As part of global efforts to uproot Islamic militants in Syria, Britain joined the US, France and Russian Federation on Wednesday in bombing IS targets in the troubled Arab country.
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The mission comes after Ms Merkel agreed to honour a request from France in the wake of the attacks in Paris to provide support for its operations against so-called IS in Syria.
The deployment outlined earlier this week by German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen will involve six “Tornado” reconnaissance planes, a refueling aircraft, a frigate to help guard the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, as well as logistics and command personnel and satellite links.
The German armed forces are expected to start deploying reconnaissance planes in the coming week to Turkey where a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation military base is located.
Meanwhile, François Hollande, the French president, yesterday visited the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier in the eastern Mediterranean off Syria where it is being used to conduct air strikes on Isil targets.
Prior to the vote, German Justice Minister Heiko Maas, cited the legality of Germany’s mission, telling the newspaper Der Tagesspiegel, “The German public can be certain the Syria operation transgresses neither against global law nor against Germany’s Basic Law [its constitution]”.
The opposition hard-left Die Linke as well as members of the environmental Greens had signalled their intention to vote against the military mission.
German MPs on Friday approved the plan for a German non-combat role by 445 votes to 146, the BBC reported.
Germany contributed military resources to Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks in Washington and NY but has not otherwise been a major contributor to foreign missions. The decision to arm the Kurds marked a major change in policy by Germany, which traditionally did not allow weapons transfers to conflict zones.
IS claimed responsibility for the attacks in France that killed 130 people. The country, however, will not participate in airstrikes.
This week, President Obama agreed to send as many as 100 special forces into Iraq, with a mandate to carry out raids inside Syria, after repeatedly ruling out the use of “boots on the ground”.
The move answers a call for help from France following last month’s deadly attacks in Paris.
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A date has not been set for the deployment which is estimated to cost $142 million, although Germany and Turkey were already working this week towards a deal to station the Tornados at the southern Turkish airbase of Incirlik.
