News / Brèves Back to previous selection / Retour à la sélection précédente First Stage of Patriot System in Turkey Ready by Saturday? 10 January 2013 (EIRNS)—The European edition of U.S. military daily Stars & Stripes reported this morning that "most of the U.S. contingent deploying to help defend Turkey from any spillover of Syria’s civil war is already on the ground and could be operational as early as Saturday," quoting American military officials who noted that if something were to become operational already over the weekend, it depends on what the NATO headquarters tells them. The bulk of the U.S. force is coming from the Army’s 3rd Battalion, 2nd Air Defence Artillery, which began streaming into Turkey late on Jan. 4, the article says, "and it’s been a pretty constant flow since then," Air Force 1st Lt. David Liapis, a spokesman for the Air Force’s 39th Air Base Wing at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, said yesterday. "I would say the bulk of the personnel and equipment are already here." An advance team of soldiers from U.S. Army Europe arrived at Incirlik Jan. 3 already, to begin scouting around the Turkish city of Gaziantep (about 70 miles from the border with Syria), where the batteries will be stationed. [RAP]