Denmark to pull F-16 fighter jets from Syria, Iraq

Denmark said on Friday it would not extend a six-month mission for seven F-16 jets taking part in a US-led coalition focused on attacking Daesh group targets in Syria and Iraq.

The country will not extend military operations of its seven F-16 fighter jets in Syria and Iraq from mid-December after six months in action, the Danish government said on Friday.
“We have decided to withdraw the Danish fighter jets as planned,” Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen told journalists after a meeting with Parliament’s Foreign Policy Committee.
“Instead of extending the mission we are sending an additional 20 to 21 troops,” he said.
“We are pulling our airplanes out as planned. We have offered the coalition extra help with some construction and engineer troops,” he said after a meeting in the foreign political council.
“It has been assessed whether it would make sense from economical and practical considerations (to extend the mission) ... the conclusion has been that it makes no sense, so we just stick to the plan,” Samuelsen said.
The decision came three days after the Pentagon said a September airstrike in Syria by American, Australian, British and Danish planes — that reportedly killed some 90 regime forces, instead of Daesh fighters — was caused by a string of miscommunications, intelligence shortcomings and human errors.
Instead the Danish contribution in Syria and Iraq will primarily consist of training and analysis teams, which to a large extent will work closer to Iraqi military units.
NATO member Denmark is part of the US-led operation “Inherent Resolve” against Daesh. It said when it joined the mission in June it would review the operation after six months.
On Monday, a US military investigation said Danish war planes were involved in a Sept. 17 coalition airstrike, where a series of “unintentional human errors” killed fighters aligned with the Syrian government instead of the targeted Daesh militants.
The minister made no mention of the incident in his statement.
Defense Minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen said the new troops would bring engineering and construction skills to the operation.
“They will train Iraqi forces in, among other things, de-mining operations and will help our current contribution within training,” he said in a statement.
In the second half of this year, Denmark has provided the coalition with seven F-16 warplanes — four of them operational at any one time — a C-130J transport aircraft and 400 military personnel, including 60 special forces troops.
The transport aircraft would also be withdrawn from the operation, the government said.
Denmark had seven F-16s in Iraq between October 2014 and October 2015, and in April this year lawmakers voted to expand its fight against Daesh into Syria.

Source: Arab News