Germany votes to extend troops deployment at Turkey’s Incirlik base

Germany votes to extend troops deployment at Turkey’s Incirlik base

PanARMENIAN.Net - German lawmakers voted Thursday, November 10 to extend the country’s military support for the global coalition fighting the Islamic State group until late 2017, the Middle East Monitor reports.

An overwhelming majority of German lawmakers, 455 — mostly from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative-left coalition government — voted in favor of the mandate while 139 voted against.

The Bundestag’s decision extended the deployment of nearly 240 German troops, six Tornado surveillance jets and a tanker aircraft to Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base until December 31, 2017.

The mandate has also expanded Germany’s role in the anti-IScoalition, with the country pledging military personnel for NATO’s AWACS surveillance aircraft which will fly over Turkey and international airspace to gather data on IStargets in Syria and Iraq.

Under the mandate, the ceiling on troops will be 1,200.

As part of the mission, Germany will maintain a warship in the Mediterranean to ensure the security of France’s aircraft carrier supporting coalition strikes against IStargets.

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