A German ship carrying patriot missile equipment arrived in the Turkish port of Iskenderun as part of an effort to stop violence in Syria from spilling over its borders. The Suecia Seaways vessel arrived on Monday after the Netherlands-registered Louise Russ ship also carrying missile kits pulled into the area on Sunday night. The day before, 240 German troops touched down in Turkey and will be deployed to the border with Syria, as part of a NATO mission. The German batteries are part of a NATO contingent of Patriot missiles that intercept incoming ballistic missiles, which will remain in Turkey for a year. Two Dutch and two US batteries are also being deployed to other parts of southern Turkey. In December, NATO announced its decision to position Patriot anti-missile systems near Turkey’s southern border to defend against the threat of cross-border attacks and bringing the United States and its allies closer to the civil war raging between Syrian opposition rebels and President Bashar Assad’s regime. Turkey, a NATO member, requested the missiles to boost its air defences. Violence has flared along the border in recent months, with Turkey firing artillery across the frontier to retaliate for Syrian shells hitting Turkish soil. Syrian opposition leaders meeting in Istanbul have postponed forming a transitional government, the Syrian National Coalition said on Monday, in a setback for efforts to fill a power vacuum in the war-torn country. The talks launched on Saturday were the opposition’s second bid to form a government, with its credibility at stake. The 70-member coalition was formed with Western and Gulf backing in Qatar at the beginning of December. Power struggles among its members have undermined efforts to agree a transitional government. A five-member committee would to put forward proposals on a government to the coalition within 10 days, it said on Monday. The committee would “consult opposition forces and the Free Syrian Army and friendly states to get their opinion about forming the government and the extent to which they can honour the necessary commitments for its financial and political viability,” the coalition said in a statement.
