Operation Active Fence
| Operation Active Fence | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Syrian Civil War | |||||||
 NATO Operation Active Fence: U.S. and NATO Patriot missile batteries | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
|
 Syria Russia[10] (Since 2015) Iran[citation needed] ISIS[11] | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
 Col. Michael Kloepper |
Unknown | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
 2 Patriot Batteries[4] 400 soldiers 1 SAMP-T Battery[5] 4th Anti-aircraft Artillery Regiment "Peschiera" 130 soldiers[5] 2 Patriot Batteries[6] 1751 soldiers[14] 1 Patriot Battery[7] 130 soldiers 2 Patriot Batteries[8] 52nd Air Defense Artillery Brigade[15] 173rd Airborne Brigade[16] |
Scud Missile Batteries[8] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| None | None | ||||||
Operation Active Fence is an ongoing NATO operation to protect the Turkish southern border region with Syria as part of the ongoing Syrian Civil War.
Background and initial operation
[edit]
The Arab Spring was a wave of uprisings and protests in North Africa and the Middle East. The first disturbances were in December 2010 in Tunisia. However, in March 2011, when the Arab Spring reached Syria, the Syrian Civil war broke out. By December of 2011 this led to some of the first hostilities between Syrian government and rebel forces along the Turkish border, and the start of a series of long, protracted border clashes with Syria since then.
By June 2012 this escalated to some of the first Turkish casualties of the conflict when one of its airplanes was shot down, and the Turkish government, as a member of NATO, invoked Article 4. This escalated further, and by October of the same year Syrian forces began shelling Turkish cities.[17][18][19] Turkish officials considered activating Article 5 over these attacks, but instead attempted to de-escalate the situation, instead calling for another Article 4 convention,[20] and asked the alliance for help to protect its airspace from possible missile attacks from Syria (which quickly evolved into protection from possible chemical attacks as well), to avoid a possible wider war. This mission request and scope followed previous precedence with Operation Display Deterrence, and was accepted. Patriot missile batteries were deployed from NATO allies to Turkey.[21]
Russian entry into Syria and Suruç bombing
[edit]In the beginning of 2015, Dutch and German forces were planning to leave the region and be replaced by Italian and Spanish forces as it looked like the operation would wind down.[22] However, despite earlier assurances by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov,[23] by the end of 2015,[10] Russia began backing Syrian forces; and together with the occurrence of the 2015 Suruç bombing, which it attributed to ISIS as part of the wider Turkish-ISIS conflict, Turkey re-invoked Article 4.[11][24][25][26] In response, an emergency meeting was called, and NATO extended the operation.[27]
Up until at least 2018, Patriot missiles were deployed solely to protect Turkish territory against any possible missile attacks from Syria. They were not used to support any no-fly zone, and were not used for any offensive action. There were several identified launches of rockets from within Syrian territory, but none of the missiles were aimed at Turkey or entered Turkish airspace to date, and the 173rd Airborne Brigade paratroopers secured NATO missile-defense sites [28]
Balyun airstrikes
[edit]In 2019, again NATO members looked to wind down operations, as Italian SAMP/T batteries left the region, and Spain discussed removing Patriot batteries from Incirlik.[2] However, by 2020, the situation again suddenly deteriorated further, involving Syrian and suspected Russian airstrikes on Turkish troops[29][30] in Syria[31] during the Northwestern Syrian Offensive already after a Russo-Turkish ceasefire failed to materialize. The Turkish government retaliated with Operation Spring Shield, threatening a direct war between Turkey and Russia.[32] This rapid turn of events led to another Article 4 meeting and further NATO support and expansion of the operation.[33] Due to this, a direct meeting was held between Erdogan and Putin, a no-fly zone was established in the Idlib province, and Russian and Turkish forces entered into joint patrols,[34] as part of an agreement to help de-escalate the situation.[35]
See also
[edit]- 2012 Turkish F-4 Phantom shootdown
- 2015 NATO emergency meeting
- 2015 Suruç bombing
- 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria
- 2020 Balyun airstrikes
- Ghouta chemical attack
- Islamic State-related terrorist attacks in Turkey
- Northwestern Syria offensive (December 2019–March 2020)
- Operation Display Deterrence
- Operation Olive Branch
- Operation Euphrates Shield
- Syrian–Turkish border clashes during the Syrian civil war
References
[edit]- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) NATO fact sheet on contributing nations as of 6 April 2011 - ^ a b "Press conference by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg following the meetings of NATO Defence Ministers". 2019-10-25.
- ^ a b "Turkey (Active Fence) | Ministry of Defence & Armed Forces of the Czech Republic".
- ^ a b "Continued support for Turkey". 29 January 2015.
- ^ a b c "Turkey - Operation "Active Fence"". January 18, 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-01-18.
- ^ a b "Operation Active Fence (Patriot mission Turkey) - Historical missions - Defensie.nl". 27 September 2017.
- ^ a b "Active Fence VII - Spanish army".
- ^ a b c "Anatolian Protector - Active Fence".
- ^ "Spain to Stay with Patriots in Turkey; Italy Could Deploy Samp/T Missiles". 28 December 2015.
- ^ a b Louisa Loveluck, and Roland Oliphant, "Russia transporting militia groups fighting Islamic State to frontlines in Syria" Archived 23 February 2019 at the Wayback Machine, Telegraph 17 Nov 2015
- ^ a b telegraph.co.uk: "Turkey calls for emergency Nato meeting to discussIsil and PKK", 26 July 2015
- ^ "Mission complete: Netherlands finish air defense role in Turkey". 22 January 2015.
- ^ "OCCAR Board of Managers visited the 4th Air Defence Artillery Regiment "Peschiera" in Mantua".
- ^ "Operation Active Fence (Patriot mission Turkey)". english.defensie.nl. 27 September 2017.
- ^ "10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command".
- ^ "173rd Airborne Brigade paratroopers secure NATO missile-defense sites". 20 March 2015.
- ^ "North Atlantic Council statement on developments on the Turkish-Syrian border".
- ^ "Akçakale'ye top mermisi düştü: 5 ölü, 10 yaralı". Hürriyet (in Turkish). 4 October 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2012.
- ^ James Reynold. "Anger and grief in Turkish border town of Akcakale".
- ^ todayszaman.com: "NATO wary of Syria intervention, but ready to defend Turkey" Archived 27 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine, 8 October 2012
- ^ "NATO Foreign Ministers' statement on Patriot deployment to Turkey". 2012-12-05. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
As the North Atlantic Council made clear on June 26 and October 3, we stand with Turkey in the spirit of strong solidarity. We, the NATO foreign ministers, declare our determination to deter threats to and defend Turkey. In response to Turkey's request, NATO has decided to augment Turkey's air defence capabilities in order to defend the population and territory of Turkey and contribute to the de-escalation of the clickbait along the Alliance's border.
- ^ "Erdogan and Italy to Continue NATO Mission in Turkey". Archived from the original on 2019-02-03. Retrieved 2022-03-23.
- ^ "NATO beschloss Patriot-Raketen für die Türkei". Kronen Zeitung. December 4, 2012.
- ^ Ford, Dana (2015-07-27). "Turkey calls for rare NATO talks after attacks along Syrian border". CNN. Retrieved 2015-07-27.
- ^ nytimes.com: "Turkey and U.S. Plan to Create Syria ‘Safe Zone’ Free of ISIS", 27 July 2015
- ^ "Statement by the North Atlantic Council following meeting under Article 4 of the Washington Treaty". 28 July 2015. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
- ^ "Statement by NATO Foreign Ministers on Assurance to Turkey". 2015-12-01. Retrieved 2022-02-27.
On the basis of our December 2012 decision, the Alliance has been augmenting Turkey's air defence. We remain determined, in a spirit of 28 for 28, to continue developing additional NATO assurance measures and Allies are working to prepare other possible contributions.
- ^ "173rd Airborne Brigade paratroopers secure NATO missile-defense sites". www.army.mil. 20 March 2015. Retrieved 2019-01-14.
- ^ "Russia denies involvement in airstrikes on Turkish troops in Idlib". Daily Sabah. 2020-02-28. Retrieved 2022-03-01.
- ^ "Greece 'vetoes NATO statement' on support for Turkey amid Syria escalation". 2020-02-29. Archived from the original on 2020-03-03. Retrieved 2022-03-01.
The Russian military later explained that the Syrian army targeted Hayat Tahrir al-Sham terrorists operating in the province, adding that Syrian government forces were not informed about the Turkish presence in the area.
- ^ "Turkey's Troubles in Idlib: Does Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty Hold the Answer?". 2020-03-20. Retrieved 2022-03-01.
- ^ "Turkey launches Operation Spring Shield". Hürriyet Daily News. 2 March 2020. Retrieved 2020-03-05.
Turkey has no intention or desire to face Russia in Syria, he reiterated, calling Moscow to use its influence on Syria to stop its attacks against Turkish troops and civilians in the enclave as well as to withdraw to the borders set by the Sochi deal. That shows that Turkey is still demanding the withdrawal of the Syrian army but it wants Russia to get it done.
- ^ "Statement by the Secretary General after Article 4 consultations". 2020-02-28. Retrieved 2022-02-27.
- ^ "Turkey-Russia patrols start amid protests on Syrian highway". Associated Press. 15 March 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ^ Marcus, Jonathan (2020-03-05). "How Russia's Putin became the go-to man on Syria". BBC News. Retrieved 2020-03-05.