US cargo plane at Turkey base

One new American cargo plane landed at Incirlik military base in Turkey on Thursday carrying unidentifiable cargo that was processed by military personnel at the base as another American cargo plane took off.

The cargo planes continued to arrive at the base in Adana the day after two aircraft brought German and Dutch personnel for Patriot missile systems deployment on Wednesday.

The German contingent were transferred to a hotel in Kahramanmaras in the early hours of Thursday before being taken by coach to the nearby Turkish military base.

Kahramanmaras is located about 100 kilometres (62 miles) north of the Syrian border.

The Patriot missile batteries are being set up along the Turkish border to protect the NATO ally from Syrian missile attacks after a NATO agreement in December.

Germany, the Netherlands and the United States will provide two batteries each of an advanced version of the Patriot optimised to shoot down incoming missiles.

More than 1,000 troops from the three nations will service the batteries.

The Germans will send their remaining troops on January 20.

On January 21, the Dutch will send the remaining 270 troops to operate the Patriot missiles for a year.

NATO says it has picked three sites in southern Turkey to base batteries of Patriot surface-to-air missiles intended to boost the nation's air defences against possible spillover from Syria.

The Dutch are based at Adana, about 100 kilometres (62 miles) west of the Syrian border; and the Americans at Gaziantep, about 50 kilometres (31 miles) north of the border.