Germany commits to join campaign against IS as Britain eyes airstrikes

The German cabinet has approved plans to join the military campaign against Islamic State in Syria. Germany will commit up to 1,200 soldiers to support the international coalition fighting the militant group under the plan, which requires parliamentary approval. It also intends to send Tornado reconnaissance aircraft, tanker aircraft and a warship in support roles - but will not actively engage in combat. In Britain, Prime Minister David Cameron is planning to put to a Commons vote tomorrow whether the UK should begin airstrikes on IS targets in Syria.

The top line is: there will be no cooperation with Assad and no cooperation with troops under his command.

Ursula von der Leyen, German defence minister

While Chancellor Angela Merkel’s governing coalition has a large majority and approval looks assured in a similar vote tomorrow, the issue in the UK is a little more uncertain as scores of MPs on all sides of the House are set to vote against an expanded role. In Germany, defence minister Ursula von der Leyen insisted there was no future for Syrian president Bashar al Assad. However, that did not exclude the possibility of including some of those currently on Assad’s side in a long-term solution for the country, she said. "We must avoid the collapse of the state of Syria,“ she said.

Europe Germany Syria