Syria deteriorates further.
The military alliance’s approval of Patriot anti-missile batteries for southern Turkey represents NATO’s first significant military involvement in the 20-month-long crisis, even if at the very margins. NATO and U.S. officials insisted that the system is entirely devoted to defending Turkey and is not a precursor to military intervention in Syria. The system would provide no protection for Syrian civilians or rebels fighting to unseat President Bashar al-Assad.
“Turkey has asked for NATO’s support, and we stand with Turkey in the spirit of strong solidarity,” NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said following approval by the 28-member alliance. “To the Turkish people we say, ‘We are determined to defend you and your territory.’ To anyone who would want to attack Turkey we say, ‘Don’t even think about it.”
The Patriots will be part symbolic show of support for the NATO member most directly affected by the 20-month Syrian civil war and part hedge by the alliance against any future military intervention, something that has seemed highly unlikely until now.
U.S. and NATO officials insist the surface-to-air system is entirely defensive and does not represent a change of heart for the alliance. Although it counts the 2011 Libya no-fly zone as a success NATO opposes similar action in Syria now.The Obama administration also remains opposed to intervention.
“I want this to be absolutely clear: This deployment will be defensive only,” Rasmussen said. “It will in no way support a no-fly zone or any offensive operations, and it will contribute to the de-escalation of the crisis along the alliance’s border.”
However, the system, likely to deploy early in 2013, could be repurposed as part of a wider air campaign or to provide air cover for action in Syria should NATO change its mind. Military experts said Patriots are as effective against aircraft as they are against missiles, and deploying the system at the border could be instrumental in quickly carving out a 25-mile buffer zone.
No NATO nations had to expressly vote for the deployment, which some worry is a slippery slope. Instead, the decision was made by unanimous consent. NATO doesn’t want to be drawn into the Syrian conflict, and the Obama administration remains opposed to intervention.
In practice, the decision involves only the United States, Germany and the Netherlands — the three nations with Patriots or a parallel system. All three are expected to approve a limited number of the anti-missile batteries, probably with small contingents of service members to operate them. NATO is studying where to put the remotely operated system.
However remote, the threat that a besieged Assad might resort to chemical weapons as anti-Assad rebels gain ground gave new urgency to NATO’s debate.
U.S. officials had said Monday that satellite images showed Syrian forces moving chemical weapons into positions where they could be used more quickly. Though Rasmussen offered no specifics, U.S. officials say the White House and its allies are weighing military options to prevent or defend against a chemical attack.
President Obama warned Monday of consequences if Assad made the “tragic mistake” of deploying chemical weapons.
On Tuesday, Rasmussen said: “The NATO ministers unanimously expressed grave concerns about reports the Syrian regime may be considering the use of chemical weapons. Any such action would be completely unacceptable and a clear breach of international law.”
However, he said, the Patriot deployment is unrelated to the recent reports. “The aim of this deployment is to ensure effective defensive protection of Turkey against any missile attack whether the missiles carry chemical weapons or not.”
Syria is believed to have the world’s third-largest store of chemical weapons, and medium- and long-range missiles that could deliver them inside or outside the country. The weapons — which can kill large numbers of soldiers or civilians — can also be delivered by aircraft.
Syria, which is party to the 1925 Geneva Protocol banning chemical weapons in war, has repeatedly insisted that it would not use them even if it did possess such weapons. Syria has called the Patriot plan “provocative,” and considers it a possible first step toward a no-fly zone, airstrikes or invasion.
The Patriots to be sent to Turkey will be configured to intercept only missiles, not aircraft, U.S. and NATO officials said. U.S. officials stress that Patriots would track incoming missiles from Syrian territory but would try to intercept them only if they crossed into Turkey. U.S. officials also note that the Patriot interceptors would have no warhead — incoming warheads would be destroyed by running into them.
There is precedent for the decision. NATO installed the long-range Patriot batteries on Turkish territory during the 1991 and 2003 Iraq wars. They were never used and were withdrawn a few months later.
The potential for expanded or offensive use is part of the reason longtime Syrian ally Russia has been leery of the Patriot deployment, although Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday that his country is not opposed. Russia considers the deployment an entirely defensive internal NATO decision, he said.
Lavrov spoke in Russian after a meeting with NATO foreign ministers. Russia, as a nonmember, often attends large NATO gatherings for sideline meetings such as Tuesday’s NATO-Russia council.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton used that forum to highlight ongoing differences with Russia over Syria. Russia has stymied stronger United Nations action to condemn or constrain Assad, and the Obama administration has all but given up hope for a shift.
“We have major differences on Syria, where Russia has declined to embrace the political transition the people of that country need,” Clinton told Lavrov and NATO delegates in the closed-door session. Her prepared remarks were provided by the State Department. “We must speak frankly about these and other differences and redouble our efforts to advance our shared agenda in key areas where progress is possible.”
Germany and the Netherlands are expected to provide to Turkey several batteries of the latest PAC-3 version of the U.S.-built Patriots. The United States would probably fill in any gaps after the Europeans commit their resources. The U.S. Patriots could come from stocks in Europe.
Turkey, a NATO member since the 1950s, asked NATO for the surface-to-air system after weeks of talks about how to shore up security on its more than 500-mile border with Syria. Last week, Syrian warplanes attacked targets close to the Turkish border as NATO soldiers scouted possible sites for the Patriots.
Earlier, mortar rounds and artillery shells from Syria killed five people inside Turkey. Patriots are not designed to interdict such weapons.
As many as 40,000 people may have died in the violence, which began as an Arab Spring uprising.
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