Soldiers loyal to Syria’s President Bashar Al Assad with their weapons and national flags in Hujaira town, south of Damascus, after taking control of it from the rebel fighters yesterday.
ANKARA: Turkey has asked Nato to extend for another year the deployment of surface-to-air Patriot missiles to protect its troubled border with Syria because of a continuing “serious” threat, officials said yesterday.
“We have received a letter from the Turkish government requesting the continuation of the Patriot mission,” a Nato official said on condition of anonymity.
“The North Atlantic Council has regularly assessed the situation and the implementation of the Patriot mission. It is clear that the overall risks and threats to Turkey remain serious,” the official said. A Turkish foreign ministry diplomat also confirmed Ankara’s request.
Turkey turned to its Nato allies after a mortar bomb fired from Syrian territory killed five Turkish civilians in the border town of Akcakale in October last year. Since the deadly attack, Turkey has retaliated in kind for every Syrian shell that has landed on its soil and beefed up its volatile 910km frontier.
The six batteries of the US-made missiles, effective against aircraft and short-range missiles and dispatched by the Netherlands, Germany and the United States, are deployed in the southern city of Adana and the southeastern cities of Kahramanmaras and Gaziantep.
Nato approved their initial deployment in December, saying the use of ballistic missiles by the Syrian regime posed a threat to Turkey.
But Syria’s allies Iran and Russia opposed the Patriot deployment, fearing that it could spark a regional conflict also drawing in Nato.
Turkey was once a friend and ally of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad but relations have broken down since the Syrian conflict began in 2011, sending more than 600,000 refugees across the border. Ankara has backed the opposition fighting to topple the embattled leader.
In October, Turkey’s parliament extended for one year a mandate that would allow Ankara to send troops to war-ravaged Syria if necessary.
Meanwhile, forces loyal to President Bashar Al Assad captured the southern Damascus suburb of Hujaira yesterday, part of a broader advance that has brought him major gains south of the capital before proposed international peace talks.
Syrian state television and Al Manar, the channel of the Lebanese group Hezbollah whose fighters helped drive rebels out Hujaira, broadcast live footage showing soldiers in control of otherwise empty streets flanked by shelled buildings and ruins.Agencies
