Uncertainty growing over Germany’s participation in anti-terror global war

By Hani Daniel

There is growing uncertainty over whether Germany will keep fighting IS in Syria and elsewhere. The controversy came as a result of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s failure to form a new government.  Speculations about Germany’s alleged change of heart towards the US-led coalition against Islamist terror were substantiated after an escalating tension between Berlin and Ankara resulted in the German lawmakers being barred from visiting the Incirlik Air Base. There are reports suspecting that Germany has also entered into disputes with Jordan over the same issue.

However, reiterating her country’s commitment to anti-IS war, German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen emphasized that Germany would keep fighting Islamist terror and help stabilize the region. Von der Leyen’s emphasis came during a visit she paid with a group of German parliamentarians to German soldiers in Al-Azraq base in Jordan. The German troops are part of the US-led coalition against the Islamic State terror group. About 1200 German troops, including 320 deployed in Al-Azraq base in Jordan, are taking part in the anti-terror war. The German troops have been stationed in Jordan since they were moved from Turkey last year. In addition, four German reconnaissance planes and a refueling aircraft fly missions from Al-Azraq base.

The German Defence Minister said: “It was important that Germany [should] give assurances that we are reliable.” She warned that the alleged [Muslim] Caliphate Islamist Jihadists are  fighting for had not been defeated.

Von der Leyen had to nix a planned trip in November  due to an impasse in forming a German government. Exploratory talks to form the next German government  collapsed after the Free Democratic Party (FDP) walked out of marathon negotiations with Merkel’s Christian Democrats, its Bavarian sister’s Party the Christian Social Party (CSU) and the Green Party. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier had earlier urged political parties to resume efforts to build a coalition government. He is planning to visit Jordan and Lebanon later this month.

In addition to their fathers’ threat, children of the IS fighters have triggered a nightmare in Germany. The Deutsche Welle  network has revealed that Germany was preparing for the return of 100 children of parents, who had left the country to join IS terrorists fighting in Syria and Iraq.  The kids and very young children are widely considered as time-bombs, which would keep on ticking until they would explode in the face of the German society.

Deutsche Welle’s revelation was substantiated by the German Greens, whose expert of domestic affairs Erine Mihalik told the Bundestag that they were expecting the return of 100 kids and babies of Jihadists in Syria and Iraq. She lambasted the government for basing its plans in this regard on unsubstantiated information. “There is a pressing need for incontestable information to help incorporate these children into society and set up a protective network across the country,” Mihalik said.

About 950 Germans had joined IS in Syria and Iraq in recent years; and only a third of them survived and returned to their country.

It is known that Germany has the duty to protect its citizens and give them access to their motherland. According to Hans-Georg Maassen, the chief of Germany’s  intelligence agency, reports about the return of IS fighters, who have the German citizenship, were unsubstantial. However, he confirmed the return of the Jihadists’ women and children.