|
Dutch to Send Patriot Missiles to Turkey-Syria Border
[An Nahar] The Dutch cabinet on Friday gave the go-ahead to sending NATO...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... Patriot missiles to Turkey to defend its border against Syria, along with a maximum 360 soldiers to operate them. "The cabinet has decided shortly to send two Dutch Patriot batteries to contribute to the protection of our NATO ally Turkey," a government statement said. The deployment, which comes on the heels of a similar German move, will be initially for one year and the government said the surface-to-air missiles could not be used offensively. "The aim of the Patriot deployment is not to enforce a no-fly zone or to carry out attacks," Prime Minister Mark Rutte told journalists after the weekly cabinet meeting. The missiles will arrive in Turkey mid-January, Defense Minister Jeanine Hennis told Dutch news agency Novum. The exact location for the missiles' deployment will be decided in talks with Turkey, the United States and Germany. The government statement said a maximum of 360 soldiers would be sent to Turkey to operate the missiles. Posted by: Fred 2012-12-08 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=357601 |