Reuters:
Turkey urged its NATO allies on Thursday to keep up missile defenses along its Syrian border, after Germany and the United States said they would press on with plans to withdraw Patriot batteries despite worries about Russian actions in the area.
NATO is still waiting for allies to fill the gap left by the U.S. and German pull-out – and the lack of replacements has raised questions about the alliance’s strategy along the frontier, especially after Russian jets violated Turkey’s air space over the weekend.
NATO’s secretary-general said on Thursday he was prepared to send forces to defend Turkey. But Washington and Berlin’s withdrawal of missiles has left only Spain with Patriots there, and Madrid made it clear it did not want to act alone.
NATO first deployed its Patriot missiles along the border in January 2013, to shoot down any missiles from Syria’s conflict fired into Turkish territory.
Ankara’s NATO envoy appealed to the U.S.-led alliance on Thursday to maintain that defense system, according to two people briefed on closed-door talks in Brussels…
