Turkey, now led by near-Islamists, is stepping up its opposition to the brutal Assad regime in Syria, even as it stokes a defamation campaign against Israel. This fence-straddling is counterproductive for Turkey. Turkey, which shelters an estimated 100,000 Syrian refugees, has exchanged cross-border artillery fire with the Syrian army and now plans to seek Patriot missiles from NATO (Turkey is a member). Though Turkish officials have stressed defense against attacking aircraft or missiles, Patriot batteries also could enforce a no-fly zone over Turkish border areas to protect Syrian dissidents — some models of the missile can hit targets 100 miles away.
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