Turkey

[JConn]

So what do you think, will this escalate into another ground conflict?

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/14/world/meast/syria-civil-war/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

[Kyle Reese]

Depends on how many forces we choose to deploy, in what capacity they will be employed and their mandate. My guess is that the American public has little to no stomach for another ground campaign at this point in time, but I've been wrong before.

In the event the troops manning the Patriot batteries are engaged by hostile elements, what then?

[KeeFus]

No surprise. We've had posts in Turkey for decades. Adding some missles was coming eventually.

[Mjolnir]

Warfare by NATO has been the plan for some time now.

[TGS]

Warfare by NATO has been the plan for some time now.

Agreed.

There were some mortar attacks earlier this year by Syria into Turkey, and pretty much every intel commentary I read suggested that it was either blown out of proportion, or possibly faked. The West has been chomping at the bits, trying to make this go hot.

Even Russia has now formally backed out and said, "Later, Assad!" That's a stark contrast to their show of support by sending a naval armada to Syria earlier this year.

With that said, any ground war would most likely not be conducted by Western troops. We've had unconventional forces working in Syria for some time now, presumably not unlike Libya or Afghanistan with the Northern Alliance. It will most likely continue to be ISR support and leadership/guidance/mentoring by our SOF/CIA dudes.