Germany to limit mission in Iraq, Syria

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (R) and Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari (L) hold a press conference after their meeting in Berlin, Germany on 21 November 2016. ( Erbil Başay – Anadolu Agency )

Germany will next year end its reconnaissance and air-to-air refuelling missions that are part of US-led operations against Daesh, the government decided yesterday, a document seen by Reuters showed.

Germany’s air force will end the flights by 31 October 2019, the document showed, without giving a reason for the decision.

Parts of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), who are junior partners in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition, have raised scepticism towards the flights.

The German cabinet set no end date for a mission by German troops to train Iraqi military personnel, but it is due to be reviewed by 30 April, the document showed.

READ: US pull diplomats from Iraqi city, citing threats from Iran

The lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, will have the final say on the continued deployment of up to 800 German troops in the region.

The German aircraft taking part in the reconnaissance and refuelling missions are currently stationed at Azraq air base in Jordan.

German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said last month during a visit there that she could not rule out a longer-term deployment of her country’s forces in the Middle East, amid a broader debate about a role for Germany in possible military action Syria.

Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.