US wants Germany to send troops to Syria

(July 9)As the US plans to withdraw some of their troops from Syria, US officials would like Germany to send troops to replace them. However, yesterday Germany announced it would not send any troops to Syria.

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Germany to continue in anti-ISIS operation

German spokesperson, Steffan Seibert said that while Germany will still contribute to anti-ISIS operations the framework of the coalition has always made it clear that this would not include German troops on the ground.

US pushing Germany to send troops

Trump has constantly complained the NATO allies do not spend enough on their militaries or contribute enough. As long ago as last May, Trump threatened to "deal with" those countries, including Germany, that did not spend enough: "The veiled threat came at a cabinet meeting in Washington on Thursday, which was attended by NATO’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg.

“We have some that don’t [provide a sufficient contribution to NATO] and, well, they’ll be dealt with,” Trump said, as cited by Reuters. Berlin, in particular, “has not contributed what it should be contributing and it’s a very big beneficiary,” he told Stoltenberg."

The US officials claimed that the deployment could be described as non-combat troops to avoid controversy in Germany.

Germany sending troops would be illegal

German officials argue that post-World-War-II laws which limit Germany's military engagement overseas almost certainly would make sending troops to Syria illegal. There is opposition to any such moves among many German MPs. The government is almost certain to consult the German parliament before sending any troops.

Angel Merkel would probably not be able to send troops even if she were so inclined. The US pressure has failed to persuade Germany to send any troops to Syria.

Deutsche Welle report on the issue

Deutsche Welle the well-known German international media broadcaster had a recent account of the US request: "US Special Representative for Syria Engagement James Jeffrey has called on Germany to send military trainers, logistics specialists and technicians to help the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group. "We want ground troops from Germany to partially replace our soldiers," Jeffrey said in an interview with the German Deutsche Presse-Agentur news agency and the weekly Welt am Sonntag newspaper, before adding that he expected an answer from the German government this month."

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