Hungary considers sending soldiers to Iraq to fight ISIL

Iran Press TV

Tue Mar 10, 2015 2:27PM

Hungary has announced plans to dispatch soldiers to Iraq to join the US-led military coalition's so-called battle against the ISIL Takfiri terrorists.

"The parliament could take the decision in mid-April and Hungarian troops could arrive in Iraq during the second half of May," Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto told journalists in the capital, Budapest, on Tuesday.

He added, "Hungary is already a part of the conflict with the ISIL, because it belongs to the Western community of values, which was attacked by the terrorist organization."

Szijjarto further noted that the 100-strong contingent's main task would be to provide security for a training center in Iraq's northern Kurdish city of Erbil.

Earlier on Tuesday, Hungary's top diplomat held meetings with opposition leaders as part of efforts to garner their support for Iraq mission. The deployment requires a two-thirds majority in the parliament, meaning that Prime Minister Viktor Orban's national conservative political party, Fidesz, is in need of one additional opposition vote.

ISIL started its campaign of terror in Iraq in early June 2014. The heavily armed terrorists took control of the strategic city of Mosul, located some 400 kilometers (248 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad, before sweeping through parts of the country's Sunni Arab heartland.

The US-led coalition, which claims to have been targeting ISIL positions in Iraq since August last year, has failed to dislodge the Takfiri terrorists.

However, Iraqi soldiers, police units, Kurdish forces, Shia volunteers and Sunni tribesmen have been engaged in successful operations against ISIL over the past months and have managed to drive the terrorists back from some areas they have under control.

MP/HSN/SS