Germany to end anti-Daesh air support next year: report

By Ayhan Simsek

BERLIN (AA) - Germany is planning to end its anti-Daesh air support mission next year, local media reported.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet decided on Tuesday to end participation in anti-Daesh flights in Iraq and Syria by Oct. 31, 2019, German press agency DPA said.

Since 2015, Germany has deployed six Tornado surveillance jets and a tanker aircraft in the region, to support the US-led global coalition fighting the terrorist group Daesh in Iraq and Syria.

Germany’s parliament is expected to vote this month on a government proposal on the future of German military deployment in Iraq.

The government has already announced that it is willing to extend the military training mission in Iraq, which was set up in 2015, to train the local forces fighting Daesh.

Germany has around 150 troops in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil to train local forces there.