Guests You Can’t Ignore

Turkey has “more than 140,000 refugees on its border” with Syria, and that situation creates pressure for other countries to become involved in Syria’s troubles, said Army Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, US Army Europe’s commanding general. Speaking with defense reporters in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 23, Hertling said Turkey is “taking care” of those refugees to the tune of some 400 million Euros so far. “It’s October,” he emphasized, meaning that conditions in the refugee camps would deteriorate with the onset of cold weather. US European Command is “sharing intelligence” with Turkey and has considered what it can do to help if there is a need for assistance—like mobilizing helicopters for a noncombatant evacuation operation, he said. But “no one has asked” yet, said Hertling. (For more Hertling coverage, see Who’s the Threat and Look No Further.)