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Albania mulls sending troops to Iraq for fight against IS

Xinhua, March 1, 2017 Adjust font size:

Albania is planning to send troops to Iraq and join the coalition against the Islamic State (IS), Albania's defense minister said Tuesday at a parliamentary committee meeting while presenting ministry's plans for 2017.

This means that Albania will send troops again in Iraq, some nine years after the last operation there.

The first deployment of Albanian troops in Iraq was done back in 2003 and they were then withdrawn in 2008.

Albanian defense ministry is expected to send the draft law to parliament in the next two weeks, together with details of the exact number of soldiers that will be deployed in Iraqi bases and how they will contribute to the war against IS, sources from this ministry confirmed Tuesday.

According to the sources, a special law is needed in this case because this is not a NATO mission but a voluntary mission in which Albania has helped already in different ways, but not with a military presence.

Albania joined NATO in 2009 and since then it has been engaged in several joint operations undertaken by the alliance.

Albania sent first troops in Afghanistan in 2002 as part of the NATO-commanded International Security Assistance Force and continued to gradually increase its role and its involvement in different areas. Endit