The Pentagon has approved a deployment of around 400 U.S. military personnel and two Patriot missile batteries to Turkey. NATO authorized Turkey’s request for the missiles earlier this month amidst cross-border tensions with neighboring Syria. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta confirmed the deployment during a visit to Turkey.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta: “We announced this morning that we are deploying two Patriot batteries here to Turkey, along with the troops that are necessary to man those batteries, so that we can help Turkey have the kind of missile defense it may very well need in dealing with threats that come out of Syria.”

The U.S. batteries will coincide with another four from Europe, with all six expected to be operational by next month.