Denmark is to dispatch seven F-16 fighter jets to Iraq to aid in the struggle against Islamic State militants, Danish PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt announced Friday.
The US filed a request with Denmark on Thursday to contribute to
the international air campaign against Islamic State (formerly
known as ISIS, or ISIL) in Iraq. Thorning-Schmidt said that the
F-16s would be limited to flying in Iraq and would not be
targeting any areas in neighboring Syria.
“I am very pleased that there now is a broad coalition,
including countries in the region who want to...
contribute,” she told a press conference. “The terror
organization ISIS cannot be defeated with military means
alone.”
She added that Denmark had also received a “concrete
request” from the Iraqi government. “IS is a terrible
organization that Denmark will take part in fighting,” she
said.
Denmark has already provided a Hercules transport aircraft –
which has been involved in the transportation of weapons, aid and
munitions to those fighting IS.
As well as Denmark, jets from the US, France and Arabic countries
have been joining the struggle. On Friday, British Prime Minister
David Cameron also urged UK legislators to vote in favor of
airstrikes on Iraqi militants in a vote he is expected to win.
The Netherlands and Belgium have also contributed six fighter
jets apiece.
While Denmark has said that it will not be sending jets to Syria,
US jets have been carrying out airstrikes inside the country’s
borders. On Friday, the US launched a new round of airstrikes,
obliterating four tanks in the hands of Syrian militants, in
addition to several other IS vehicles in Iraq, the Pentagon
reported.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York this week, US
President Barack Obama called Islamic State a “network of
death.”
At the beginning of September, a mosque in Denmark openly
declared its support for IS, days after a Dane who fought with
the terrorist organization in Syria stated that Denmark was
“high upon [IS's] list of targets.”
Fadi Abdallah, a spokesman for the mosque, located in Denmark’s
second-biggest city, the port of Aarhus, told the online news
source Den Korte Avis: “An Islamic state will always be what
Muslims long for. Therefore we cannot help but to support the
Islamic State. Even if it makes mistakes, we will just have to
wait and see.”
The news came less than a week after a Danish-Turkish jihadist,
who was born and raised in Denmark and only referred to himself
as OA, told Danish broadsheet newspaper Politiken that IS
“has become very international and Denmark is high up on the
list, believe me.”
The Danish Security and Intelligence Service, PET, has said that
15 Danes, out of the 100 or so who have gone to the Middle East
to fight as jihadists, have been killed in Syria fighting for IS
in the country's civil war.