Germany to deploy 1200 troops to help fight Islamic State

“As far as the government is concerned the mission agreed by cabinet serves German security interests”, said Steffen Seibert, spokesman for chancellor Angela Merkel.

The troops would be used to operate and support reconnaissance aircraft, tanker planes and a warship, German Defense Ministry spokesman Jens Flosdorff said Monday, according to several news media.

In a bilateral meeting with Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged Germany’s support for the coalition.

But Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen insisted that Germany would be able to fulfil its commitments to ally France for the fight against Isis.

Germany’s defense minister ruled out on Tuesday any cooperation between German forces due to take part in the military campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria and President Bashar al-Assad or his troops.

“From a military point of view, around 1,200 soldiers would be necessary to run the planes and ship”, army chief of staff General Volker Wieker told Bild am Sonntag newspaper, adding that the mission would begin “very quickly once a mandate is obtained”.

BERLIN-The German cabinet Tuesday approved a planned mission to fight Islamic State in Syria, answering French President Franç ois Hollande’s appeal for an escalation of the worldwide military effort against the Islamist militants.

Britain’s parliament will also vote this week on joining air strikes on Syria.

The mandate is for one year at a cost of 134 million euros ($142 million) and can be extended next year. “That gives us a wide margin”, von der Leyen told broadcaster ARD on Wednesday morning.

The parliamentary vote is set for Friday, with approval considered virtually guaranteed as Merkel’s “grand coalition” government has an overwhelming majority.

Germany will not join France, the United States, Australia and Russian Federation in conducting air strikes in Syria, but the move is significant given the country’s post-war history of avoiding foreign military entanglements and voter misgivings about getting involved in the conflict in the Middle East.

Germany has approved the deployment of 1,200 soldiers to Syria to help fight ISIS – but it will not participate in any front line combat.