NATO sent its ships into Greek and Turkish waters in the Aegean Sea on Monday to counter the criminal networks smuggling migrants into Europe, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said, overcoming territorial sensitivities in Greece and Turkey."NATO is starting activities in territorial waters today," Stoltenberg told a news conference in Brussels, flanked by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu."We are expanding our cooperation with the EU's border agency Frontex and we are expanding the number of ships in our deployment," he said, saying that France and Britain had agreed to send ships to the Aegean.Germany is leading the NATO mission that was agreed on Feb. 11, which also includes ships from Canada, Turkey and Greece. Until now, ships had been in international waters.Last month, NATO agreed-at the request of Turkey, Germany, and Greece-to send its vessels to the Aegean, a major transit area for refugees entering Europe via Greece and Turkey. The decision was finalized on Sunday, with NATO allies agreeing the vessels will not only operate on international waters, but in Turkish and Greek territorial waters as well.

"Our commanders have defined our area of activity in close consultation and coordination with both Greece and Turkey," NATO said in Sunday's statement.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also on Sunday said: "We will do reconnaissance, we will do surveillance, we will collect information, and share this information in real time with the Turkish coast guard, the Greek coast guard and with Frontex, helping them with managing the migrant and refugee crisis, and also to cut the lines of the illegal trafficking and smugglers."

Stoltenberg made the remarks a day before a summit of EU and Turkish leaders in Brussels about the refugee crisis.

The widened mission comes after defense ministers of the 28-nation alliance on Feb. 11 ordered the immediate deployment of the three vessels in NATO's Standing Maritime Group 2 to the Aegean Sea.The waters between Greece and Turkey, two NATO allies, are a key area where smugglers have been bringing tens of thousands of migrants into Europe, sparking what some have called the gravest crisis in the EU's history."Now we are going further by actually doing two new things," Stoltenberg told the AP. "We are going into Greek and Turkish territorial waters. We have agreed on arrangements for doing that.""In addition, we have agreed with Frontex on how to work with them, how to share information so what we will do will be more efficient," the NATO chief said.NATO officials said the alliance's Allied Maritime Command and Frontex exchanged letters Sunday on specifics of their tactical and operational cooperation.Now "NATO and Frontex will be able to exchange liaison officers and share information in real time, to enable Frontex, as well as Greece and Turkey, to take action in real time," NATO said in a statement.Stoltenberg said additional NATO assets will also be sent to the Eastern Mediterranean. The German, Canadian and Turkish naval vessels deployed Feb. 11 have already been joined by a Greek unit, and Stoltenberg said France has announced it is sending a ship and that other allies are expected to follow suit.He stressed that NATO ships and crews "will not turn back the boats" carrying migrants, many of whom are fleeing war or poverty in their Middle Eastern or African homelands."What we will do is to support, assist, help the Turkish and the Greek authorities and the European Union," Stoltenberg said. He called the agreement reached for joint NATO-EU efforts in the field unprecedented.In a statement, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Home Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos hailed the "common understanding with NATO" formalized Sunday as "an important contribution to international efforts to tackle smuggling and irregular migration in the Aegean Sea."On Monday, Stoltenberg is scheduled to meet in Brussels with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu.