Syria Chemical War: NATO Sends Patriot Missiles to Syrian Border

Impact

On the heels of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's warning to Syria's regime, NATO announced on Tuesday that it will deploy Patriot anti-missile systems near Turkey’s southern border with the intention of "shoring up defenses against the threat of cross-border attacks from Syria" — reported the WaPo

According to the Post, though the deployment is "solely for the defensive purpose of warding off the mortar rounds and shells from Syria," the move might also be an implicit message to Syrian President Bashar Assad that Washington and its allies are watching closely for any attempt of the cornered autocrat to use chemical weapons against his own people amid the 20-month-old civil war. 

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said, "we stand with Turkey in the spirit of strong solidarity [...] to anyone who would want to attack Turkey, we say, ‘Don’t even think about it!’”

And, though Rasmussen denied that the deployment of missiles is a first step toward establishing a no-fly zone, the action suggests a willingness from the United States and its allies to finally crank down on the mad president who has been gruesomely slashing his own people in his mindless quest for retaining power.   

Read more on The Washington Post.

Do you think the U.S. and its allies should intervene to stop the bloodshed in Syria?