NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said alliance defense
ministers on Thursday will consider the implications for NATO’s own
security of the “troubling escalation of Russian militaryactivities” in
Syria.
He said NATO is ready to deploy forces, if needed, to defend alliance member Turkey.
On Wednesday, Russian warships fired cruise missiles in the first
combined air-and-ground assault with Syrian government troops since
Moscow began its military campaign in the country lastweek.
Over the weekend, Turkey reported back-to-back violations of its airspace by Russian warplanes.
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter and his counterparts from the 27
other NATO nations had already been scheduled to meet Thursday
inBrussels.
Stoltenberg told reporters the meeting will receive an update from
its military commanders on the situation in Syria, as well as
Afghanistan.
“In Syria, we have seen a troubling escalation of Russian military
activities,” Stoltenberg said. “We will assess the latest developments
and their implications for the security of the alliance.This is
particularly relevant in view of the recent violations of NATO’s
airspace by Russian aircraft.”
NATO on Monday issued a statement demanding that the violations
cease. Russia called its penetration of Turkish airspace a minor
incident that was unintentional. Stoltenberg had alreadybrushed off the
Russian explanation.
“NATO is able and ready to defend all allies, including Turkey,
against any threat,” the secretary-general said Thursday. He said NATO
had already increased “our capacity, our ability, ourpreparedness to
deploy forces, including to the south, including in Turkey, if needed.”
“We are constantly assessing the situation also with the Turkish
government,” Stoltenberg said, adding that he would be meeting later
Thursday with Turkish Defense Minister Mehmet VecdiGonul.
BritishDefenseSecretary Michael Fallon accused Russia of acting
chiefly in Syria not to attack the Islamic State terrorist organization
but to shore up the beleaguered government of PresidentBashar al-Assad,
thus making a serious situation “much more dangerous.” NATO officials
have expressed fears there could be an encounter, accidental or
otherwise, between Russian planesand air forces of the U.S.-led
coalition attacking Islamic State in Syria.
“We’ll be meeting today to see what we can do to de-escalate this
crisis particularly in terms of air safety,” Fallon said as he arrived
at NATO headquarters. “We’ll be calling on Russiaspecifically to stop
propping up the Assad regime, to use their own (air) crews
constructively to stop Assad bombing his own civilians.”
GermanDefenseMinister Ursula von der Leyen said Russia must
recognize that if it targets opposition groups in Syria that are
fighting Islamic State, “Russia will strengthen IS and this can
beneither in the Russian interest, nor in our interest.”
Thedefenseministers’ meeting, their first since June, is also
expected to approve ongoing efforts to retool NATO to meet a daunting
array of contemporary security threats. Decisions expectedinclude
approval for two new NATO headquarters units in Hungary and Slovakia to
enhance theirdefensesand speed the deployment of reinforcements sent
by other alliance nations, andchanges in the beefed-up NATO Response
Force to, in Stoltenberg’s words, make it “bigger, faster and more
capable.”
“We are facing many challenges from many different directions,” Stoltenberg said. “Conflict, instability and insecurity.”
“We will assess what we have to do to adapt NATO to current and
future challenges,” he said_including cyberattacks and the mix of
conventional and unconventional tactics commonly knownas hybrid
warfare.
The defense ministers’ meeting, their first since June, is also
expected to approve ongoing efforts to retool NATO to meet a daunting
array of contemporary security threats. Decisions expectedinclude
approval for two new NATO headquarters units in Hungary and Slovakia to
enhance their defenses and speed the deployment of reinforcements sent
by other alliance nations, andchanges in the beefed-up NATO Response
Force to, in Stoltenberg’s words, make it “bigger, faster and more
capable.”
“We are facing many challenges from many different directions,” Stoltenberg said. “Conflict, instability and insecurity.”
“We will assess what we have to do to adapt NATO to current and
future challenges,” he said_including cyberattacks and the mix of
conventional and unconventional tactics commonly knownas hybrid
warfare.
http://neurope.eu/article/nato-ready-to-defend-turkey/