Brussels, 03/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 3 December, the UK conducted its first air strikes on Syria, targeting Islamic State (IS) oil resources. The British parliament had given its authorisation for these air strikes (397 votes in favour, 223 against) just a few hours earlier - after ten hours of debate. The UK had thus far only been carrying out air strikes against IS in Iraq. France's president François Hollande was pleased about these first air operations and said they were “a new response to the call for the solidarity of Europeans launched (by France) on 16 November”, following the terrorist attacks in Paris on 13 November.
On Friday 4 December, the lower chamber of the German parliament, the Bundestag, is expected to authorise Germany's intervention against IS, after the approval by the Council of ministers on 1 December. According to the German government, up to 1,200 soldiers could be mobilised for this operation - the cost of which is estimated at €134 million. Germany's defence minister Ursula von der Leyen has already announced that her country was ready to provide a frigate and reconnaissance and refuelling planes (see EUROPE 11440). Germany is currently indirectly involved in the fight against IS through a mission of around a hundred men which is training Kurdish fighters in the north of Iraq. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)