The Hungarian government has submitted a draft resolution to increase Hungary’s military presence and extend its mission in Iraq to aid the international fight against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organization.
According to MTI, Hungary joined the international mission in 2015. The country then undertook to contribute a contingent of 150 troops serving on a rotational basis in Iraq until the end of this year.
Hungary's latest draft resolution, which requires approval by two-thirds of lawmakers to pass, calls for increasing the number of troops to 200 per shift and extending the deadline of the overall mission by two years, until December 31, 2019.
István Simicskó, minister of Defense, noted that Hungary had sent a military contingent to serve in the Erbil training center’s region in northern Iraq in August 2015. The 142-strong Hungarian contingent has “successfully fulfilled its capacity-building and security related duties,” he said, adding that the international coalition had requested additional capacities.
Minister Simicskó said improving the situation in Iraq and making further contributions to assist the stabilization of Iraq was unequivocally in Hungary’s interest, in line with the country’s “security and defense policy interests and endeavors aimed at staunching illegal migration”.