Germany would consider a military deployment in Syria if another chemical weapons attack was carried out, according to Bild newspaper.
A report published yesterday said high-ranking officials from Germany and the US had met to discuss possible German involvement in the Washington-led air strikes on Syrian targets.
Earlier this year, the US, UK and France carried out a series of air strikes on suspected chemical weapons facilities in Syria after an alleged chlorine attack on the rebel-held town of Douma.
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If the Bild report is confirmed, it “would be an about-face” for Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has previously ruled out military missions in the war-torn country, Deutsche Welle reports.
A government spokesperson said German officials were holding talks with their allies about the situation in Syria, but did not confirm that the defence ministry was considering the possibility of participating in future military strikes.
“We are in talks with our American and European partners about this situation,” Steffen Seibert said yesterday. There has not been a situation where a decision has had to be made.”
Overseas military action remains a “sensitive and deeply unpopular” topic in Germany, given its Nazi past, Reuters reports. Participation in any air strikes in Syria “would also put Germany on a collision course with Russia, the main backer of President Bashar al-Assad,” it adds.
Andrea Nahles, the head of the SDP, which is in a grand coalition with Merkel’s CDU, said her party “would not approve Germany joining the war in Syria, neither in parliament nor in the government”.
Meanwhile in the US, Donald Trump’s national security adviser said that the US, Britain and France had agreed that another use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government would result in a “much stronger response” compared to previous retaliation, The Guardian reports.
“We’ve tried to convey the message in recent days that if there’s a third use of chemical weapons, the response will be much stronger,” John Bolton said yesterday.
All this comes amid an ongoing bombardment by Russian and Syrian forces on the opposition-run enclave of Idlib, with the UN warning that situation could turn into the worst humanitarian disaster of the 21st century.
