South Front
A Danish soldier surveys the Afghan plains while halted during a foot patrol in the district of Nahr-e Saraj, Helmand province. By Corporal Timothy Solano, U.S. Marine Corps
On April 23, the Danish Ministry of Defense announced that it will withdraw all military specialists currently serving as a part of the United States-led coalition against ISIS from Iraq and Syria to combat threats near its border.
“Now we are withdrawing the unit to Denmark, partly because the number of the Islamic State [in Syria and Iraq] has been so reduced that there is no equal need for our contribution, and partly because we need to restore combat power for countering the threats that we see in our immediate vicinity,” the ministry said in a statement.
According to the ministry, Danish military specialists have been on the territory of Iraq and Syria in the field of air defense since 2016.
The decision is likely related to the ongoing Russian special military operation in Ukraine and NATO efforts to strengthen its eastern flank.
The U.S. and its NATO allies have been using the war on ISIS as a pretext to maintain a fairly large military presence in Iraq and Syria, where they keep a series of illegitimate bases in the country’s gas and oil-rich northeastern region and along a strategic international highway in the southeastern region.
While the Danish withdrawal will not likely weaken the U.S. military presence in the Middle East, it is an example of how the conflict in Ukraine is affecting Western influence in the region.
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