A defense expert from German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) told media earlier in the day that Germany would become “a more active contributor than it is now”.
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A German frigate could help protect the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle in the eastern Mediterranean, from which fighter jets carry out bombing runs, and the tanker aircraft could refuel them mid-air to extend their range, she said.
Lawmakers from Germany’s ruling parties will meet on Thursday afternoon to discuss how Berlin can provide more support to France in the fight against Islamic State militants following the deadly attacks in Paris.
But Germany has shown increasing willingness to help France more directly since then, with Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen promising 650 troops to the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali to free up French soldiers.
Otte said that “the ISIS can only be defeated militarily, therefore no idea must be ruled out as we engage in the fight against Islamist terrorism”. Since the attacks, Hollande has met with the U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron and President Obama, who both pledged support for France’s military action against Islamic State group outposts in Syria and Iraq.
Hollande will now head to Moscow on Thursday to press his case for an anti-IS alliance to President Vladimir Putin, after receiving few firm commitments from President Barack Obama in Washington.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is poised to ask parliament to back the deployment of Tornado reconnaissance aircraft to Syria, according a senior official from her caucus. During the visit he agreed with the Russian leader that the two countries would unite their efforts against the “common enemy” and will share data on terrorist positions in Syria.
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“There are risks. It is a unsafe operation, no doubt”. “However there are also defense mechanisms set up from the coalition, which has been running strikes to get annually and we are aware that not one aircraft was downed”, she said.
