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Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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| Information | | |
Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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13May16
Belgium's Anti-ISIS Airstrikes Expand From Iraq Into Syria
The Belgian government, a member of the American-led coalition that has been bombing Islamic State targets for nearly two years, said Friday that it was expanding Belgium's airstrikes beyond Iraq into neighboring Syria.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Charles Michel of Belgium said the decision to broaden the targets of the six F-16 fighter jets it contributed partly reflected pressure from the coalition.
Mr. Michel's spokesman, Barend Leyts, said Belgium's decision also was part of a joint effort with the Netherlands, Belgium's close ally, to battle the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL. Belgium and the Netherlands take turns in participating in the coalition's airstrikes.
The United States military first began hitting the Islamic State's Iraq positions in August 2014 after the extremist group seized parts of northern Iraq and the Iraqi government requested American help. The next month, the United States widened the airstrikes into Syria, home to the Islamic State's de facto capital in the city of Raqqa.
"Belgium decided to do this because it's impossible to fight ISIS only in Iraq," Mr. Leyts said. "It's impossible to eliminate ISIS by only bombing there; we have go to Syria to deal with them."
The decision came against the backdrop of the March 22 attacks in Brussels, for which the Islamic State claimed responsibility. Those attacks killed 32 people and wounded 300, but also made even clearer the extent of the Islamic State's activities in Belgium.
Belgium's defense minister, Steven Vandeput, dismissed concerns that the strikes on Syria, the Islamic State's heartland, might provoke the militant group to undertake more attacks on Belgian soil.
"The Islamic State in any case is planning to continue committing attacks in the Western world," Mr. Vandeput said.
"We are part of the international coalition since the coalition started, and it's commonly known that we're also host to NATO and the E.U., and if we want to solve this problem, we'll have to fight the Islamic State where they are right now," he said.
The Netherlands broadened its anti-ISIS bombing raids from Iraq into Syria three months ago. So when Belgium takes the place of the Netherlands in the next rotation, starting in July, its F-16s will likewise target sites in both countries.
Some European countries initially were wary of military entanglement in the region, and particularly of bombing in Syria, which the government of President Bashar al-Assad, engrossed in a five-year-old civil war, has insisted is a sovereign country and cannot be attacked under international law. Mr. Assad has, however, enlisted military help from his ally Russia, which began bombing Mr. Assad's adversaries last September.
There has been relatively little controversy recently in Europe about the air campaign against the Islamic State.
Foreign Minister Didier Reynders of Belgium first mentioned the possibility of bombing Syria at the beginning of March — before the Brussels attacks.
Twenty-two countries are involved in the military campaign, while 66 countries participate in the overall anti-Islamic State coalition, which includes such activities as training Iraqi soldiers and officers as well as supplying aid.
[Source: By Alissa J. Rubin, The New York Times, Paris, 13May16]
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 | This document has been published on 19May16 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. |