US asks Germany to send ground troops into Syria, aid anti-IS fight
James Jeffrey, US special envoy for Syria and the anti-IS coalition, wants the German government to send training forces, logistical experts and technical workers from the Bundeswehr.
"We want ground troops from Germany to partly replace our soldiers," Jeffrey told dpa and the German weekly Welt am Sonntag. He said he expects an answer before the end of the month.
US forces have been supporting the SDF alliance that includes Kurdish YPG militia and other rebel groups. In March, SDF forces captured the last bastion of IS in Syria, though the radical Islamists have remained active under ground.
US President Donald Trump in December announced plans to pull all 2,000 US soldiers out of north-eastern Syria. He later backtracked and said that some 400 will stay to help stabilize the Kurdish region, which straddles the border between Iraq and Syria.
The US has since been working to secure more support from the 80 allies in the anti-IS coalition, including Germany, as US forces begin to draw down.
"We are looking here and among the other coalition partners for volunteers to participate," the special envoy said after talks in Berlin on Friday. "We believe we will be successful in the end."
Germany has been supporting the anti-IS coalition from outside the country, supplying Tornado reconnaissance planes and a refuelling plane out of Jordan, as well as training forces in Iraq.
The mission was supposed to end October 31, but Foreign Minister Heiko Maas made clear during an Iraq visit last month that it could be extended. Germany's parliament, which has to approve any extension, will take up the matter in September at the earliest.
