USA military removes Patriot missiles from Turkey

“We do not think this is the best time to withdraw these batteries”, the diplomat told Defense News.

The Turkish army said yesterday that four of its F-16 fighter jets came under attack from Syrian missiles along their joint borders and the army took the “necessary response”, Alamatonline.com reported.

Turkey has been complaining about harassment of its jets on border patrols for the past week. They were also harassed for 35 seconds by two SU-22 and one SU-24 planes, the general staff statement said. The threats Turkey faces have changed since 2013, the Pentagon said in August, as the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has used up the majority of its missile stores. It was followed by a U.S. announcement that said Washington informed Ankara that it would not renew the Patriot mission due to end in October.

The pullout was initiated despite an appeal by Turkey to its North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies.

The missiles were shipped to “Ocean Globe” at Turkey’s Mediterranean port of Iskenderun, which later left for the US.