NATO seeks excuses to wage war on Syria

NATO’s recent move to deploy Patriot Missiles in Turkey is meant to provoke a response from Syria to justify military intervention in the country, a political analyst tells Press TV.

“There is always the danger that those forces in Washington, in the Obama administration and in the other NATO capitals that want to intervene militarily in Syria can manufacture some sort of an incident which will then be packaged as a Syrian attack on Turkey,” James Jatras, a former US Senate and foreign policy analyst from Washington DC said in an interview with Press TV on Tuesday.

The analyst rejected Turkey’s claim that the missiles are deployed to protect its borders from the Syrian crisis spillover, saying Syria has been the target of the Turkish government aggression due to the latter’s support for militants fighting against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

“Ankara is supporting military aggression against its neighbor, Syria by allowing these armed radical groups, supported and armed and funded by the NATO countries, by Saudi Arabia and by Turkey to operate from its territory against its neighbor,” he said.

On Monday, the Netherlands shipped two Patriot missile batteries to Turkey, following a similar move by the United States and Germany.

The shipment is part of a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) contingent of Patriot missile batteries to be stationed on Turkey’s border with Syria.

The Dutch military will also deploy 360 soldiers to operate the batteries. The United States and Germany have sent two such batteries and 400 troops each to the southern Turkish border region.

The NATO military alliance approved a request by Turkey for the deployment of Patriot surface-to-air missiles in the border region on December 4, 2012.

Syria censured the plan, calling it another act of provocation by the government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The crisis in Syria began in March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of army and security personnel, have been killed.