ISKENDERUN, Turkey: Two Patriot missile systems from the U.S. have arrived in southern Turkey to be deployed close to the Syrian border.

The U.S., Germany, and the Netherlands are providing two batteries each to protect Turkey, a NATO ally, from any possible incoming ballistic missiles from Syria, where a brutal civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives. The German and Dutch systems have already arrived and much of the batteries are operational.

A U.S. navy ship carrying the missile systems docked at a Turkish naval base in Iskenderun late Wednesday.

All six batteries are expected to become fully operational in the coming days.

Turkey has turned into one of the Syrian regime's harshest critics since the uprising began in March 2011.