German Armed Forces Not Allowed to Leave Bases in Iraq after Killing of Iranian Top Cmdr.

By Staff, Agencies

The German Armed Forces, Bundeswehr, have restricted the ground and air movements of its soldiers stationed in Iraq for security reasons following the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, who headed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, carried out by the US military. Spokeswoman for the command of the German Defense Ministry Christina Routsi revealed that German troops deployed as a part of the international coalition have been prohibited from moving outside of military bases.

"There are changes in the situation for soldiers in Taji and Baghdad, they cannot move outside military locations. This is the change", she said.

According to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, there are currently 27 Bundeswehr soldiers tasked with training Iraqi forces in the Taji military complex 30 kilometers north of the country’s capital Baghdad. The programs for engineers include nuclear, biological and chemical defense, as well as logistics and construction. According to the representative of the Operations Command based in Potsdam, they are continuing their work as planned. However, only preparations for the next course, scheduled for mid-January, were underway in Taji when the restriction was announced.

There are also five German staffers at the headquarters of the anti-Daesh [Arabic acronym for “ISIS” / “ISIL”] coalition in Baghdad, while almost 90 troops are deployed in northern Iraq to train Kurdish fighters. The German contingent fighting Daesh has 415 staffers and is run from Jordan.

Meanwhile, the Green Party has called for a temporary halt to Bundeswehr activities in Iraq after the attack. Its policy spokesman in the Bundestag, Omid Nouripour, stated that the killing of the top Iranian commander in Iraq is a "rapid slide into a major military escalation". He called on the German government to use "all mechanisms of crisis diplomacy".

"In addition, the Bundeswehr mission in Iraq must be suspended immediately until it is clear how the security of our soldiers can be guaranteed", he said, noting that the cabinet letting the Bundeswehr stay there under these circumstances raises questions, arguing that “the effectiveness of this mission can no longer be demonstrated".