Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 15
Trend:
Germany will withdraw two Patriot missile-defense batteries and 250 soldiers deployed in south-eastern Turkey, a Defense Ministry spokesman said Saturday, Anadolu reported.
German government will not extend the Patriot deployment for another year when their term expires in January 2016.
Turkey had requested the batteries from its NATO military alliance to help it bolster its air defenses against possible missile attack from Syria.
The Defense Ministry spokesman said Germany's decision was based on an assessment that the threat of missile attacks from Syria had significantly diminished.
NATO in 2013 stationed five Patriot missile batteries about 100 kilometers from the Syrian border. Germany and the United States provided two batteries each while the fifth came from Spain.