NATO missiles on Turkey-Syria border to start functioning this week

NATO missiles on Turkey-Syria border to start functioning this week

Published Wednesday, January 23, 2013

NATO said Wednesday its Patriot anti-missile defenses along Syria’s border with Turkey would become operational this week, and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu speaking in Davos called on the international community to charge the Syrian regime with war crimes for the “bombardment of its own citizens.”

British Brig. Gen. Gary Deakin said Patriot batteries sent by the United States, Germany and the Netherlands have reached Turkey and are currently being deployed in the south of the country.

"We expect to have an initial operating capability this weekend," Deakin said.

Alliance member Turkey asked NATO in November to urgently deploy the US-made missiles to bolster its defenses to prevent a spillover of Syria's civil war.

Although Syria is reported to have used tactical surface-to-surface rockets against rebel forces, none have landed inside Turkey.

Russia slams Opposition

In Moscow, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov criticized Syria's opposition for its "obsession" with toppling Assad, and warned of a long conflict.

"For now, everything is running up against the opposition's obsession with toppling Bashar Assad's regime," Lavrov told reporters.

"As long as this irreconcilable position remains in place, nothing good can happen. Armed actions will continue and people will die."

He said that the opposition's insistence on ousting Assad was stymying efforts to find a diplomatic solution backed by the former international peace envoy Kofi Annan and his successor Lakhdar Brahimi.

Lavrov took particular aim at the Syria National Coalition -- a broad-based group backed by the West founded in Doha last year -- for making the ouster of Assad one of its fundamental aims.

(AP, Reuters, Al-Akhbar)

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