The U.S. embassy in Ankara, Turkey, stated on Sunday that the United States military has decided to pull two Patriot missile-defense batteries from the country this coming fall. The missiles have been deployed along the Turkey-Syria border since 2013, along with a ground force of 300 U.S. Army soldiers tasked to operate and protect the missile systems, according to Fox News.
The official statement from the U.S. embassy states that the Patriot missiles will be sent back to the United States for "critical modernization upgrades."
The announcement further stated that in the event of a crisis, the missile batteries and their corresponding ground troops could be rushed back to Turkey within one week to fulfill commitments to NATO and to Turkey's air defenses, reports The New York Times.
A State Department official, speaking on conditions of anonymity, has stated that the decision to pull the missile systems from Turkey has been long planned, and is not in any way connected to an on July 24, where an unannounced airstrike by Turkey ended up endangering U.S. Special Forces who were deployed on the ground.
The American soldiers were training Kurdish Peshmerga fighters when the Turkish jets sortied, angering U.S. military officials.
Turkey has recently become a more active participant in the battle against ISIS, agreeing to host anti-ISIS forces from the West, as covered in this HNGN article.
