Tag Archives: Germany

In Paris, military chiefs vow to intensify Islamic State fight

PARIS (Reuters) – Defense chiefs from the United States, France, Britain and four other countries pledged on Wednesday to intensify their fight against Islamic State, in an effort to capitalize on recent battlefield gains against the militants.

Islamic State lost control of the western Iraqi city of Ramadi last month, in a sorely needed victory for U.S.-backed Iraqi forces. But critics, including some in the U.S. Congress, say the U.S. strategy is still far too weak and lacks sufficient military support from Sunni Arab allies.

“We agreed that we all must do more,” U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter told a news conference after talks in Paris among the “core” military coalition members, which also included Germany, Italy, Australia and the Netherlands.

A joint statement by the Western ministers re-committed their governments to work with the U.S.-led coalition “to accelerate and intensify the campaign.”

The Paris setting for the talks itself sent a message, coming just over two months after the city was struck by deadly shooting and bombing attacks claimed by Islamic State.

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian sounded an upbeat tone about the campaign, saying Islamic State was in retreat.

“Because Daesh is retreating on the ground and … because we have been able to hit its resources, it’s now time to increase our collective effort by putting in place a coherent military strategy,” he said.

British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said the goal was now to “tighten the noose around the head of the snake in Syria in Raqqa.”

Carter forecast that the coalition would need to ramp up the number of police and military trainers. He also emphasized preparations to eventually recapture the Iraqi city of Mosul from Islamic State and the expanding role of U.S. special operations forces in Iraq and Syria.

COALITION NOT “WINNING”

Still, U.S. Senator John McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and other critics of U.S. President Barack Obama’s approach to the war effort say Islamic State still poses a potent threat.

“ISIL has lost some territory on the margin, but has consolidated power in its core territories in both Iraq and Syria,” McCain said at a Wednesday hearing on U.S. war strategy, using another acronym for Islamic State.

“Meanwhile, ISIL continues to metastasize across the region in places like Afghanistan, Libya, Lebanon, Yemen, and Egypt. Its attacks are now global, as we saw in Paris.”

Carter has sought to lay out a strategy to confront Islamic State, both by wiping out its strongholds in Iraq and Syria and by addressing its spread beyond its self-declared caliphate.

But U.S. officials have declined to set a timeline for what could be a long-term campaign that also requires political reconciliation to ultimately succeed.

Carter announced a meeting next month of defense ministers from all 26 military members of the anti-Islamic State coalition, as well as Iraq, in what he described as the first face-to-face meeting of its kind.

“Every nation must come prepared to discuss further contributions to the fight,” he said. “And I will not hesitate to engage and challenge current and prospective members of the coalition as we go forward.”

(Additional reporting by Marine Pennetier, editing by Larry King)

Germany seeks to limit migration from North Africa, faces integration challenges

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany wants to limit migration from North Africa by declaring Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia ‘safe countries’, officials from the ruling coalition said on Monday, cutting their citizens’ chance of being granted asylum to virtually zero.

The initiative follows outrage over sexual attacks on women in Cologne on New Year’s Eve blamed predominantly on North African migrants that sharpened a national debate about the open-door refugee policy adopted by Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Europe’s most populous country and largest economy has borne the brunt of the continent’s biggest refugee influx since World War Two. Some 1.1 million asylum seekers arrived in the country in 2015, most fleeing war and poverty in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Merkel’s conservative party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), agreed on Monday that Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia – troubled by unrest rather than full-blown conflict – should be designated safe countries.

The step is intended to reduce the number of arrivals from these countries and make deportations easier, CDU general Peter Tauber said after a meeting of senior party members.

Earlier on Monday, government spokesman Steffen Seibert said Berlin wanted to discuss with other European Union states designating Morocco and Algeria as safe countries.

On Sunday, Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said Berlin could cut development aid to countries that are not willing to take back citizens whose asylum applications were rejected.

Asked about Germany’s policy towards Algeria and Morocco, Gabriel told ARD television: “There cannot be a situation where you take the development aid but do not accept your own citizens when they can’t get asylum here because they have no reason to flee their country.”

INTEGRATION

To help integrate refugees and defuse social tensions that have escalated since the Cologne attacks, Gabriel called on Monday for an extra $5.45 billion a year in public spending on police, education and daycare.

“We can only manage the double task of integration, namely accommodating the new arrivals and also preserving the cohesion of our society, if we have a strong state capable of acting,” he said after a meeting of his senior Social Democrats (SPD), the coalition partner in Merkel’s government.

He said Germany needed 9,000 more police, 25,000 new teachers and 15,000 daycare workers, while funds for public housing should be doubled.

His proposal is expected to be approved at federal and state level in coming months.

Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble wants to avoid the government taking on new debt in 2016, but he has admitted this may be difficult due to the ballooning refugee costs.

Part of those costs will be covered with the surplus from last year’s budget, which was a bigger-than-expected 12.1 billion euros.

(Additional reporting by Holger Hansen and Andreas Rinke; Editing by Mark Heinrich and John Stonestreet)

Angry Bavarian politician sends bus full of refugees to German chancellor

BERLIN (Reuters) – An irate local politician from Germany’s southern state of Bavaria took a bus carrying 31 refugees to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office in Berlin on Thursday as a protest against her open-door refugee policy.

The Syrians, escorted by police, arrived after a 550-kilometer trip outside Merkel’s office, where a dozen German protesters, unconnected with them, were chanting “Merkel must go” in protest at her line on immigration.

Peter Dreier, head of the southeastern town of Landshut, acted on a threat he made to Merkel last year when he said his municipality could no longer cope with the number of arrivals.

“I think that we have to ensure the humane treatment of these refugees,” Dreier said upon his arrival in the capital, traveling on the bus with the refugees.

“On this scale and within such a short time we simply can’t guarantee that any more.”

Authorities in Landshut had arranged for the refugees to be transferred into the hands of local authorities in Berlin. They did not get off the bus for an hour amid confusion over what accommodation had been arranged. Only asylum centers appeared to be available.

“I am a little disappointed since I’ve been in touch with the Chancellery and didn’t expect the refugees to be sheltered at camps here in Berlin,” Dreier said.

German newspaper “Die Welt” reported that Dreier eventually decided to pay for the refugees’ immediate accommodation at a hotel out of his own pocket.

Government spokesman Steffen Seibert issued a statement in response to Dreier, saying that accommodating the hundreds of thousands of migrants who have entered Germany in recent months was the responsibility of federal states and municipalities.

“The government is aware that the current number of refugees is posing significant challenges throughout Germany and especially in Bavaria,” Seibert said, adding that additional financial support was being provided to communities this year.

Dreier represents the Freie Waehler, a loose grouping of politicians who do not have a common policy, but campaign on individual issues.

Merkel is under increasing pressure to stem the flow of migrants coming to Germany. Some 1.1 million people arrived last year and several thousand continue to stream in every day and there has been a backlash by right-wing groups.

Mass sexual assaults on women in Cologne at New Year by gangs of young men described by police as being of Arab or North African in appearance, have deepened worries.

The frustration in Bavaria, the main entry point for most migrants, is especially strong with Merkel’s conservative allies, the Christian Social Union (CSU), repeatedly calling on her to introduce a formal cap on migrant numbers. She has resisted such a cap, arguing it would be impossible to enforce.

(Reporting by Reuters Television and Tina Bellon; Writing by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Andrew Roche)

Germany to speed up deportations after Cologne attacks

BERLIN (Reuters) – German ministers outlined plans on Tuesday to speed up the deportation of foreigners who commit crimes, responding to sexual attacks on women by migrants in Cologne which have deepened doubts about the country’s open-door refugee policy.

The assaults on New Year’s Eve, which are the subject of an ongoing investigation, have emboldened right-wing groups and unsettled members of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative party, raising pressure on her to crack down forcefully on migrants who commit crimes.

Under plans unveiled by conservative Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere and Social Democrat (SPD) Justice Minister Heiko Maas, foreigners who are found guilty of committing physical and sexual assaults, resisting police or damaging property, could be deported.

Under current law, most of these crimes carry probationary sentences and do not trigger expulsion.

Merkel welcomed the agreement between the two ministers who represent different parties in her right-left coalition.

“We must make sure the law can take effect as soon as possible. First we have to think how to get the parliamentary process going as quickly as possible,” conservative Merkel said.

On Monday night, more than 200 masked right-wing supporters, carrying placards with racist overtones, went on a rampage in the eastern city of Leipzig, throwing fireworks, breaking windows and vandalizing buildings, police said.

That took place at the same time as roughly 2,000 anti-Muslim protesters marched peacefully in the city center and chanted “Merkel must go”. They held placards showing the chancellor in a Muslim veil and reading “Merkel, take your Muslims with you and get lost”.

More than 600 women have complained of being attacked on New Years Eve in Cologne and other German cities. The complaints range from sexual molestation to theft and police have said their investigations are focused on illegal migrants from north Africa as well as asylum seekers.

In response, Michael Grosse-Broemer, parliamentary whip for Merkel’s conservatives, called on Tuesday for steps to limit immigration from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia by classifying them as “safe countries”.

Germany took the same step for western Balkan countries last year and has seen a sharp drop in arrivals from there since then.

The head of Cologne police was dismissed last week for his handling of the attacks and the SPD interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia Ralf Jaeger is also under fire from political foes.

With more migrants arriving in Europe’s biggest economy, Merkel is under growing pressure to toughen her line on refugees. However, her coalition parties are at odds on a range of other steps.

An INSA poll in Bild daily put support for Merkel’s conservative bloc down 1 point at 35 percent with the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has strongly criticized Merkel’s refugee policies, up 2 points at 11.5 percent.

INSA polls put the conservatives a couple percentage points lower and AfD higher than the other leading polling institutes.

Social tensions have already bubbled to the surface with almost daily attacks on refugee shelters.

On Monday evening, the group of right-wingers who vandalized part of Leipzig held a placard reading “Leipzig bleibt Helle”, or “Leipzig stays light”, an apparent reference to the skin color of residents.

(Editing by Noah Barkin and Raissa Kasolowsky)

Anti-migrant protesters go on rampage in Germany, police say

BERLIN (Reuters) – Over 200 masked right-wing supporters, carrying placards with racist overtones, went on a rampage in the eastern city of Leipzig on Monday night, throwing fireworks, breaking windows and vandalizing buildings, police said.

Emotions are running high in German cities after gangs of young migrant men sexually assaulted women at New Year in mass attacks in Cologne and other towns.

The attacks have deepened public scepticism towards Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-door refugee policy and her mantra that Germany can cope with the 1.1 million migrants who arrived in the country last year. It has also fueled right-wing groups.

As roughly 2,000 anti-Muslim “LEGIDA” protesters marched peacefully in the city center, police said a separate group of 211 people walked through the southern Connewitz district before setting of fireworks, erecting barricades and vandalizing property. The top floor of one building caught fire.

The group carried a placard reading “Leipzig bleibt Helle”, or “Leipzig stays light”, an apparent reference to the skin color of residents.

“The 211 people were to a not insignificant degree already on record as being right-wing sympathizers and or members of violent sporting groups,” said police, adding officers brought the situation under control relatively quickly.

Self-styled German soccer ‘hooligans’ tend to join right-wing groups on marches, sometimes starting fights.

The police put the right-wingers in a bus which was then attacked by left-wing supporters.

At the LEGIDA protest, people shouted “Merkel must go” and held placards showing the chancellor in a Muslim veil and reading “Merkel, take your Muslims with you and get lost”.

With the number of migrants arriving in Europe’s biggest economy set to rise further this year, Merkel is under growing pressure to toughen her line on refugees.

An INSA poll in Bild daily put support for Merkel’s conservative bloc down 1 point at 35 percent with the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has strongly criticized the Merkel’s refugee policy, up 2 points at 11.5 percent.

INSA traditionally puts AfD slightly higher than most other polling institutes.

(Reporting by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Noah Barkin)

Iraqi embassy in Berlin issues 1,400 passports for migrants to return

BERLIN (Reuters) – The Iraqi embassy in Berlin has issued 1,400 passports recently for Iraqi migrants who want to return to their home country, the German foreign ministry said on Monday.

A ministry official told Reuters only 150 passports had been issued here by the end of last October and did not give any reason for the sharp increase since then.

Separately, a ministry source said the increase could be related to recent developments in the conflict in Iraq.

Iraq’s elite counter-terrorism forces pushed Islamic State fighters to the suburbs of the city of Ramadi last month in what has been touted as the first major success for Iraq’s army since it collapsed during the militant Islamists’ lightning advance across the country’s north and west 18 months ago.

Iraq was the fifth most important country of origin for asylum applications in Germany in 2015, data from the Interior Ministry shows.

In recent weeks, the German government has urged authorities from migrants’ and refugees’ countries of origin to provide passports for people willing to return.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere has said German development aid for countries should be dependent on whether governments are prepared to take back citizens who do not have any prospects of being able to stay in Germany.

(Reporting by Andreas Rinke; Writing by Michelle Martin; Editing by Tom Heneghan)

Merkel under pressure as Cologne police detail assaults

BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel faced growing pressure to harden her line on refugees on Monday as the first extensive police report on New Year’s Eve violence in Cologne documented rampant sexual assaults on women by gangs of young migrant men.

Cologne police said at least 11 foreigners, including Pakistanis, Guineans and Syrians, had been injured on Sunday evening in attacks by hooligans bent on revenge for the assaults in the western city.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere condemned those attacks and warned against a broader backlash against refugees following the events in Cologne, which have deepened scepticism towards Merkel’s policy of welcoming migrants.

The right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party seized on the latest developments to attack the chancellor while members of her own conservative party warned that integrating the hundreds of thousands of migrants who arrived last year would fail if the influx were not stopped immediately.

“If the influx continues as it has, then integration can’t work,” said Carsten Linnemann, a lawmaker in Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU). “If we get another 800,000 or a million people arriving this year, then we won’t be able to do this,” he added, playing on Merkel’s optimistic “we can do this” mantra.

Speaking on Monday evening, Merkel said Europe was “vulnerable” because it was not yet in control of the situation as it would like to be.

In the eastern city of Leipzig, well over 2,000 anti-Muslim LEGIDA protestors took to the streets, their ranks swelled by anger over the Cologne attacks. They yelled “Merkel needs to go!” and one carried a sign featuring Merkel wearing a hijab and the words: ‘Merkel, take your Muslims with you and get lost’.

A police spokeswoman said there was a roughly equal number of counter-demonstrators.

A report from the Interior Ministry in North Rhine-Wesphalia (NRW) state, where Cologne lies, said 516 criminal complaints had been registered, 237 of which were of a sexual nature.

A separate report from the Cologne police gave graphic descriptions of the crimes, listing case after case of women surrounded by gangs of men who put their hands in the victims’ pants and skirts, grabbed them between the legs, on the buttocks and the breasts, often while stealing their wallets and cell phones.

A total of 19 suspects have been identified, all foreigners.

NRW Interior Minister Ralf Jaeger spoke of “serious failures” by the police, who were significantly outnumbered but never called for reinforcements.

He also criticized them for refusing to communicate in the days after New Year’s Eve that the vast majority of the perpetrators were people with migration backgrounds, blaming this on misguided “political correctness”.

“More than 1,000 Arab and North African men gathered on New Year’s Eve near Cologne cathedral and the main train station. Among them were many refugees that came to Germany in the past months,” Jaeger told a special parliamentary committee in NRW.

“After alcohol and drug excesses came the excesses of violence, peaking with people who carried out fantasies of sexual power.”

A survey conducted by polling group Forsa for RTL television showed 60 percent of respondents saw no reason to change their attitude towards foreigners after the assaults. About 37 percent said they viewed foreigners more critically.

In Leipzig, Olaf Schwermer, one of the LEGIDA protestors, said he was concerned about more attacks if borders were not closed and migrants not deported: “What happened in Cologne only gave us a taste of what’s about to come,” he said.

Elsewhere in the city around 250 right-wingers, probably soccer hooligans, were detained after they set bins on fire, damaged property and set off fireworks, a police spokeswoman said.

DANGEROUS

Jaeger said the sexual assaults had come mainly from North Africans who had traveled to Cologne from other cities, but he too warned against a broader backlash against migrants.

“To label certain groups, to stigmatize them as sexual criminals, would not only be wrong, it would be dangerous,” he said. “Those people who make a direct link between immigration and violence are playing into the hands of right-wing extremists.”

Police officer Norbert Wagner told a news conference that rocker and hooligan gangs had published an appeal on the Internet on Sunday to join them in “violence-free strolls” through Cologne, when in fact they were prowling for foreigners.

Among the victims were six Pakistanis, three Guineans and two Syrians. Witnesses had also seen another man of African origin being attacked, but his identity was unclear because he had not contacted authorities, Wagner said.

No arrests have been made. Local police are beefing up their presence in downtown Cologne in the coming days

The Cologne police force has also set up a 100-strong team to investigate the New Year’s Eve attacks and survey exchanges on social media in the run-up to the night.

Merkel has repeatedly resisted pressure to introduce a cap on the number of migrants entering Germany, arguing this would mean shutting the borders, a step that would doom Europe’s Schengen free-travel zone.

She has talked tougher in recent months, vowing in December to “measurably reduce” arrivals and promising at the weekend to give authorities more powers to crack down on migrants who commit crimes, including deporting them.

But her opponents have been swift to blame her for the events in Cologne.

“Anyone who opens the borders wide must know that they are bringing Tahrir Square to Germany,” leading AfD politician Dirk Driesang said, referring to the square in Cairo that was the scene of protests and sexual assaults in 2011.

(Additional reporting by Tina Bellon in Leipzig, Matthias Inverardi in Duesseldorf and Claudia Doerries in Berlin; Writing by Noah Barkin; Editing by Tom Heneghan)

Asylum seekers among suspects in Cologne’s New Year violence

BERLIN (Reuters) – Nearly two dozen asylum seekers are among those suspected of involvement in mass assaults and muggings on New Year’s Eve in Cologne, officials said on Friday, intensifying a debate about Germany’s welcome for hundreds of thousands of migrants.

Some 121 women are reported to have been robbed, threatened or sexually molested by gangs of men of foreign descent as revelers partied near the city’s twin-spired Gothic cathedral.

The assaults have shocked many Germans and led to calls for tougher laws to punish migrants who commit crimes. On Friday, Cologne police chief Wolfgang Albers, who had been heavily criticism for his handling of the violence and police communications afterwards, was dismissed.

Some 1.1 million migrants arrived in Germany last year, far more than in any other European country, most of them fleeing war or deprivation in the Middle East.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has resisted domestic pressure to introduce a formal cap on the numbers, repeating her “We can do this” mantra to Germans. But the Cologne attacks have deepened scepticism among the population.

Cologne police said on Friday that they had arrested two males aged 16 and 23 with “North African roots” suspected of involvement in the assaults.

SUSPECTS IDENTIFIED

Separately, German federal police said they had identified 32 people who were suspected of playing a role in the violence, 22 of whom were in the process of seeking asylum in Germany.

The federal police documented 76 criminal acts, most them involving some form of theft, and seven linked to sexual molestation.

Of the 32 suspects, nine were Algerian, eight Moroccan, five Iranian, and four Syrian. Three German citizens, an Iraqi, a Serb and a U.S. citizen were also identified.

Interior Ministry spokesman Tobias Plate did not say if any of the suspects had been charged. “The investigations are ongoing,” he said.

Federal police were on duty inside Cologne’s main train station, while state police were deployed outside, near the cathedral, where most of the assaults appear to have taken place. So the numbers probably represent only a portion of the crimes that took place.

Amateur videos from the night show groups of young men jumping around chaotically, shooting fireworks into the crowd and pushing bystanders. A full police report on the evening is due in the coming days.

In response to the assaults, Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) have called for tougher penalties against offending asylum-seekers.

“WHY SHOULD GERMANS PAY?”

A draft paper seen by Reuters ahead of a meeting of the party leadership in Mainz said migrants who have been sentenced to prison or probation should be ineligible for asylum.

“Why should German taxpayers pay to imprison foreign criminals?” said Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, leader of the Social Democrats (SPD), Merkel’s coalition partner.

“The threat of having to spend time behind bars in their home country is far more of a deterrent than a prison sentence in Germany.”

The CDU paper calls for lower barriers to the deportation of criminal asylum seekers, increased video surveillance, and the creation of a new criminal offense of physical assault.

The attacks have raised doubts over whether Germany, which has a large Turkish Muslim community dating from an influx of workers in the 1960s and 70s, can successfully integrate the latest wave despite Merkel’s attempts at reassurance.

“There are many refugees that are happy to have survived, to have made it here, and who are looking for jobs. These people who can contribute to our country are welcome,” Peter Tauber, general secretary of Merkel’s party, told Deutschlandfunk radio.

“But clearly there are also some who haven’t understood what kind of opportunity they’ve been given.”

Julia Kloeckner, leader of the CDU in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate and seen as a possible successor to Merkel, told ZDF television the attacks had been a wake-up call for Germany.

“I think we really need to take off the blinkers,” she said.

(Reporting by Andreas Rinke, Caroline Copley, Paul Carrel and Noah Barkin; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Germans shaken by New Year attacks on women in Cologne

By Madeline Chambers

BERLIN (Reuters) – About 90 women have reported being robbed, threatened or sexually molested at New Year celebrations outside Cologne’s cathedral by young, mostly drunk, men, police said on Tuesday, in events they have described as ‘a new dimension in crime’.

Cologne police chief Wolfgang Albers told a news conference officers described the men as looking as if they were from “the Arab or North African region” and mostly between 18 and 35 years old. “We have one complaint that represents a rape,” he added.

Integration commissioner Aydan Ozoguz warned against putting foreigners and refugees, hundreds of thousands of whom have entered Germany largely from Middle Eastern war zones, under “blanket suspicion”.

Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed shock over the attacks that police said occurred when about 1,000 men split into gangs as officers cleared a square to stop fireworks being thrown from the top of steps into the crowd below.

While politicians also urged people not to become wary of all refugees, the incident fueled calls from right-wing groups to stop letting in migrants.

Germany took in just over a million last year, far more than any other European country.

Cologne mayor Henriette Reker said it was “unbelievable and intolerable what happened on New Year’s Eve” but there was no reason to believe those involved in the attacks were refugees.

Justice Minister Heiko Maas said Germany would not accept such attacks which he described as “a new scale of organized crime”.

Around 150 people gathered in front of Cologne’s cathedral on Tuesday evening to protest against violence against women. One of them held a sign saying: “Ms Merkel where are you? What do you say? This scares us!”

“TOUGH RESPONSE”

The right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has gained in polls in part at Merkel’s expense thanks to a campaign against refugees, said she should close the border.

“Mrs Merkel, is Germany ‘colorful and cosmopolitan’ enough for you after the wave of crimes and sexual attacks?” tweeted AfD chief Frauke Petry.

Merkel told Reker in a phone call the attacks deserved a tough response.

“Everything must be done to investigate those responsible as quickly and completely as possible and punish them, regardless of where they are from,” she said, according to her spokesman.

There are almost daily attacks on refugee shelters.

“Events like that in Cologne foster xenophobia,” said Roland Schaefer, head of Germany’s association of towns and localities.

After a crisis meeting, Cologne mayor Reker said new steps would be taken to avoid a repeat, including increasing police numbers at big events and installing more security cameras.

She stressed that women must feel safe at traditional carnival celebrations next month when the city closes down for five days of drunken street parades and parties.

Reker was stabbed in the neck and seriously hurt in October, just a day before she was elected mayor. Police said that attack appeared to be motivated by her support for refugees.

(Additional reporting by Joseph Nasr and Matthias Sobolewski in Berlin and Andreas Kranz in Cologne; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)

Germany set to join fight against ISIS

German leaders have supported a plan that would allow the country to send 1,200 soldiers to the Middle East to join the fight against the Islamic State, multiple media outlets reported Tuesday.

According to the Associated Press, the plan was endorsed by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet.

The BBC reported the German soldiers won’t be used in combat, and that the country will also send a naval frigate and aircraft for refueling and reconnaissance. Reuters reported Germany’s forces would stay in the region for up to a year and the mission is expected to cost $142 million.

French leaders had asked Germany to help fight the Islamic State after gunmen and suicide bombers linked to the group attacked Paris on Nov. 13, according to multiple media reports.

Germany’s parliament still technically needs to OK the plan, but the AP notes Merkel’s group is in the majority and appears to have the necessary votes needed to formally approve the measure.

Still, some Germans are skeptical about the plan.

Reuters reported some leaders from other political parties fear joining the fight against the Islamic State will ultimately increase the odds of terrorists executing an attack in Germany.