Germany votes to extend, expand anti-Daesh mission

By Ayhan Simsek

BERLIN (AA) – German lawmakers voted Thursday to extend their country’s military support for the global coalition fighting the Daesh terror group until late 2017.

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 Dec. 31, 2017.

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