Germany hints at long-term military presence in Mideast

Germany, a member of the US-led coalition which has been bombarding the Middle East, says it will not reject a possible longer-term deployment of German troops to the region.

Asked on Saturday about the need for a strategic base in the Middle East, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen replied that she could not "rule the idea out."

“First we must bring this deployment to a successful end. I don’t want to rule the idea out, let me put it this way,” she said during a visit to the Azraq air base in Jordan.

The base hosts some 300 German troops operating as part of the US-led coalition that has been carrying out airstrikes on what are said to be Daesh targets in Iraq and Syria since 2014.

The air raids have done little to dislodge the terrorist group, but rather claimed many civilian lives and inflicted damage on the countries’ infrastructure. 

Reports say German special forces are present in northern Syria aiding the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). They are also providing training and weapons to Kurdish Peshmerga militants in Iraq.

SS