Training support for the Bundeswehr in Iraq

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With the training support of the Bundeswehr in Iraq , the German government wanted to equip the Kurdish Peshmerga units in northern Iraq for the fight against the Islamic State . Colonel i. G. Stephan Spöttel was the first commander of the German contingent of training support in northern Iraq. After his death at the end of September 2015, the deputy commander Lieutenant Colonel Jan Heymann took over command of the 102 German soldiers.

The mandate of the Bundeswehr was extended several times and expired on April 30, 2018.

environment

The idea of ​​the federal government was to embed the German support services in a broad political approach supported by the vast majority of the international community. A core element of the international efforts was the sustainable capacity building of the Iraqi armed forces and the security forces of the government of the Kurdistan-Iraq region. The Iraqi central government and the government of the Kurdistan-Iraq region have repeatedly called for immediate support in the fight against "IS".

The Peshmerga ( Kurdish پێشمەرگەPêşmerge, loosely translated: "Those who look death in the eye") are the armed forces of the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan . The Peshmerga are associated with armed units of the Komalah and PDK-I political parties in Iran, as well as the units of several Kurdish parties in Syria .

Mandate and Policy Framework

There was no UN mandate for the Bundeswehr's training mission in northern Iraq . The federal government nevertheless saw the deployment as legitimate within a "collective security system" (Handelsblatt). She referred to a request by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to help in the fight against IS, as well as to corresponding bilateral requests from Iraq. There were and still are doubts about this point of view and the legal and political justification of the federal government.

The Bundeswehr should support the security forces in Iraq and in the Kurdistan-Iraq region with a training mission with up to 100 armed soldiers, was the plan of the federal government at the end of 2014. This was also the request of the CDU / SPD - federal government in January 2015 Bundestag . The German armed forces would act “within the framework of a system of collective security” and as part of “international efforts in the fight against the terrorist organization ISIS”, which, according to the UN Security Council, “poses a threat to world peace and international security”, the German government wrote in their application (18/3561). On January 29, 2015, Parliament passed a roll-call vote on the mission with the votes of the SPD and the CDU / CSU. The federal government puts the additional expenditure related to the mission at around 33.2 million euros. The mandate is limited to January 31, 2016.

On January 28, 2016, the Bundestag voted by roll call to extend the deployment until January 31, 2017. In addition, the contingent was increased to 150 soldiers in order to expand the training aid to include NBC skills , medical services and logistics .

With the acceptance of application 19/1093, the training mission was not extended any further and could expire on April 30, 2018. It was replaced by a "Combat and Stabilization Mission", which also includes training tasks.

development

The Federal Foreign Office had already taken action before the Bundestag decided on the training mission.

In coordination with the Foreign Office , six German soldiers had flown to Northern Iraq at the end of August 2014. They formed the military link at the German Consulate General in Erbil . At the beginning of September 2014, the first shipment of so-called non-lethal military equipment (e.g. combat helmets and protective vests) was brought to Iraq. The first delivery of weapons and ammunition followed at the end of September 2014. With a total of 20 flights, further military equipment (including field kitchens, radios, mine probes, night vision devices, tents) as well as vehicles and weapons (including pistols, submachine guns, assault rifles, machine guns, bazookas) from the armed forces' holdings were transported via Baghdad to Erbil by early November 2014. In total, these transports comprised around 1,365 tons of material.

In addition to Germany, for example, the USA, France, Italy, Australia and the Czech Republic support the Peshmerga with weapons. Overall, according to Der Spiegel, it can be assumed that the entire Kurdish army of around 100,000 men is at least equipped with adequate handguns.

The leadership of the Bundeswehr mission receives information from the Peshmerga about their actions. In August 2015, the Bundeswehr reported that Peshmerga units had been attacked with poison gas bullets . Kurdish Peshmerga fighters complained of irritation of the respiratory tract after being hit by grenades 60 km from Erbil. Officials from the US Department of Defense suspect that it is the warfare agent mustard gas . Previously, the use of chlorine gas was assumed.

From November 2015, Turkey sent Turkish soldiers to the Iraqi region around Mosul . Turkey has a duty to protect the members of the Turkish training mission for Iraqi units in Iraq. Turkey has a training mission in Iraq. This leads to tensions with Kurdish forces.

In August 2020, 6 soldiers were infected with the SARS-CoV-2

Defined tasks

The Bundeswehr defined the following tasks for the mission (according to its own publication):

  • Implementation and coordination of military training courses with a focus on the Erbil area and in coordination with the international partners of the alliance
  • Liaison, advisory and support tasks vis-à-vis the governments in Baghdad and Erbil ( Autonomous Region Kurdistan ) as well as vis-à-vis their security forces and the headquarters of the international alliance against " IS ".
  • Ensuring leadership, liaison, protection and support tasks for the implementation of the mission.
  • If necessary, coordination and implementation of deliveries of humanitarian aid supplies and military equipment to Northern Iraq (see below).
  • Coordination and, if necessary, implementation of strategic air transport for the wounded and treatment of wounded Kurdish or Iraqi security forces in Germany (also done).

German weapons for the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan

According to Spiegel, the Bundeswehr mainly supplied weapons that did not require long instruction. The weapons supplied are valued at around 70 million euros. Parts of the delivery, for example the MILAN missiles or the vehicles, had already been taken out of service by the Bundeswehr or were just about to expire.

Handguns

Surname Type caliber annotation
Walther P1 gun 9 × 19 mm 8,000 delivered from Germany
G36 Assault rifle 5.56 × 45 mm NATO 8,000 delivered from Germany
Heckler & Koch G3 Assault rifle 7.62 × 51 mm NATO 12,000 delivered from Germany
MG3 Machine gun 7.62 × 51 mm NATO 50 from Germany

Anti-tank weapons

Surname Type caliber annotation
Panzerfaust 3 Anti-tank hand weapon 60 mm 400 pieces
FFV Carl Gustaf reactive anti-tank rifle 84 mm 40 pieces
MILAN Anti-tank guided missile 115 mm 60 pieces, delivered from Germany
  • 500 MILAN anti-tank missiles
  • 10 ATF Dingo + tank trucks
  • three ambulance vehicles
  • several million rounds of ammunition

The whereabouts of the weapons

According to ARD research, the weapons of the Bundeswehr are occasionally offered on Iraqi black markets. An HK G36 costs between 4,000 and 5,000 US dollars there. Many Peshmerga fighters finance their escape abroad by selling their weapons.

Training of the Peshmerga

German soldiers of the Bundeswehr train Peshmerga on the Panzerfaust 3.

In November 2015, 93 Bundeswehr soldiers were officially in Northern Iraq. For direct training, units of the infantry (initially paratroopers ; now different units) or tank grenadiers were used. In addition, individual soldiers from the units that make up the equipment were on site. Feldjäger took over security services. Paramedics and comrades from Sweden, Finland, Norway and the Netherlands set up a hospital (Multinational Role 1) in the Kurdistan Training Coordination Center for general and emergency medical care. MAD forces were in northern Iraq to protect themselves and to control the partners on site, but also to gain information about opponents of the Peshmerga . Another focus was on the training of drivers, repairers and ordnance clearance .

Kurdistan Training Coordination Center

The Bundeswehr helped set up a multinational camp for up to 400 soldiers on the premises of Erbil's international airport. Partner nations are Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. The internationally staffed “Kurdistan Training Coordination Center” (KTCC) is also located there. The commanding officer of the center is alternately an Italian or a German colonel. Italian, Hungarian, Slovenian and British trainers are also deployed here.

Since the beginning of the fighting for Mosul , 80 soldiers of the Canadian armed forces have been stationed near Erbil (Camp Érable) . There they operated a field hospital (Canadian-led Coalition Role 2 medical facility) and an air unit made up of 4 CH-146 Griffons to ensure MEDEVAC . Individual members of the Bundeswehr medical service were also assigned to this hospital .

German training shares

German paratroopers trained units in house-to-house combat . In 2015, 10 Peschmerga were trained at the ATF Dingo in the Bavarian Army Pioneer School . For the MILAN training, a group of Kurds was trained in the UN training center of the Bundeswehr in Hammelburg , which is then supposed to pass on the knowledge to their comrades.

criticism

The German government and other supporting states have no influence on the strategy and politics of the Peshmerga commanders. Inner-Kurdish conflicts as well as territorial expansion of the Kurdish areas by means of armed force are to be assumed.

Omid Nouripour ( Greens , member of the German Bundestag ) makes the federal government jointly responsible for the fact that the Kurds in northern Iraq are harassing the Arab population with German weapons. "The Peshmerga are now using the weapons from Germany to enlarge their autonomous areas," claimed Nouripour. In addition, it was already clear at the beginning of the Kurdish war against the terrorist militia “Islamic State” that there was a “highest risk of proliferation ” for the material supplied .

According to Nouripour, the weapons would also be passed on to the PYD , the Syrian branch of the outlawed PKK workers' party . “The German government must now show that it can also exert political influence on the Kurdish leadership in return for the arms deliveries,” said Nouripour in February 2015.

controversy

After the independence referendum on September 26, 2017 and the proclamation of independence by Massoud Barsani, weapons supplied by Germany are said to have been used in clashes between central government troops and Peschmerga groups.

"As the Joint Task Force of the Iraqi Armed Forces (JOC) reports, two soldiers are said to have been killed in the fighting over the rural region of Altun Kupri when the government troops there came under fire from German anti-tank missiles."

Some German politicians, above all Omid Nouripour (Bündnis90 / Greens) and Norbert Röttgen (CDU) are now calling for an end to the arms deliveries, training and other support.

Federal Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen did not see this as a concern, as a spokesman for the ministry announced: "In the war zone, it is not possible to trace the whereabouts of every weapon," said a spokesman for the defense ministry. The Kurds had assured the federal government that the weapons delivered to them from Germany would only be used against IS. "We really have no reason to doubt that these agreements will be violated on a larger scale," said the spokesman. Watch the situation closely. "

Individual evidence

  1. German contingent leader in Northern Iraq died on reservistenverband.de on September 24, 2015, accessed on December 4, 2015
  2. Left demands UN mandate: Syria deployment of the Bundeswehr is contrary to international law In: handelsblatt.com , November 26, 2015, accessed on October 25, 2017.
  3. ^ Decision on the Bundeswehr's deployment in Iraq. German Bundestag
  4. ^ Training mission in Northern Iraq. Bundestag approves extension. Federal Ministry of Defense , January 28, 2016, accessed on January 29, 2016 .
  5. a b The deployment in Iraq. German Federal Armed Forces
  6. Thomas Wiegold : ISIS chemical weapons attack on Kurds: USA suspect mustard gas . August 14, 2015
  7. tagesschau.de
  8. Six German soldiers in Iraq infected with coronavirus , August 18, 2020
  9. Germany delivers these weapons to the Kurds in: Picture from August 31, 2014
  10. More German weapons for Kurds . Handelsblatt; accessed on February 12, 2015
  11. ^ Fight against "Islamic State": Germany supplies anti-tank missiles to Kurds . Spiegel Online , August 31, 2014
  12. Bundeswehr delivers further weapons to Kurds in northern Iraq . ( Memento of the original from July 9, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Nordbayerischer Kurier , April 25, 2015 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nordbayerischer-kurier.de
  13. Peshmerga sell Bundeswehr weapons. January 21, 2016, accessed March 5, 2016 .
  14. Number of German Bundeswehr soldiers involved in international missions In: de.statista.com .
  15. Northern Iraq: Convoy travel day and night. Retrieved March 4, 2017 .
  16. ^ The screwdrivers from Erbil. Retrieved March 4, 2016 .
  17. Search and Disarm - Explosive Training for the Peshmerga. Retrieved March 4, 2017 .
  18. ^ Government of Canada, National Defense: Operation IMPACT. Retrieved March 4, 2017 (English).
  19. With a Canadian rescue center in Iraq. Retrieved March 24, 2017 .
  20. Nouripour accuses Kurds of misusing German weapons . Zeit Online , February 27, 2015
  21. a b tagesschau.de: Northern Iraq: Report on shelling by German weapons. October 23, 2017. Retrieved October 23, 2017 .
  22. tagesschau.de: Bundeswehr mission: Röttgen against “business as usual” in Iraq. October 22, 2017. Retrieved October 23, 2017 .