(Bloomberg) -- Turkey has asked the U.S. to deploy two Patriot missile-defense batteries on its southern border to free it to punish any future attacks by Syrian troops backed by Russian air power, according to a senior Turkish official in Ankara.

Over the last three weeks, more than a dozen Turkish troops have been killed at observation posts in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib as pro-government forces and their Russian allies seek to crush the last major pocket of opposition to President Bashar al-Assad.

Ankara could use F-16 warplanes to strike units loyal to Assad in Idlib if the Patriots were deployed in Hatay on Turkey’s border to provide protection, said the official, who’s familiar with Turkey’s policy in Syria.

Turkey is yet to receive a U.S. response to the request, which was relayed last week to James Jeffrey, the U.S. envoy for Syria engagement, the official said, asking not to be identified discussing sensitive information. The U.S. Embassy in Turkey declined to comment.

While Turkey is requesting the deployment of U.S.-operated Patriots, the two countries have wrangled for years over Turkish requests to buy the missiles. The Trump administration has refused to agree to a deal unless Turkey first scraps an advance Russian missile-defense system it bought last year that Washington considers a threat to NATO’s capabilities.

Turkey doesn’t see the Patriot request -- made to a NATO ally at a difficult time for the country -- as requiring any concessions on its part, the official said.

Turkey is trying to halt the Russian-backed Syrian government advance that’s threatening its efforts to establish a zone of control in Idlib and which could unleash an exodus of as many as 2 million refugees toward the Turkish frontier.

It has sent thousands of troops to the area, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said his military had finished preparations for an offensive to protect its interests in Syria.

Trade Ties

After suffering 14 deaths in Syrian attacks, Turkey is determined to push back Syrian forces before the end of this month even at the cost of straining ties with Russia in tourism and trade, said the official.

Turkey would target Syrian forces in its offensive to defend Idlib, where about 40,000 Turkey-backed Syrian rebels as well as about 20,000 al-Qaeda linked extremists are holed, according to the official.

Throughout the Idlib standoff, Ankara and Moscow have kept channels of communication open in an effort to keep alive their uneasy partnership in Syria, where they are backing opposing sides. But Moscow and Damascus haven’t been deterred by the Turkish troop buildup, and on Wednesday, the Kremlin retorted that a Turkish military operation would be “the worst option.”

The standoff between the two regional powerbrokers is threatening a rupture in their relationship and prompting Turkey to reboot ties with the U.S. after years of tensions.

To contact the reporter on this story: Selcan Hacaoglu in Ankara at shacaoglu@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Riad Hamade at rhamade@bloomberg.net, Mark Williams, Amy Teibel

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