German Cabinet approves military assistance for campaign against ISIS in Syria

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Friday 04 Dec 2015 - 16:52 Makkah mean time-22-2-1437 (Image from Getty Images) Berlin, (IINA) - Germany's parliament has voted on Friday to send German military support to the US-led coalition mission against ISIS militants in Syria, BBC reported. Tornado jets for reconnaissance, a naval frigate and 1,200 soldiers will be sent to the region. The vote comes after a French request following last month's Paris attacks. Ministers believe Germany is now an ISIS target too. On Thursday, British warplanes carried out their first air strikes on ISIS targets in Syria after the country's parliament authorized the military operation. "I would not have imagined two years ago what sort of an abyss we would be staring into", Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said earlier this week. This will be Germany's biggest current military operation abroad. The mandate will initially last a year and will cost €134m (£97m; $146m). The German army says that forces will be deployed "in and over Syria where ISIS is operating, on the territory of states whose governments have given approval [to Germany], in the eastern Mediterranean, Gulf, Red Sea and adjoining seas". Aside from aircraft, the naval frigate Sachsen will help support the French aircraft carrier ‘Charles de Gaulle’ in the eastern Mediterranean. Germany's Armed Services Association has cautioned against entering a conflict without clearly defined goals. "I am working on the basis that this fight, if it is taken seriously, will go on for well over 10 years", the association's chairman Andre Wuestner told German TV this week. Green Party chairwoman Simone Peter has expressed concern about the legal basis for the mission without an explicit UN resolution authorizing it. After the Paris attacks last month the UN Security Council adopted a French resolution calling on UN member states to "take all necessary measures" to "prevent and suppress terrorist acts" committed by ISIS, Al-Qaeda and affiliated terrorist groups. France also invoked an EU Treaty clause on mutual defense - Article 42.7 - to get help from its EU partners in the fight against ISIS. AG/IINA