Turkey Ready for Those Border Missiles

Turkey said it wanted Patriot missiles along its border with Syria, and it's set to make that request official today by formally asking NATO for said missiles, Germany's defense minister says. Germany, the Netherlands, and the US are the only countries within NATO that could provide the weaponry, Reuters notes. "If a partner now asks us for such a measure, it is clear for us that we will face this in an open way and with solidarity," says the defense minister. "But if we have a deployment of Patriots on the Turkish border, then this will happen with German soldiers."

NATO's secretary-general notes that any missile deployment would not also mean imposing a no-fly zone over Syrian territory, a key demand of Syrian opposition groups, reports the AP. "If we are to deploy Patriot missiles it would be purely a defensive measure to defend and protect Turkey," he said. (More Turkey stories.)