Copenhagen: Denmark will commit F-16 warplanes to the fight against Islamic State in Syria and 400 military personnel to fight the jihadist group in Iraq, Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said Friday.
A majority of political parties in parliament's foreign affairs committee expressed support Friday for the government's proposal, and "the government will on the basis of today's meeting submit a bill to a parliamentary vote to strengthen the campaign against IS," a statement from the prime minister's office said.
The vote is scheduled for April 19.
"It is a serious decision to send Danish men and women on a mission in the world's hot spots. Therefore, I am grateful that the government's proposal enjoys broad support from the parties in parliament," Rasmussen said.
The Danish contribution, which also includes a transport aircraft, would be available from mid-2016.
The 400 military personnel stationed in Iraq will include pilots, support staff and 60 members o f the special operations forces.
Foreign ministry spokesman Lars Peter Levy stressed that no Danish ground troops would be stationed in Syria.
"That's right," he told AFP.
"Right now we're focusing on the proposal and the proposal includes... F-16s in Syria and sending special forces to Iraq."
Levy said Denmark's decision was "both a response from a request from the US and a natural follow-up after we pulled our F-16s out last year."
Denmark is a member of the international US-led coalition against IS, but has so far only had a mandate to intervene in Iraq.
In October 2014 until October 2015, it had seven F-16s in Iraq to help combat IS militants.
It currently has around 120 troops stationed at the Al-Asad air base near Baghdad, where they have been training Iraqi soldiers and Kurdish security forces.
About 65 nations are in the US-led coalition in Syria, but American warplanes and drones do the lion's share of work.
AFP
