Singapore will contribute military personnel and equipment to the US-led coalition combating Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, becoming the first Southeast Asian nation to join the effort.
The Singapore Armed Forces will offer liaison and planning officers, a KC-135R tanker aircraft for air-to-air refueling and an imagery analyst team coalition named “Operation Inherent Resolve,” Singaporean Minister of Defense Ng Eng Hen said in parliament yesterday. Singapore becomes the 34th country to join the coalition, he said.
“If this terrorism threat is allowed to grow and spread, innocent civilians here and elsewhere could be endangered and killed,” Ng said. “By contributing to the international effort to tackle the threat at source, we are contributing directly to our own security.”
The violence and brutality committed by terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria pose a threat to the Middle East and, if left unchecked, the world, the 10-member ASEAN said in a statement in September.
There will be no Singaporean combat troops on the ground in Iraq and Syria, and Singapore Armed Forces soldiers will operate from surrounding countries, Ng said.
The length of deployment will be reviewed annually, he added.
“It is in Singapore’s interest to support the multinational efforts against ISIS,” Ng said, using the acronym for one of the Islamic State’s previous monikers, the last of which was the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
“ISIS exports terrorism to our region, whether by sending foreign terrorists to carry out terrorist operations, or by radicalizing regional elements who engage in violence in Iraq, Syria and subsequently their home countries,” the minister said.
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