NATO orders warships into Aegean Sea

In a dramatic response to Europe's gravest refugee crisis since World War II, NATO ordered three warships to sail immediately on Thursday to the Aegean Sea to help end the deadly smuggling of asylum-seekers across the waters from Turkey to Greece.

"This is about helping Greece, Turkey and the European Union with stemming the flow of migrants and refugees and coping with a very demanding situation ... a human tragedy," said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

Yet even after the ships were told to get under way, NATO officials acknowledged uncertainties about the precise actions they would be performing - including whether they would take part in operations to rescue drowning migrants.