The United States will send a Patriot missile battery and F-16 fighters to Jordan for a military drill and may keep the weapons there to counter the threat posed by Syria's civil war, officials said.
The anti-missile systems and jets were approved for deployment to Jordan as part of a joint exercise with Jordanian forces, US Central Command said in a statement on Monday.
"In order to enhance the defensive posture and capacity of Jordan, some of these assets may remain beyond the exercise at the request of the government of Jordan," the statement said.
US officials declined to say how many F-16s would be taking part in the exercise, or how many aircraft might remain afterwards.
The US backed a similar move earlier this year in Turkey, with NATO deploying Patriot missile batteries along Turkey's border with Syria.
That deployment came after warnings from Washington to President Bashar al-Assad's regime against shipping advanced missiles to fighters in Lebanon's Hezbollah Shia group, which is now openly taking part in the conflict in support of Damascus.
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