German parliament votes for military strikes against Isis in Syria

Germany plans to send up to six Tornado reconnaissance planes and tanker aircraft, as well as a frigate to help protect the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle in the eastern Mediterranean, but won’t actively engage in combat. Lawmakers voted in the Bundestag 445 to 146 to authorize the plan.

German MPs will vote on whether or not to provide military support in the airstrikes against IS in Syria today. The frigate is also to be in place soon.

Although the country is not expected to join Britain, France, Russia and the United States in carrying out air strikes. Russian President Vladimir Putin advocated a joint front against terror in a speech to the nation Thursday as the November 13 Paris terror attacks reshape relations among major powers.

If approved, the soldiers could be dispatched before the end of the year, and would be Germany’s largest current foreign military deployment.

The vote comes after France requested support following last month’s attacks in Paris which left over 100 people dead.

“It is already clear to me that if the world makes such big demands of us, we must also be open to adjustments in terms of personnel”, said von der Leyen, widely seen as a possible successor to Chancellor Angela Merkel. That’s a contrast with 2011, when Merkel kept Germany out of the global intervention in Libya’s civil war, saying the outcome was too uncertain.

Germany is joining other Western countries in the so called fight against the Islamic State.