Spain to replace Dutch in Turkey Patriot missile deployment

Spain will send a Patriot anti-ballistic missile battery to Turkey's southern border with Syria as part of a NATO initiative, Defense Minister Pedro Morenes said on Wednesday, replacing the Netherlands' contribution to the deployment.

The Netherlands, Germany and the United States had each sent two Patriot missile batteries and soldiers to operate them in early 2013, after Turkey, a NATO ally, called for aid to defend itself against attacks from Syria, on its southern border.

"We will collaborate...with a similar number of units to Germany and the United States," Morenes said in an address to a parliamentary defense commission.

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