Germany's cabinet agreed on Thursday to send Patriot missiles and up to 400 soldiers to Turkey to act as a deterrent against any spread of the conflict in Syria across the border, Berlin's foreign and defense ministries said.
Turkey, a NATO member hostile to Assad which has taken in thousands of refugees, says it needs the air defense batteries to shoot down any missiles that might be fired across its border.
NATO approved its request for the missiles on Tuesday. The Netherlands and the United States also plan to provide Patriot batteries. Deployment is expected to take several weeks.
Germany's parliament will vote on the mandate between December 12 and 14, said the ministries.
"The strengthening of the integrated NATO air defense in Turkey is a purely defensive measure which, as a military deterrent, will prevent the conflict within Syria spreading to Turkey," said the ministries.
"The deployment does not represent the establishment of or monitoring of a no-fly-zone over Syrian territory or any other offensive step," they added.
The Patriot deployment will come under the command of SACEUR Allied Troops in Europe, which can also order the use of Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS), said the ministries.
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