North Atlantic Treaty Organization members agreed Tuesday, December 4 to back a Turkish request to send Patriot air-defense batteries to protect populations near Turkey’s border with Syria, The Wall Street Journal reported. NATO said that the Patriot plan was completely defensive in nature and that the missiles would be configured to shoot down any Syrian rockets that enter Turkish air space—but, diplomats say, not aircraft. NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen also said ministers of the 28-nation alliance “unanimously expressed grave concern about reports that the Syrian regime may be considering the use of chemical weapons.” The plan was approved a day after Turkey dispatched F-16 fighter jets in response to Syrian jet strikes sent refugees across the Turkish frontier and followed other recent spillovers of violence into Turkey. Ankara welcomed the decision, saying “the measures to be taken are in no way offensive.”