NATO missiles on the Turkey-Syria border: A big blow to Assad?

The western military alliance is moving to the front lines for the first time in Syria's 20-month civil war

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Dec. 4
(Image credit: REUTERS/Francois Lenoir)

NATO agreed on Tuesday to deploy Patriot anti-missile batteries on Turkey's volatile border with Syria. Turkey, a NATO member, requested the firepower as Syrian refugees and rebels flood the area just across its southern border, and fears mount that the regime of President Bashar al-Assad is preparing to use chemical weapons against the rebels trying to push him out of power. "To the Turkish people we say: We are determined to defend you and your territory," says NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. "To anyone who would want to attack Turkey we say: Don't even think about it." NATO insists that the Patriot missiles would only be used to shoot down Syrian missiles fired into Turkey — not to establish a no-fly zone to shield rebels from Assad's bombers. That falls short of the help rebels have asked for, but it puts NATO on the front lines for the first time in Syria's 20-month civil war. Could this be a tipping point that finally gives the rebels the upper hand?

This gives the rebels and Turkey the shelter they need: So far, NATO has stayed out of this fight, but Turkey sure hasn't, says Tony Cartalucci at Global Research. It has been harboring Syrian militants, and now, with NATO missiles on its side, Ankara has "assurances of impunity as it continues facilitating increased, overt NATO aggression against Syria." In practice, this is a first step toward establishing "a no-fly zone over northern Syria," providing a "safe haven" for Assad's enemies.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.