Germany withdraws some soldiers from Iraq due to pandemic

Berlin (dpa) – Germany’s armed forces have begun withdrawing some soldiers deployed in Iraq in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Bundeswehr’s Operations Command disclosed the deployment changes to parliament’s Defence Committee on Sunday. It said the transfers involved troops in non-essential positions and that the first batch have returned to Germany.

The US-led international military coalition in Iraq has already suspending training missions aimed at combatting the Islamic State due the outbreak.

“In the course of this instruction, it was also stipulated that, wherever possible, unneeded personnel should temporarily leave the country of deployment,” said the military’s letter to the lawmakers, which was made available to dpa.