“Our overriding interest is that is that Iraq’s stability and unity doesn’t become a casualty of the recent escalation,” Maas said in a statement posted to the foreign ministry’s Twitter.
“We will respect every decision [Iraq makes],” the German FM said prior to an Iraqi parliament vote on whether to expel foreign forces from Iraq.
Later on Sunday, 172 of 329 MPs voted to approve a non-binding resolution asking for government to approve the expulsion of foreign troops.
The vote was in response to US airstrikes that killed notorious Iranian General Qasem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Mohandis, deputy head of the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, known in Arabic as Hashd al-Shaabi).
In a self-defensive move, the US-led Global Coalition against ISIS announced prior to Sunday’s vote that it would limit operations in Iraq and suspend its training of the country’s forces.
On Monday, Abdul-Mahdi’s spokesperson announced the government had restricted the functions of the Coalition and US forces to training and advisory roles only, denying the forces ground and airspace access.
Coalition forces, including a NATO program headed by Canada, train, advise and assist Iraqi forces in the continuous fight against ISIS sleeper cells in Iraq.
Germany has been a core member of the anti-ISIS global coalition. It has deployed roughly 100 soldiers to the Kurdistan Region to train Peshmerga Forces, and it has a further 60 at Iraq’s Taji military base to the north of Iraq.
Besides training, Germany has also provided Iraqi and Kurdish forces with equipment and logistics, including the famous French-German MILAN anti-tank weapons which helped the Peshmerga contend with ISIS’ heavily-fortified suicide vehicles.
In May of 2019, Germany suspended training of Iraqi and Peshmerga forces amid ongoing US-Iran tensions.
In September, it decreased its troop numbers in the Middle East from 800 to 700. It also extended its mission in the Coalition until October 2020.
In light of US-Iran tensions playing out on Iraqi territory, General Eberhard Zorn, Inspector General of Germany Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) announced on Sunday that he would halt systematic troop rotations of German forces.
The threat of rocket attacks by Iran-backed PMF militias on Iraqi bases hosting foreign troops remains a serious threat.
“If the Iraqi government wanted for our joint efforts in fighting Daesh [Islamic State] until its enduring defeat continue- including the training mission of the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO) headed by Canada, then solutions that end the targeting of these missions, based on the intention of the hosting country and as a respect to its sovereignty, need to be ended,” Ulric Shannon, the Canadian Ambassador to Iraq said in a tweet on Sunday.
The German Foreign Minister also expressed a desire to continue working with Iraq. “We are ready to continue our support if it is wanted and the situation allows for it,” Maas added. “The fight [against ISIS] is not over yet. IS [Islamic State] still remains a serious threat.”
On Sunday, the leaders of France, Britain, and Germany called for an end to escalation in Iraq.
“We have condemned the recent attacks on coalition forces in Iraq and are gravely concerned by the negative role Iran has played in the region, including through the IRGC and the Al-Qods force under the command of General Soleimani,” said the three leaders in a joint statement.
“There is now an urgent need for de-escalation. We call on all parties to exercise utmost restraint and responsibility. The current cycle of violence in Iraq must be stopped.”
Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that its minister, Mohammed Ali al-Hakeem, met the French, German, and British ambassadors to Iraq on Monday to “discuss the recent security developments in Iraq.”
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