Turkey to get Nato missiles for
protection along Syrian border

Nato foreign ministers have agreed to give Turkey Patriot anti-missile systems to bolster its defence against possible strikes from neighbouring Syria.

Ankara, which has been highly supportive of the Syrian opposition to president Bashar Assad’s regime, wants the Patriots to defend against possible retaliatory attacks by Syrian missiles carrying chemical warheads.

Syria is reported to have an array of artillery rockets, as well as short- and medium-range missiles in its arsenal – some capable of carrying chemical warheads.

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Nato leaders have repeatedly said they would provide any assistance Turkey needs.

They are expected to provide several batteries of the latest PAC-3 version of the US-built Patriot air defence systems which is optimised to intercept incoming missiles.

The exact details of the deployment and the number of batteries to be sent will be determined by Nato’s military committee based on a report by a joint team that has been studying possible basing sites.

Parliaments in both Germany and the Netherlands must approve the move, which would also involve several hundred soldiers.

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Nato foreign ministers will also meet their Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. Russia has criticised the planned deployment of the Patriots saying that it would further inflame tensions in the region.

US officials say the White House and its allies are weighing military options to secure Syria’s chemical and biological weapons, after US intelligence reports showed the Syrian regime may be readying those weapons and may be desperate enough to use them.

In another development, a mortar attack killed 29 pupils and a teacher in a Damascus school, according to state media.

The official news agency SANA blamed the attack on “terrorists”, the term it uses for rebels who are fighting to topple the government.

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The bloodshed comes as Syrian forces fired artillery at rebel targets in and around the capital and the international community grew increasingly alarmed about the regime’s chemical weapons stocks.

Syrian rebels have made gains in recent weeks, overrunning military bases and bringing the fight to Damascus.

Since Thursday, the capital has seen some of the heaviest fighting since July, killing scores of people, forcing international flights to turn back and prompting the United Nations to withdraw most of its international staff.

“The push to take Damascus is a real one, and intense pressure to take control of the city is part of a major strategic shift by the rebel commanders’ strategy,” said Mustafa Alani, a Middle East analyst from the Geneva-based Gulf Research Centre.

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“They have realised that without bringing the fight to Damascus, the regime will not collapse.”

US intelligence has detected signs the regime was moving chemical weapons components around within several sites in recent days.

Nato Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned that “if anybody uses chemical weapons, I would expect an immediate reaction from the international community.”

Syria is believed to have hundreds, if not thousands, of tons of chemical agents, including mustard gas and the more lethal nerve agents sarin and VX.

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In the Damascus area, the Britain-based opposition activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said clashes between rebels and troops loyal to president Bashar Assad were taking place in Beit Saham, Akraba and Yalda suburbs as well as near the international airport.

The Damascus suburbs, which have been opposition strongholds since the uprising against Assad began in March 2011, have been the scene of heavy fighting since last week following the start of an army offensive to regain lost territory around the capital. Assad’s forces have so far repelled major rebel advances on the capital, though their hold may be slipping.

The UN has started to pull staff out of Syria because of deteriorating security conditions as fighting between rebels and government forces raged near the capital.

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