Syrian bullets injure 2 in border town amid debate on NATO missiles

The clashes broke out early in the morning in the Rasulayn region of Syria's al-Hasakah province, a few hundred meters from Ceylanpınar, whose residents could hear the sound of mortar fire and intense shooting across the border.

The latest spillover of Syrian violence came after Turkish officials revealed on Wednesday that they were in talks with NATO for possible deployment of Patriot missiles along Turkey's Syrian border as a precautionary measure, a development that could add a new dimension to the 19-month-old Syria crisis.

Turkish officials said Turkey and its allies, including the US, have discussed the possibility of using Patriot missiles to protect a safe zone inside war-torn Syria. Officials added that the missiles are one of a number of scenarios being considered as a way to stop regime attacks on the Syrian opposition and civilians.

“This issue is also coming up on the agenda within the framework of deliberations, preparations and contingency planning on the security of Turkey and NATO territories,” a diplomatic source told Today's Zaman, without elaborating.

However, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, speaking during a visit to Indonesia, said Turkey has not made any request to NATO for missile deployment. “There has been no such request,” he told reporters.

Earlier, the Reuters news agency, quoting a senior Foreign Ministry official, said Ankara was to make an “imminent request” to NATO for the deployment of Patriot missiles, while the private NTV television reported that the request would be made in the coming days.

In Brussels, a NATO spokeswoman said the alliance has not received a request from Turkey yet, reiterating Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen's remarks earlier in the week that NATO will consider such a request when it is made by an ally. “As the secretary-general said on Monday, the allies will consider any request that is brought to the North Atlantic Council,” the spokeswoman was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Erdoğan said any initiative for the purchase of such missiles should go through him and not the Foreign Ministry. NATO offers such assistance to allies when their security is threatened, but it does not sell weaponry to member states.

Erdoğan said Turkey expected NATO member US to take “different” steps in regard to Syria, adding that he will have discussions at the highest level with US on this issue.

Speaking to reporters earlier in the day on Thursday, President Abdullah Gül said Turkey had no intention of going to war with Syria but that it wanted to take steps against any possible threat from its southern neighbour.

"When these type of potential dangers are out there, all the necessary precautions are taken. One of these precautions is to take measures to counter ballistic missiles, medium and short-range missiles," Gül told reporters. "Therefore, for defensive purposes ... these types of contingency plans, have for a long time been considered within NATO," he said.

The alliance has deployed Patriot surface-to-air missiles to Turkey twice before, once in 1991 and later in 2003, during both Gulf Wars. The missiles were provided by the Netherlands.

Ankara has this year twice invoked Article 4 of the NATO charter which provides for consultations when a member state feels that its territorial integrity, political independence or security is under threat.

US says it hasn't received NATO request to deploy Patriots on Turkish-Syrian border

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a daily press briefing on Wednesday that the US has not received a formal request from NATO regarding the deployment of Patriots on the Turkish-Syrian border.

“We've been working within NATO and with Turkey to look at what other defensive support Turkey might require. My understanding is that as of today, we haven't had a formal request of NATO,” said Nuland, adding that the US has reinforced security in its only Muslim NATO ally, Turkey, with Patriot missiles in the past.

When asked if Patriot deployment would mean a safe zone inside Syria, Nuland declined to comment but said the US continues to study whether establishing a no-fly zone makes sense and how it might work. She said with regard to the possible deployment of Patriot missiles in Turkey, Patriot is a defensive system and that it's responsible for knocking down incoming missiles. "So its purpose would be to defend the territory of Turkey," said Nuland.