NATO's Patriot anti-missile defense batteries along Turkey's border with Syria will become operational this week, a senior official said Wednesday.

Patriot batteries sent by the United States, Germany and the Netherlands have reached Turkey and are being deployed in the south of the country, said British Brig. Gen. Gary Deakin. The U.S.-made missiles are designed to protect Turkey, a NATO member, from any possible incoming ballistic missiles from Syria, where civil war has left at least 60,000 people dead.