Syrian missiles 'could fall into Turkey': NATO official

Turkey still faces the risk of being hit by Syrian missiles, a NATO official told Anadolu Agency.

The claim follows news that the U.S. and Germany will not renew their deployment of missile defense batteries in the country.

In a written statement Monday, the NATO official on condition of anonymity said: "While the current threat posed by Syrian missiles to Turkey is assessed as low, a risk remains that missiles launched against opposition forces inside Syria could fall into Turkey."

Germany and the U.S. recently announced they would pull Patriot missile batteries from the southern part of fellow NATO member Turkey.

Berlin said on Saturday it would end its Patriot missile deployment by the beginning of 2016 because the threat to Turkey from Syrian ballistic missiles is low.

"The decision was taken after the present assessments made by NATO in June 2015, which concluded that the threat against Turkish territories by Syrian ballistic missiles is very low," the German Ministry of Defense said in a statement on Saturday.

The U.S. said on Sunday it would not renew its deployment of Patriot air and missile defense units, which are due to expire in October.

"The German and U.S. Patriot deployments have made an important contribution to helping protect the population of Turkey against ballistic missile threats from Syria," the NATO official said.

The Syrian regime has fired hundreds of ballistic missiles over the last few years with some hitting neighboring countries, including Turkey.

Roughly half of Syria's population has been displaced by the violence, with over 4 million Syrians now seeking refuge in neighboring countries, especially Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.

The conflict has left more than 220,000 people dead to date, according to U.N. figures.