A map pinned to a telephone pole on Lesbos island, Greece from a cliff overlooking the Aegean Sea and, in the distance, Turkey – for volunteers on the lookout for refugee boats

BBC reports:

Nato ships are being deployed to the Aegean Sea to deter people-smugglers taking migrants from Turkey to Greece, Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg says.

… Mr Stoltenberg said the mission would not be about “stopping or pushing back refugee boats”.

Nato, he said, will contribute “critical information and surveillance to help counter human trafficking”.

The decision marks the security alliance’s first intervention in Europe’s migrant crisis.

US defence secretary Ashton Carter earlier said that targeting the “criminal syndicate that is exploiting these poor people” would have the greatest humanitarian impact.

…Germany Defence Minister Ursula Von der Leyen said several Nato members had pledged warships and that any refugees rescued would be returned to Turkey, a fellow Nato ally.

A European Commission spokesman said it viewed the plan as “a sort of forerunner” to a proposed European coast guard.

Migrant crisis: Nato deploys Aegean people-smuggling patrols (BBC)

Previously: ‘We Can Bus The Refugees To Greece’