Bundeswehr mission in Syria

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A German Tornado type reconnaissance aircraft in Northern Iraq (2017)

The Bundeswehr mission in Syria ( code name Counter Daesh and part of the US-led Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve ) to combat the terrorist organization Islamic State was discussed by the German government from the end of November 2015 , debated in the Bundestag and by a majority on December 4, 2015 decided by the votes of the coalition parties without a UN mandate . An expansion was decided in the Bundestag on November 10, 2016 and extended to December 31, 2017. 114.5 million euros were made available for this. The reason given was that the terrorist attacks in Tunisia , Turkey, Beirut , against Russia and, above all, in Paris had shown that the terrorist organization posed a global threat to peace and security far beyond the areas it currently controls in Syria and Iraq . With the attacks in Paris, ISIS attacked France and Europe's liberal values directly.

The Bundeswehr is to support the French armed forces with a frigate and six Tornado- type reconnaissance aircraft - but armed attacks (such as by participating in the air strikes of the international anti-IS coalition ) are not planned on the German side. A contingent of 1200 soldiers is estimated, which would currently be the largest foreign deployment of the Bundeswehr . Because of the risks associated with the unclear situation in the civil war in Syria , which has been going on since 2011 , the concept of the deployment and the policy of the Federal Government, the deployment of the Federal Armed Forces is controversial.

background

  • IS-controlled areas in Syria and Iraq
  • Controlled by Syrian rebels
  • Controlled by the Syrian government
  • Controlled by the al-Nusra Front
  • Controlled by the Iraqi government
  • Controlled by Syrian Kurds
  • Controlled by the Iraqi Kurds
  • Controlled by the Lebanese government
  • From the Hezbollah controlled areas

    • The civil war in Syria began with the “ Arab Spring ” in several Arab states in 2011. Seen from the outside, the conflict initially appeared as a rebellion by various forces against President Bashar al-Assad . However, the military opposition soon also consisted of religiously motivated, Sunni Groups, financially supported from the Gulf region. The military opposition found no international support comparable to the international military operation in Libya in 2011 . In the course of the civil war, the terrorist organization IS or "Daesh" was formed from parts of various groups . It operated mainly in eastern Syria and western Iraq at the end of 2015.

    The German government under Angela Merkel has been striving for a diplomatic solution since the outbreak of the civil war in Syria. From September 2014 she was a member of the US-led coalition of ten nations, the USA , Great Britain , France , Germany , Italy , Denmark , Turkey , Poland , Canada and Australia . US Secretary of State John Kerry spoke of a core coalition in order to avoid the concept of a coalition of the willing . As part of this coalition, Germany supported the Kurdish Peshmerga in northern Iraq with weapons. In November 2015 the coalition comprised 64 states and pursued a comprehensive strategy with the lines of action “military”, “interruption of financial flows”, “interruption of the inflow of foreign fighters”, “communication strategy” and “stabilization”. The Federal Government was involved in all five areas, including the “Military” working group and, together with the United Arab Emirates , chaired the civilian “Stabilization” working group, which aims to stabilize the areas in Syria and Iraq liberated from the terrorist organization would have. Up until the end of September 2015, the federal government had always refused to engage in military action.

    At the end of September 2015, Europe intensified its efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the war in Syria. The Europeans and the US seemed increasingly prepared to tolerate Assad's remaining in power for the time being and to clarify his replacement at a later stage of possible negotiations. Chancellor Angela Merkel said that in order to make progress, you have to speak to many actors, and that includes Assad.

    After the terrorist attacks of 13 November 2015 Paris who arranged French President Francois Hollande , a strengthening of air strikes against the IS. At the same time he campaigned for a broad international coalition against the jihadists , making explicit reference to Article 42, Paragraph 7 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty , among other things . This is the first case where the request for military assistance is made with reference to this treaty; the NATO alliance case, however, was not used.

    Another motive of the federal government is given by the refugee crisis in Europe in 2015 . Most of the refugees from the civil war in Syria try to get to Austria or Germany via Turkey , Greece , Macedonia , Serbia , Hungary (or Slovenia ) . All of these countries complained about the pollution and discussed the erection of border fences. A solution to the conflicts within Syria, at least pushing back the IS, which is terrorizing the civilian population and killing adherents of all non- Sunni faiths (see IS ideology ), could relieve the EU countries.

    Actors in Syria

    The USA, France, currently Russia and all other countries reject the use of ground troops . Jakob Augstein published a list of the groups that were active at the start of the German engagement in Syria - "without claim to completeness": The extended list:

    Bundeswehr operations in the area

    260 Bundeswehr soldiers have been stationed in Turkey, near the border with Syria, as part of NATO's Operation Active Fence Turkey (AF TUR) since 2013 in the city of Kahramanmaraş . On December 14, 2012, at the request of Turkey, the Bundestag decided, for the first time, to send German armed forces to reinforce the “integrated air defense of NATO”. The current mandate was limited to January 31, 2016 and allowed the deployment of up to 400 soldiers. The operational deployment of the Bundeswehr ended on October 15, 2015. On the same day, preparations for the relocation began. The Bundeswehr was supposed to protect Turkey from rocket fire from Syria with its PATRIOT air defense systems.

    In addition, Kurdish Peshmerga are fighting with Bundeswehr weapons in Syria and Iraq. With the training support of the Bundeswehr in Iraq , the German Federal Government is supporting the Kurdish Peshmerga units in the autonomous region of Kurdistan in the fight against IS through arming and training. 102 German soldiers from the military police , paratroopers , MAD and paramedics are deployed in northern Iraq.

    The Incirlik Air Base is located near the city of Adana , which in turn is a gathering point for IS volunteers who have come from abroad and want to go to Syria. Some time ago, a ban on going out was imposed on American soldiers at the base.

    Commitment from the federal government

    The Charles de Gaulle berthing in India (2015)
    Articulated launch unit of the S-400 air defense system as used by Russian forces in Syria

    The German government under Angela Merkel announced on November 28, 2015 that it wanted to deploy six tornado reconnaissance aircraft and a frigate to fight the IS militia. The frigate Augsburg should protect the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle in the Mediterranean together with a Belgian frigate . On December 1, 2015, the federal government decided to deploy up to 1200 soldiers.

    It was initially unclear whether Russia, for example, should also receive the results of the German reconnaissance. When asked, Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said no . The Russian Air Force stationed its S-400 missile defense on the Syrian base of Latakia immediately after the Turkish shooting down of a Sukhoi Su-24 of the Russian Air Force and before the announcement of the planned Bundeswehr mission in Berlin . The S-400 system is used to effectively combat ballistic missiles and supersonic combat aircraft. As parties to the conflict in the Syrian civil war, only the armed forces of Syria, allied with Russia, and the western and Arab allies of the anti-terror coalition have appropriate weapons and warplanes. It is unclear how the western fighter jets, including the German tornadoes, will act under the umbrella of the S-400 missile defense without consulting Moscow.

    Political debate

    Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen promised that there could be cooperation with the Syrian army and shortly thereafter specified that this would only be the case if it were no longer under the orders of President Bashar al-Assad.

    The Federal Armed Forces Association calls on the federal government to define clear goals for a Syria mission. “War is not an end in itself”, said the chairman André Wüstner and further “It needs clear goals and a strategy. And we are still waiting for answers. ”He assumes that“ this struggle will last for more than ten years ”. That is why a “regulatory goal” is required. He made it clear that the terrorist organization IS was not limited to Iraq and Syria, but that fighting would also be necessary in other countries in the Middle East and North Africa .

    After the operation was mandated by the Bundestag, the Bundeswehr Association reiterated its call for more personnel for the troops. “We currently need at least 5,000 to 10,000 more soldiers,” said Wüstner. This is also necessary "because legal working hours will come into effect from January and rightly no longer allow round-the-clock service in basic operations at the expense of health". The association believes that the reduction in the number of troops has gone too far, since no one had the crisis in Ukraine in mind or the fight against the Islamic State or the extension of the Afghanistan mission in mind during the 2011 reform . At the time, politicians did not assume that more than 20,000 soldiers would be deployed or have the same duties including refugee aid in 2016.

    In front of parliamentarians, the Ministry of Defense promised that flight orders "that do not serve to investigate ISIS would be rejected". It is feared that Kurdish positions could also be identified.

    When asked "Should Germany help France to take military action against the terrorist group 'Islamic State' in Syria?", 58 percent of the Germans surveyed answered "yes" four days before the Bundestag vote; 37 percent were against it.

    Attitude of the parties

    The SPD defense politician Rainer Arnold admitted that a UN mandate would be better, "but there is a UN resolution last Friday and the Europeans pledge to support their partner France." Niels Annen (SPD) said it was possible that individual SPD MPs will not support the mission. In the SPD parliamentary group, 13 members voted against the operation and one member abstained from a trial vote in a parliamentary group meeting, according to Spiegel-Online.

    The CSU believes that Germany cannot refuse to participate in the military and that the use of tornadoes is no different from the previous engagement in terms of quality. They are already actively participating in the fight against IS by delivering weapons to the Peshmerga.

    Alliance 90 / The Greens also initially agree to the operation, but set some conditions. The party wants, among other things, a UN mandate for the operation, but this will by no means exist until the vote. The group leader Katrin Göring-Eckardt said that the Greens had not made the decision easy for themselves, but the group had not made a decision on a unified position. It was only clear that most of the Green MPs wanted to vote against the operation.

    The left criticizes the decision of the federal government. With the Bundeswehr mission in Syria, Germany is moving even more into the focus of violent criminals. The IS terrorists could not be fought by military means. The Islamic State must only be made incapable of fighting by consistently preventing arms deliveries and financial flows. She further criticized the fact that, despite numerous announcements by Turkey, the border between Turkey and Syria was still to be closed and that IS would continue to receive unhindered supplies of fighters and weapons.

    Further assessments

    In Der Spiegel it was stated that there was no strategy at all to defeat IS, or that the use of the Federal Armed Forces did not follow any strategy. At a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, they only agreed that air strikes against IS alone were not enough to defeat IS. Nobody wants to send ground troops. The federal government has only the vague hope that the troops of Assad and the opposition will join forces against IS.

    Ulrich Scholz, Lieutenant Colonel ret. D., former NATO deployment planner and tornado pilot, assessed the deployment in the ARD interview as "quite pointless" from a military-tactical point of view, considered the tornadoes to be out of date, referred to them as " Vietnam technology " and saw no added value for reconnaissance, since US drones and F16 could do better. The technology is useful for assessing the success of combat in destroyed buildings, but not for IS fighters who are in the population with light weapons. According to Schulz, the use of the air force would only make sense as a supplement to ground troops. The Syrian conflict cannot be resolved militarily, and the German mission is a political expression of solidarity with France.

    Thomas Ruttig, co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network based in Berlin and Kabul pointed out that it was not at all clear who should actually be fought against. “It is clear that both Assad and IS are dangerous for the population, but the allies see it differently. And it's not at all clear who the allies are. Nevertheless: The current mission is primarily symbolic politics and comes very late. ”He placed the Syria mission in the context of the Afghanistan mission and pointed out that the Western intervention had become both part of the solution and part of the problem. You have not solved the main problem in Afghanistan, namely to end the war.

    Daniel-Erasmus Khan , Professor of Public Law, European Law and International Law at the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Munich and the Munich School of Politics, has great doubts about the legitimacy of the mission under international law . He accused politics of a lack of care and responsibility. The fact that the federal government cites three reasons to justify the operation is more a sign that one is not really sure of the matter. “A solid building under international law cannot be erected even on three shaky pillars. And such a thing is indispensable here - politicians owe it not least to the soldiers they send into action. "

    The songwriter Konstantin Wecker called for support for a peace rally on December 3, 2015 in front of the Brandenburg Gate . In a statement he wrote: “ Germany wants to join the international coalition against IS with reconnaissance jets, air refueling and a frigate. You don't have to be a pacifist to call this insane. … The greatest enemy of ISIS is tenderness and generosity. The warriors can handle bombs, they laugh at them, they are used to it, it is their language. But they are suspicious of our ' welcoming culture ', which has since become much maligned . When Christians and Jews and Muslims get along, treat each other with respect, it is difficult for them to recruit desperate, frightened and hating young men. For one thing, the madness of ongoing violent retribution must be broken. "

    The chairman of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany , Aiman ​​Mazyek , criticized the deployment of the German armed forces in an interview. He said, "the best and most powerful weapon against terror is a stop on arms deliveries, forcing the regional powers to the negotiating table and [...] a strong reconciliation and peace concept [...] that is the best way to dry up terror and dictatorship worldwide." He described the emergence of the terrorist militias “Islamic State” and Al-Qaeda as “the result of a completely wrong geo and war policy”. It is one of the reasons why there are “absolutely perverse and extremist forms of alleged Muslims,” said Mazyek, referring to the Iraq war . "We sown war, and refugees and terror came."

    The two churches in Germany with the largest number of members, the Catholic and Protestant Church , took different positions. The Catholic German Bishops' Conference considers the use of military force as a last resort against the terrorist organization "Islamic State" to be ethically justifiable. If the “inhuman goings-on” of IS in Syria cannot be stopped in any other way, military force may be used, said Archbishop Ludwig Schick . The peace commissioner of the Evangelical Church in Germany , the chief theologian of the Bremen Church Renke Brahms warned against a deployment of the Bundeswehr in Syria. According to the principles of Protestant peace ethics, a mandate from the UN Security Council must be in place for a military operation as the ultimate means of law-preserving violence . "We must not further undermine international law , which has already been damaged by operations in the past [...] Any direct military intervention or even the deployment of ground troops will accelerate the escalation and also encourage further institutionalization of IS," said Brahms and added: " But that is exactly the calculation of the IS, so we are poking the terrorists on the glue. "

    Mandate of the Bundestag

    The approval of the Bundestag was decided on December 4, 2015 with the votes of the SPD and CDU / CSU . 445 MPs voted for the operation, 145 voted against and seven abstained.

    The mandate was valid until December 31, 2016 and stipulated an upper limit of 1200 soldiers. The estimated costs were 134 million euros for the first year, significantly less than in the most dangerous phase of the Afghanistan mission with more than one billion euros.

    An extension to December 31, 2017 was decided in the Bundestag on November 10, 2016. 114.5 million euros were made available for this. On December 12, 2017, the Bundestag extended the mandate to March 31, 2018. On October 18, 2018, the Bundestag extended the mandate to October 31, 2019.

    Tornadoes were deployed for reconnaissance purposes, a tanker aircraft and a frigate were deployed to protect a French aircraft carrier. In addition, the Bundeswehr mission is supported by satellite reconnaissance and staff are deployed.

    Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen emphasized during the session of the German Bundestag: “The world of thought of the IS is diabolical. We have to fight it and we should fight it. "Foreign Minister Walter Steinmeier emphasized:" We are relying on a political solution. " Jürgen Hardt , foreign policy spokesman for the CDU / CSU parliamentary group, assured him of the dissemination of the results of the aerial reconnaissance:" Turkey will handle our data responsibly. ”However, Defense Minister von der Leyen revised this position a few days later and introduced a system of two censors.

    The application of the federal government (printed matter 18/6866) read as follows:

    "Use of armed German armed forces for the prevention and suppression of terrorist acts by the terrorist organization IS on the basis of Article 51 of the United Nations Statute in conjunction with Article 42, Paragraph 7 of the Treaty on European Union and Resolutions 2170 (2014), 2199 (2015) , 2249 (2015) of the United Nations Security Council. "

    - federal government

    The order is specified in point three:

    "The German contribution serves the fight against terrorism within the framework of the alliance against IS and to support especially France, Iraq and the international alliance in their fight against IS by providing air refueling, reconnaissance (especially air, space and sea-based), sea going Protection and staff to support. The following tasks result for the forces involved in the Bundeswehr:

    • Mission support through air refueling,
    • Escort protection and contribution to the security of the naval unit,
    • Maritime and air surveillance,
    • Enlightenment,
    • Exchange and comparison of obtained situation information with other actors of the international alliance against IS within the scope of the order,
    • Performing liaison, advisory and support tasks vis-à-vis the headquarters of the multinational partners and within the framework of the international alliance against IS,
    • Guarantee of leadership, liaison, protection and support tasks for the implementation of the deployment of German forces, possibly also rescue and repatriation of isolated personnel. "
    - federal government

    After the Bundestag debated the operation on the morning of December 4, 2015, the government put the proposal to a vote. 445 MPs voted for the mandate, against 145. Seven MPs abstained.

    The yes votes came almost exclusively from the coalition camp of CDU / CSU and SPD. The left-wing faction had announced a unanimous no, the Greens a majority rejection.

    Constitutional and international law basis

    The mandate of the Bundestag cites the legal basis for deployment for the Bundeswehr:

    • Article 51 of thestatute of the United Nations, whichensuresthe “natural right to individual or collective self-defense” in the event of an armed attack pending a decision by theUN Security Council. France invokes this right. The BundeswehrMission aims to supportFrance, Iraq and the United States-ledinternational alliance against the Islamic State"on the basis of the right to collective self-defense in accordance with Article 51 of the United Nations Charter". Especially since the Security Council has repeatedly stated that “the terrorist organization IS poses a threat to world peace and security”.
    • The UN resolutions numbers 2170 (2014), 2199 (2015) and 2249 (2015), which particularly call on the member states of the UN to take “all necessary measures” in Syria and Iraq “to prevent acts of terrorism”.

    The legal doubts are not dispelled with this combination. There was skepticism among the Greens and the Left, but also in the SPD and Union parliamentary groups, and there are also concerns among legal experts in the Federal Government as to whether UN Resolution 2249 (2015) would be sufficient. Because so far there is no explicit UN mandate for a peace enforcement measure in Syria according to Chapter VII of the UN Charter . Whether there is an implicit mandate is disputed.

    The mandate given by the Bundestag allows the Bundeswehr soldiers involved to use force “to carry out their orders”. This means, on the one hand, the defense and rescue of one's own soldiers. But also the protection of allies. The reconnaissance tornadoes are armed and should actively defend themselves if they are attacked.

    The Bochum international lawyer Hans-Joachim Heintze sees a "legal gray area" in the operation. Heintze criticized: “It is a great achievement in international law that the use of force between states has been banned by the Charter of the United Nations. There are only two exceptions to the fact that states are entitled to use force: on the one hand, this is the classic case of self-defense, which takes place after an armed attack on a state, and on the other hand, the Security Council of the United Nations authorizes states to To use force because there is a case of endangerment and serious threat to international security or international law. In these cases one might use force. However, there is no such resolution that would authorize the Federal Republic of Germany or France or the USA to use force in Syria. "

    The international lawyer Daniel-Erasmus Khan considers the use to be illegal. He argues that France has not been attacked by a state (ISIS is classified as a terrorist organization and not a state), nor has the Syrian government asked for help. He also argues: “Even if there were an attack under international law: According to the Federal Constitutional Court, the Bundeswehr may only be deployed to defend another state within the framework of a so-called system of collective security. These are the UN or NATO. For the EU, this is now also being asserted, but it is very controversial and unresolved: the EU has not yet had any military structure. "

    Appeal

    The parliamentary group of the party Die Linke was considering a constitutional complaint against the decision of the federal government to deploy the armed forces in Syria. According to Dietmar Bartsch, the background was a violation of the federal government's oath of office. A check is made as to whether there is a sufficient mandate for the planned deployment. At least there is no clear legal basis for this, says Bartsch.

    The fundamental rights party brought an action before the Federal Constitutional Court on December 6, 2015 (2 BvE 6/15). According to the press release, the background is u. a. the lack of a unanimous decision of the European Council required for such a mission in accordance with Art. 42 Paragraphs 2, 4, 5 of the EU Treaty and the associated violations of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany. By resolution of February 18, 2016, the fundamental rights party's applications were rejected as inadmissible without substantive justification.

    Range of operations of the Bundeswehr

    The F-216 , the Schleswig-Holstein frigate, is one of the frigates that can be used to escort the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. (2010)
    A Tornado Recce of the Air Force with a Recce container under the fuselage (2008)
    An Air Force A310 tanker (2007)

    Inspector General Volker Wieker named a number of 1200 soldiers for the mission. According to him, the Air Force would provide four to six tornadoes to deploy in an overlapping manner. The squadrons come into question: Tactical Air Force Wing 33 from Büchel and Tactical Air Force Wing 51 "Immelmann" from Jagel . Immediately before the first meeting in the Bundestag, the inspectors of the armed forces submitted a deficiency report on December 2, 2015. According to this, of the total of 93 Tornado fighter aircraft, only 66 are in operation and only 29 of them are operational. This corresponds to a share of 44 percent of the aircraft kept in operation. "The situation of the flying systems remains unsatisfactory," said Inspector General Volker Wieker.

    The reconnaissance aircraft could be stationed at two locations, for which the Bundeswehr held talks with Turkey and Jordan via the Incirlik Air Base (NATO) and Amman air bases . The greatest danger to the pilots arises from surface-to-air missiles from warring factions. Before the Bundestag resolution, it was agreed with Turkey that the first “Tornado” reconnaissance jets and a tanker could be relocated to Incirlik immediately afterwards.

    After the German members of the Bundestag were not allowed to visit the Bundeswehr soldiers for several months, a visit was allowed due to political pressure. Therefore, on October 4, 2016, seven MPs from all parliamentary groups set out on a three-day trip to Turkey to visit the Incirlik air force base.

    In view of the deteriorating German-Turkish relations, some German politicians suggested that the Bundeswehr and German weapons be withdrawn from the Incirlik base in order to deploy them elsewhere. After another attempt at mediation failed at a meeting between German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel and his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu at the beginning of June 2017 , Gabriel stated that he saw no other option than to have to relocate the Bundeswehr soldiers to another location outside Turkey. The selected was the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base of the Jordanian Air Force near al-Azraq , around 100 km east of Amman . The tanker has been stationed in Jordan since July 9, 2017; the tornadoes were initially flown back to Germany until July 31, 2017, before being relocated to Jordan on October 4, 2017.

    A frigate was also provided to escort the French aircraft carrier. In the Bundestag, Augsburg (F 213) was named for this role . As part of the European Union Naval Force - Mediterranean , the frigate Schleswig-Holstein (F 216) is already in the Mediterranean. The air refueling of the French fighter jets is ensured by an Airbus A310 of the Air Force. Signal-recording reconnaissance is carried out by the relevant units of the Bundeswehr. The satellite reconnaissance system SAR-Lupe and the two telecommunications satellites SATCOMBw are also used .

    Brigadier General Andreas Schick is the first contingent leader of the air force shares , while the captain of the navy is Frigate Captain Jörg Mascow. Schick was replaced by Colonel Holger Radmann on May 18, 2016.

    Following a request from the left-wing parliamentary group in the Bundestag, the Ministry of Defense announced on March 21, 2016 that 134 reconnaissance flights had taken place since January 8, 2016. 40 percent of the reconnaissance targets were therefore in Syria and 60 percent in Iraq. Six reconnaissance jets are stationed in Incirlik.

    The data are made available to 19 states of the "Anti-IS coalition". This specifically includes Turkey (see Problems of the Mission ). According to the Federal Ministry of Defense, the use of the tornado data for such attacks is prevented with a release note “Only for the anti-IS operation”. Politically, the opposition reacted disturbed; Jan van Aken called it "naive" and "irresponsible" to trust the Turkish government that they would not also use the data for their fight against the Kurds.

    Problems of use

    In Berlin, prior to the Bundestag mandate, it was agreed that misuse of the German intelligence data by Turkey should be prevented. It was decided to strictly censor the distribution. The background to this is the "double game" that Turkey is playing in the war against IS. Ankara has subordinated eight F-16 fighter jets of the Turkish Air Force to the anti-IS coalition , which are also involved in concerted air strikes against IS. At the same time, Turkey is carrying out aerial attacks on the Kurdish militias of the People's Defense Units (YPG) in Syria or the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) (Turkey and Iraq). The YPG are partners of the United States within the framework of the military alliance of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and are fighting on the ground against the Islamists of IS in northern Iraq and Syria. The PKK, in turn, is classified as an underground terrorist movement in the United States and the European Union . It is quite possible that Turkey will also identify Kurdish targets by evaluating German images and fight them later with air strikes.

    The Bundeswehr therefore wants to install two German officers as censors , so-called “red card holders”. They should control both the use of the German tornadoes and the transfer of the collected data. The German officers are to be stationed at the command post of the United States-led anti-IS coalition at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar . They should also ensure that the Bundeswehr tornadoes are not used on missions on the southern edge of Turkey. If this does happen, the officers are supposed to prevent Turkish authorities from receiving intelligence data that they can use to attack Kurdish forces.

    Another problem for the tornadoes and all other flying forces over Syria is the highly frequented airspace. The large number of fighter jets and helicopters of the US-led coalition, Russia and the Syrian armed forces pose a risk because there is insufficient coordination. "The risk of collisions is growing considerably," warns Left Party's defense expert, Alexander Neu . This is not only due to the density of airborne weapons systems, but also to the refusal of politicians to coordinate military operations with Russia and Syria.

    The picture reported that the Special Forces Command (KSK) would intervene in "emergency situations" in Syria. The scenario mentioned was the rescue of a crashed and captured tornado pilot. A KSK mission would be covered by the Bundestag mandate, which also states in the section “Mission”: “Rescue and repatriation of isolated personnel.” However, Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen had previously made it clear that such an operation was “the responsibility of the USA “Lie.

    On May 20, 2017, the Israeli news agency Debkafile, which is closely related to the intelligence community, reported that German special forces had penetrated Syrian soil. Together with Norwegian and Czech units, they operate against the Syrian government's troops supported by Russia. An air strike by US planes on a column of advancing Syrian troops took place in the region on May 18. The military conflict takes place over the dominance over the most direct road connection Damascus - Baghdad , in the area of ​​the border crossing al-Tanf . Debkafile fears in the article an intensification of the clash of the united Syrian-Iranian Hezbollah combat units with the NATO forces involved.

    Web links

    Individual evidence

    1. ^ Air Force Press and Information Center : The German Counter Daesh operation in Syria / Iraq as part of Operation Inherent Resolve. In: luftwaffe.de. October 23, 2018, accessed January 30, 2019 .
    2. ↑ a b c Federal Government : Use of armed German armed forces to prevent and stop terrorist acts by the terrorist organization IS on the basis of Article 51 of the United Nations Statute in conjunction with Article 42, Paragraph 7 of the Treaty on European Union and Resolutions 2170 (2014) , 2199 (2015), 2249 (2015) of the United Nations Security Council . Request from the federal government. In: German Bundestag printed matter . tape 18 , no. 6866 . Bundesanzeiger Verlag, Cologne December 1, 2015, p. 5 ( bundestag.de [PDF; 658 kB ; accessed on January 30, 2019]).
    3. ↑ Christian Dewitz: Parliament allows the use of the Bundeswehr against IS. In: bundeswehr journal. December 6, 2015, accessed December 10, 2015 .
    4. ↑ Kerry wants to form a core coalition against the IS militia. In: Deutsche Welle. September 5, 2014, accessed December 9, 2018 .
    5. ↑ Stefan Braun: Syria - Merkel wants talks with Assad. In: sueddeutsche.de . September 24, 2015, accessed December 5, 2015 .
    6. ↑ Jakob Augstein: When in doubt, left: Merkel's war. In: Spiegel Online . November 30, 2015, accessed December 5, 2015 .
    7. ↑ War in Syria: NATO denounces reinforcement of Russian ground troops. In: Spiegel Online . October 7, 2015, accessed December 5, 2015 .
    8. ↑ Assad, IS, Rebels: The facts about the war in Syria. In: Spiegel Online . August 10, 2016, accessed June 9, 2018 .
    9. ↑ Iranian generals killed in Syria. In: German economic news. October 14, 2015, accessed December 5, 2015 .
    10. ↑ Fighting in the Golan Heights: Israel flies air strike in Syria. In: n-tv.de. November 3, 2015, accessed December 5, 2015 .
    11. ↑ AFP / DW / UC: Dardanelles Strait: Arms ship from North Korea for Syria stopped. In: welt.de . August 27, 2013, accessed October 7, 2018 .
    12. ↑ Jürg Bischoff: The Asad opponents are ready to talk to NZZ from December 11, 2015
    13. ↑ Syrian Army and Hezbollah launch joint offensive. In: handelsblatt.com . July 4, 2015, accessed December 5, 2015 .
    14. ↑ Achim Kling: Relocation to Turkey begins. In: www. Einsatz.bundeswehr.de. November 16, 2015, accessed December 1, 2015 .
    15. ↑ Susanne Güsten: How safe is the Bundeswehr in Turkey? augsburger-allgemeine.de from December 2, 2015
    16. ↑ Ulrich Heyden: Why should the Bundeswehr go to Syria so suddenly? In: heise.de . November 29, 2015, accessed December 1, 2015 .
    17. ↑ tagesschau.de: Cabinet decides to use Syria - demand for strategy. In: tagesschau.de. December 1, 2015, accessed December 2, 2015 .
    18. ↑ Die Welt: Bundeswehr demands up to 10,000 new soldiers
    19. ^ A b Matthias Gebauer: German anti-IS operation: Berlin wants to censor reconnaissance data for Turkey. In: Spiegel Online . December 3, 2015, accessed December 3, 2015 .
    20. ↑ welt.de: The majority of Germans support anti-IS operations. In: welt.de. December 3, 2015, accessed December 5, 2015 .
    21. ^ A b Severin Weiland: War against IS: Bundeswehr in Syria - is Germany allowed to do that? In: Spiegel Online . November 27, 2015, accessed December 1, 2015 .
    22. ^ Fight against IS: 14 MPs from the SPD and Union against Syria Mission. In: Spiegel Online . December 1, 2015, accessed December 3, 2015 .
    23. ↑ a b Fight against IS: Federal government also provides frigates for use in Syria . In: Spiegel Online . November 26, 2015, accessed December 1, 2015 .
    24. ↑ dpa: Debate in the Bundestag: Government defends Syria deployment of the Bundeswehr. In: wiwo.de. December 2, 2015, accessed December 3, 2015 .
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