Germany's cabinet approves Patriot deployment in Turkey

PanARMENIAN.Net - Germany's cabinet agreed on Thursday, Dec 6, to send Patriot missiles and soldiers to Turkey to defend it against a possible Syrian missile attack after NATO agreed to the request from Ankara, Reuters reported citing a cabinet source.

NATO member Turkey has repeatedly scrambled jets along the countries' frontier and has responded in kind when shells from the Syrian conflict came down inside its borders, fuelling fears the civil war could spread.

The Netherlands and the United States also plan to provide Patriot missile batteries. Deployment is expected to take several weeks.

Germany needs to get approval from its Bundestag lower house, which is not expected to be a problem although some opposition lawmakers, mainly Greens, are against the deployment due to fears of getting caught up in a wider regional conflict.

Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle has said he expects a broad parliamentary majority.