Danish government aims to send special forces to fight ISIS
Denmark is seeking to establish bi-partisan support for the deployment of special forces soldiers to Iraq and Syria to support United States-led operations against Islamic State (ISIS).
They hope to send, according to Defense News, 30-50 members of the special forces and have them available for any coalition operations. This comes just after the United States deployed approximately 200 such forces to have them at hand if they need to launch raids against targets of strategic importance to ISIS. U.S. special forces were joined by the Kurdish Peshmerga last October on a raid against ISIS-occupied Hawija. There they attacked an ISIS-run prison and freed all 69 prisoners after intelligence informed them that their execution was imminent.
In addition the Danish government is also contemplating redeploying F-16 fighter jets to support coalition air strikes.
Denmark previously deployed a squadron of F-16's to the anti-ISIS coalition in October of 2014. They were withdrawn in October 2015 after flying, according to Danish government figures, 547 missions and dropping 503 bombs on targets they believe to have been connected to ISIS.
"It is our hope that the F-16 squadron can return and play its part in the fight against ISIS sometime in 2016," said Danish Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen.
They hope to send, according to Defense News, 30-50 members of the special forces and have them available for any coalition operations. This comes just after the United States deployed approximately 200 such forces to have them at hand if they need to launch raids against targets of strategic importance to ISIS. U.S. special forces were joined by the Kurdish Peshmerga last October on a raid against ISIS-occupied Hawija. There they attacked an ISIS-run prison and freed all 69 prisoners after intelligence informed them that their execution was imminent.
In addition the Danish government is also contemplating redeploying F-16 fighter jets to support coalition air strikes.
Denmark previously deployed a squadron of F-16's to the anti-ISIS coalition in October of 2014. They were withdrawn in October 2015 after flying, according to Danish government figures, 547 missions and dropping 503 bombs on targets they believe to have been connected to ISIS.
"It is our hope that the F-16 squadron can return and play its part in the fight against ISIS sometime in 2016," said Danish Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen.